NGD: Private Stock Semi-Hollow DC 594 Triple Soapbar!

[MA Pete]

I have my own personal PSF going on today!

Another mad creation from Jesse and team at Ish Guitars, a Private Stock Semi-Hollow Doublecut 594 with Triple Soapbar pickups:

I have had some epic NGDs over the years, but this guitar really blows me away. This is what the Private Stock program is all about!

I love the 594s. I love the 594 Soapbars. I love the McCarty Glow finish. This is an amazing combination of those three things, and then some!

The Semi-Hollow construction of the guitar goes incredibly well with the P-90 pickups, it is mind-blowing re tone in that regard. That to me is the core value proposition of this guitar. The three pickup thing is cool, but honestly if this thing just had 2 P-90's it would still be off the charts amazing sounding. The bridge and neck tones are to die for, I think it is the magical combination of the SH construction and the P-90's. It will take some more time to explore the multitude of tones available from the three pickup setup. It definitely has some Strat position 2/4 quack with the Middle and Bridge or Neck.

I plugged this into my Metropoulos DVL-1 Amp in '65 mode (very classic low gain Plexi tones at the edge of breakup), and the blues tones were so good that it literally brought tears to my eyes.

Visually, this is a real stunner, even better in real life than in the pics. It actually has more of a vintage vibe in real life that it comes off in pictures, with all of the vintage finish tones of the top, back/neck and board.

Hats off to Jesse and team for this spec - I never would have dreamed of doing a Mahogany back and neck with a quilted Maple board. And who would think of turquoise inlays on a McCarty Glow finished guitar? But everything just works so great together visually, amazing!

(Someone needs to do a 2020 Wood Library Run of 594s in Semi-Hollow with P-90's! That would be awesome. DCs and SCs please. )

 

[WEDGE]

OMG that fretboard is ridiculous. Huge congrats

 

[bodia]

Damn, Pete, that thing is off the charts hot! Love the finish on that thing. And that fret board.....KILLER!

 

[veinbuster]

I love everything about this one.
I have a couple of guitars with 3 P90s and quite like the range. It would be interesting to see what the semi hollow adds to that.

I am interested how the electronics are set up. In particular how do you bring in the middle pickup? And how do two volumes apply across three pickups? I have 5 ways switches on both of mine. One has a mid blend (with one volume).

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Whoa! Bangin’!

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Incredible!!

 

[MA Pete]

Thanks, guys!

I love everything about this one.
I have a couple of guitars with 3 P90s and quite like the range. It would be interesting to see what the semi hollow adds to that.

I am interested how the electronics are set up. In particular how do you bring in the middle pickup? And how do two volumes apply across three pickups? I have 5 ways switches on both of mine. One has a mid blend (with one volume).

The Semi-Hollow construction with the P-90s is a match made in heaven!

It also makes me wonder about a full-on Hollowbody with P-90s - I bet that would also be amazing, given how much I dig my Hollowbody 594.

Good question re the electronics! It was originally wired up like a traditional 594, with a push/pull on the Neck volume to introduce the Middle pickup, but only at 100% volume, no volume control over the Middle pickup. But Jesse at Ish was kind enough to offer to rewire it however I wanted.

I really like to blend the pickup volumes when doing the middle position on a standard two humbucker 594, or the two Soapbar 594. For instance for a Bluesy Bridge sort of tone I often blend in the Neck but have the Bridge volume higher than the Neck, but neither at full tilt, for instance the Bridge at 7-8 and the Neck at 5-6. And then I invert that for the Neck tone with some Bridge at a lower volume blended in. Makes for great tones, one of the things I like most about the 594s - especially with 5815 LT pickups and the ability to split them individually as well!

I wanted to extend that sort of blending pickup volumes thinking on this one, so I had them rewire it to three volumes and a master tone, with still the push-pull for introducing the Middle one.

So the traditional 594 Neck and Bridge volumes are the same as a 594. The 3-Way toggle switch is as a 594, Neck, Both Neck and Bridge, Bridge. What is normally the Bridge Tone is the Middle Volume, and also the Push-Pull for the Middle Pickup on or off. What is normally the Neck Tone is the Master Tone for all three pickups.

This allows doing all three pickups at once, with individual volume controls for each pickup, which is cool. I lose the thing like a Strat where you can control the Bridge tone separately from the other tones, where you would have the Bridge tone rolled off a bit, but not necessarily the Middle and Neck tone, because of the inherent brightness of the Bridge pickup. But that's okay, I think you would only want/need that in a gigging scenario, and I would never dream of playing this guitar out.

I preferred having individual volume controls for all three pickups over having any individual tone controls.

 

[dmatthews]

I love everything about this one.
I have a couple of guitars with 3 P90s and quite like the range. It would be interesting to see what the semi hollow adds to that.

I am interested how the electronics are set up. In particular how do you bring in the middle pickup? And how do two volumes apply across three pickups? I have 5 ways switches on both of mine. One has a mid blend (with one volume).

You stole my question.
What a killer combo of wood, finish, and style.
Congrats!

 

[veinbuster]

Thanks, guys!



The Semi-Hollow construction with the P-90s is a match made in heaven!

It also makes me wonder about a full-on Hollowbody with P-90s - I bet that would also be amazing, given how much I dig my Hollowbody 594.

Good question re the electronics! It was originally wired up like a traditional 594, with a push/pull on the Neck volume to introduce the Middle pickup, but only at 100% volume, no volume control over the Middle pickup. But Jesse at Ish was kind enough to offer to rewire it however I wanted.

I really like to blend the pickup volumes when doing the middle position on a standard two humbucker 594, or the two Soapbar 594. For instance for a Bluesy Bridge sort of tone I often blend in the Neck but have the Bridge volume higher than the Neck, but neither at full tilt, for instance the Bridge at 7-8 and the Neck at 5-6. And then I invert that for the Neck tone with some Bridge at a lower volume blended in. Makes for great tones, one of the things I like most about the 594s - especially with 5815 LT pickups and the ability to split them individually as well!

I wanted to extend that sort of blending pickup volumes thinking on this one, so I had them rewire it to three volumes and a master tone, with still the push-pull for introducing the Middle one.

So the traditional 594 Neck and Bridge volumes are the same as a 594. The 3-Way toggle switch is as a 594, Neck, Both Neck and Bridge, Bridge. What is normally the Bridge Tone is the Middle Volume, and also the Push-Pull for the Middle Pickup on or off. What is normally the Neck Tone is the Master Tone for all three pickups.

This allows doing all three pickups at once, with individual volume controls for each pickup, which is cool. I lose the thing like a Strat where you can control the Bridge tone separately from the other tones, where you would have the Bridge tone rolled off a bit, but not necessarily the Middle and Neck tone, because of the inherent brightness of the Bridge pickup. But that's okay, I think you would only want/need that in a gigging scenario, and I would never dream of playing this guitar out.

I preferred having individual volume controls for all three pickups over having any individual tone controls.

Thanks for that. Interesting setup. I like the idea of individual volume controls, but I might not be attentive enough to really master them. One tone would be enough for me too, so the knobs would work out right.

This should be a fun one to get to know. If the world wasn’t quite so crazy, I’d be banging on your door to give it a go.

 

[MA Pete]

Thanks for that. Interesting setup. I like the idea of individual volume controls, but I might not be attentive enough to really master them. One tone would be enough for me too, so the knobs would work out right.

This should be a fun one to get to know. If the world wasn’t quite so crazy, I’d be banging on your door to give it a go.

And I would be letting you in, provided you brought some of your cool guitars to share as well!

 

[MA Pete]

My two Ish Guitars mad creations together.

Jesse sure can spec 'em!

 

[goat-n-gitter]

I'll nominate that for guitar porn playmate of the year!

 

[Fro]

Very nice! Congrats.

 

[Iceman101]

outstanding congrats very cool

 

[JackStraw]

That is a beautiful guitar!! That fretboard is sick!

 

[AaeCee]

Wow Pete!
P-90s in a SHB are perfection, period, but you just took it to a whole 'nother level with that beauty!

 

[g.wizz]

I have my own personal PSF going on today!

Another mad creation from Jesse and team at Ish Guitars, a Private Stock Semi-Hollow Doublecut 594 with Triple Soapbar pickups:

I have had some epic NGDs over the years, but this guitar really blows me away. This is what the Private Stock program is all about!

I love the 594s. I love the 594 Soapbars. I love the McCarty Glow finish. This is an amazing combination of those three things, and then some!

The Semi-Hollow construction of the guitar goes incredibly well with the P-90 pickups, it is mind-blowing re tone in that regard. That to me is the core value proposition of this guitar. The three pickup thing is cool, but honestly if this thing just had 2 P-90's it would still be off the charts amazing sounding. The bridge and neck tones are to die for, I think it is the magical combination of the SH construction and the P-90's. It will take some more time to explore the multitude of tones available from the three pickup setup. It definitely has some Strat position 2/4 quack with the Middle and Bridge or Neck.

I plugged this into my Metropoulos DVL-1 Amp in '65 mode (very classic low gain Plexi tones at the edge of breakup), and the blues tones were so good that it literally brought tears to my eyes.

Visually, this is a real stunner, even better in real life than in the pics. It actually has more of a vintage vibe in real life that it comes off in pictures, with all of the vintage finish tones of the top, back/neck and board.

Hats off to Jesse and team for this spec - I never would have dreamed of doing a Mahogany back and neck with a quilted Maple board. And who would think of turquoise inlays on a McCarty Glow finished guitar? But everything just works so great together visually, amazing!

(Someone needs to do a 2020 Wood Library Run of 594s in Semi-Hollow with P-90's! That would be awesome. DCs and SCs please. )

You never sease to amaze Pete
Every detail in this build is simply amazing especially the turquoise birds, the heel neck cap, andvthe charcoal burst on the back of the heel, not to mention the ridiculously amazin board and top and...
INCREDIBLE...CONGRATS.

 

[WEDGE]

My two Ish Guitars mad creations together.

Jesse sure can spec 'em!

add a killer Strat and you could be done forever with that pair. Your a lucky man.

 

[MA Pete]

add a killer Strat and you could be done forever with that pair. Your a lucky man.

 

[MA Pete]

In direct sunlight, this thing just glows. And it is magically both vintage and striking at the same time.