PRS Hollowbody II vs. PRS McCarty Hollowbody II

[Little Jerry]

Hello, I am new to this forum. I am hoping somebody here can tell me the basic differences between PRS Hollowbody II and PRS McCarty Hollowbody II guitars.

My now 17 year old son has been wanting one ever since he was 12 years old. Back then we went to our local GC. He was noodling on an SG when the sales person handed him a PRS Custom to try (the then $3,700 price tag was out of our price range). On our next trip there the sales person handed him a Hollowbody II and plugged in both the Piezo and humbucker pickups. It has been my son's dream guitar ever since.

I recently saw a used PRS McCarty Hollowbody II guitar from the late 2000's for sale that I am considering buying. It has the Piezo pickup system as do the current Hollowbody II models. I was curios about the differences, if any, between today's PRS Hollowbody II guitars and the ones that are considered to be McCarty models.

Thanks!

 

[Outlier22]

I think I heard that the McCarty HB was thicker but perhaps someone can confirm. I didn't look up the specs on the website but I'd guess the McCarty has a shorter scale length 24.594 vs 25 but again I'm not too sure about that. I tried to check the PRS website quickly but didn't see the McCarty HB. Perhaps contact PRS if nobody know here?

 

[garrettb]

It's an evolution of the same model. They dropped the "McCarty" off at some point, probably just because it was a wordy model name.

Around 2010 (maybe?) they increased the thickness of the top from the bridge to the neck pickup.

Other things changed over time, like the tuners, pickups, and finish formula. The good news is, they are all great.

 

[shinksma]

I think it is similar to how Mazda now has the "MX-5", which used to be the "MX-5 Miata", which was originally promoted mostly as "Miata". In the case of the cars, there are very specific generational changes every few years, whereas the PRS guitars are more along the lines of small tweaks, along with product-line-wide changes like tuners, logos, pickups.

Another analogy might be PRS changing the name of the P24 to Custom 24 Piezo. Same thing, just more explanatory in this case.

 

[veinbuster]

It's an evolution of the same model. They dropped the "McCarty" off at some point, probably just because it was a wordy model name.

Around 2010 (maybe?) they increased the thickness of the top from the bridge to the neck pickup.

Other things changed over time, like the tuners, pickups, and finish formula. The good news is, they are all great.

That is pretty much it. 2009 had a thicker top in the middle - basically not carved across the whole top like the first ones were.
I have a 1998 and a 2009 and from a player’s point of view there isn’t much difference. Any that you can find will be good guitars.

There was another thread on this topic not too long ago, started by Tag I believe.

 

[Little Jerry]

Thank to those that answered. I understand that guitar makers make changes in their models from year to year. My main concern was that the McCarty model wasn't a stripped down version of the HBII, analogous to a Gibson LP Standard vs. LP Studio. Thanks!

 

[veinbuster]

My main concern was that the McCarty model wasn't a stripped down version of the HBII

Not remotely stripped down. Good luck.

And welcome to the forum.

 

[ViperDoc]

The only time-based difference may be that the current Hollowbody models now use the newer piezo system that was designed for the P22. It has a better sounding preamp, so they made a switch around 2010?

The Hollowbody II has a maple top and back and piezo. The Hollowbody I has a maple top mated to a mahogany back and no piezo.

Enjoy!

 

[Antmax]

I think it is similar to how Mazda now has the "MX-5", which used to be the "MX-5 Miata", which was originally promoted mostly as "Miata". In the case of the cars, there are very specific generational changes every few years, whereas the PRS guitars are more along the lines of small tweaks, along with product-line-wide changes like tuners, logos, pickups.

Another analogy might be PRS changing the name of the P24 to Custom 24 Piezo. Same thing, just more explanatory in this case.

The MX-5 was only ever called the Miata in the USA though. To the rest of the world except Japan been the MX-5 since it's launch in 1989. It's called the Eunos in Japan.

Hollowbody II is probably the guitar that I would like most of all.