The Official "McCarty 594" Love Thread!!

Great demo from Neville at Guitarist Magazine!


This guy really like his Les Pauls, saw a great video from him a few weeks ago on the True Historics, so it is cool to see him give such a positive review on the 594. Great vintage tones through a simple rig!

Enjoy!
 
I have to say upon first view I had ZERO interest in this guitar !!!
Another short scale , too many knobs , and the switch ;( .
Today I got to play an incredible trio of 594s and I must say there are the real deal sweet sounding playing !!!
Not a complete convert yet but they are SWEET !!!!
 
I have to say upon first view I had ZERO interest in this guitar !!!
Another short scale , too many knobs , and the switch ;( .
Today I got to play an incredible trio of 594s and I must say there are the real deal sweet sounding playing !!!
Not a complete convert yet but they are SWEET !!!!

Thanks for the kind words on the 594's, Mike!

We did compare a few guitars today...

U-7ZDOHhslwLpQRn20jicqyqPkdQcNtNBfWHwfla70HWUghNvLZ5hlIa7TqWCseb9SEJkg11kCBveGpHHQ2T9R9wXLgSKi8JvVim6C2-AKgpYKxqv1ud3AEy-rjtcrtCD58qaZzm2lweS69urIUMjPR0jUDGBrccbmLSGZtLRyXw9BGZyQ-bzDNryiSx9vt9I1OYf8muKj2fql84e-cIn8zQanyEeKtueK1paB47X4dAmF_ZpeO1suAGSrG6dO26LhKIdHtCBLyVdMohqwOXXFtBBmdFfvlVnmm8saTi72uyUtiZlqE1sbB8NVjgO8pMpq3sruIUr9fScK7b6veKSHOMIltR5tLTzw0VukIjzmE9W4QtmlSXWe5ebHSOz2JAqe3mdvYQpecHtvdTrgqY-cH9aDWXZUgp5cAmgCByipb_QcOh3RYy4L4prIMnvw0gcLl451nvN1buZp4JuJu2w6DzRY6hieHASKwQjfLYcBXIzgSmRfqBVNIEPAbDL-x419JW8P1Kxd5ipw_d9qI1n2Q9tK5XcCUBp5nuHUXbtwKk9T3-30U9lI2rQ7YK_J45OTMjIjkUK9KD7LDEs_luehc3UT28gRO3=w1280-h960-no


...and the 594's faired pretty well in the mix, I thought!

:)

Great to see you, and BrianC! That was a blast...
 
Thanks for the kind words on the 594's, Mike!

We did compare a few guitars today...

U-7ZDOHhslwLpQRn20jicqyqPkdQcNtNBfWHwfla70HWUghNvLZ5hlIa7TqWCseb9SEJkg11kCBveGpHHQ2T9R9wXLgSKi8JvVim6C2-AKgpYKxqv1ud3AEy-rjtcrtCD58qaZzm2lweS69urIUMjPR0jUDGBrccbmLSGZtLRyXw9BGZyQ-bzDNryiSx9vt9I1OYf8muKj2fql84e-cIn8zQanyEeKtueK1paB47X4dAmF_ZpeO1suAGSrG6dO26LhKIdHtCBLyVdMohqwOXXFtBBmdFfvlVnmm8saTi72uyUtiZlqE1sbB8NVjgO8pMpq3sruIUr9fScK7b6veKSHOMIltR5tLTzw0VukIjzmE9W4QtmlSXWe5ebHSOz2JAqe3mdvYQpecHtvdTrgqY-cH9aDWXZUgp5cAmgCByipb_QcOh3RYy4L4prIMnvw0gcLl451nvN1buZp4JuJu2w6DzRY6hieHASKwQjfLYcBXIzgSmRfqBVNIEPAbDL-x419JW8P1Kxd5ipw_d9qI1n2Q9tK5XcCUBp5nuHUXbtwKk9T3-30U9lI2rQ7YK_J45OTMjIjkUK9KD7LDEs_luehc3UT28gRO3=w1280-h960-no


...and the 594's faired pretty well in the mix, I thought!

:)

Great to see you, and BrianC! That was a blast...

I would have been so confused after playing/listening to that many guitars!

Bet it was fun, though. ;)
 
I would have been so confused after playing/listening to that many guitars!

Bet it was fun, though. ;)

Well, we didn't actually play them all, that would have indeed have been a little much!

We did still play enough to get a bit overwhelmed, but still it was very educational, I will comment here shortly.

That LP looks like General Custer: surrounded and overwhelmed.

Ha! Yes, it had surrendered. Actually, that is a Rock and Roll Relics Heartbreaker. My two Les Pauls had already waived the white flag and had been disposed of, as previously mentioned the two new 594's were funded by Custom Les Paul trades - and no regrets on that!! :)
 
Findings relative to the 594, appropriate for this thread:

  • All three 594's were great, consistent in playability and tone
  • The Feb GOM has some extra mojo re tone, that you would expect from a Private Stock
  • The Honey Core 594 is really great, probably the most 50's vintage Singlecut-like of the bunch, I think it comes from the higher weight / denser woods (it is 8.25 pounds). Quite frankly, I would state that it is likely the best sounding PRS Core guitar I have ever owned (which is saying something, I have owned many!) ;)
  • The Pattern Vintage neck carve is BEEFY! When compared to many of the Pattern Necks and Wide Fats, it felt huge, in an awesome way. Quite frankly many of the others felt too small for me. I *LOVE* this neck carve!!
  • The 24.594" scale is perfect, for me. The 24.5" scale now feels too short for me, and as always 25" or longer feels too long for me. I am especially sensitive to scale length, but I am okay with that. I guess I need to build a 24.594" McCarty Singlecut to replace that current gap in my PRS Collection! ;)
  • The 2 volume 2 tone configuration is really great. Mike was doing a lot of playing in the middle position with both pickups blended, tinkering with the volume and tone knobs, and getting a very diverse set of tasty tones! The 594 neck tone itself is terrific, best of any PRS model ever for my tastes, and that in my opinion contributes to having some great tones when blended with the bridge pickup.

BTW I confirmed with Matt King at PRS late last week that the production frets on the 594 are the same as the GOM, which came from the McCarty Singlecut frets, basically DGT Frets worn down a bit or flattened off. Good by me, I dig them! I think those were previously Private Stock only, so I am pleased to learn they made it to the Core model.

Non-594 mentions - BrianC's new Wood Library P24 was an amazing guitar! Really great uncovered 5708's in there, and a top and board that look more like Private Stock than Wood Library. Congrats, Brian! Also, Mike has pulled together quite a cool and eclectic PRS collection, I enjoyed checking out his 513, hadn't played one of those before, and his 408 Standard made me miss my DC 245 408 PS.

Thanks again, BrianC and Mike/Rider1260! Appreciate you guys trekking that SUV full of guitar across town. That was great!
 
Did you guys take turns playing or was this a full scale 3 guitar jam?

We had two Amps in the room (Bogner Helios 50 through a PRS 4x12, and Bogner ATMA Combo, both great Amps), but no, we didn't jam with each other. We hadn't seen each other for a long time and had a lot of things to check out and compare, so it was mostly one guy playing and the other two listening and talking...

Did you take any 594s head to head with your b3's?

Yes, of course! Hard not to, with 5 of the b3 SL's present. And Brian and Mike hadn't played those yet. For me, they are my favorite two guitar models these days. Both similar in target, but different in a lot of ways. If I had to pick just one of the two, it would be tough. Luckily, I don't! ;)

I actually think a lot of the difference in the sound between the two is the pickups, I think the Lollar Imperials in the b3 SL's are a bit hotter and brighter than the 58/15 LT's. I plan to do some swapping of pickups to test that theory.

The feel and the geometry of the 594 is more "home" to me, as I have been playing primarily the DC 245 Ted since 2009, and the 594 is the best short scale PRS DC yet!
 
There were so many GREAT guitars it was like a cat chasing a laser light easily distracted :)
I can say of the B3s That I played I liked the Goldtop B3 with the P90 pickups best for ME the neck seemed just a taste smaller and I just LOVED the sound
( bit of extra brightness I need for my playing )
What we did agree on is all the guitars sounded great thru the Bogner and I don't believe there was any guitar in that picture that wasn't at least a 10 :) some did go to 11 or so ;)
Pete always has something special I was totally surprised there was not one guitar I had seen before
Brian has the best collection of 24 fret PRS each better than the last ( his SCT rocks also )
I would do this again in a heartbeat !!!!!!
 
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I have to say upon first view I had ZERO interest in this guitar !!!
Another short scale , too many knobs , and the switch ;( .
Today I got to play an incredible trio of 594s and I must say there are the real deal sweet sounding playing !!!
Not a complete convert yet but they are SWEET !!!!

Same here! I started disliking it and now I KNOW I'll have one. The only question is: will I ever play my R9 again?
 
Same here! I started disliking it and now I KNOW I'll have one. The only question is: will I ever play my R9 again?

Well, from this playing angle, you'd swear by looks you were playing one.

9D7D2107-B27D-445E-A0F1-4883E4DBB920_zpsh4z59w8m.jpg


More photos and impressions on my new Artist Pkg. 594 when I recover from holiday travel.....
 
Well, from this playing angle, you'd swear by looks you were playing one.

9D7D2107-B27D-445E-A0F1-4883E4DBB920_zpsh4z59w8m.jpg


More photos and impressions on my new Artist Pkg. 594 when I recover from holiday travel.....

Great pic, and awesome guitar. Great vintage finish. McCarty Burst?

I love the quality and look of the PRS binding. And I bet we don't have to worry about the finish on the back of the neck discoloring the binding after playing it a bit. That is a nice change versus some other non-PRS alternatives... :)

In fact, I will make a fairly blasphemous statement here - I think I prefer the look and vibe of the plastic binding on a Core or Wood Library 594 over the Maple Binding on the Private Stock GOM 594. It just looks so "right"!

(I do wish they would put it across the bottom of the board between the 22nd fret and the Neck Pickup, though, like on a Private Stock, but that doesn't upset me these days as much as it used to...)
 
Great pic, and awesome guitar. Great vintage finish. McCarty Burst?

I love the quality and look of the PRS binding. And I bet we don't have to worry about the finish on the back of the neck discoloring the binding after playing it a bit. That is a nice change versus some other non-PRS alternatives... :)

In fact, I will make a fairly blasphemous statement here - I think I prefer the look and vibe of the plastic binding on a Core or Wood Library 594 over the Maple Binding on the Private Stock GOM 594. It just looks so "right"!

(I do wish they would put it across the bottom of the board between the 22nd fret and the Neck Pickup, though, like on a Private Stock, but that doesn't upset me these days as much as it used to...)

Yes, McCarty Burst - wanted to go with a complete vintage look to go along with the vintage feel and tone. I guess it would have been nice to wrap the binding around the end, but I don't think it detracts that much or look odd, it's just not the "norm". Again, more pics and comments to come, but man, was this a good decision.
 
Again, more pics and comments to come, but man, was this a good decision.

Based on my 20 minutes with that guitar in my hands, it was a very good decision! You're lucky I made a very conscious decision to not take it with me when I left CR that day.
 
In fact, I will make a fairly blasphemous statement here - I think I prefer the look and vibe of the plastic binding on a Core or Wood Library 594 over the Maple Binding on the Private Stock GOM 594. It just looks so "right"!)

Not blasphemy at all! Certain materials really work well aesthetically on guitars, and plastic parts are indeed traditional and some really have a great look. Bindings, pickup rings, some tuner buttons, and switch tips simply work better on certain instruments than so-called luxe materials, at least for me.

I have guitars with the maple neck binding, and with the plastic binding, and I'm good with either. In fact, I'm fine with no binding, too.

I like the variety.
 
Has anyone measured the pickup output of these 5815 LT's?

I would also be curious. I'll have one here on Friday, but don't know how to measure them. (I'm SURE I'll also be too busy to do so in the near future, PARTICULARLY after Friday!!)

Kevin
 
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