The Official "McCarty 594" Love Thread!!

My whole prior four-knob experience was with a Tremonti SE and S2 Singlecut Standard. I adapted quickly and find I now much prefer the classic "G" layout. Intuitive, ergonomic, can still easily do volume swells on neck pickup. No wonder this arrangement has stood the test of time.

I'm on the mend from thumb surgery and can play somewhat competently now. It has been frustrating to only play for a short time each day, but on the flip side, it has made the process of discovering my new instrument's capabilities sweeter.

I started experimenting with string gauge last night. The 10's feel pretty good, but my HBII feels more fluid with 9-46 on its 25" scale. I swapped to 9.5 and 11.5 for the E and B, respectively, on the 594 and I'm liking that so far. Thinking of putting the bottom half of a set of 11's on it tonight. I'm very new to this short scale thing, so I'm searching for a Goldilocks set of gauges. I am usually a light top / heavy bottom guy, so may end up with something custom like 9.5, 12, 17, 28, 38, 48.

Gotta say I LOVE stringing up this two-piece bridge with locking tuners. Definitely the easiest to string of any guitar I've owned.

I have not yet picked up the PRS McCarty 594 that I put on layaway. It is being held hostage at my local shop while I scrape up the remaining balance. It will be my first four knob layout in a while. even when I had a LP 56 VOS historic and ES-339, I never quite got used to dialing in sounds as quick as a vol/tone tele and such. Any suggestions are welcome. Or do you just use your ears? Any rules of thumbs you guys use in the middle position? (otherwise, the neck alone or bridge alone are fairly self explanatory)

Also, are you guys trying a split coil on one PU and leading the other PU full HB? (i.e. split coil on the neck PU, but leaving bridge in HB mode or vice versa?)
 
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I have not picked up my PRS McCarty 594. It is being held hostage at my local shop while I scrape up the remaining balance. It will be my first four knob layout in a while. even when I had a LP 56 VOS historic and ES-339, I never quite got used to dialing in sounds as quick as a vol/tone tele and such. Any suggestions are welcome. Or do you just use your ears? Any rules of thumbs you guys use in the middle position? (otherwise, the neck alone or bridge alone are fairly self explanatory)

Also, are you guys trying a split coil on one PU and leading the other PU full HB? (i.e. split coil on the neck PU, but leaving bridge in HB mode or vice versa?)
Yes, My current favorite combination is middle position, split coil on the neck pick up with both volume and tone on ten. Bridge pickup in HB mode with volume on 5 and tone on 7.
It's great to experiment and dial in different tones.
 
I have not picked up my PRS McCarty 594. It is being held hostage at my local shop while I scrape up the remaining balance. It will be my first four knob layout in a while. even when I had a LP 56 VOS historic and ES-339, I never quite got used to dialing in sounds as quick as a vol/tone tele and such. Any suggestions are welcome. Or do you just use your ears? Any rules of thumbs you guys use in the middle position? (otherwise, the neck alone or bridge alone are fairly self explanatory)

Also, are you guys trying a split coil on one PU and leading the other PU full HB? (i.e. split coil on the neck PU, but leaving bridge in HB mode or vice versa?)

It can be a bit more fiddly for settings changes, for sure.

Middle Position:
I'm just tweaking things by ear for jamming the classic stuff at home. In the band (I haven't used the 594 in that context yet, so based on my Singlecut) I usually only use both pickups at once when playing clean(ish), so both volumes are typically all the way up. I like to split the neck to cut a bit of bass for a tighter, funkier, soul-ier tone. Splitting the bridge is country heaven. I pretty much never split both at once.


I did some string swapping this evening. I put on the top half of the 9.5 set and the bottom half of the 11 set and it ruined everything. :eek: The tone just didn't balance at all. It sounded HUGE, but the bass was too boomy. I lowered the bass side of the neck pickup a full turn to balance it out, but the magic was gone. I yanked the wrapped strings, put on the bottom half of the 9.5 set, and raised the pickup back. Balance was restored in the universe. Time will tell if I can get along with the lighter bottom strings.
 
I suspect many of you will have seen the picture below on the Emporium or on Reverb. The first production Core 594. After obsessing about this guitar for a while, I finally pulled the trigger.

Yes, I've read--well, skimmed--all 53 pages of this thread. I expected the guitar to be great, but after 3 days I have to say I'm blown away! I'm primarily a Tele player and tend to miss the low string snap and string definition of Teles when I play LP-style guitars. The 594 has both of these in spades. The coil splits are fantastic and very usable--far better than any I've ever tried. The asymmetrical Pattern Vintage neck feels perfect to me, much like the neck on my #1, a d'Pergo Bakersfield. Ergonomics and tuning stability are what you'd expect from a PRS. I suppose I'd prefer a nitro finish, but was not about to drop the many thousands more dollars to bring home a Private Stock. And I prefer more classic tops, so this 10 top is perfect. In short, what's not to like?!

Now for a pic, shot on site at PRS:

 
I suspect many of you will have seen the picture below on the Emporium or on Reverb. The first production Core 594. After obsessing about this guitar for a while, I finally pulled the trigger.

Yes, I've read--well, skimmed--all 53 pages of this thread. I expected the guitar to be great, but after 3 days I have to say I'm blown away! I'm primarily a Tele player and tend to miss the low string snap and string definition of Teles when I play LP-style guitars. The 594 has both of these in spades. The coil splits are fantastic and very usable--far better than any I've ever tried. The asymmetrical Pattern Vintage neck feels perfect to me, much like the neck on my #1, a d'Pergo Bakersfield. Ergonomics and tuning stability are what you'd expect from a PRS. I suppose I'd prefer a nitro finish, but was not about to drop the many thousands more dollars to bring home a Private Stock. And I prefer more classic tops, so this 10 top is perfect. In short, what's not to like?!

Now for a pic, shot on site at PRS:


Nice! A special one for sure. I had been eyeing that one.
 
I suspect many of you will have seen the picture below on the Emporium or on Reverb. The first production Core 594. After obsessing about this guitar for a while, I finally pulled the trigger.

Yes, I've read--well, skimmed--all 53 pages of this thread. I expected the guitar to be great, but after 3 days I have to say I'm blown away! I'm primarily a Tele player and tend to miss the low string snap and string definition of Teles when I play LP-style guitars. The 594 has both of these in spades. The coil splits are fantastic and very usable--far better than any I've ever tried. The asymmetrical Pattern Vintage neck feels perfect to me, much like the neck on my #1, a d'Pergo Bakersfield. Ergonomics and tuning stability are what you'd expect from a PRS. I suppose I'd prefer a nitro finish, but was not about to drop the many thousands more dollars to bring home a Private Stock. And I prefer more classic tops, so this 10 top is perfect. In short, what's not to like?!

Now for a pic, shot on site at PRS:


Very nice! Congrats!

Nice! A special one for sure. I had been eyeing that one.

Likewise! Guess I can move on to another choice!
 
I want to be part of this group too and show my affection. Really great guitars!

Here is my Private Stock GOM 594




Man, did you get a super guitar! I'm waiting on a PS 594. Those originals are looking better each time I see one. The playing ages them nicely. Congratulations! I hope you really enjoy that guitar!. :)













I suspect many of you will have seen the picture below on the Emporium or on Reverb. The first production Core 594. After obsessing about this guitar for a while, I finally pulled the trigger.




Yes, I've read--well, skimmed--all 53 pages of this thread. I expected the guitar to be great, but after 3 days I have to say I'm blown away! I'm primarily a Tele player and tend to miss the low string snap and string definition of Teles when I play LP-style guitars. The 594 has both of these in spades. The coil splits are fantastic and very usable--far better than any I've ever tried. The asymmetrical Pattern Vintage neck feels perfect to me, much like the neck on my #1, a d'Pergo Bakersfield. Ergonomics and tuning stability are what you'd expect from a PRS. I suppose I'd prefer a nitro finish, but was not about to drop the many thousands more dollars to bring home a Private Stock. And I prefer more classic tops, so this 10 top is perfect. In short, what's not to like?!

Now for a pic, shot on site at PRS:


he playing ages them nicely. Congratulations! I hope you really enjoy that guitar!. :)

Congratulations on a really unique find! I hope you really enjoy it as much as your D'Pergo! :)
 
Your 10 top is amazing! what a GREAT spec, color, top, ...everything!! Very excited for you. What a GREAT choice! Did you get a deal on it as well?
 
Thanks, all. I really do enjoy it as much as the d'Pergo, which (believe me) is saying something! For those who were contemplating this one, MA Pete's honey 594 looks pretty darn tempting. Groberts, not the best deal I've ever made, but I'm supremely happy with the purchase.
 
I'm curious what strings you all are running on the 594. Hex or round core? Gauge? I usually run 10-48 round cores (Pyramid Nickel Classics) but think the heavier bottoms might be too much. A new set of nickel wrap 10-46s is on there now and sounds pretty darn good.
 
I'm curious what strings you all are running on the 594. Hex or round core? Gauge? I usually run 10-48 round cores (Pyramid Nickel Classics) but think the heavier bottoms might be too much. A new set of nickel wrap 10-46s is on there now and sounds pretty darn good.

The 10's definitely do sound good. In my string experiments a few posts back, I landed on the D'Addario XL 9.5-44 set. Those would be hex core. I'm really liking them with this scale so far. They have the slinkier feel I like and I don't think the tone changed much at all from the 10's.
 
Thanks, Garrett. Your posts seem to confirm my sense that going heavier below might be a mistake.
 
Thanks, Garrett. Your posts seem to confirm my sense that going heavier below might be a mistake.

It certainly didn't work for me to have the lighter top strings with heavier low strings on this guitar. I would guess a regular set of 11's would balance better tonally.
 
Congrats Tramp and Base6, on those new 594 acquisitions!! Both AWESOME!!

I had been eyeing up that "First Production 594", thanks for removing that temptation!

I'll have to just settle for having the first prototype SC 594, I guess... :)


MA Pete's honey 594 looks pretty darn tempting.

Yup, I do have that one listed at the usual places. It is a killer one! Have some more super-secret 594 madness in the works that needs to be funded! ;)


The 10's definitely do sound good. In my string experiments a few posts back, I landed on the D'Addario XL 9.5-44 set. Those would be hex core. I'm really liking them with this scale so far. They have the slinkier feel I like and I don't think the tone changed much at all from the 10's.

I have been using the 9.5-44 D'Addario NYXL's, and really dig those. I agree re them being slinkier than 10's, but not losing any tone. I felt like I lost a little tone with the 9-42's. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, 9.5-44 is "just right" for me, very specifically for the 594's!
 
Thanks, Pete, you enabler you! I'll have to give the 9.5-44 NYXLs a shot.
 
I just couldn't take it anymore. Gotted.

s-l1600.jpg
 
I just couldn't take it anymore. Gotted.

s-l1600.jpg

Sah-weet! I drooled over that one a few times online.


In other news, I guess I really own mine now. It received is first ding this afternoon. The V12 on the tip of the headstock lost a fight with the 75-year-old plaster on the wall in my guitar room. Oh well, it's minor and a headstock ding or two is practically a requirement for PRS ownership.

I'm still on the mend from thumb surgery, and have now progressed to where I can do some things without a brace on. I was finally really able to dig in and play today. The 9.5 gauge strings were effortless to play and I love the guitar even more now that I can play it the way I want to.
 
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