The S2 McCarty saga

[aphantomvaper]

I'll post production pics as soon as I get three posts in.

I've had a few PRS SE guitars over the years and finally jumped into more of the real deal. A couple weeks ago I purchased an S2 McCarty 594 in McCarty Sunburst.

Boy what a gorgeous instrument! The Sunburst is a deep golden with lustre I can't describe. Gorgeous! However the bridge pickup was intermittent. I poked gently at the wires in the control cavity and it came back but then went out again. Very dark sounding on The neck pickup. Exchanged it, even though it played well.

Got the replacement. This one screams and is also gorgous! There is this tiny bubble in the finish on the top horn though. It's like the Red Dot on the Cashmere sweater on Seinfeld, it can't be unseen once noticed. Sadly I am exchanging this one. Assembled on 6/18/20, am surprised the finish blem made it through QC.

Really can't wait for the replacement, not giving up on this fine Instrument.

 

[peterrooter]

2 exchanges? That is definitely not a good sign..

 

[aphantomvaper]

I know, right? Like every other weird unexpected thing this year I'm attributing it to Covid.

However if I hadn't been cooped up for 5 months I may not have attempted the purchase at all.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Finally can post some pics.

First S2 594 I received. Only pic I have. This is the guitar the bridge pickup was intermittent, and I really didn't think sounded very good. Born on 07/02/20, didn't think to take a pic of the hang tag. The headstock was interesting as the serial number was written in red first, looked like under the clear coats, then written again in gold pen then clear coated again.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Here is the replacement S2 McCarty. Oh man this one really sang, hard to send back. This DOT though! It is a finish bubble after examining under bright light with a magnifying glass. It was surprising to see this finish blem after seeing the Factory tours. After examining the pictures of the example guitar on the website I noticed the head stock had the SAME serial number as this guitar. After doing zoom on the images, the DOT is totally noticeable. Very strange this is the same guitar. Had to send it back, there was no way I could not see the finish bubble, or be proud to show it to anyone. Prob overthinking the whole thing but for this much money, it should be right, right??

One thing I did is move the white pickup switch knob from my Santana SE to this, it really looks nice with the white switch compared to the black. Classy!

Born on 06/18/20

The bubble.

The Website pic

 

[Tahlee]

Good luck with the next one. I love that color back with that top.

 

[aphantomvaper]

OK got the replacement yesterday! So happy to finally have this done. She looks great. The Bridge pickup sounds GREAT! The Neck pickup...doesn't work! WTF? Three guitars in a row, all with issues. So surprised again. Born on 6/26/20 a Friday ( always heard the best guitars are built on a Tuesday, whatever)

Removed the control cover, and the wires all looked good but also appeared "stuffed" very far into the cavity I took a wood chopstick and loosened up the wire-ball and then plugged her in, VOILA! Sings like a dream. The first S2 McCarty, if you remember after reading all these, had the bridge pickup not working on arrival. I had pulled the cavity cover on that one and poked the "wire ball" and the pickup came back on, but then cut out again so it got sent back not wanting a future issue.

I'm not sending this one back in SPITE of the...again...pickup issue right out of the box. Help me understand PRS...how could this be?

Anyway, not my last PRS purchase I will make. Just noticing the QC on this run is spotty.

Here she is, I LOVE this guitar as it is like they say in the marketing, it feel like a guitar I've playing for Years.

 

[Jaco]

Glad to hear you're finally sorted, pal. Very disturbing to hear you had 3 duds in a row. We all set a very high bar when it comes to QC as far as PRS goes. I am not going to make ANY excuses for the issues you had, but I can't help but think that (AGAIN!) we all tend to expect the virtually absolute perfection one would get from a higher priced Core model. Of course, this most certainly does not mean that you or anyone else has to be happy and make do with something that is less than we expected, particykarly a PRS.

Once again, really glad you're finally sorted out. Keep posting on how she plays and inspires you!

 

[bodia]

Great finish!

 

[dogrocketp]

I'm also both surprised and disappointed you had these problems. If I loved the second one and it had a blemish, I would have sent it back to have the blemish buffed out. I firmly believe that some guitars are magic. When we are lucky enough to find a guitar that speaks to us personally, we should work around minor issues. It sounds like somebody in electronics assembly is having issues.

 

[aphantomvaper]

After a weekend with this machine it's a keeper. I had a looper with the 2nd McCarty recorded and in comparison this one sounds exactly the same, which is to say sounds AWESOME!

dogrocketp I know, it was an extremely difficult choice to return such a great sounding guitar. I'm chalking this up to new work environment at PRS with the Covid protections in place.

I wasn't kidding about this not being my last PRS Purchase, nabbed a Camo Standard SE and waiting for it be delivered. You know I'll post when I get it.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Looked at the case candy. Seems this may be for something with a Whammy bar and locking tuners. I'll take them, the bar may be useful for another Se Standard I am waiting for (Camo SE).

 

[shimmilou]

Nice looking guitar! Congrats

 

[Solteroblues]

congrats!

 

[jcolmn]

I have one of the McCarty 594 S2 doublecuts. Looks just like yours. I changed the pickups and also the push pull pots. One of the stock push pull pots did not work correctly. My only complaint is the non-recessed cavity covers. Boo!