Why do I not like the sound of my beautiful McCarty?

[RickP]

Not in disagreement with others, but more as a suggestion from a guy who has both "upgraded" a guitar right out of being good, and lucked into modifications that actually improved the tone, I can say mods are a crap-shoot at best. Guitars are what they are, and no one can say you haven't stuck by this girlfriend long enough to know her.

Sell the McCarty. There is someone out there that will love the sound of it. Play other guitars and buy one you like. You mentioned a Les Paul doing it for you, so if you want to stay PRS, a McCarty 594 Singlecut should be at the head of your to-do list. I had a Les Paul for years that I thought was the best sounding and playing LP I had ever owned. The 594 arrived and, before long, that Les Paul had moved on to another owner. Many months later, still no regrets. The 594 sounds like an old Les Paul with T-Tops, and plays like a modern guitar. One of PRS's better ideas.

Sometimes it's just best to move on!

 

[swede71]

What is your setup?IMO a lot of guitars are set up with too low stringheight And too high pickupheight.Try,if you haven’t already,follow PRS setup recommendations.Don’t forget to oil the fretboard and polish the frets.Let a local luthier set up the guitar before you change pickups or sell it.Some guitars sound better with lighter or heavier strings.If you use 10s,try 9s for example.

 

[Tone-y]

The only "fault" (hardly a fault) discussed on here has been the slight
volume drop when going to single coil sounds on the original McCarty guitars.
PRS has since rectified this with adding a capacitor (???...I know they added something to the pots) to more recent models.

I just found the text explaining the resistor thing

That switch on the tone control has two additional resistors. Previously, in coil-split mode, the slug coil was shorted to ground, leaving just the screw coil in circuit.
This new circuit "doesn't completely cancel the slug coil," explains Smith. "It sort of three-quarter coil cancels. It allows some of the other [slug] coil through. It's also slightly hum-cancelling. All the guitars have this now, even if they're using the old pickups," he adds.

 

[dogrocketp]

Do you like the neck? Do you like the feel? Try the re-solder. If that doesn't work, I'd head straight for the 57/08's. I put a set in my old CE24, and it's lights out and balls to the walls.

 

[David O'Brien]

Thank you so much to everyone for all the helpful information. Based on everyone's input and some reflection and experimenting, I really think it's a combination of factors that were negatively impacting my view of the guitar's tone:

• My playing abilities: The guitar is built so darn perfectly and the pickups sound so clear that you really have to play the guitar well to sounds good. It will not hide any imperfections in your playing. Maybe the vintage tone of my other guitars is a bit of a crutch for me or hides some of my mistakes. If I play the PRS well, it rewards me for it by accurately projecting what I'm playing.
• The amp I'm playing through: I've been using my Fender Deluxe Reverb (70's Silverface) and it might need some tweaking or new tubes. It's very bright and boomy and missing some "sag" in the tone. I think that is limiting my ability to play with nuance a bit.
• String action: Somebody mentioned that the strings might be too low and the pickups too high. I think they were right. I raised the action and lowered the pickups, and that helped. I think I was getting some string buzz and the crystal clear pickups were picking that up and amplifying it.
• Frets: The guitar has big high frets. At least it looks/feels that way to me. That makes it easier to bend notes, but I think it can also make the guitar sound a little less "woody" -- unless I adjust my playing a bit and "dig in" a little more. I just need to adjust the way I'm playing it.
• Overall voicing/tone of the guitar: The overall sound/voicing of the guitar is a bit different than the vintage tone I am used on my Les Pauls. Somebody mentioned that the McCarty pickups of this era were sort of 80's sounding. I grew up with a lot of 80's music and that helped me to think about the cool possibilities that the guitar's tone offers, rather than thinking about the supposed limitations of the tone (e.g. not as vintage sounding as a Les Paul).

Thanks to your help, I am now seeing the guitar differently and finding ways to enjoy the tone and possibilities it offers!

 

[David O'Brien]

By the way, I had to open up one of the pickup cavities because I lowered one of the pickups too far and the screw unthreaded from the pickup. I confirmed that the pickups are in fact "McCarty" pickups (or at least the bridge pickup - and I have no reason to believe the neck is different, the guitar is totally stock and I bought it brand new). The pickup is labeled "McCarty Treble" on the back. Also interesting to see how many quality checks they did with all the initials!, just inside one pickup cavity alone! Also there is a bar code inside, just for the pickup or pickup cavity? One other observation - the inside of the guitar is very heavily lacquered. That is different from Gibsons and fenders which tend to be totally unfinished on the inside. I wonder if that impacts the tone some.

 

[Rhythmisking]

David, as an 'old guy' with lots of guitars, there's something I've come to realize that I think is really important. Guitars are a lot like people. If you have a band and you change personnel; a new singer for example, things are going to go badly if you expect the new singer to do things the same way the old singer did. On the other hand, if the new singer is good and talented, they will bring a whole host of new qualities in to the band for you to utilize and take advantage of IF you listen to them and allow their strengths to be showcased.

I switch guitars around a lot. If I mostly play one guitar that I really dig for a while, and then switch to another one, I'm going to play it like I was playing the previous one, and there will be a lot that 'isn't quite right'. I've learned it's really important for me to listen to the new one for a bit before I can begin to really play it -and by "play" it I mean play with it -like dancing with it. It's obvious if I've been playing something Les Paul-ish and switch to something Strat-like that I wouldn't do things in the same way and expect the same results. But with guitars that are more similar to each other, it's even more important to really listen deeply for a few minutes to hear how it speaks; how it responds as I play it to be able play it in the way that will bring out it's strengths. Compared to most other lines of guitars, PRS guitars are perhaps less idiosyncratic because they are so well made that many of the design imperfections which add what some people might think of as 'character' to other guitars are absent. In reality, this simply equates to a different character, and as you said, this equates to a more pure instrument that will translate what you are doing with it more accurately than some.

I takes me a couple of minutes of playing; even with guitars that I know really well but haven't played in a while, to re-acquaint myself with their voice by really listening as I play for the first couple minutes. It's only by doing this that the guitar suggests things to me, and I learn what it likes and what makes it sing.

Just my .02¢

 

[Herr Squid]

All the action goes on in the neck pickup cavity. That barcode (aka MODCAT) contains the specs for the guitar and that's where people sign off various checks.

Those McCarty pickups were PRS's first advertised attempt at "vintage" tone, but they fell short in a lot of peoples' minds. It was the 57/08 and then the 58/15 pickups that really turned the corner to vintage tone, at least in the customers' eyes. In fact don't have stock pickups in any of my pre-2008 core-series PRS guitars -- I upgraded 'em all. I don't care if they sound "vintage" so much as I care whether they sound good.

 

[David O'Brien]

I think this is excellent advice, and very insightful:

David, as an 'old guy' with lots of guitars, there's something I've come to realize that I think is really important. Guitars are a lot like people. If you have a band and you change personnel; a new singer for example, things are going to go badly if you expect the new singer to do things the same way the old singer did. On the other hand, if the new singer is good and talented, they will bring a whole host of new qualities in to the band for you to utilize and take advantage of IF you listen to them and allow their strengths to be showcased.

I switch guitars around a lot. If I mostly play one guitar that I really dig for a while, and then switch to another one, I'm going to play it like I was playing the previous one, and there will be a lot that 'isn't quite right'. I've learned it's really important for me to listen to the new one for a bit before I can begin to really play it -and by "play" it I mean play with it -like dancing with it. It's obvious if I've been playing something Les Paul-ish and switch to something Strat-like that I wouldn't do things in the same way and expect the same results. But with guitars that are more similar to each other, it's even more important to really listen deeply for a few minutes to hear how it speaks; how it responds as I play it to be able play it in the way that will bring out it's strengths. Compared to most other lines of guitars, PRS guitars are perhaps less idiosyncratic because they are so well made that many of the design imperfections which add what some people might think of as 'character' to other guitars are absent. In reality, this simply equates to a different character, and as you said, this equates to a more pure instrument that will translate what you are doing with it more accurately than some.

I takes me a couple of minutes of playing; even with guitars that I know really well but haven't played in a while, to re-acquaint myself with their voice by really listening as I play for the first couple minutes. It's only by doing this that the guitar suggests things to me, and I learn what it likes and what makes it sing.

Just my .02¢

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

One other observation - the inside of the guitar is very heavily lacquered. That is different from Gibsons and fenders which tend to be totally unfinished on the inside. I wonder if that impacts the tone some.

 

[Tahlee]

I think that you may find ways to enjoy the tones for now, but ultimately you’ll still be missing what you want to hear. So, I still vote for a pickup swap. It will turn an amazing guitar into the best guitar ever because it will give you the vintage tone that you want. I have a McCarty with the new PRS vintage pickups and it sounds really great.

Oh, I’d also recommend 50’s wiring with new pots and caps. You can’t buy the new PRS pickups, or else I’d buy like a dozen sets of them, but there are so many amazing pickup choices out there. People love the PRS 57/08 set, but I’ve never tried them.

I have a set of Seymour Duncan Bonamassa Amos pickups that I am crazy about. So much that I just ordered a second set to have on hand, since they are limited and I will eventually use them in something special. They are hotter than pure vintage PAFs, but that’s just one example. There are soooo many great pickups to choose from.

 

[Rhythmisking]

Of the guitars I have, many of them have had their pickups swapped out, sometimes just to have different sounds; I have three Strats and four Teles which sound quite different from each other, and I like all of them. So far my PRS all have their original pups, but down the road who knows...

Sometimes a guitar is great in all other regards, but the there's some quality in the tone that just bugs me, and almost always a pickup swap fixes it. I have one guitar, a really unusual Ibanez, that I've probably had four different sets of really good pickups in trying to get rid of a super annoying upper mid peak that seemed to always come through no matter what I did. I came to think it's the actual guitar itself, that there's something in the design that is producing and reinforcing this harsh upper mid harmonic in the tone. I finally found a set that mostly minimizes it. I'm sure no one else hears it, but since I know it's there, I can still hear it but it's more tolerable.

I keep that guitar because it's unique and beautiful and plays really nice, and now it sounds 'ok' to me, but there's no way it would ever be one of my main guitars because that tiny little cat-in-heat is still in there, even though it's been moved a few blocks further away now.

 

[OGORMANIA]

Pickup height is a massive factor. Having just spent the passed week fine tuning pickup heights on my SE's, I can tell you PRS pickups are very sensitive to the smallest of turns. I found an 1/8 of a rotation can be the different between sweet and wolfy.

I'd recommend making sure your pickups start at spec heights. Then try lowering or raising them to your taste.

Go slow, like I said, 1/8 of a turn will make a difference.

 

[David O'Brien]

Original product specs card for the guitar: https://flic.kr/p/2jsiUbc
Bridge pickup cavity: https://flic.kr/p/2jsePLu
Back of bridge pickup: https://flic.kr/p/2jsjubm

 

[Ironwolf]

It's definitely the pickups, I also think you should upgrade the bridge, as I have learned the one piece nonadjustable stop tail creates A Slight slurry Tone effect.
I have a 2009 limited edition Ted DC 245. I've transformed it into the best guitar I've ever owned.
Factory set up was nice, The 5708's were good And really found them to be pretty nice, except I found a Pearly Gates swap exposed the 5708's Weakness they can have flubby power chords.
I've also owned about 20 Gibson Les Paul's many years ago, I went down the PAF rabbit hole. Experimenting with about 20 different sets. Alnico II is susceptible to flubbiness. Alnico 5, can get too Harsh. I've always struggled I can get the top 3 strings dialed in control harshness, then the bottom 3 strings are then flubby unsatisfying. Get the bottom 3 strings tight and great then the top 3 strings cut your throat with harshness.
After 15 years I finally tried the bareknuckle mule, alnico IV magnets, it was life-changing for me, finally all 6 strings, Sounded the way they're supposed to sound, crisp even tone. on every string, harmonics are available, the fantastic blooming harmonics on power chords is astounding in my opinion. I was also stupidly only putting PRS pickups in the PRS guitars.... finally put the bareknuckle mules in that McCarty, it's the Les Paul I've been looking for for 15 years, The bareknuckle mules are 1 of the highest rated, highly reviewed PAF's, very few haters. The only reason I didn't try them earlier was in the past it took 3 weeks to ship from the UK. But now you can get them overnighted.

Here it is in stockArrival, good, Very good...... but I was with you, why don't I like the sound of it?

I also had a core Mira for several years, I upgraded to the Mann made 2300 bridge, I sold that one because the neck didn't fit my hand just didn't quite fit. So I started looking at other stop tail wraparound bridge.

So the 2nd piece of the puzzle is the John Mann, mann-made bridge 2300, The individual saddles isolate the strings to keep it from getting blurry tone wise.
It's an automatic upgrade for many of the folks here. PRS's is equally good individual brass saddles intonatable, . So those are my recommendations bareknuckle pickups alnico IV,
I also decided on the uncovered versions, I did put them in other guitars, and I like the extra crisp attack with no cover,
it actually will transform the guitar, (new bridge and new Bare Knuckles) I've let a couple of friends play it the sustain is simply astounding with the new bridge everybody now wants that guitar from me. It's also part of Ted McCarty and Paul DNA in the guitar, It's an extremely high quality guitar,

You can save it

 

[dogrocketp]

While I used an adjustable bridge on the 24.5 PRS I used to own, I’ve experimented with both types on my 25” scale guitars. I find the one piece to be fine on a 25” scale length with 9 gauge strings on it. The adjustable on another guitar did not alter the tone as much as it did on the 24.5”. So I’ve come to the conclusion that string gauge and scale length have a big part in the effect on a particular guitar. That’s without thinking about wood, tuners, and all the other factors. Not to mention how much mojo was added at the factory.

 

[bodia]

It's definitely the pickups, I also think you should upgrade the bridge, as I have learned the one piece nonadjustable stop tail creates A Slight slurry Tone effect.
I have a 2009 limited edition Ted DC 245. I've transformed it into the best guitar I've ever owned.
Factory set up was nice, The 5708's were good And really found them to be pretty nice, except I found a Pearly Gates swap exposed the 5708's Weakness they can have flubby power chords.
I've also owned about 20 Gibson Les Paul's many years ago, I went down the PAF rabbit hole. Experimenting with about 20 different sets. Alnico II is susceptible to flubbiness. Alnico 5, can get too Harsh. I've always struggled I can get the top 3 strings dialed in control harshness, then the bottom 3 strings are then flubby unsatisfying. Get the bottom 3 strings tight and great then the top 3 strings cut your throat with harshness.
After 15 years I finally tried the bareknuckle mule, alnico IV magnets, it was life-changing for me, finally all 6 strings, Sounded the way they're supposed to sound, crisp even tone. on every string, harmonics are available, the fantastic blooming harmonics on power chords is astounding in my opinion. I was also stupidly only putting PRS pickups in the PRS guitars.... finally put the bareknuckle mules in that McCarty, it's the Les Paul I've been looking for for 15 years, The bareknuckle mules are 1 of the highest rated, highly reviewed PAF's, very few haters. The only reason I didn't try them earlier was in the past it took 3 weeks to ship from the UK. But now you can get them overnighted.

Here it is in stockArrival, good, Very good...... but I was with you, why don't I like the sound of it?

I also had a core Mira for several years, I upgraded to the Mann made 2300 bridge, I sold that one because the neck didn't fit my hand just didn't quite fit. So I started looking at other stop tail wraparound bridge.

So the 2nd piece of the puzzle is the John Mann, mann-made bridge 2300, The individual saddles isolate the strings to keep it from getting blurry tone wise.
It's an automatic upgrade for many of the folks here. PRS's is equally good individual brass saddles intonatable, . So those are my recommendations bareknuckle pickups alnico IV,
I also decided on the uncovered versions, I did put them in other guitars, and I like the extra crisp attack with no cover,
it actually will transform the guitar, (new bridge and new Bare Knuckles) I've let a couple of friends play it the sustain is simply astounding with the new bridge everybody now wants that guitar from me. It's also part of Ted McCarty and Paul DNA in the guitar, It's an extremely high quality guitar,

You can save it

Love that Ted!

 

[John Mann]

B-)

 

[RedGuitars]

57/08’s

 

[PRSnewb]

I'm looking forward to the responses you get on this. I'm certain I'm going to learn something and be entertained. In the meantime, I can't add much except to say I have a 2006 McCarty and I personally love the sound (opinion) . I've played it through a bunch of amps and it always sounds like itself. Very rich, warm tone. I especially like the bridge PU

I've never played a really nice Les Paul but I've heard them many times and the tone is usually great. Here is the thing that always gets me about Les Paul discussions:
("hard to keep in tune")
I hear it all the time WTF. ??? Not knocking Gibson per se but really - won't stay in tune???

I've had 3 PRS guitars (the McCarty and Two SE's) and they almost Never go out of tune.
I'd have to love the sound a feel of a guitar one hell of a lot to put up with "hard to keep in tune".

One more thing - the best sounding guitar I've ever heard (my opinion) is the McCarty 594. Those pickups sound as good as any LP I've heard

Ive never understood this. I have 3 les Paul’s, all with different tuners, all stay in tune perfectly.

I would suggest these people need a legit pro setup, or maybe just some nut sauce?