#7007 – PRS McCarty 594 Hollowbody 11 – McCarty Tobacco Sunburst

£3999

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Overview : –  In so many ways, the PRS McCarty 594 Hollowbody 11 has my name on it – For the style of music I like to play it is just perfect – Cross between JJ Cale, Pete Green, BB King, 40’s/50’s swing jazz blues and a very poor mans Robben Ford/Larry Carlton, or Steely Dan – It is more of a 335 than a traditional archtop – Yet it is more hollowbody archtop than a 335 – So yes it covers both bases as it sits somewhere between the two classic models – Although as an overview I’d still say it leans more to the tonal qualities of a 335 , especially on clean amp settings, or when you set up the amp with less gain – Whilst it can rock out if required, I don’t expect to see anyone buying such a guitar to work in a Metallica style band – If you’ve played a PRS Hollowbody, then the 594 Hollowbody, shares many of the same features – Albeit no piezo on the 594 – Gibson-esq 24.594″ scale length on the 594 – Very effective coil tap option on the 594  – Slightly more meat on the neck on the 594

I’ve now sold new and used PRS Guitars for well over 35 years and some may recall  that it was only a few years ago that Guitars4You were amongst the UK’s leading stockists – I still retain a good relationship with the UK team and we speak on a fairly regular basis – Such chats often update me with regards to  the odd B stock grade guitar that is available for me to buy – Some are ex-display, following various guitar shows and/or evening clinics – Some are ex product review models, from say Guitarist Magazine – Some just have a subtle finish blemish – But all are offered to me with a more favourable price tag – Hence my acquisition of this new PRS McCarty 594 Holowbody 11, with a traditional McCarty Tobacco Sunburst finish – Complete with the deluxe PRS case and relevant tag – Shows a date of birth as Feb 2020  – Following a detailed tour of the shiny nitro gloss finish I found signs of hairline lacquer checking, to the top surface of the finish, around the f-hole and volume pots    – The 594 has spent some time on my bench for my usual evaluation, a new set of strings (10-46) and to fine tune the set-up – So a new PRS at a far more favourable price

Host of product details for this PRS McCarty 594 Hollowbody 11  : – 

Feel/playability :- Always a hard topic to chat about, other than via your own thoughts – In many ways, you’ll judge the feel of a guitar based on what is familiar to you – So with that in mind, then here are my views – Despite many of my favourite players favouring various Gibson Guitars, I have never really bonded with them  – Yes I can play them, but they always feel ‘awkward’ and not so easy to handle – As such, I tend to have to accept that in order to play say an LP, or 335, I have to play within my own ‘limited’ ability – Hence many Gibson Guitars don’t allow me to bring out the best of my technique/ability – No matter how good or bad that is – I can’t explain why that is the case  but it is – Take into account this is based on buying/selling such guitars for well over  45 years  – However I can play a PRS based LP and find them so much more ‘user friendly’ – Is this the neck profile, fret size, fingerboard radius, all the above or even other reasons ?? – Don’t over analyse it, just play it and accept you like it or you don’t – The pattern vintage neck profile is a tad more meaty than most PRS Guitars you might have played in the past – But equally it is a tad slimmer than the Custom Shop Historic Replicas like an R7, R8 and R9 – Tad is key in both instances, yet it is amazing how such a small difference means you favour one model over an other – The 594 retains the 10″ fingerboard radius which is almost par for the course on most PRS Guitars – The frets on the SC594 are slightly less ‘chunky’ than many PRS players are used to, so more akin to a vintage/jumbo size – So a tad less width and height – Yet still bigger than vintage size – As such they are still easy to pull off those big blues bends – Add the legendary PRS build quality and attention to detail, with regard to build quality and you’ll find the 594 is an easy guitar to handle , across the full length of the 22 fret fingerboard – Only a light touch is required to show of a few cascading licks ‘n’ tricks – Yet you can still dig in and lay into a few big moody blues bends as required – Maybe a combination of a precision cut top nut,  quality fret work including the profile and impeccably polished, but the whole guitar sounds more in tune – Even when playing more complex’ jazz flavoured chords further up the fingerboard

Tonal character : –  Before I go any further then check out the PRS web site page for the 594 Hollowbody – Click here – And as you scan down the page you’ll find a youtube video clip of the 594 in action – As I mentioned at the start of this evaluation, that the 594 Hollowbody possesses more 335 qualities than a traditional archtop guitar – Yet equally it is less ‘fat/moody’ than a 335, hence more articulation, yet always warm and lush – As an overview, it will be more at home when played through an amp setting with less gain and/or a cleaner voice – It can perform with a hi-gain amp  set-up, but I suspect you won’t find many players taking you up this option – It is there if required, but you probably already own a solid bodied guitar that covers such styles – Roll back the tone pot, as required, for a darker jazz flavoured voice – But with the tone pots on 10, you’ll find clear expressive tones – Set-up the amp with some gain, now play around with the volume pots – The taper of the pots will allow you to now control the gain , so with the pots on/around 6 or 7, you’ll experience a cleaner voice – Now roll them back towards 10 for more gain – Hence no shortage of expression at your finger tips – Ideal for the cleaner rock/blues tones of say Pete Green and BB King – As well as the jazz/swing, blues and rock n roll tones of the 40’s and 50’s – Or indeed JJ Cale, Steely Dan and Robben Ford  etc  – In a modern covers pop style band you’ll find it nice and versatile – Even more so when you utilise the coil tap options – No humbucker will ever deliver the classic single coil tones of say SRV – But these tones are not your usual weedy single coil voices – They are effective and useful if you need to delve into Chic style funky/disco chops  – Again they tend to be more effective on clean amp settings, or with less gain – The 594 Hollowbody is not a replacement for a 335, but if somehow the 335 doesn’t quite work for you, then check out the 594 – For me it possesses the potential to be my main guitar

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Guitars4You is not another corporate high street guitar store - My selection of premium grade guitars is about quality not quantity. Every guitar has been selected, inspected and approved by me, with particular attention to the set-up and playing performance. Every sale, phone call, email and mail order transaction is handled by me. A journey that is now over 40 years old, has fuelled my knowledge, experience, love, devotion and passion for exceptionally fine guitars.