McCarty 594
- PRS Two-Piece Bridge & Tweaked Phase III Tuners
- 58/15 LT Pickups
- Versatile Control Layout w/ Coil Splits
Vintage Heart with Modern Playability
The McCarty 594 is a vintage-inspired instrument that is at once incredibly familiar and effortlessly playable. Whether you are looking for rich, authentic, vintage humbucking tones or nuanced, sweet singlecoil sounds, the McCarty 594 can seamlessly master both sonic territories thanks to the 58/15 LT pickups and push/pull coil taps on the tone controls. The electronics layout, a few key specifications, and PRS craftsmanship combine in the McCarty 594 to create an instrument that plays in tune, is intonated the entire length of the neck, and feels like a guitar that you’ve been playing forever.
A few key specifications that contribute to the McCarty 594’s tone and feel are:
- A 24.594” scale length, just slightly longer than 24.5” and where the model gets its name.
- 58/15 LT pickups. LT, meaning low turns, which give the guitar a warm, clear tone.
- 2 volume and 2 tone controls positioned so players can roll off both volume knobs at the same time.
- The added versatility of push/pull coil taps for each pickup for more tonal options
- A Pattern Vintage neck carve, which shares the same width measurements as PRS’s Pattern neck but is slightly thicker front to back and features an asymmetrical carve with a little less meat on the treble side and a little more meat on the bass side of the neck.
- Tweaked Phase III tuners have an added set screw that pulls the tuner’s gear and worm together (while “locking” over the worm to prevent slipping) to promote tone transfer from the string directly into the guitar with as little energy as possible being detracted. (The tuner functions identically to standard Phase III tuners for re-stringing. Set screws must NOT be adjusted outside of the PRS factory. Making any adjustments to this feature may cause the tuner to stop functioning properly.)
"The 594 is the best new guitar I've played in years. It has a vintage heart and soul but without the technical limitations that usually come along with an old instrument. What good is an old guitar if you can't get all that feel out of the upper frets, or the intonation is off? To hear that old PAF sound but be able to articulate the notes in a way that only modern manufacturing could allow is so exciting." – John Mayer
"I think a lot of people know PRS as a company that is looking to history, innovating, and improving all at the same time. The McCarty 594 is a great example of that culture. I believe it to be a great musical instrument… quality, playability and tone. It is also, as the ad says, subtly very different. When we were developing the 594, we examined everything: the scale length, the tuners, the bridge materials, the nut material, the pickups, the neck shape...... every piece of this instrument was designed to be exactly what we thought it needed to be to add up to the best instrument we could make. The final guitar, in my experience, is more than the sum of its parts. My hope is it is a source of joy and real musicality for everyone who picks one up. So far, it seems to be doing its job in that regard" – Paul Reed Smith
Photos
View our gallery of McCarty 594 images
Videos
Learn more about the McCarty 594
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You asked, we answered! Introducing the Core McCarty 594
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Simon McBride tests out the Core McCarty 594
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The PRS McCarty 594
Specifications
Body
| Top Wood | Carved Figured Maple |
| Back Wood | Mahogany |
Neck
| Number of Frets | 22 |
| Scale Length | 24.594" |
| Neck Wood | Mahogany |
| Neck Shape | Pattern Vintage |
| Fretboard Wood | Rosewood with Faux Bone Binding |
| Fretboard Inlay | Birds |
Hardware
| Bridge | PRS Two-Piece, Cast Zinc |
| Tuners | Phase III Locking Tuners |
| Hardware Type | Nickel |
Electronics
| Treble Pickup | 58/15 LT Treble |
| Bass Pickup | 58/15 LT Bass |
| Controls | Two Volume and Two Push/Pull Tone Controls with 3-Way Toggle Pickup Switch on Upper Bout |
| Strings | 10's |
Options
| Option | 10-Top Maple (Defaults To Hybrid Hardware) |
Available Colors
The McCarty 594 is available in the following colors:
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Antique White
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Aquamarine
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Black
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Black Gold Burst
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Blood Orange
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Charcoal Burst
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Charcoal Cherry Burst
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Emerald
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Faded Whale Blue
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Fire Red Burst
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Gold Top
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Gray Black
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McCarty Sunburst
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McCarty Tobacco Sunburst
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Orange Tiger
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Trampas Green
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Violet
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Violet Blue Burst
Artist Package
The McCarty 594 is available with the PRS Artist Package.
The PRS Artist Package program is an exclusive platform for PRS Core guitars that offers upgraded and expanded options to enhance and further personalize your instrument. Artist Package instruments represent the most distinctive pieces available from the PRS Core production line.
| Top Wood | Artist Grade Flame Maple |
| Back Wood | Select Mahogany |
| Neck Wood | Select Mahogany |
| Neck Profile | Pattern Vintage |
| Optional Neck Wood | Artist Grade Figured Maple or East Indian Rosewood |
| Fretboard Wood | Artist Grade Gaboon Ebony |
| Fretboard Inlays | Old School Paua |
| Headstock | Gaboon Ebony Headstock Veneer with Inlaid Green Abalone Signature |
| Optional Artist Grade Fretboard & Veneer | Figured Maple (Maple Neck Only) or Brazilian Rosewood (USA only) |
| Bridge | PRS Two-Piece Bridge |
| Hardware Type | Gold, Hybrid or Nickel |
| Pickups | 57/08 Covered or Uncovered, 59/09 Uncovered, \ m / Uncovered, HFS & Vintage Bass, 58/15 or 85/15 |
Available Artist Package Colors
- Aquamarine
- Autumn Sky
- Black Cherry*
- Black Gold Burst
- Blue Green
- Blood Orange
- Blue Crab Blue
- Blue Fade
- Blue Matteo
- Bonnie Pink*
- Burnt Orange
- Charcoal Burst
- Copperhead
- Dark Cherry Sunburst
- Eriza Verde
- Faded Blue Burst
- Faded Blue Jean
- Faded Grey Black
- Faded Vintage Yellow
- Faded Evergreen
- Faded Whale Blue*
- Fire Red Burst
- Gray Black
- Jade
- Livingston Lemondrop
- Leprechaun Tooth
- Mash Green
- Makena Blue
- McCarty Sunburst
- McCarty Tobacco Sunburst
- Natural
- Obsidian
- Orange Tiger
- Purple Mist
- River Blue
- Santana Yellow
- Slate Blue
- Tortoise Shell
- Trampas Green
- Vintage Sunburst
- Violet
- Violin Amber Sunburst
- Whale Blue
- Yellow Tiger
*Also available with natural back
Design & Build Philosophies
PRS Core instruments are the heart of PRS. Since 1985, we have been driven by quality, innovation, and the industry’s rich heritage to deliver products with uncompromised tone, playability, and beauty. Every piece and every process is important to the finished instrument, so we take great care every step of the way to ensure you are getting our best.
Wood is the foundation of every PRS instrument, so great care is taken in sourcing, cutting, drying, and grading each species of timber used.
Neck shapes are paramount to the connection a player feels the moment he or she picks up a guitar. PRS neck shapes are designed for comfort, playability, and stability, so that feeling lasts a lifetime.
Stain and finish should do more than help a guitar look good; they should feel good and maximize tone as well. So while PRS is synonymous with beautiful, richly detailed stains, paints, and finishes, the goal is always to use a thin, clear, and hard finish that is durable and does not deaden the instrument’s natural tone and resonance.
The bridge is the anchor of the guitar. All PRS bridges are designed to maximize the transfer of the strings’ vibration into the guitar body while providing excellent intonation and functionality.
PRS Phase III tuners are designed to maximize the transfer of the strings’ vibration into the guitar while providing excellent tuning precision and stability via the easy to use locking system.
As one of the three main contact points of the strings, the nut is essential to the guitar’s tone. PRS uses a proprietary nut material, designed to maximize the guitar’s tonal resonance. PRS nut placement is compensated to provide accurate intonation across the fretboard. All PRS nuts are hand-filed for precise fit and superior playability.
A pickup is a transducer that captures the mechanical vibration of a string and converts it into an electrical current. Every component (wire, magnet, bobbin, slugs, etc) affects the sound and interacts differently with instruments and amps, which is why we design and build many distinct pickup models. Nearly all Private Stock and Core pickups are designed and built in our Stevensville, Maryland factory.
PRS uses nickel silver fret material for durability and tone. In general, PRS fret wire height has been specified to provide a good platform for both chord/rhythm playing and string bends/lead techniques. PRS fret wire width and hardness is specified to minimize wear, maximize fret life, and support the tone of the instrument. All PRS frets are glued in place to avoid raised or popped frets and are leveled, radiused, and crowned giving the guitar amazing comfort and playability.
The final instrument reflects all of the thought, work, and passion that are put into every step of the building process. If all the details are cared for, a guitar can be much more than the sum of its parts.
Accolades
"The 594 is the best new guitar I've played in years. It has a vintage heart and soul but without the technical limitations that usually come along with an old instrument. What good is an old guitar if you can't get all that feel out of the upper frets, or the intonation is off? To hear that old PAF sound but be able to articulate the notes in a way that only modern manufacturing could allow is so exciting."
- John Mayer
"It's engineered beautifully and really lives up to the idea of getting the best attributes of an old instrument, I love the two volume/two tone layout, while still keeping the overall feel of a PRS. The pickups sound great and really have the vibe of old PAF's that aren't wound too hot."
- Jimmy Herring, Widespread Panic
"I could go on and on about how fabulous this thing sounds, how beautifully it plays and intonates, the exquisite workmanship, etc. Instead let me just say that I’ve played a lot of guitars in general and PRS guitars in particular...and this is one of the finest instruments I have ever encountered."
- Guitar Player
"The new McCarty 594 is extremely versatile. With individual volume, tone and coil tap pulls I’m able to create a wide enough variety of tones that it has minimized my guitar changes on this year’s Toby Keith Interstates & Tailgates tour to almost none!"
- Rich Eckhardt, Toby Keith
"So... you guys knocked this one out of the park. It’s... kinda freaking me out a bit. Causing me to re-think my touring set and I have only been playing it for two hours. I am not really sure what to say, I have two “Holy Grail” guitars that do most of my heavy lifting in the set, but this one is going to be banging it’s head to work its way in. I am a bit stunned. The 594 sounded like a good concept on paper, but....just wow. This is a killer."
- - John Wesley Dearth, Porcupine Tree
A wide selection of PRS guitars are available for purchase from the following PRS Signature Dealers:
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