GEAR REVIEW
PAUL REED SMITH MCCARTY 594 HOLLOWBODY II | Jeffrey B. Scott
KEY FEATURES
• Fully-hollow construction
• Pattern Vintage neck shape for easy
playability
• 24.594” Scale Length
• Versatile switching
stage lighting. The carved figured maple top me wrong; it's still very capable of full-on rock
and back truly stand out. Let's face it, we tones, but there is a subtle shift to the sound
all want a good-looking guitar, and this one that feels woody and multi-faceted. I was able
qualifies with flying colors! to use the guitar on two separate occasions:
one plugged into a Matchless DC30 and the
The neck is a Pattern Vintage neck shape, other into my PRS Sweet 16. Both setups
with faux bone binding on a rosewood board. performed admirably! The character of the
The "pattern" designation means the back of guitar shines through in excellent backed-off
the neck changes shape slightly as you move clean tones as well as thick, rich overdrives.
The very first Paul Reed Smith guitar I ever toward the bridge, unlike vintage instruments Clean settings can get you into jazzy darkness
played was a Hollowbody II, one of the lightest, that stay relatively the same throughout the if you want to go there, and overdriven tones
best-sounding guitars I had ever played to that length of the neck. This makes for a very are big and gutsy, but never overly bright.
point of my musical career. And one of the comfortable playing experience across the first PRS guitars I ever owned was a McCarty entire neck because the pattern adjusts for The control section gives you a pair of volume
model. So to say I was excited about this the way you would normally grip the guitar as and tone knobs for each pickup, plus each
hybrid of these two influential guitars is a huge you move around the fretboard. For me, it is tone knob has a push-pull coil tap. With single-
understatement! Let's dive into our first look at imperceptible, I just know it feels great! coil tones at the ready, this gives you up to 9
this beautiful instrument. Sonically, there is a lot to love about this different combinations of pickup selections
guitar. The body is fully-hollow construction from which to choose. Talk about versatility! My
To begin with, the finish on this guitar is with figured maple on the top and back and a favorite setting to play was with the selector in
fantastic, like all PRS finishes I've encountered. mahogany middle, which all comes together the middle position, the volume rolled back on
The Trampas Green on the review guitar was nicely with the 58/15 LT pickups to create a the treble side and the neck pickup coil tapped.
immaculate and presented beautifully under cool open character to the sound. Don't get A perfect tone for a song like "So Will I."
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May 2019
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