The PRS SE McCarty 594 actually surprised me.

[@paressehylton]

Seriously i love this guy’s demos

[@AudiomoMusic]

You are wayyy to kind but I appreciate it

[@nicfabrizio1776]

I agree you can feel the honesty and genuine love of guitar here

[@paressehylton]

@@nicfabrizio1776 exactly!!! And no big brands sponsorship, interference and whatnot.

[@guitareveryone]

I’ve owned a PRS SE 594 double cutaway for about a year now. It’s a great guitar. I like the fatter neck and I like the pickups too. In fact I bought a PRS SE Swamp Ash Special just after buying the 594 and really like that one too.

[@AudiomoMusic]

I’ve never tried any version of the SaS, how does the neck on that feel compared to this one?

[@guitareveryone]

@@AudiomoMusic the SAS has the the wide thin shape neck. It feels great to me, especially for those that don’t like the LP chunkier neck style that the SE 594 has. It’s also a satin finish neck that feels faster to play. The pickups are nice and bright on the SAS too. Both different guitars but very nice. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the unique switching tones. They are OK but I would prefer to reach for a Strat for the 2 or 4 position tones. However they are interesting tones, just not my cup of tea so I tend to use the more standard tones in that guitar. If you can get the chance definitely try one out!

[@robbolandsvids]

Mine arrived this afternoon, I'm very happy ! Setup is great, other than needing the usual truss rod adjustments, due to the unusual weather systems in my house. As you mentioned, having individual tone/volume/coil splits, gives this guitar a ton of sound options to play with. and the neck isn't that far away from my 2001 SE Santana, so no great shock, it makes the whole guitar feel really solid, and is fast and smooth, (like me, hahaha). I am a big fan of SE's, (I now have 5, including my acoustic parlour guitar), I can see this one getting a ton of use, really versatile and that short scale length makes it a blast to play. Nice !

[@AudiomoMusic]

Well done Robbo, did ya get the red one? Happy you added another one of those great instruments

[@changestrangers]

Nice to see PRS are doing some good work in their SE line. Nothing wrong with the pickups to these ears!

[@AudiomoMusic]

All about the amp and the right hand, you can do a lot if you invest in those two things 😀

[@S.Lang7]

Great guitar, great video! Thanks !

[@AudiomoMusic]

I liked it a lot more than I was expecting to and am kinda sad to see it go haha

[@pedroeguren7112]

I have two PRS SEs SC. I love them both. One of them is MII and the other one MIK. I was ready to replace the pickups in the Korean one as soon as I got it, but I was pleasantly surprised and decided to leave them both. Great guitars!

[@robbolandsvids]

Great review Jim. I'm seriously considering buying one of these, I have the same pickups in my SE Hollowbody Piezo, but without the coil split and only a single tone control, so I think I can justify the purchase, hahaha. We'll see.... Cheers, Robbo.

[@AudiomoMusic]

I really like it a lot, them being on sale for 15% off certainly ups the temptation a bit

[@elevenAD]

im such a sucker for split middle position tones on a PRS, love the tones you were getting with the partial split and the higher gain stuff sounds great❤

[@AudiomoMusic]

I didn’t realize I missed it on the Alt-T until I had this guitar to mess with. You do get a few split tones with it but they are both predetermined and no mix or matching

[@chrispygingerpie]

I got a great deal on one of these last month, I wanted the double cut, but now I’m not disappointed. I thought I wouldn’t like the thicker body but it has never bothered me… to my surprise. I think the 58/15 LT S pickups are some of the best import pickups I’ve heard. All my other import guitars I’ve upgraded the pickups fairly quickly, but I don’t feel like I need to with these. If I do it’ll likely be to some Bare Knuckles or USA PRS 58/15 LT.

[@DrTomoculus]

I'm just thankful it doesn't have orange knobs. 4:47 - 4:55 awesome finale ;)

[@AudiomoMusic]

This would look pretty strange with orange knobs haha... appreciate it that was a fun one to write for this segment

[@robbolandsvids]

Latest news : Mine arrives tomorrow. It's brand new, but one of the 'Standard' models, from before the 2025 update, so all specs are the same, except it's a solid Mahogany body, no Maple cap or pretty veneer, but still should look good in the Vintage Cherry finish. I got it at a sale price of £549, ($712), saving £150 on list price. At that price, it seemed rude not to ! Cheers, Robbo.

[@AudiomoMusic]

todays the day Rob.... let me know when you get it and what you think about it??

[@andrewkillom5623]

I’ve got that one and I love it! Looks great and sounds great! I did change out the pickups for some Lindy Fralin Unbucker’s and I gotta say they’re ridiculously good. The stock pickups were great but Lindy knows how to make pickups!

[@AudiomoMusic]

@andrewkillom5623 you picked one of the best possible set of pickups for this guitar, well done.

[@MashaT22]

My friend got this model, but the prior second version before the new colors were released this year. She upgraded to the $500 58-15 LT pickups (more on that below). We never heard the guitar with the original pickups because she had a guitar tech install them. However, I can tell you this: I know what you’re talking about with the “wimpy” part. The pickups sound gorgeous, but sometimes they don’t have that bite. So I suggested exactly what you said - we used a Boss SD-1 as a boost, and voila, problem solved. It’s not a “problem” with the pickups like some people say. They are amazing. However, you need to understand that pickups will have different characteristics. The 58-15 S pickups and the more expensive 58-15 LT are meant to sound like vintage pickups from around 1958. They aren’t going to have that added bite like pickups from other eras. I always recommend that if someone is looking for a PRS pickup with more bite, they should get an SE model that comes stock with the 85-15 LT S or upgrade to the $500 85-15 LT, which are designed to sound more like a pickup with more grit like those that were popular around 1985. Several years ago, Jeremy Shepard aka Jeremy The Guitar Hunter got a PRS SE guitar that had stock 85-15 S. I can’t recall which model it was off the top of my head, but it might have been the DGT SE. I was a bit surprised that he got that model at all because he’s not a player who would be looking for more gain or grit (though he used to love punk when he was in college). He mostly plays acoustic guitar with a smattering of electric guitars that generally have vintage sounding pickups. As I watched the video, I was not shocked when he revealed that he didn’t like the stock 85/15 S pickups. He thought he’d do better by upgrading to the $500 85/15 LT. I was not surprised to learn that he didn’t like those either. He was hoping for the creamy PRS clean tones with some occasional light stubbly hair on it that people associate with most PRS guitars. What was Jeremy describing? The 58/15 S or 58/15 LT pickups. I told him so much in the comments at the time, but he had already sold the guitar before perhaps giving the more appropriate pickups a try for his desired tonal characteristics. He clearly didn’t know the difference between the pickups that PRS makes and that getting the more expensive 85/15 LT was just going to be a more refined version of what he already didn’t like about the 85/15 S. I think Jeremy would have either loved the DGT with the 58/15 S pickups. He also could have gone all out to get the $500 LT version of 58/15, but I don’t even think he would have needed to spend the $500 to be happy with the tone from the SE version. He could have also just sold the DGT and the expensive pickups and gotten a stock SE that had the 58/15 S, whether it was the McCarty 594 or something else. So why did my friend upgrade to the $500 58/15 LT if I’m saying the stock pickups probably would have been great too? Because I won them for free as part of a prize and gifted them to her as a way to say thanks for always being such a good friend (I’ve been very ill and permanently disabled for 21 years). I heard she was going to buy the SE, so I let her have most of the stuff that came with the prize pack being that I can’t afford to buy a cheap crappy guitar to upgrade myself. She does let me borrow her guitars when she’s in town visiting her family. She brings me 1 or 2 to play with, and then by the time she comes back for the next visit, I make sure to clean, setup, and restring whatever I borrowed so they are ready for her to bring back home and rock with. So by giving her the pickups and the tuners mentioned below that I won as a prize, we both benefit from enjoying them . . . and she also got something a little extra special as a gift that she wouldn’t have normally bothered to spend money to upgrade. My friend also upgraded to the PRS locking tuners. One thing we didn’t like: we didn’t know that new screw holes would have to be made in the headstock to have those installed. You’d think that PRS would have designed them to align with their SE guitars too. It was upsetting when she got the guitar and saw the extra holes being that nobody from Sweetwater pointed out that this would be necessary before doing the upgrade - and it didn’t say anything about this on PRS’s own product pages/literature. My friend got over it, but nobody wants to get jarred by seeing extra holes in a brand new guitar that they didn’t know would have to be made. The PRS locking tuners do work great at the end of the day, and that’s all that mattered in the end. But for all the thought PRA puts into their guitars and parts, this feels like an unfortunate oversight and unnecessary to have people put extra holes in their headstocks. PRS really needs to make the SE tuners install with the same screw hole configuration as their US line, or produce locking tuner upgrades that are as good as the US version except that they are made with the SE screw hole configuration. It might even be nice if they could make a cosmetic adapter kit for people who already had to make holes so they can be attached onto the locking tuners and hide the extra holes. My friend’s SE doesn’t have any issues with the knobs. The switch is really solid feeling, but it unfortunately has a loud clicking noise as you described - occasionally the clicks can be heard when manipulated depending on the volume of the music. However, we found an easy solution. It helped to open the cavity and spray a teeny amount of DeOxit, followed by a small thin dab of MusicNomad’s TuneIt lubricant, onto the ball bearing of the switch. I stress that less is more, so use both as sparingly as possible. These lubricants helped reduce the clicky sounds and made the switch feel smoother overall. I wouldn’t suggest using any lubricants like WD-40 that are thick and/or may leave a sticky/tacky residue because they will make the switch worse rather than better. The McCarty 594 really is a great guitar. It looks great and is very comfortable to play. I was worried the neck might be too chunky for my girly hands with short, stubby fingers, but it’s quite comfortable. The neck plays like butter. It truly is a great value. Like anything else, you need to understand what you’re buying first before blaming the company for making something “bad” - and I’d argue that the majority of people complain about the pickups either having too much grit or not enough. Assuming you got the right pickups and features for your needs, I really don’t think you can go wrong with buying ANY of the SE models. Especially now that they offer some models at $400-ish, and you can get used models for a fraction of the original price, these guitars are a no-brainer. Just do your homework first to understand the differences in the necks, pickups, bridges, etc. Try them at a shop if possible, and if not, check the policy for returns and exchanges by mail.

[@johnjoy1318]

SE series really is the best bang for your buck guitar.

[@AudiomoMusic]

In the USA it’s really tough to beat.

[@timothy5974]

Great review here. I own a single cut and just received an order of PRs American knobs. Hope this helps pulling the coil splits.

[@AudiomoMusic]

Please report back to let me know how they work out for you

[@chrispygingerpie]

Did it help? Also interested!

[@aaron22778]

I own a double cut McCarty se and I upgraded to the American knobs. They help for the coil splitting and look way better. Highly recommend.

[@aaron22778]

One of my pots loosened up when I changed the knobs but it was an easy fix by GC technician.

[@tomasodriziola]

Very clever key change and out of the box diminished chord inclusion towards the end of the first clip. Any guitar will sound good when you play like this!

[@AudiomoMusic]

i'm glad you noticed that, old secondary dominant tricks work very well

[@skye7690]

6:51 !

[@IanNorsworthy]

Definitely looks like the fixes are cheap and the overall guitar is pretty damn good which makes it a viable option for many - sounded good as well!

[@AudiomoMusic]

It was a bit of a surprise if I’m honest but I think the thing people get wrong with PRS are expecting to sound like a Les Paul. The Tokai friggin nails that but the PRS is just its own thing ya know?

[@IanNorsworthy]

@ absolutely. I think what PRS does well is super playable guitars with humbuckers that are often ‘clear’ and there’s pros and cons to that (especially if you’re after the les Paul sound) but tbf pickups aren’t that big a deal to change either if someone loves everything about the instrument except that

[@ggreloaded5269]

I have a core model double cut, I brought up the treble and lowered the bass a bit on my amp, I crank it a bit with the tone knob down to like 6 in the neck position and I swear it brought tears to my eyes. Sounds sooo damnnn good! Sounded better my Gibson r8 I used to own. Only other guitar that sounds a tad bit better to me is my dgt but they are close

[@AudiomoMusic]

I've been playing a lot of PRS lately, and I think the DC 594 is the one I'll end up with. It feels much closer to me despite the scale length being the same as the SC 594 because of the design but I immediately felt right at home when I sat with one. Only a matter of time and yeah we live once might as well get a core right?

[@adamaday2484]

Hi Jim, thanks for the review. Thought you weren’t happy with the GnB pickups in your S2 594 and S2 custom 24 before. What changed?

[@AudiomoMusic]

I wasn’t. One thing that changed that’s absolutely worth noting is - the amp. Using a 5 watt amp with almost no headroom and humbuckers meant I could never get the sort of cleans I wanted, not just with those. I still don’t think these are even close to the 58-15 US pickups that came in my core McCarty, but I don’t think they are atrocious either.

[@AudiomoMusic]

Also these guitars cost under a grand and the S2's cost double that so I suppose I expected more from PRS in that sense, that always rubbed me the wrong way.

[@adamaday2484]

@@AudiomoMusic thanks for the explanation. My sentiments exactly. Swapped out the stock pickups to Suhr Thornbuckers on my S2 594 as well. Drastic improvement.

[@Lordofmrak]

I would love to see what you think about PRS DGT SE.

[@AudiomoMusic]

I would love to try one at some point. I liked this guitar so much I did end up getting a PRS for myself but it was not a SE DGT.

[@skye7690]

Can you review the NF3?

[@AudiomoMusic]

i'd love to, but unless PRS or one of my friends wants to buy one then lend it to me to review it I don't make nearly enough on here to justify buying a guitar just to review it

[@skye7690]

@ Gotcha, I think big things are in your future, your reviews are really quality.

[@CraigFlowersMusic]

Pickups sound undeniably great, but I'm gushing over the amp. That doesn't sound like a Vintage 30 or an Eminence Z or a Blue or a G12H anniversary. I absolutely love it lol I'm curious though, since you have the same taste in amps and guitars and pedals, but your right hand is great and mine sucks, what kind of picks you use? I've been in the pick rabbithole for a while, and I'm still drowning in them. Dunlop 206 set being delivered Monday, ultex flow 2.0 feels great but I prefer the sound of dunlop jazztone but their flow shape is too big, got some 205s in but they're tiny, even smaller than j3 so idk, on and on it goes. If only my wegen twins 2.5 didn't sound like cat yakk on some guitars.

[@AudiomoMusic]

The Z is indeed the key to all of this gear wise, technique is always the most important thing. This one has the stock Z speaker in it, never considered switching it. I could talk about picks all day because there is only one brand I’ve used since I started and it was a complete accident - I’ve used the Dave Control original greens since the 90’s and I’ve NEVER considered switching. They have enough flex to help me with dynamics, last forever, feel great, and I don’t ever lose grip when I start sweating.

[@CraigFlowersMusic]

@@AudiomoMusic Ok, took me a minute to find them because I was trying to search for "dave" lol They remind me of Hercos but less acute tip. I'm into really thick picks right now, 2-3mm. And the instant I tried a flow-shaped pick, I became faster. It's not just the sharp tip, it's the wider angle. But you flat pick, and I do a range from flat to 45 degree and everything in between depending what I'm going for. Which means the angle and tip likely don't matter to you, whereas to me I need zero flex, a wide angle, a sharp tip, AND by some minor miracle not a dull sound. I guess I'm asking for too much lol

[@TheOrchardParkBand]

Yes sounds good but a-lot of this sound is your dr z amp. That adds to it significantly and pushes it over top. I would bet you old mccarty would sound even better with that amp.

[@AudiomoMusic]

Oh 100%. For me it’s worth having one outrageously good amp because it doesn’t matter what guitar you play through it, it will sound great if YOU play well.

[@redcomn]

It sound dang good It’s just the neck is dang big

[@AudiomoMusic]

it's not for everyone, but i hated bigger necks for the majority of my guitar playing life until a few years ago now i greatly prefer them to thin necks

[@roofkorean6948]

I almost got one but I got a good deal on a Epiphone '59 Les Paul on Reverb so I went with that. Don't get me wrong, it's a great guitar and sounds like you'd expect, but part of me wishes I would've gotten the SE 594 singlecut for a few reasons. The looks (I like the turquoise one personally), split coil options, flawless fretwork and overall build quality. The '59 Epiphone does what you'd expect, but it has some flaws and sort of feels like a cheap chinese toy that's going to fall apart randomly one day. I own a SE Swamp Ash Special, SE CE24, and a 2008 (or 2009 maybe) Korean Custom 22 SE and all of them are what you'd expect from PRS so I feel confident that a McCarty 594 SE would be great too. I only wish the SE Singlecut McCartys had more options like one with a Trremolo (other than the Tremonti signature) and maybe one with a piezo system. I have an Alex Lifeson Epiphone Les Paul with a piezo system but I'm always afraid to play it for fear that I might accidentally damage it lol. I guess I could get the PRS SE Hollowbody Piezo but I'd prefer a singlecut style one.

[@AudiomoMusic]

Your last sentence of the first paragraph is why you never see any new epiphones on this channel - period. They do not feel like quality instruments at any price to me, regardless of whether they are the entry level ones or the higher priced ones. You're right about them doing "the sound" but the feel is something you have to live with and honestly Gibson does this on purpose so you'll eventually end up with an American one that feels right.

[@roofkorean6948]

​@@AudiomoMusic I agree 100% that Gibson does it on purpose. I honestly hate them as a company. I just needed the classic LP sound for my studio so I was willing to compromise a bit and not get an actual made in USA Gibson LP, but I can't stress enough how cheap and low quality the Chinese Epiphone feels. I should've went with the Gibson Tribute at the very least but it's whatever at this point. At least the Chinese '59 has USA pickups which is what I tell myself to help me sleep at night. I'll probably get a SE 594 Singlecut in the near future. When I buy from PRS, I always buy new because I know what I'm getting and I love the company. When I buy an Epiphone/Gibson, I always buy used because I hate the company even though I prefer to buy "new" guitars. I'll never buy anything new from them because I don't want to support them lol, and that's coming from someone who pretty much always buy guitars "new".

[@AudiomoMusic]

@roofkorean6948 I feel the exact same way about Fender. Not getting another dime new from me. Should check out other brands like Tokai, the LP I have from them puts every Gibson I’ve ever had to shame except the custom shop and this particular Tokai is priced where modern china epiphones are. It’s remarkable how good Japan does it given the prices.

[@cageliner]

People order a guitar costing $1000s and buy new hardware before playing the guitar. A cheap guitar can be a worthwhile mod platform; when I bought my blowout P-90 Tribute, I knew I was going to put minis in it as more of an aesthetic thing, and I had never owned a guitar with minis.I at least played my pawnshop Squier Bullet over months before replacing the cheap humbucker with a Gibson P-90. There's nothing wrong with how the SE McCarty 594 sounds, for sure. One thumb up! 😀

[@AudiomoMusic]

Yep, just needs a bit better pots and a switch and the thing would really be as close to perfect as could be expected at this price. I've also done the same thing with hardware in the past hahah

[@kurt6738]

I Have this guitar in blue i regret buying it I looks great but it just feels like a cheap guitar i have upgraded the pick ups to sd jb and jazz gotoh looking tuners Bone nut Professional set up Put 11 gauge strings on which was the best improvment Still can't conect with se mccarty I have many guitars in this price range and cheaper that are great Every time I pick it up I feel disappointed with it Should also add mine came with a high fret And when my Luther changed the plastic nut he found there was a void under it the nut was not in proper contact with the neck that needed a wood shelf epoxy in to get the nut to seat properly

[@AudiomoMusic]

The S2 line feels significantly better to play, but the problem with the SEs are you can do everything you did to improve the stability and sound but the feel is going to remain pretty much the same no matter how it sounds and if you don’t like it then there’s no point

[@adilsonobelard9690]

Who ask you kkkkkkkkk

[@AudiomoMusic]

A surprising amount of people the last two years.

[@iancurrie8844]

I have one. It's a total piece of garbage. It might be the worst guitar I've ever owned. I can go into detail after my coffee.

[@AudiomoMusic]

I believe it, nobody in this country bats 1000 the only place I trust for that is Japan