My favorite thing about your videos, is your sheer joy in playing and talking about the instrument. Watching you play, makes me want to play more. Also, that PRS is pretty amazing...
Have missed the blog the last few weeks. That's why today thanks Tim! Your guest today hears the subtle differences. Did not think that Paul gets so close. As the holy grail sounds, you know best of all why today's contribution is really worth gold. Thank you so much!
Thank you Tim, that was fantastic. I had an older sister who loved Heart and she would let her little brother hang while she played dog & butterfly, etc. In ‘82 or ‘83 when I was around 13 I bought my first record, it was Heart. That record turned me onto guitar, I got my first guitar and learned most of the record by ear. Later I became a G Lynch and all things 80’s rock fanatic but Howard was the guy who wrote and played the stuff that made me pick up the guitar.
Hey Tim - I wanted to let you know that because of this video I went out and bought a brand new PRS McCarty 594 single cut 10-top from Sweetwater and I LOVE IT! Thank you for making this video. It’s the best guitar I’ve ever played and I can’t put it down. Cheers!
That was really enjoyable. It’s true that if you’re going to do a guitar comparison it should be done with the same set of hands as well. Great video, thanks Tim.
I owned a late 70's Les Paul Standard and had to sell it 20 years ago (sad face)! I started playing guitar again several years later and received a PRS Custom 24 from Paul and never looked back. I went into my local PRS and Gibson dealer last year and asked to look at a Les Paul 58 or 59 re-issue from the custom shop and a PRS Singlecut 594 to compare side by side. I never plugged either of the guitars into an amp and it was immediate. The PRS felt "right". Just the feel of the neck, it just fit. As much as I would love to have the Les Paul re-issue, my budget allowed for one really nice guitar, price was similar for both and I chose the PRS Singelcut 594 Wood Library Dark Cherry Burst. It was an easy decision! Thanks Tim for all of your wonderful, educational videos! You are the man!! Also many thanks to Paul Reed Smith!
Great video...and great to see Howard Leese. He mentioned Heart recorded in Canada...in fact, it was in Vancouver at Mushroom Studios...legendary. While they were there...and before they became uber-famous, Heart played at my high school!
I love both brands, but I hear something in the Les Paul that draws my heart every time. I can only describe it as a "meaty snarl" that others don't have.
Hey Tim, awesome playing in the video intro !! These '59 guitars still sound sooooo good. Also, I think it's time I invest in your guitar training programs! I'll never play like you, but hey, at least I'll have fun trying !!
Up around the 12th fret the 59 Les Paul was a Killer on the Bridge pick up. PRS makes some great sounding guitars, some of those could hold there own with the older Les Paul's.
I just picked up one of these. Holy wow. My old pre lawsuit single cut was my favorite guitar for years. This new McCarty 594 Single Cut beats it hands down. I can't put it down.
Howard, loved your work with Heart. Great video Tim, proves you can get the hypothetical sound of old Les Pauls without sacrificing your kid's college tuition.
That was great Tim, thanks a lot for this. What this tells all the normal people without monster bank accounts is that great tone is available for the masses. PRS for the win on this comparison.
Tim...man who never plays a wasted note...ever...it is like he is tracking a number one hit song every time he plays...the discipline and awareness is mentoring for every viewer who dares to learn
I have to agree. Gibson is stodgy and beautiful, Fender is stodgy and meh, but both are so afraid of losing a sale that they won't try to gain a sale with something fresh.
Awesome video! PRS is making some of the best guitars ever produced. I love my Custom 22 and will probably end up adding a 594 to the collection eventually. That said, I want to make a quick correction to Howard's comment on flame maple. The lines in the flame maple are not to be confused with tree rings. Tree rings are what indicate growth of the tree, while the flame maple is a distortion of the wood pattern caused by abnormal cells in the wood (possibly from disease like we see with birds eye maple).
3:08 "sounds pretty much identical". That is the perfect answer to the whole Burst-Hype from someone who can hear a burst every day in person...credible!
I remember Howard had another 59lp, that Phil x. Demo'ed on a fretted Americana video years ago. I think he called it, " the all seeing eye" cause the top wasn't book matched & there was a really cool spot on the top bout that looked like an eye. Sounded great too!
RU-vid is not a good place to test those kind of difference. The compression on their videos and everything makes it difficult. You can definitely hear a difference it guitars in person. Which one you like better is all you. But they ARE different. Now, that said, a mix also makes it impossible to tell. In person and solo is the only way you will really hear the difference. But the feel for the player is absolutely changing every time. Regardless of the setting.
Here's an interesting exercise: Close your eyes, listen during the intro, and then see if you can clearly say "that's the PRS or that's the LP" and get the correct answer every time. Being able to detect a tone difference is one thing, but being able to tell which is which without looking and doing so with 100% accuracy is another thing entirely. That's the real test. If a person can't pass that test, then whatever subtle difference there may be is ultimately academic. In other words, watching someone play a 59 LP might have a psychological effect that makes you think what you are hearing sounds "better". If you take away the visual part and do a blind A/B where you don't know which is which, then it's really a fair competition.
Tim, thank you. You are so inspiring. To me, both of these guitars sound close enough to make it no contest. The real question for the everyday user is which one is easier to play?
This was an awesome video..who says "they" don't make them like they used to! Looks like PRS is making them as good or even better! Have been tempted to get a Santana model but might just have to take a look at this one! 😎🎸
Whichever you prefer (based on look, history, feel etc) I think the video makes the point well. These guitars sound great. I thought the 59 was the softest of them all, and the double cut McCarty the most cutting . For me, based on sound, I’d go for the latter and based on my past playing experiences I’d guess the PRS will function flawlessly (pots, bridge, intonation, frets etc). Maybe of them all, the gold top les paul was the one that struck me as the most all round great sounding but honestly the difference between them all was at the margin and other factors would likely tip the balance one way or the other
I always told myself that I only need one single electric guitar until I can prove (To myself) that I should get another. This is the first guitar, the PRS, that I have seen that I will put on my list for "someday."
I would think by now they would offer individual pole piece gain profiles with adjustments and presets. I have a design for a fully self tuning system for electric guitars having a core servo control system at the bridge, loaded with additional string, combined in a neck assembly to which various tail, sides, and neck cap/Body pieces moulded and locked in place around the core Autotune/Select Tune/ string management assembly. What do you think? The head stock would have conical angled holes with stainless inserts for hidden string lock in the head stock. Tuner-less.
Hi Tim ! Awesome videos man!!! You play a great rock guitar! I haven't heard your rock guitar epiphany moment yet. For me it was Jimmy Page solo Whole Lotta Love that did it ! I like Robin Trower a lot. Good guitar lessons on him are few and far between . A great Tim Pierce Guitar lesson featuring Trower would be a real treat ! Peace , Bob
Been playing guitar for thirty years, and recently bumped into an old friend and it was him that said i would learn a lot quicker if I added strings lol.
I started playing guitar at 55 yoa. I'm presently 63 and I'm looking at buying my "Dream" production guitar. I'm more of traditional Gibby camp and I'm looking at the '58 reissues. I like just about everything about the feel and the tone of the '58s I've tried but I struggle with the binding bleed on them. I get it, they are trying to look authentic. I have not been able to play a singlecut 594. Ihave not found one within 250 miles. I have played a doublecut. I liked it a lot but want to try a singlecut. I felt the double was slightly "brighter" than the singlecut. Would that be correct. This was very helpful. Thank you both.
I was at Santa Fe Sound Recording Studios on Saturday the 19th. Here in the Land of 'Re-mixed' Enchantment. I asked and they said, ' yes, you had recorded there. That helped their cred. '
Really nice tonal improvement to the 594. I thought the original 594 pickups had a little too much bottom end and lacked some “bite”. Gotta get me one of these new PRS’s
