The PRS SE McCarty 594 Guitar 

It is truly a golden age. If you adjust backwards for inflation, for some of us old folks, these things actually are entry-priced. But they are, I don't know, a thousand times better than entry-level guitars in the 80's, for instance.

I’ve never seen anyone break guitars down this in depth, we’ll done! Glad I found you.

The SE 594 is the guitar I'm more excited for over the SE DGT! Thicker body and neck, and non-trem are the bonus points for me.

Nothing beats these videos for a great mix of spec breakdown and feels/sounds. Thank you Phil!

This is one of the most detailed tests I have ever seen and thank you SO MUCH for explaining the coil-split with the resistors. Great content!

One of the biggest things I've noticed from trying out PRS guitars at different stores is they're ready to play right out of the box. In other words no setup necessary. I can't say that about ANY other brand.

Hi Phil, you are nailing these Deep Dive reviews. They are so comprehensive. You are taking your time to explain every aspect of the instrument from a luthier & players point of view. Keep up the good work. Thanks so much & Cheers ✌️🎸

I’ve had this guitar for six months now and it is simply incredible. My first experience with a PRS was only last year when I tested a previous generation Paul’s guitar SE at a “Music Go Round”. I knew immediately as I played it then and there that the guitar was a far better fit for me than my Mexican STRAT HSS. When I saved up enough I ordered this McCarty SE from Sweetwater and let me tell you this guitar really does have some magic to it.

I just got my 594 today. It's my first PRS and I'm blown away. This is the best new guitar I've purchased in a very long time.

Beautifully done! Thank you !

Mr. McKight, you sir are not only an Army Brother, but a very thorough guitar breakdown specialist. I absolutely love your channel Brother.

I really like the way you do these deep dives! Very comprehensible and useful!

Really enjoying these deep dives on the new PRS SE's. I know there's probably a risk of too many all at once, but I'd love to see a deep dive for the new Mark Holcomb.

That's amazing! Very detailed information. Good to know. And a great video too, thanks for sharing 🤘

GREAT REVIEW ! I was on the fence, but now I'm writing the check. Thanks for all your time and professionalism.

And 9 months later, I have to eat my words. The PRS SE McCarty .594 singlecut standard in vintage cherry for $629 was too good to pass up. Scored a 7lb. 12oz. beauty from Sweetwater with very even grain patterns front and back. Sure it needs Gotoh tuners and all the electronics upgraded. But the pickups are killer, and with Schaller straplocks and Gator deluxe TSA chainsaw case I'm only into it $975! That's actually one of my cheapest guitars, but the average person would never know by looking at it. Great value, especially after some simple upgrades.

Aloha Phil, after viewing your awesome deep dives numerous times. I went and ordered a SE 594 so far so good,. It came with pretty high action with some string tension. Anyway I grew up learning guitar in the 60s there was no info at all. In the few years of viewing "Know Your Gear" I've learned more than I did through the whole 1960's. I'm in my 70's now and never thought I could get excited again geeking out on my gear. Mahalo for taking the time to show me the what, with what, where and how.

I own several PRS SE guitars. I recently played one of these and was impressed with the feel and sound.

Can't get over how nice this guitar is! It's a fantastic playing and sounding instrament. The neck shape is LP like; very comfy. I have the vintage finished one, it's lightweight & a beautiful looking guitar. Kudos to PRS.

Es la mejor review de esta guitarra que encontré en todo RU-vid. Gracias!

Great review Phil, thanks. PRS SE are just getting better and better, I love them

WOW that single coil bridge tone absolutely slays. I could tell from with the helpless smile on your face that it inspired some real enthusiasm when you switched to it and went all Stevie for a second. This video really convinces me that the SE line has stepped up their game and I might consider this or the DGT. Whew, lad!

Like it's between a Strat and an SG. Awesome. PRS is a genius.

Wow they have really stepped up the SE. I have a core SC245. That tailpiece and bridge are genius. Takes 5 mins to change strings. Looks great. Love my PRS.

Is it just me or has PRS really blew up lately, even before the latest releases. The g.a.s. is really getting hard to ignore!

Good morning Phil. It's nice to see RU-vid content producers excited about what they're showing. You're obviously really excited about this guitar 🎸 and it really came through on your video I don't have a PRS but they are so much on my radar and your video just helps push that gold feather to its end. Thank you so much for all you do. I hope you have a great day.

Thank you for taking a few weeks to play a guitar and review it versus just doing it after having the guitar one day or so. Thanks! 🙂👍 Thanks for the honest and thorough review, also. 🙂👍

I ordered mine last night, you're making me feel really good about my purchase!

Thanx again for your review. I received my SE 594 today, still acclimating til tomorrow. 🤘🤓

Great video Phil! Thank you for sharing the locking tuner info.

That finish is spectacular and with all the appointments on the gat...as you say "shockingly close".

One of the best sounding demos I've heard you play !

Excellent video! I think I "need" one of these now.

I’ve always been a fender guy wanting to branch out into a PRS for a long time, this will finally be it, they absolutely killed it, blue ones mine!!

This PRS release has been the most exciting thing to happen in the guitar community for the past couple of years. Epic! Also, great videos as always, Phil!

Great review and great guitar, sounds fantastic. I just managed to pick up a SE 245 standard (single cut) brand new from Anderton's in the UK for £399 with free shipping, that is one hell of a guitar for that money. It's impeccably finished, with a super low action straight from the factory and I've had to change nothing on the setup. PRS are killing it on the SE range at the moment

Great job as usual Phil!!!!! Nice explanation on the resistor coil split work!! The toothpick trick was better than a lot of people do. Starting to look at PRS.

Man, this is a true dedication and another level of guitar review.

Great review. Made me feel better about me preordering the black gold burst one! Can’t wait til I finally get it in.

Love PRS or hate PRS - it's hard to deny they put out some simply beautiful guitars!

Good work!! You've really shown a lot in this review. I am thinking of getting the single cut version of this guitar. You've really made know that I would be making a good choice. Again, thank you for this breakdown video.

Awesome video very informative, i actually pre ordered a 10th anniversary s2 mcarty 594 here , with the LT usa pickups. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. I always wanted a prs. And watched a few vids and reviews on them , and fron what im hearing and seeing the quality is top notch! I watched your older vid on the core singlecut vs s2 mcarty and really helped me decide to grab the 10th anniversary s2 on pre order. Id love to see a review if u get one in , but only 1000 being made. 👊

I just ordered mine. I got the faded blue. Can’t wait to play it! This is my first PRS

Ive owned PRS before with very good coil splitting before but man, THAT guitars coil split is insane! It sounds properly good. Ive always dreamed of a 594, i guess i can finally pull the trigger on one now

Played the Singlecut Standard version (all mahogany) yesterday at a local shop. That guitar was phenomenal, almost took it home.

Awesome video. Thank you!!!

Thanks for such a outstanding, thorough review of this guitar.

I own this guitar in faded blue. This is one must have guitar. Well made and sounds sweet. I want the single cut version too.

I ordered a sunburst SE 594 a few days ago, it'll b my first PRS. Will have to wait a bit for it to arrive though. This vid was timely. Thanks Phil.

This is the guitar I have been waiting for so long and I can''t wait to have it! Time to save up a bit and get this great guitar

Wow, Phil's review here really did a great job in helping me to understand what differentiates this guitar from others. And I enjoyed his playing too . This goes on my short list for guitars to buy (when I can afford it ;(

Your playing has seriously improved over the last year, I may have to give the Tim Pierce course a shot. Great work man!

PRS SE guitars are amazing guitars. I have 2 and love them. They are work horses. It doesn't matter which model it is, they are worth the small investment.

These reviews are great PRS are just leaps and bounds ahead of their competitors

Played the PRS SE Singlecut version of this guitar yesterday in my local guitar shop…AMAZING! The neck feels very comfortable and does not feel like a ‘59 neck (I have a Biorn Gellote Epiphone that has the ‘59 neck profile). I don’t need this guitar but 10/10 would buy it regardless 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

S2 for Satin open-pore when available, Vela, Custom 22, Custom 24. The other S2 gig will be the 594 Thin and the large color options. But I hear you Phil.

Awesome review. Looks like a great guitar. The SE line is solid !

I got my PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut Standard last week. Also picked up the Kluson non-collared locking tuners that Phil mentioned. They fit perfectly and are MUCH better than the tuners that came with the guitar. Plays and sounds awesome!!!!

Wow! Such impressive performance and workmanship for under a grand. I really loved the DGT and the 594 SEs. To think you can get both for less than the price of one S2 boggles the mind.

Thank you for the review. It is rally helpful to understand the level of quality one should expect at a given price point. I have to say I returned 2 guitars in one store before I went to yet another store and bought a display model that had some minor scratches. I almost decided not to get the SE 594 double cut as it felt like Epiphone or Gretch electromagnetic had a better quality finish than the almost twice the price PRS. One had a missing screw on the back cover for the switch and the G string was impossible to tune. The other one had a really uneven fretboard side to the point you would describe it as bulging. It also had signs of what looked like rust on the frets closer to the body of the guitar. Not to mention that one of the dials came off when testing the coil split…. Absolutely horrible. I am no expert but the £400 guitars looked much better than those two examples priced at just over £800. Only when I went to another store did I find one that was ok and not falling apart in my hands. I still worry that something might start going wrong with the one I got. The other brands Made in China seem better, more consistent and more solid than this stuff made in Indonesia…..to me. Perhaps I was just unlucky and the guys at Andertons were trying to sell me some lemons they have not checked themselves.

Bought the S2 Smokeburst 594 and it just sounds so cool through My Marshall origin 20 and Peavey Valve King VK212 and Orange Crush 100! I am happy with this awesome middle ground of 594's!

Got mine on order! Same color! Same model! Awesome review!!

Another Great Video Phillip!! I wish they would bring out the Lefty Silver Sky, that would be a hot seller for us left out Lefties!

The thought of such a short scale and chunky neck sounds very unappealing, but I played one yesterday and it felt solid. Very resonate and comfortable to play.

I cant tell you how much I appreciate the profile measurements at the 1st and 12th. Its a deal maker or breaker for me. I like

Ah! The Geeky Stuff! Music to my ears. Thank you for the excellent analysis!

I've been waiting for this guitar. Hell yeah

Nice touch on the Give Me One Reason

Hi Phil, I want to add input on the "consistency" of PRS SE line. I bought a PRS SE single cut Macarty 594 on sale with the Blue top F year (2024 model) from GC a couple of days ago. Changed the strings, intonation was fine but it wouldn't play a D major chord in tune. Turns out the 2nd fret was high. Also the pups were like "meh", not so much. I exchanged it today for the same model Black Gold color E year (2023 model). The neck was great and, big surprise, the pickups were MUCH BETTER, hotter, brighter, and much clearer. This guitar has been in the store since October and was still pretty much flawless. Go figure. You never know where you are going to find a diamond in the rough. Thanks, you provide an awesome service. God bless.

Cool. Was hoping you had one of these

You are really making ideal guitar reviews as they should be, like a luthier checking the quality and craftsmanship of a guitar. And I really like to see your review on an Aristides guitar :)..

I tried one of these a week ago and the neck was too big for me. I just wish it had the thin and wide neck and would have wanted a short scale as I've been playing for 30 plus years with 25.5 scale guitars. I bought the PRS SE Customer Quilt. Love it.

Loved this video!! Geeky stuff FTW!

Thank you for this. I already ordered this same model/finish earlier in the week, hoping it would be as good as you indicated the DGT SE is. Now comes the hard part-waiting. Not sure what the ETA is. Some stores say three months. Mine said a few weeks…. Hope they weren’t snowing me, as they have my preorder money….

I am loving this guitar! The specs click in all of my boxes and I liked the pickups. I own a Gibson LPjr with the '59 neck shape, 💖 it. My wife will be mad but this one is coming home with me.

I have PRs se dgt birds McCarty tobacco sunburst I got some months ago and recently after a 9 months wait on an order got a prs dgt gold top with moons and the quality is amazing my next PRs will be this PRs se McCarty 594 hopefully soon such a value and quality for the price is hard to match

Looks like you are having fun playing that guitar.

I have been begging PRS to make a SE version for the past 3 years , I am grabbing one !

Awesome videos as always. Id love to see you compare the Singlecut 594.

I bought this guitar earlier this year-same finish. It’s beautiful and plays fantastically. But I didn’t like the pickups. Just put some Bare Knuckle Mules in it and now I absolutely love it. It’s now a $1300 guitar, and it plays and sounds better than my Gibson Les Paul Standard. I still love that LP, because it’s even more beautiful, far more iconic, and has nitro vs poly. But, the SE 594 is an amazing bargain, and as good as anyone ever needs.

Agree very much that your first take or even the first days with a guitar are NOT always representative of what your relationship and thoughts are going to be long term. I’ve got one in particular in my arsenal that I had buyers remorse at first but it became and still is my go to that puts a smile on my face everytime I pick it up. At first it wasn’t familiar so I didn’t understand what was great about it!

Phil if possible would love to see a deep dive for the PRs se singlecut 594 ! I’m thinking of getting the blue one

Another great review, Phil! Cheers

I love your S2 594 Review…i bought it, got Thornbuckers and Phase III Tuner on it…a beast! :-o now i‘m excited about the SE 594…please compare them both! 👏🏻

I love my PRS SE 24-08, but I like a slightly thinner neck. The Fender American Ultra Strat neck feels so good to me.

Great deal on an excellent guitar. My one thing I don't like about PRS is the headstock- looks great but not much room for a tuner and/or capo. Glad to see the tune-o-matic bridge- my olde SE has a bit of trouble with intonation.

Hey Phil I just want to point out that PRS offers locking vintage style tuners if you want to keep the prs aesthetic with the top locks but it’s pretty much the same as the options you listed

it kind of a guitar what does everytihing very outstanding....thanks for your presntation

PRS is the new future of outstanding guitars 🎸

Very good, thorough review, thanks. Just got myself a gorgeous Custom 24 but may get one of these as I fancy a hard tail. I think if I got one, I may adjust the resistors so they are split less as I think they sound a bit thin as they are. What value would you suggest as a compromise?

Just noticed you have a core Mira back there! That's what I'm playing while watching this! I did replace the pickups though.

I'm surprised how close they got the coloring and top curvature of the SE594 top to a core top. My Core SC594 (in my profile pic and on my page) has a similar color, and that SE594 is surprisingly pretty close. Not a fan of the SE594 knobs though, but they had to sacrifice in some areas obviously. I do think the SE may take sales away from the S2 lineup, but it is a good business decision. The S2 kind of has a weird looking top cut, and for the price of a new S2 594, you can easily get a very good used Core 594 for a few hundred dollars more off Reverb. And with a use Core 594, you're getting more guitar for only a few hundred dollars more.

Phillip - Love your thorough reviews! If you were to add treble bleeds to this guitar, what combination of Cap value and resistor value would you recommend?

Hey Phil, Love these in depth videos, can't find this detailed information anywhere else. As many I'm split between getting this SE McCarty and the DGT. How would you compare them, especially the sound of the pickups? Which one was your favourite? Many Thanks!!!

Awesome review, as always. Do you know if the specs (controls, wiring) for the Single Cut are the same?

Ok, now they need a satin neck version. That's the main thing I would still lean toward the S2 for at this point. And make an SE Vela!

Sounds great! Love the split tones too, which surprised me. Would have lived some high gain tones too. Maybe next time :)

I love the look of the 594 more than customs, gotta try one out if I can find it

Hi Phil! Thank you for your videos! Please append sustain measurement to your geeky staff! Also ease access to lower frets is very important. Thank you!

Always great review