Watch It First
The 594 in the name is the scale length in inches: 24.594. Yes, PRS named a guitar after three decimal places. That tells you most of what you need to know about the company.
It also tells you what this guitar is chasing. That scale sits almost exactly where a vintage Gibson lands, and the whole McCarty 594 concept is PRS building their version of a late-fifties Les Paul without saying so out loud.
The SE version brings that idea down to a price that normal people can actually reach. The question is how much got lost in translation.
That Scale Length Is Not Marketing Nonsense
PRS normally uses 25 inches, which sits between Fender and Gibson and is part of why PRS guitars have their own recognisable snap.
The 594 drops to 625 mm (24.594 in), and it genuinely changes the guitar. Lower tension, softer attack, more bloom on sustained notes. Bends feel easy in that specifically Gibson-ish way.
Play it back to back with the SE Custom 24 and the difference is immediate. The Custom 24 is bright and modern. The 594 is thicker and older-sounding.
Pattern Vintage Neck
The Pattern Vintage profile is a wide, fairly deep neck with a soft shoulder. Not a baseball bat, but a long way from the thin necks on most modern guitars.
If you have spent years on slim profiles it will take a session or two. Once your hand adjusts, chording feels more solid and your fretting hand fatigues less.
The 254 mm (10 inch) fingerboard radius is a sensible middle ground – comfortable for chords, flat enough that high bends do not choke.
The 58/15 LT S Pickups
These are the SE version of PRS 58/15 LT humbuckers and they are the reason this guitar punches so far above where it sits.
Both are low-turn designs, meaning fewer winds and a clearer, more open sound than a typical hot humbucker. Think articulate rather than aggressive.
The bridge has genuine bite without harshness. The neck is warm and woody and does that thing where every note in a chord stays audible instead of blurring together.
Four Knobs And Two Push/Pulls
You get two volumes and two tones, both tone controls with push/pull coil taps. That is a lot of wiring on an SE-priced guitar.
Tap the bridge and you get a convincing single-coil snap. Tap the neck and you land somewhere close to a warm Strat neck position.
Combined with independent volumes you can get properly deep into blend territory. Bridge tapped plus neck full is a fantastic sound that most guitars simply cannot make.
Build And Hardware
The PRS two-piece bridge is the detail people skip past. It is a wraparound-style design with individually adjustable saddles, so you get the mass and sustain of a wraparound with proper intonation.
Combined with the glued-in mahogany neck and the maple top over a mahogany body, it resonates unplugged in a way cheap guitars usually do not.
And you get bird inlays and a gig bag included, which is more than you can say for a lot of things at this money.
Honest Niggles
It is an SE, made in Indonesia, and there are places where that shows.
- The flamed maple is a veneer, not a solid carved top. It looks great but it is a photo, essentially.
- Weight – these are not light. A heavy mahogany body plus a wraparound bridge adds up over a three-hour gig.
- The Pattern Vintage neck is divisive. Try one before committing if you are used to thin profiles.
- Nut work is fine but not exceptional. A proper setup makes a bigger difference here than on a core PRS.
- Only the tone knobs are push/pull, so you cannot tap both pickups independently of the tone setting.
Nothing on that list is a reason not to buy it. They are just the things nobody mentions in the ads.
Who Is It For?
Players who want Les Paul territory but find actual Les Pauls either too expensive or too inconsistent. This is the pragmatic route to that sound.
It is also a superb one-guitar setup for anyone doing covers, function work or session bits. The coil taps mean you can fake a single-coil sound convincingly enough for most gigs.
Against the SE CE 24 it is warmer and more traditional. Against the SE Paul Guitar it is simpler and more focused. Against a Gibson Les Paul Modern Studio it is a fraction of the price and honestly not a fraction of the guitar.
Specs at a Glance
- Body: Mahogany with maple top and flamed maple veneer
- Neck: Mahogany, glued in, Pattern Vintage profile
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with bird inlays, 254 mm (10 in) radius
- Frets: 22, 42.9 mm nut width
- Scale: 625 mm (24.594 in)
- Pickups: 2 x PRS 58/15 LT S humbuckers
- Controls: 2 volume, 2 tone with push/pull coil taps, 3-way switch
- Bridge: PRS two-piece adjustable
- Tuners: PRS vintage style, nickel hardware
- Finish: Black Gold Sunburst, gig bag included
Living With It: A Few Practical Notes
The two-piece bridge is brilliant but it needs a moment of attention when you first get the guitar. Intonation is set with a small screwdriver from the back of the saddles, and factory setups are usually close rather than perfect.
PRS ships these with .009s, which on a 24.594 inch scale feels very slack indeed. Going up to .010s tightens the whole instrument and suits the vintage voicing far better. That is a personal thing, but I would be surprised if you disagreed after a week.
Worth mentioning too: the coil taps sound noticeably better through a clean amp than through heavy gain, where they can get thin. If you want tapped humbuckers that survive high gain, something like the SE Custom 24-08 handles it better, and it is worth a look alongside my wider PRS roundup if you are still deciding.
Final Verdict
The SE McCarty 594 is the most convincing vintage-flavoured guitar PRS has ever made at this price, and it is not particularly close.
The scale length, the low-turn pickups and the two-piece bridge all pull in the same direction, and the result is a guitar that sounds older and more expensive than it has any right to.
The veneer top and the weight are the honest compromises. Neither one affects how it plays or sounds.
If you have been circling PRS but always found them a bit too glassy and modern, this is the one that will change your mind. Go and play one – just be prepared to not put it down. lol
