PRS S2 McCarty 594: Vintage Tone, Built in Maryland, Half the Price

Carlos Santana, Mark Tremonti, John Mayer, Orianthi, David Grissom are the five names PRS’s generic artist roster attaches to nearly every model in the catalog. When this site covered the flagship Core McCarty 594, the real story turned out to be more nuanced: David Grissom and John Mayer have genuine, documented ties to the 594 platform specifically, while Santana and Orianthi belong to different corners of the PRS catalog, and the strongest single connection is Joe Walsh’s own McCarty 594 Singlecut signature model. None of that history, however, is specific to the S2 version covered here. As with the other S2 and SE variants in this catalog, the celebrity connections belong to the Core guitar, not this one — and the S2 McCarty 594’s real pitch is a different kind of story entirely.

The Guitar That Slashed Its Own Price by Half

The McCarty 594 debuted in PRS’s Core range in 2016, chasing the vintage Gibson-style tone and feel more directly than any other model in the modern PRS catalog — named for its 24.594-inch scale length, a deliberate nod to the slightly-shorter-than-24.75-inch scale Gibson used during its “golden era” of guitar building. At launch, it carried a price well north of $3,500, putting it out of reach for most working musicians despite widespread praise from reviewers and players alike.

That changed at NAMM 2020, when PRS unveiled a trio of S2 McCarty 594 models — a Doublecut, a Singlecut, and a Thinline — that brought the platform’s core recipe down to roughly half the Core price. The launch made a strong enough impression that MusicRadar named the trio its standout guitars of the entire show, praising PRS for bringing genuinely boutique-level quality within reach of far more players. Guitar World’s review echoed the sentiment, scoring all three variants 9 out of 10 and noting that none of them played or sounded “cheap” despite the dramatic price cut.

The scale-length naming convention itself tells part of the story of what PRS was chasing with the 594 platform. PRS’s standard scale length across most of its catalog — the Custom 24, the CE 24, Paul’s Guitar — is 25 inches, positioned deliberately between Gibson’s 24.75-inch and Fender’s 25.5-inch industry standards. The 594’s 24.594-inch scale moves in the opposite direction, edging even shorter than Gibson’s own vintage-era spec, and combined with the platform’s PAF-adjacent pickup voicing and thicker vintage-carved neck, it represents PRS’s most direct attempt yet to capture the feel and tone territory Gibson has occupied since the 1950s — without simply copying a Les Paul outright. Bringing that specific, carefully targeted recipe down to an S2 price point in 2020 was a bigger technical and manufacturing achievement than it might appear at first glance, since it meant replicating subtle details of neck carve and bridge mounting that are easy to specify on paper but difficult to reproduce consistently at scale.

Three Body Shapes, One Vintage Recipe

Unlike most S2 models, which mirror a single Core counterpart, the S2 McCarty 594 line launched with three distinct body variations, each targeting a different kind of player:

• S2 McCarty 594 (Doublecut): The standard McCarty double-cutaway shape, maple top over mahogany body, PRS’s most direct translation of the Core recipe.
• S2 McCarty Singlecut 594: A single-cutaway variant with a body 3mm deeper than the Doublecut, shifting the mahogany-to-maple ratio and adding roughly half a pound of weight — a deliberate move toward Les Paul-style heft and sustain.
• S2 McCarty Thinline 594: An all-mahogany body with no maple cap at all, chamfered edges, and no control recesses — a lighter, more resonant take that reviewers have specifically compared to Gibson’s SG format. At roughly 6.4 pounds, it’s dramatically lighter than either sibling.

All three share the same electronics architecture, neck construction, and scale length, meaning the choice between them comes down almost entirely to body feel, weight, and how much maple-top brightness a player wants layered over the mahogany foundation — the Doublecut splitting the difference, the Singlecut leaning warmer and heavier, and the Thinline leaning brighter, lighter, and more resonant despite having no maple at all.

Full Specifications

The 2024 Upgrade: Closing the Gap With Core

For most of the S2 McCarty 594’s history, its 58/15 “S” pickups were a strong but not identical stand-in for the Core guitar’s USA-wound units. That changed in 2024, when PRS updated the entire S2 line — including the McCarty 594 family — to use the same 58/15 LT pickups wound in Maryland alongside the Core and Private Stock lines, rather than a separately sourced “S” variant. Reviewers testing the updated models specifically noted the change as a meaningful step-up, closing much of the remaining tonal gap between the S2 and Core versions of the same guitar. Equipboard’s aggregated owner feedback has gone further, with some S2 owners describing the single-piece mahogany body and direct bridge mounting as rivaling guitars costing twice as much.

The bridge mounting detail is worth calling out specifically: the S2 McCarty 594 uses the same direct-to-body bridge mounting as the Core guitar, rather than the bushing-mounted hardware found on the SE version — a structural detail that affects sustain and resonance more than most cosmetic differences between the tiers.

Construction & Tone

The McCarty 594 platform as a whole is PRS’s most deliberately vintage-leaning design, and the S2 versions inherit that character directly. The bound Pattern Vintage neck carries a noticeably thicker back profile than PRS’s Custom 24 or CE 24 necks, aimed at players who want a fuller handful reminiscent of late-1950s Gibson necks rather than PRS’s thinner, more modern carves. Combined with the shorter 24.594″ scale length, the result is a slinkier string feel than PRS’s standard 25″ scale guitars, with a touch less string tension that many players find easier for wide bends and vibrato.

Tonally, reviewers and owners alike consistently describe the 594 recipe as PRS’s closest approach to a classic PAF-humbucker Gibson tone — full-bodied and warm in humbucking mode, with clearer top-end articulation than most vintage-style Gibson instruments thanks to PRS’s inherently tighter, more controlled low end. The coil-split mode, activated via push/pull tone controls, produces genuinely usable single-coil tones rather than a thin afterthought, a detail PRS’s 58/15 pickup design specifically targets across the entire McCarty 594 range regardless of manufacturing tier.

Between the three S2 body shapes, the tonal differences are audible but not drastic. The Thinline’s absence of a maple cap gives it a slightly airier, more open midrange with less top-end sparkle than its maple-topped siblings, while the Singlecut’s added body depth contributes a touch more low-end weight and sustain. The standard Doublecut sits squarely between the two, offering the platform’s most balanced, “default” 594 voice.

The bound neck binding itself is a detail worth dwelling on, since it’s unusual to find on a guitar in this price bracket. Binding — the strip of material wrapped around the edge of the neck and fretboard — is traditionally associated with higher-end, more labor-intensive instruments, and PRS’s decision to carry it over from the Core McCarty 594 onto the S2 version signals how seriously the company treats the S2 line internally, rather than positioning it as a stripped-down afterthought. Combined with the direct body-mounted bridge hardware shared with the Core guitar, these are structural and cosmetic choices that go beyond what’s typical for a mid-tier instrument, and they’re a large part of why reviewers have consistently described the S2 McCarty 594 as punching well above its price class rather than simply being “good for the money.”

Famous Players: A Story That Belongs to a Different Model

As with the S2 Custom 24 covered elsewhere in this catalog, no widely documented touring artist is associated specifically with the S2 McCarty 594. The platform’s genuine famous-player history belongs to the Core guitar: David Grissom, whose work shaping the original 1994 McCarty design directly informed the 594’s later development; Mark Tremonti, who received a stock McCarty from PRS during Creed’s late-1990s touring years, years before the 594 scale length existed; John Mayer, cited directly by PRS as favoring the 594’s vintage character during studio work; and Joe Walsh, whose enthusiasm for a custom 594 PRS sent him led directly to his own 2021 Limited Edition McCarty 594 Singlecut signature model. That full history is covered in this site’s Core McCarty 594 feature, with the SE version’s manufacturing-specific differences covered in the SE McCarty 594 article.

What the S2 version represents instead is that same 594 vintage-tone recipe made accessible to players who want the real construction advantages — USA assembly, direct body-mounted bridge hardware, and since 2024, USA-wound pickups — without Core-level pricing. Reviewer testimonials for the S2 McCarty 594 line consistently frame it not as a compromise but as a genuinely different value proposition: the same design DNA that attracted Grissom, Tremonti, and Mayer to the platform, available to gigging musicians who will never own a Private Stock instrument but still want the vintage-leaning tone those players chase.

Tone Recipes

• Classic rock rhythm: Both pickups humbucking, amp on the edge of breakup, moderate midrange. The 594’s PAF-adjacent voicing sits naturally in a classic rock mix without extra EQ work.
• Blues lead: Neck pickup, warm clean-to-crunch tone, light reverb. The thicker Pattern Vintage neck and shorter scale favor expressive, wide vibrato.
• Country/funk twang: Coil-split via push/pull tone, clean amp tone, light compression. Genuinely usable single-coil clarity without excessive noise.
• Modern rock/alternative: Bridge humbucker, moderate gain, tight low end — particularly effective on the Singlecut variant, whose added body depth adds low-end weight.
• Unplugged/acoustic-adjacent practice: The Thinline’s all-mahogany, lighter-weight body resonates noticeably more unplugged than the maple-topped variants, making it a favorite among owners for at-home practice sessions.

S2 vs. SE vs. Core: Choosing the Right 594

The SE McCarty 594, built in Indonesia, is the clear budget entry point, using bushing-mounted bridge hardware and Indonesia-made 58/15 LT “S” pickups at roughly 40-45% of the S2’s price. The S2 McCarty 594, since 2024, closes much of the remaining gap to Core with the same USA-wound pickups and direct body-mounted bridge as its more expensive sibling, while retaining a gloss polyurethane finish rather than nitrocellulose and slightly simpler cosmetic appointments. The Core McCarty 594 remains the reference point for collectors and players who want nitrocellulose finish, the widest color selection, and the platform’s full prestige positioning — plus, if the budget allows, access to the Joe Walsh Limited Edition Singlecut variant unavailable at any other tier.

For most gigging and recording musicians, the practical decision mirrors the one facing S2 Custom 24 buyers: the S2 McCarty 594 delivers enough of the Core experience — construction quality, USA pickups since 2024, and the platform’s signature vintage tone — that the remaining price gap buys cosmetics and collectibility more than it buys meaningfully different sound or playability.

Who the S2 McCarty 594 Actually Suits

The S2 McCarty 594 occupies a specific role for a specific kind of buyer: the player who has already identified the 594 platform’s PAF-adjacent, shorter-scale vintage voicing as what they want, and is now deciding how much of the Core experience they actually need to pay for to get it. That’s a meaningfully different shopper than the one browsing the SE McCarty 594, who is typically encountering the 594 recipe for the first time and prioritizing price above construction pedigree, and different again from the Core buyer chasing nitrocellulose finish, the widest color palette, and access to artist-collaboration variants like the Joe Walsh Limited Edition Singlecut.

In practical terms, that makes the S2 McCarty 594 a frequent choice for gigging musicians who have outgrown an SE-tier instrument and want the genuine construction upgrades — USA assembly, direct-mounted bridge hardware, and since 2024, USA-wound pickups — without stretching to Core pricing. It’s also a common choice among players building a two-guitar rig around tonal contrast: pairing a brighter, longer-scale Custom 24 or CE 24 for lead and rhythm versatility with a shorter-scale, vintage-voiced 594 specifically for thicker, warmer rhythm tones and slide work, without needing to commit Core-level budget to both instruments simultaneously.

The choice between the three S2 body shapes is itself a meaningful decision rather than a cosmetic afterthought. Players managing physical strain from long gigs or extended studio sessions gravitate toward the Thinline for its significantly reduced weight; players chasing the fullest, most Les Paul-adjacent low end and sustain lean toward the Singlecut; and players who simply want the platform’s most representative, balanced voice — without leaning too far toward either extreme — tend to land on the standard Doublecut.

Buying Guide

• S2 McCarty 594 Doublecut (~$1,999): The most balanced entry point and closest match to the Core guitar’s default voicing.
• S2 McCarty Singlecut 594 (~$1,999–$2,099): Best for players wanting extra body weight, sustain, and a more Les Paul-adjacent feel and heft.
• S2 McCarty Thinline 594 (~$2,149): The lightest and most resonant of the three, appealing directly to SG-style players who want vintage 594 tone in a slimmer, lighter package.
• Pre-2024 used models: Still excellent guitars, but check whether the pickups are the earlier Indonesia-sourced 58/15 “S” units or the post-2024 USA-wound 58/15 LT — a meaningful difference for tone purists.
• Colors: Recent S2 McCarty 594 finishes have spanned Whale Blue, Faded Blue Smokeburst, McCarty Sunburst, Dark Cherry Sunburst, Elephant Grey, Scarlet Red, Frost Blue Metallic, Vintage Cherry, and Antique White, with availability varying by body shape and production year.

Ownership Notes

Owner feedback on the S2 McCarty 594 family is largely positive but consistent on a few practical points. The push/pull coil-split knobs, while functional, are reported by some gigging owners as slippery and difficult to grab quickly during a live set — worth factoring in for players who ride the coil-split feature mid-song rather than setting it once before a show. As with other S2-series guitars, the electronics components (pots, switches) are reported to be somewhat prone to oxidation over time compared to Core-tier hardware, and a contact cleaner like DeoxIT is a common, inexpensive fix if scratchy pots develop. The thicker Pattern Vintage neck, while comfortable for most players, runs noticeably fuller than PRS’s Pattern Thin or Pattern Regular carves — worth trying in person for players coming from slimmer-necked instruments, since the extra girth is a deliberate design choice rather than a manufacturing inconsistency.

Weight varies meaningfully across the three body shapes — from the Thinline’s roughly 6.4 pounds up to the Singlecut’s roughly 8.4 pounds — making body-shape selection a genuinely practical consideration for players managing shoulder or back strain over long gigs, not merely an aesthetic one.

FAQ