PRS SE McCarty 594. How much marital trouble is it worth?

[the-trooper]

Is it normal practice with this kind of bridges?

Yes.

 

[Warmart]

I had to reverse the saddle of the G string to intonate it properly, and the low E is already at the limit. Is it normal practice with this kind of bridges?

Although it may be a solution, the bridge is angled enough that this shouldn't be necessary. Have you ruled out a bad string? Assuming the obvious like they are fully stretched and played first? All the other strings intonated fine?

Edit: Your D and G are kind of in odd spots for a new guitar, in my experience. Definitely looks odd for me, not unheard of, of course.

 

[laxu]

I had to reverse the saddle of the G string to intonate it properly, and the low E is already at the limit. Is it normal practice with this kind of bridges?

View attachment 4033

Pretty normal. Don't worry about it.

The Tune-o-matic as a bridge design is a pile of crap that unfortunately keeps prevailing. Low intonation range is one of those things.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

So far I have been playing it only 2 or 3 hours. The tone is great. Construction and finishes are perfect. Flawless. But after four decades almost exclusively with Strats and SuperStrats, I may need some time to bond with it.

My clean and edge-of-breakup Axe-FX presets have too much bass. They need some adjustment for this guitar.

After playing a while with cleans I selected my favorite JVM410HJS preset, and it rocks! I thought: lets' play some Gary Moore! and I selected "The Loner" backing track. Wrong song choice... every two notes my hand was reaching for the whammy bar I had difficulties with some full bendings on the 1st string because lately I've been playing only with 9s

Then I switched to the J.Custom and I felt like at home (started to feel like some buyer's regret). But back again to the PRS, and I started to appreciate some of its particularities. I hope our relationship will get better

I don't know if I will get used to the two separated volume pots. I only need one! And you have to adjust both for the intermediate pickup position? I also like to reach it with my little finger for volume swells and fast adjustments. But I am not playing live anymore, so these things are not too important.

The guy at the PRS distributor shop was astonished "This is a S2!", "Same as S2", "Incredible!". I didn't had time to grab the real S2s or the other fine specimens they had hanging on the wall though

Keep the neck pickup volume rolled down as standard. It helps with the excessive bass, makes the in-between sound better and basically allows switching to the bridge pickup to be like engaging a boost.

 

[spawnofthesith]

NGD! New baby at home
View attachment 4001


You were right, Sir. At the shop I had a PRS double cut on my hands, and it looks cool

Beautiful congrats!!!

Can you tell me more about that ibanez to the left tho?

 

[Jarick]

Pretty normal. Don't worry about it.

The Tune-o-matic as a bridge design is a pile of crap that unfortunately keeps prevailing. Low intonation range is one of those things.

I much prefer wraparound bridges. The stop tail seems unnecessary. It's one of the reasons I don't necessarily love the 594 (Les Paul) design.

Anyways, the bevel on the 594 SE looks deeper than what I've seen, which is good.

 

[dk_ace]

I had to reverse the saddle of the G string to intonate it properly, and the low E is already at the limit. Is it normal practice with this kind of bridges?

View attachment 4033

Stretch the hell out of the strings and play them in a good bit (a few days), then check the intonation. When I see weird intonation problems, it’s usually the strings before the guitar.

D

 

[dk_ace]

NGD! New baby at home
View attachment 4001


You were right, Sir. At the shop I had a PRS double cut on my hands, and it looks cool

That’s a beauty. I actually scrolled up to see if you decided to upgrade from the SE, I can’t believe that’s an SE. Enjoy!

 

[Piing]

Although it may be a solution, the bridge is angled enough that this shouldn't be necessary. Have you ruled out a bad string? Assuming the obvious like they are fully stretched and played first? All the other strings intonated fine?

Edit: Your D and G are kind of in odd spots for a new guitar, in my experience. Definitely looks odd for me, not unheard of, of course.

Already stretched with a Stretcha tool, and played for hours. These intonation points do not change. The D and the low-E are also at the limit (the spring is fully compressed). If they had to be further adjusted, I would also have to reverse the saddles

Can you tell me more about that ibanez to the left tho?

That is the J.Custom RG8570CST. It cost me a liver because I ordered it from Japan and they fully charged me with Import Duty and Tax on arrival, but it was worth it. It is the final keeper after many failed attempts to replace my old but almighty RG550LTD (two Suhrs, one Tom Anderson, two J.Customs, two Prestige, one JS2450 and one JEM amongst others. They all had issues or no added value over my old RG).

BTW, talking about selling livers to buy guitars, when I arrived home with the SE McCarty 594 and told my wife what I paid for it, she said it is good that I have chosen an inexpensive guitar, and she didn't made further comments

 

[TSJMajesty]

Already stretched with a Stretcha tool, and played for hours. These intonation points do not change. The D and the low-E are also at the limit (the spring is fully compressed). If they had to be further adjusted, I would also have to reverse the saddles

What about putting the springs on the other side of the saddle? Seems to me their purpose is to simply dampen any play between the threads inside the saddle and the screw threads, which I'd think they'd still accomplish on either side.

I think I'd try either that, or reversing the saddle..., whichever would result in those springs not being completely compressed.

 

[Piing]

What about putting the springs on the other side of the saddle? Seems to me their purpose is to simply dampen any play between the threads inside the saddle and the screw threads, which I'd think they'd still accomplish on either side.

I think I'd try either that, or reversing the saddle..., whichever would result in those springs not being completely compressed.

I've tried, but then the saddle is flat against the wall, with no room for further adjustment. Reversing it leaves room to adjust in both directions.

edit for addition: Anyway, the spring on that position is always pushing the saddle against the end wall, with the screw coming out of its place

 

[Piing]

Faulty connection and a dirty job at the pickup switch. Suddenly the bridge pickup randomly started to sound very low. I opened the switch cover and I found the ugliness

- There are rests of wires that were previously soldered and have been cut. It looks like a recycled switch.
- I gently touched the cables, and the white wire of the bridge pickup was disconnected. Faulty soldering
- Very dirty soldering. Unprofessional
- The plastic of the green wire is partially melted

I think that I will subscribe to the PRS forum just to post this.

I can fix it, but if it had happened on a gig it would have been a disaster


On the positive side, I am bonding with this guitar

 

[spawnofthesith]

That's a bummer. Certainly goes against certain narratives you constantly here at certain places.... PRS forum, do you mean tgp? hahaha

Glad its fixable and you are still liking the guitar though!!

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Faulty connection and a dirty job at the pickup switch. Suddenly the bridge pickup randomly started to sound very low. I opened the switch cover and I found the ugliness

- There are rests of wires that were previously soldered and have been cut. It looks like a recycled switch.
- I gently touched the cables, and the white wire of the bridge pickup was disconnected. Faulty soldering
- Very dirty soldering. Unprofessional
- The plastic of the green wire is partially melted

View attachment 4174

I think that I will subscribe to the PRS forum just to post this.

I can fix it, but if it had happened on a gig it would have been a disaster


On the positive side, I am bonding with this guitar

I swear EVERY guitar under $1500 that I've bought the last few years has had some sort of electronics fault. It's so frustrating. I get the whole switching from rosewood to Laurel fingerboard on budget guitars; even less than perfect fret/nut work. But at least make sure everything is soldered!

 

[Piing]

Already posted at TOF (The Other Forum) and at the Official PRS Forum. I hope Mr. Paul reads it and makes a call to his Indo factory to set them straight

So far, someone has said at TOF that this just ugly, but not fatal

 

[dk_ace]

Already stretched with a Stretcha tool, and played for hours. These intonation points do not change. The D and the low-E are also at the limit (the spring is fully compressed). If they had to be further adjusted, I would also have to reverse the saddles


That is the J.Custom RG8570CST. It cost me a liver because I ordered it from Japan and they fully charged me with Import Duty and Tax on arrival, but it was worth it. It is the final keeper after many failed attempts to replace my old but almighty RG550LTD (two Suhrs, one Tom Anderson, two J.Customs, two Prestige, one JS2450 and one JEM amongst others. They all had issues or no added value over my old RG).

BTW, talking about selling livers to buy guitars, when I arrived home with the SE McCarty 594 and told my wife what I paid for it, she said it is good that I have chosen an inexpensive guitar, and she didn't made further comments

Check the nut height and see if that’s your intonation problem. If it’s good, then cut the springs down, flip saddles, whatever you need to do to get it intonated. What gauge strings?

D

 

[Piing]

Check the nut height and see if that’s your intonation problem. If it’s good, then cut the springs down, flip saddles, whatever you need to do to get it intonated. What gauge strings?

D

Nut height seems to be OK. The strings are the original. I am assuming that they are 10-46. I will eventually replace them with NYXL 10-46

 

[Piing]

Things got worst when I went to fix it. As soon as I touched the wires again, the ground wire was disconnected. It had a cold solder joint

BTW, my post at the Official PRS Forum has been banned. It was published for about 5 hours, it had 3 replies, and now it is "awaiting approval before being displayed publicly"

 

[Stratzrus]

“Look lady, the bills are paid, emergency funds are in the bank, we’re not living off pasta noodles and butter, this guitar hurts no one or no thing and it’s pretty to look at. You can name it with me.”

Good luck with that one. Be sure to duck after saying it if you're in the kitchen and have your bedding on the couch well in advance.

At the end of the day, the reality is that I will just appear home with the guitar (I cannot hide it, and that would be a ridiculous thing to do).

It's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

 

[DrewJD82]

Good luck with that one. Be sure to duck after saying it if you're in the kitchen and have your bedding on the couch well in advance.



It's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

I actually had a very similar conversation with my ex-wife, but if I were calling her "lady" it was done in a goofy voice that I used often to deliver a "you're unnecessarily nagging" comment. And no, this was not the cause of our divorce.