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PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

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Electric Guitar

PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

PRS · SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

Price: 669 EUR – 2.171 EUR

Price history 07.09.2026 19.09.2026
Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

Availability: 9/10 (Common)

The single-cutaway sibling of the SE McCarty 594, sharing its mahogany/maple build, 24.594" scale and 2-Piece Bridge but wrapped in a Les Paul-style body outline that once triggered a real courtroom fight between Gibson and PRS over exactly that shape. Reviewers describe it as unusually resonant for its price - one owner called it the loudest, most acoustically alive guitar in their collection - though the upper-horn-mounted selector switch takes some getting used to.

Where available? Go to the best price – 669 EUR About this instrument

About the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

This singlecut carries over the SE McCarty 594's core construction - mahogany body, maple top with a shallow violin carve, 24.594" scale and PRS 2-Piece Bridge - and wraps it in a single-cutaway outline reminiscent of a Les Paul rather than the double-cutaway shape of the standard 594. That body shape isn't incidental history: PRS's original Singlecut, launched in 2000, drew a cease-and-desist and then a lawsuit from Gibson over trademark infringement, a case PRS lost at district court in 2004 before winning on appeal in 2005, when the appellate judges found the two guitars distinguishable enough that "only an idiot" would confuse them at a retailer. The SE version brings that once-contested shape, paired with the same 58/15 LT "S" pickups and coil-splitting electronics as the double-cutaway 594, down to SE-tier pricing.

Where to buy

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Source: https://reverb.com/item/100613518-paul-reed-smith-prs-se-mccarty-singlecut-594-standard-mccarty-tobacco-sunburst-ctie86757-08-17

Sound character of the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

The 58/15 LT "S" humbuckers deliver a thick, percussive tone that excels under distortion and heavy gain, with a clear, heavy character particularly suited to rhythm playing while still covering sparkling clean tones at lower gain. The combination of the shorter 24.594" scale and the resonance-focused 2-Piece Bridge carries over from the double-cutaway 594, giving the singlecut body a similarly lively, sustain-rich acoustic character before the signal even reaches an amp.

Warm Resonant Punchy Full-bodied Vintage-voiced

What owners of the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut say

Owners describe a thick, percussive tone that handles heavy gain well, paired with build quality and pickups that read as punching above the price point. One owner called it among the most resonant guitars they'd ever tried, saying it was by far the loudest, most acoustically alive instrument in their own collection and noting that comparable singlecuts from other brands in the same price range sounded lifeless and flat by comparison; the shorter-than-standard scale length wasn't something that owner found bothersome in practice. As with the double-cutaway version, some owners with Core-model experience suggest the pots, wiring and tuners are the first things worth upgrading to close the remaining gap, and the coil-split bridge tone draws the same thin-sounding criticism noted on the standard 594 unless compensated with amp gain.

Playability & handling of the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

The Pattern Vintage neck carve and 10" fingerboard radius read as comfortable and familiar to SE-series players, with factory setup praised as excellent out of the box and medium-jumbo frets cleanly finished. One notable quirk: the 3-way selector switch sits on the upper bout where a player's picking hand can brush it mid-performance, something one reviewer flagged as needing a short adjustment period rather than a design flaw that goes away on its own. Another reviewer's unit had intonation and tuning stability trouble, though this reads as a single-unit quality-control issue rather than a pattern confirmed across multiple owners.

Recommended accessories & strings for the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

As with the double-cutaway 594, the push-pull coil-split controls open up single-coil-adjacent tones without a second guitar, and the same caveat applies: a coil-split bridge tone that owners describe as thin benefits from an amp with gain in reserve rather than relying on the guitar alone to deliver a convincing single-coil snap.

Technical data for the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

Type Single-cutaway solidbody electric guitar
Production PRS SE series, built in Indonesia
Body Mahogany body, maple top with flame maple veneer, shallow violin carve
Neck Mahogany, glued in (set neck), Pattern Vintage profile
Scale length 24.594 in.
Nut Black synthetic, 1 11/16 in. wide
Fingerboard Rosewood, 10 in. radius, 22 frets
Pickups 2x PRS 58/15 LT "S" humbuckers
Controls Individual volume and push/pull tone (coil-split) per pickup, 3-way selector on upper bout
Bridge PRS 2-Piece Bridge: zinc and brass, four contact points
Hardware Vintage-style tuners with tulip buttons, nickel-plated
Factory strings PRS Classic .010-.046
Weight Approx. 3.66kg (8.06 lb) as tested on one unit; individual guitars vary

Price history for the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

Cheapest seen: 669 EUR  ·  Most expensive seen: 2.171 EUR

19.999 EUR557 EUR 07.09.2026 14.09.202616.09.202617.09.2026 19.09.2026
Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

The history of the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

PRS's original Singlecut shape, unveiled at NAMM in 2000, led directly to one of the guitar industry's best-known trademark disputes: Gibson sent a cease-and-desist that same year and sued that November, arguing concertgoers in a "smoky concert hall" couldn't reliably tell a PRS Singlecut from a Les Paul. A district court agreed in 2004 and ordered PRS to stop selling the shape, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling in 2005, finding the designs distinguishable enough that confusion at the point of sale was effectively impossible. That appellate win is why the single-cutaway body shape remains part of PRS's lineup today, eventually extending into the 594 platform and down into the SE line's accessible pricing.

About PRS as a manufacturer

Background on the SE line's broader origin and its acknowledged quality step below the hand-finished USA Core line is documented elsewhere in this project's PRS SE research rather than repeated here.

Notable players & recordings featuring the PRS SE McCarty 594 Singlecut

No verified professional endorsement ties a specific touring artist to this exact SE model.

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