pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

jamme61

jamme61

New member
this is a 2018 which came with the 58/15LT P/U's - it now has Duncan Antiquities in it - which sound good but this guitar has a lot of bass and low end which dominates the other frequency's - tried adjusting the height - the stk p/u's are gone and you can't buy them - looking for more clarity - talking about bridge p/u - neck is an antiquities and sounds fine. I have a sethlover bridge that I could try? would that help? thanks for any info/opinions

I play mostly classic rock/blues
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

Try putting a roughcast Alnico 3 magnet in just the neck pickup. That's what I did in my PRS Singlecut with Antiquitys. Really cleans up the "woof" and the stock bridge Antiquity sounds great with it. Try it.

The other thing I did is remove the tone control from the neck pickup while leaving it connected to the bridge pickup. I like that too.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

Lewguitar said:
Try putting a roughcast Alnico 3 magnet in just the neck pickup. That's what I did in my PRS Singlecut with Antiquitys. Really cleans up the "woof" and the stock bridge Antiquity sounds great with it. Try it.

The other thing I did is remove the tone control from the neck pickup while leaving it connected to the bridge pickup. I like that too.
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yea the neck is fine its the bridge im fighting with.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

jamme61 said:
yea the neck is fine its the bridge im fighting with.
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Oh. That's the opposite of my experience with my Singlecuts.

In mine, it was the neck pickup that I wanted to try to get a more transparent, clearer soloing and rhythm tone from.

Not that the neck Antiquity sounds muddy. It doesn't, and I left it alone in my other PRS.
 
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Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

Possibly a Full Shred or a Jazz bridge can stop the bass from getting overpowering. Don't be fooled by the name 'Full Shred', it solves a lot of 'bass too heavy' issues in many guitars.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

Mincer said:
Possibly a Full Shred or a Jazz bridge can stop the bass from getting overpowering. Don't be fooled by the name 'Full Shred', it solves a lot of 'bass too heavy' issues in many guitars.
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thanks I have a Jazz bridge I can try - my problem might be that I just got an SG and been playing that for about a week or two and just switched back to the PRS and it just felt to fat no bite in the bridge. have to figure this out could be corona madness
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

the seth or jazz will push you in the right direction, although its seldom i hear an antiquity bucker bridge is too fat. im guessing your recent sg acquisition is definitely influencing your hearing, not really bad or good, but its a thing for sure
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

jeremy said:
the seth or jazz will push you in the right direction, although its seldom i hear an antiquity bucker bridge is too fat. im guessing your recent sg acquisition is definitely influencing your hearing, not really bad or good, but its a thing for sure
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yea im going to play this out a little bit before I start pulling pickups - thanks for the time on this.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

You’re not gonna find the clarity the 58/15lt’s had In anything short of the custom shop from Duncan.

I have been tempted by the mojotone premium historic limited 59’s and some of the bkp sets like the mule or pg blues. Maybe for my Les Paul though, not for my prs.

I have 3 594’s. All are doublecuts, One sounds amazing with the 58/15lt’s. One I battled with adjusting the heights to get it sounding as good as the other one, but it’s just thinner and brighter in the bridge. Finally I got a 58/15 set non lt and put the 8.15k neck in the bridge. It’s pretty much perfect for it.

If not I would have put a 57/08 bridge in.

The prs pickups from the last 5 years are very good, on par with a lot of boutique level stuff. If I had a single cut I wasn’t happy with I would trade it towards a new 20 with the 58/15+ set and the tci tuned electronics.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

I concur with the suggestion of a 57/08. They're bright, and remarkably well-defined & three-dimensional.
Perfect balance of crispness and warmth, and not too fat in the lows.

I think you'd find the Seth only marginally brighter than the Ant.

Jazz might do well here; certainly crisper and punchier than the Antiquity, less fullness in the low mids.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

allstarrme said:
You’re not gonna find the clarity the 58/15lt’s had In anything short of the custom shop from Duncan.

I have been tempted by the mojotone premium historic limited 59’s and some of the bkp sets like the mule or pg blues. Maybe for my Les Paul though, not for my prs.

I have 3 594’s. All are doublecuts, One sounds amazing with the 58/15lt’s. One I battled with adjusting the heights to get it sounding as good as the other one, but it’s just thinner and brighter in the bridge. Finally I got a 58/15 set non lt and put the 8.15k neck in the bridge. It’s pretty much perfect for it.

If not I would have put a 57/08 bridge in.

The prs pickups from the last 5 years are very good, on par with a lot of boutique level stuff. If I had a single cut I wasn’t happy with I would trade it towards a new 20 with the 58/15+ set and the tci tuned electronics.
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Thanks - i just was able to buy the p/u's that should have come with the guitar 58/15LT very expensive $500 - the 57/08 sounds like a good pick for the bridge too - i'll report back I hope this does it
 
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Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

Wow, those *are* expensive! What was so special about those? I've never tried them.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

Try some Dimarzio Transitions with a magnet swap. They're an amazing wind, and almost any magnet sounds good in them, but judging from the genres you like, I think an A3, A4, or especially the UOA5 will probably be the ticket for you.

The Pearly Gates might work nicely for you as well
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

Mincer said:
Wow, those *are* expensive! What was so special about those? I've never tried them.
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That’s a steal, I’ve seen sets going for $800.

The only way to get them is buy a $3500 guitar.

They sound like they were made to work in a $3500 guitar not just take up space. Paul has a very well trained ear and it’s just gotten better with time. Things like which tuners sound better and the tci process are all part of the current line for the 594. The tci process is a secret at the moment but ensure’s that each guitar being put together has the right components in the right spec to sound the way it should. None of the 1 out of 10 has some mojo, they all sound good.

I would put the 58/15 LT’s ahead of almost anything else on the market, if you haven’t tried a set your missing out.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

From Duncan...

Jazz bridge
S-Deco bridge
Pearly Gates bridge
Bonnamassa bridge
Skinnerburst bridge

I can’t speak to PRS pickups, though.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

allstarrme said:
That’s a steal, I’ve seen sets going for $800.

The only way to get them is buy a $3500 guitar.

They sound like they were made to work in a $3500 guitar not just take up space. Paul has a very well trained ear and it’s just gotten better with time. Things like which tuners sound better and the tci process are all part of the current line for the 594. The tci process is a secret at the moment but ensure’s that each guitar being put together has the right components in the right spec to sound the way it should. None of the 1 out of 10 has some mojo, they all sound good.

I would put the 58/15 LT’s ahead of almost anything else on the market, if you haven’t tried a set your missing out.
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Thanks, I honestly didn't know about these. PRS is about 50/50 with pickups to me. But the ones I liked, I really liked. I still don't own a PRS, and don't think I can swing a 594.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

All of the PRS "**/**" series pickups are wound using wire from one special vintage extruder at Bridgeport Wire.
PRS obtained exclusive rights to all the wire made by this machine, and tests each new spool individually.
Based on the test results, they use the spool for certain pickups, either the 57/08, 59/09, 53/10, 58/15, etc.

Not sure if this has anything to do with the TCI thing, probably not.

The story is that PRS was trying to trace a source for the wire in a few exceptional original PAFs and learned it came from Bridgeport.
Supposedly the old extruder was found gathering dust, unused for decades. It turned out to have something special about it.

I don't know if there's really unicorn-mojo magic in the wire, but these pickups have a certain 3-D quality I haven't found in anything else.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

PRS ran out the wire they were using for the 53/10’s so you can’t even get them anymore, unless you asked for one of a few sets left over for a $10k + private stock. Maybe there’s a Nos guitar at a store some where. They ran out in 2012 though so good luck finding one. I’ve heard they are very low output and really sweet sounding.

The pickups are really good, and since the silver sky/Paul’s guitar started using the tci they are much more consistent sounding across the builds, regardless of variables in pickups, pot tolerances and even split sounds. Of course before tci started most of them sounded great.

I know a couple people who think that the early 90’s PRS were the best, but they get better a little every year. Paul isn’t happy to just pump out the same garbage, he’s constantly tweaking the finish, the hardware, the tuners, the pickups and even the scale length. The 20’s being their 35th year are gonna be really special.
 
Re: pickup suggestions for PRS McCarthy 594 singlecut

PRS made some great humbuckers in the late 80s & very early 90s, before they switched to the HFS/VB combo.
My favorite modern sounding humbuckers are the ones in my very first PRS; in '87 that guitar really rocked my world.
Those old ones actually have a pretty radical & unusual design - a secret in their slug coils helps them split supernaturally well.
A few years ago I replaced the Dragon Ones in my '95 with a 1985 Reissue set, to have that sound without putting my old favorite at risk.

But he does continue to advance. I've heard good things about the 58/15s and I sure do love the 59/09s.
But it's the 57/08s that are among my very favorite vintage type humbuckers.
They're just amazing, with beautiful tone & touch and that hard-to-describe but highly addictive 3-D effect.
 
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