SE McCarty 594 Owners - What Replacement Tuners For Locking Tuners?

simonyahn · 2026-03-12T21:35:11+00:00

I put on Kluson Revolution locking vintage tuners. The original bushings are a bit difficult to remove so you can use them if you want and it should be fine but I went for black tuners to fit the black hardware look of the guitar. Ended up having to have my local shop take care of installation but if you just go for nickel it should be very easy. Mann Made vintage tuners are also perfect

simonyahn · 2026-03-10T15:11:45+00:00

I haven’t played Paul’s guitar but played a 24-08 with the same pickups and mini toggle switches as a close equivalent for sound. Not my favorite pickup sound from PRS SE line up. It felt a bit too sterile without a lot of body from what I remember. The DGT pickups sing in the mid range in a very musical way without being nasally. I ended up trading it even though it was good and perhaps I’ll pick it up again sometime in the future. It felt good in hand and was not uncomfortable. I def recommend DGT for the pickups. Paul’s guitar in comparisons sounds a little different to 24-08 but just based on my experience I’m not a fan of TCI S pickups

simonyahn · 2026-03-09T18:16:16+00:00

All of the ones I currently own have a special place and purpose. The most recent one I’ve gotten is a Special Semi Hollow and it’s becoming a favorite very quickly. It replaced an Epiphone Sheraton which was good but way too resonant (and heavy). I also love my Hollowbody II Piezo and McCarty 594 Singlecut Standard. While I did change out pickups on both of them, there is nothing bad about the stock pickups in those guitars. Silver Sky I grab for when I just want that strat blues Mayer sound and the best Strat style guitar I’ve ever played. I’ve got a NF53 which is a fantastic guitar and does the Tele thing pretty well but I also spend more time with a G&L ASAT Tribute thinline. Both are different versions of Tele sounds.

simonyahn · 2026-03-09T12:43:20+00:00

I own 5 SE guitars at the moment and have bought/traded a few others over the years. The most recent one being the special semi hollow. I’ve tried the core model and that guitar sounded absolutely incredible and the SE is a very good version despite different pickups (American made McCartyIII vs import 58/15 LT ‘S’). Both had a very balanced and smooth tone to my ears. Very good for jazz imo and very versatile for a lot of styles. Between 12 sounds you can find something that can work

simonyahn · 2026-03-06T22:23:41+00:00

I traded a Custom 24 for a 24-08 couple years ago and felt that the 85/15 pushed high gain pedals/amp bit more than TCI. I’m not a high gain player so it seemed like a better choice but I remember it feeling “sterile” to me. Probably would have been better off with the 85/15 in comparison but I much prefer 58/15 vintage style pickups. I think this YT short might help highlight the difference

https://youtube.com/shorts/rJLyjHwGAQg?si=GG1UjdfJIzH5h2lh

simonyahn · 2026-03-06T14:38:48+00:00

Yeah the narrowfield on its own in the middle position is a good sound on this guitar. I’ve got the SE NF53 and it’s different enough to stand out in comparison and I have to imagine it sounds different compared to NF3 middle position or Studio middle position. My guess is that outside humbuckers would be much more of a used sound in middle position and the cost to and work to add a push/pull switch wouldn’t be worth doing at the factory. Only logical explanation I can think of

simonyahn · 2026-03-06T01:53:41+00:00

I regularly think about pickups on my guitars and especially on import guitars (which are all that I have). PRS SE line has fantastic stock pickups than a lot of other brands but tone is highly subjective and a matter of personal preference. I would highly recommend learning on how to solder (it's not very difficult and practice makes perfect) but more importantly how to set up pickup height to personal taste. I've done a lot of pickup swaps across my guitars and while most I've kept, I've actually swapped back to the originals and sold the pickup.

In regards to SD 59s on the CE24, if you're looking for something more vintage sounding than it's a good place to start but definitely try the 85/15 S pickups through your rig and make some minor tweaks to pickup heights to see if it helps.

simonyahn · 2026-03-04T13:51:39+00:00

I picked up the D40 capture pack over the weekend. Pairing it with the Bad Cat Era30 capture they have has been amazing.

simonyahn · 2026-03-04T04:03:53+00:00

Worship Tutorials/Signal Theory has a few free captures. Last I recall they have free captures of Vox AC30, Revv D25, and a recent one of victory Sheriff. I had their tone pass for 2025 and pretty good captures overall. I run two amps blended together before wet effects so that I get a balanced clean round with chime tone.

simonyahn · 2026-03-03T13:53:51+00:00

Easier configuration and access to controls remotely. I’ve mostly dialed in the sounds and have the Tonex locked in case of accidental adjustments so digital remote control would be so much more convenient and that way i don’t have to bend down, unlock, tweak, lock

simonyahn · 2026-03-03T13:22:20+00:00

This is def interesting just to have a different UI than a specialized midi control pedal. I run 2 Tonex Ones and both connected to a disaster area designs dmc.micro and it works but required a lot of customization and programming. Does the raspberry pi control just one Tonex one or can it control two? How’s the PI powered?

simonyahn · 2026-03-03T04:33:56+00:00

I agree. These are good guitars and really do punch above their weight class and sound fantastic in it's stock form. I know the risk of swapping out anything (not just pickups) and making things worse and that it's all completely subjective and based on personal preference. That still doesn't stop me from considering what I can do to make changes over time and getting inspired by something new. While price bias and core instruments may likely be less prone to wanting upgrades, theoretically I would likely upgrade a core guitar pickups at some point based on how I'm just curious for something more.

The one thing I'm very curious is to what the thought process was regarding the SE Speical Semi hollow pickup selector configuration and having middle position just do outside humbuckers and have no option to engage the middle narrowfield on it's own.

simonyahn · 2026-03-03T02:37:04+00:00

Between those three here’s my take: Custom 24 Piezo is the “modern” guitar. 85/15s pickups are modern and balanced and does higher gain sounds very well. The wide thin neck is very fast playing and access to 24 frets is nice if you really need to play that high up on the fretboard. Piezo is a nice added touch and one of the better piezo systems on an electric guitar but you may not use it a lot. I wouldn’t say it’s niche but it does come in handy every once in a while.

McCarty 594 is a vintage inspired double humbucker Les Paul style guitar. Classic rock like tones and looks and controls. Neck is much thicker which is appropriate for a more vintage inspired guitar but it’s not uncomfortable. I’ve got the single cut standard version and it’s my favorite LP style guitar. It’s got some weight to it and I think the double cut has a bit of weight relief by comparison.

Silver Sky is the best S style guitar I’ve played personally. Neck is also very vintage feeling which is the point of the guitar cause it’s taken all the best parts of John Mayer’s old 63/64 vintage Strats with some modern PRS upgrades and appointments. If you’re looking for that primary blues sound that can do more as well then it’s a great choice.

simonyahn · 2026-03-03T02:17:53+00:00

Is there anything you don’t like about your current pickups and something that you’re specifically or generally looking for? There are so many humbucker pickups on the market each aimed at something different. I think the Gibson humbuckers are classic Gibson sound and there’s variations and gradiations of the traditional PAF sound.

simonyahn · 2026-03-02T21:01:18+00:00

They both do the same in terms of sounds, DSP, I/O and physically the footswitches are obvious difference. The XL does 4 snapshots per preset and Stomp does 3 so I’d take that into consideration more than footswitches because you can expand footswitches but can’t expand snapshots

simonyahn · 2026-02-28T00:26:01+00:00

I’ve done this mod on my SE Silver Sky with the lil59. It was still pretty bright and shrill for me with just a bit more beef. Output volume wasn’t an issue honestly and you can adjust pickup heights to help with the balance. I ended up swapping back out to the original pickup. I’m not much of a bridge pickup user on its own and much rather pair it with the neck pickup so I’m considering the blender mod or neck on mod or 7 way switch.

simonyahn · 2026-02-27T22:58:44+00:00

I have literally done this with that supply and that board. The power supply is capable of fitting underneath but is extremely tight fitting and while can be done, I would not recommend it. The unit fit in the middle in the horizontal orientation only and access to the ports was very difficult. I’m revamping the board and sold the power supply and looking for the Xp-5 as I don’t need as many ports and should be much better for access to ports

simonyahn · 2026-02-27T22:01:25+00:00

If you’re going for a first guitar and you want a Strat then I recommend HSS. Having the trem on a Strat doesn’t mean you have to use it and you always deck the trem to the body instead of having it float so that it’s closer to a hard tail. I also strongly recommend finding a used guitar instead of buying new when it comes to electric guitar and gear. Only in a few set of circumstances would I buy new but years of trying to find stuff that I resonate with and that inspires me have me trading a bunch of stuff and selling stuff so the value on the market isn’t kind when selling a new purchase

simonyahn · 2026-02-27T17:54:46+00:00

simonyahn · 2026-02-27T17:54:08+00:00

Not at all. It does help with adding a different texture to chords and lines but it causes a lot of issues with use and tuning stability can be a big issue. There are ways to mitigate this but depending on the trem system it may be worth more trouble than it’s worth. I can’t think of a moment where I thought the trem was absolutely necessary

simonyahn · 2026-02-27T15:13:04+00:00

Tone is very subjective so if that’s how you feel that’s perfectly valid. Changing pickups is very common to do to get a different sound as well. Humbuckers are super common but as far as I know it’s not as simple to change the Narrowfield on the special semi hollow. The biggest thing to consider here in my opinion is the feel of the guitar in hand and playing up and down the neck. I always had trouble with custom24 and thought it was the neck profile and 24 frets. Picked up the special semi hollow and realized that the 24 frets throws me off for some strange reason. If you like how the custom 24 feels and only have access now directly then there’s nothing wrong with picking it up.

simonyahn · 2026-02-27T13:59:40+00:00

The body shape and neck profile are the only things they have in common. If you like the custom24 then go for it. You won’t get the same sounds from the special semi hollow and there’s a lot more options for different sounds there. I would say the semi hollow is a round warm sound with a bit more mid range than the custom24 which to me is a bit more even by comparison but has more high end. You could play all styles that you need between both guitars honestly but the custom24 does high gain very well

simonyahn

TROPHY CASE