Apologies for all the maths, but clearly this scale length stuff is important. The Thinline is considerably lighter and almost acoustic-like in its unplugged response, which is hugely vibrant. But let’s backtrack a little… The guitars are named after their scale lengths of 24.594 inches (625mm), the slightly-shorter-than-24.75-inch (629mm) scale actually used by Gibson in its golden days. Receive news and offers from our other brands? There was a problem. Guitar World is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. You also have the ability to mix neck humbucker with bridge single coil, and vice versa. It’s pretty similar on the neck pickup in both modes: the split sounds a little mellower on the 594 and quite beautiful; the Core McCarty has a little more treble push. S2 Standard 24. Very well… By Dave Burrluck 26 June 2020 S2 Standard 22 Satin. I'm down in the mean time, was diagnosed with blood complications with a high chance of it being cancerous. Organic with an Edge. This later two-piece setup references a Gibson tune-o-matic/stud tailpiece but with different ingredients. The double-cut 594 sits between the two in terms of weight and, to a certain extent, style. © Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer. It’s classic mahogany SG-ish grind and one of those planet-aligning combinations. We really don’t think any of this trio play or sound ‘cheap’, and in these challenging times a saving of around £1.5k might prove to be very important. The addition of a semi-hollow body and single f-hole gives this vintage-style guitar lush harmonic richness. The S2 Singlecut Semi-Hollow boasts a classic body shape and the tried-and-true combination of mahogany, maple, and rosewood. The saddles, saddle screws, studs, and thumbwheels are all raw [unplated] brass. The slightly lower fretwire gauge perhaps adds to that more classic illusion. We really don’t think any of this trio play or sound ‘cheap’, and in these challenging times a saving of around £1.5k might prove to be very important. All three guitars here use the same circuitry, although the parts are of a slightly lower grade than you’ll find on the Core guitars with either Alpha or Jin Sung 500kohms audio taper pots. With an understated, refined appearance, instant comfort and playability, and a voice that is familiar and captivating, the vintage-inspired S2 Singlecut is a guitar you won’t want to put down.. Its mahogany body and asymmetrical, beveled maple top give the S2 Singlecut much of its explosive tone. They were in use before Paul Reed Smith started his first factory in 1985 and first appeared on a guitar he built in 1976 for Peter Frampton. Obviously the double-cut comes closest to our Core McCarty, for example, and purely on a sonic level it offers really wide stylistic versatility with the single-coil voices impressing from the off; they’re slightly less strident than the Core McCarty, a little snappier. Effortless Playability. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors? In general terms, there’s quite a sweetness to the voicing of all three; they reference an older played-in-quality electric. Next, however, we plug in the Thinline and its more focused voice trims the bass a little and slightly rounds the highs; it’s that midrange character that shifts again. The Singlecut has never excited the market as much as the PRS’s double-cut, but if you’re in the market for a sub-£2k single-cut you’d be silly not to audition this one. The S2 guitars are all about production efficiency… quality is to the fore, just here it’s tempered by a bang-on price point. Private Stock or limited runs aside, you’ll only see this combo on the Core 594 models or these S2s. As with all the S2 (and SE) guitars, the ‘S’ pickups are PRS-designed and made offshore. In keeping with the vintage vibe – and without a vibrato in sight – the tuners are non-locking vintage Kluson style in the appearance of their rear covers with cream-coloured ‘faux-bone’ tulip buttons, but the string posts are unplated and we’d wager there are no plastic washers inside. We would like more finish and inlay options. Greetings, everyone. Whatever you think about Paul Reed Smith’s theories – the importance of the acoustic sound of the solidbody guitar, differences between tuners, nut material and bridge/tailpiece components and so on – these three are extremely ‘alive’ guitars. Information and multimedia on the S2 Singlecut - 2019. The neck shape on our maple-topped models is the same Pattern Vintage profile; the Thinline differs with its Pattern Thin neck, slightly wider at the nut but slimmer in depth (see the Dimensions chart). PRS’s proprietary tweaks, such as these pickup rings, include recesses for the height-adjustment screws. Please refresh the page and try again. While I salute the manufacturer's inclusion of a Seymour Duncan set... To many of us, ' Fender ' & ' Made in China ' should not go together. On all three, the fingerboards are edge-bound and although the fretwire gauge is pretty much identical to that used on the Core McCarty in terms of width, it is marginally lower in height, again subtly altering the playing feel. The 594 recipe certainly sweetens the pill for those of us who either grew up with or are long-time owners of Gibsons and the like. Part of the cost-saving effort on the S2 guitars is the unrecessed control covers for the guitars’ back coverplates. This more simplistic build is all a part of the S2 ethos: maximum quality, minimal labour cost in terms of things such as hand-sanding compared with the Core guitars. Each of the tone controls have a pull-switch to independently split the pickups. PRS fans will also know of its shortest scale of 24.5 inches (622mm), currently used on the Santana Core and SE models and the SE 245s. All are wired modern-style, too, with no treble-bleed caps on the volume controls, and the tone caps are still the same .033 microfarad value, though different from the Core caps. Like the new 2020 S2 Standard 24, the 58/15 ‘S’ pickups are coupled with a push/pull tone control to … Thank you for signing up to Guitarist. Some might find those flat chamferededge maple tops a little, erm, cut-price-looking and we can’t help thinking that some solid colours (with a plainer maple underneath) would broaden the appeal. There’s a sweetness to the voicing of all three; they reference an older played-in-quality electric. PRS’s first four-control layout was a different diamond shape. It took me a while to realize that the Singlecut, If you are still interested in the current S2 take, be informed that. As the Thinline illustrates with its metallic blue finish, it’s quite the looker and stylistically further distances the S2 from the Core models. But at the start of this year, this trio of S2 models slashed the prices by pretty much 50 per cent. Bath Parts are made offshore – exactly where PRS doesn’t tell us – while the ‘S’ suffix pickups are designed by PRS and made in Indonesia and are the same ones that you’ll find on the now mainly Indonesian-made SE models. Although locking tuners are synonymous with PRS guitars (both vibrato and hardtail), all these S2 594 models go for vintage-style non-locking tuners. Talk guitar, amp & everything in between. Vintage 25th Anniversary Series V75-SVB, V6H-SVB & V100-SVB review, What you need to know about Gibson 'Dreadnought' Jumbos. Stevensville, MD (September 30, 2009) -- In a surprising announcement at Experience PRS, PRS Guitars discontinued 13 models and a number of finish options in their product line. PRS S2 McCarty Singlecut 594 – MusicRadar rating 9/10 (Image credit: Future / Neil Godwin) The S2 McCarty Singlecut 594 is the big beast of the 2020 S2 McCarty models. It's production execration to say the least... Fender: Modern Player Jazzmaster HH (review). 35 years on, the PRS headstock remains instantly recognisable and offers near-straight string-pull over the friction-reducing nut: one of many subtle reasons for the guitars’ renowned tuning stability.