NGD - Didn't see this one coming!

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by raysachs

Those 594s are the best Les Pauls ever made! I had one for a few months. It was a 10-top tobacco burst. A solid-body, but the semi-hollows like your's are still pretty solid - I think kind of like a tele thinline with just a bit of weight relief in the area behind the f-hole. Maybe a bit of difference in sound, but I don't think all that much.

If I was young and still played standing a lot, I'd still have it, but playing seated as I mostly do, almost every PRS (the Silver Sky being an exception) and any Les Paul is incredibly uncomfortable for me. Something about how far toward the neck they cut the "waist" means it sits on my leg in a way I have to twist around quite a bit to get to the upper frets or even to pick between the pickups rather than always hitting the neck pickup. I just couldn't get comfortable playing it so I never played it more than about 10-15 minutes at a time Fortunately I bought it used, so was able to sell it for close to what I bought it for.

Amazing guitar though - both in terms of sound and playability... Your's looks awesome - use it well!

I don't have mine anymore, but I still have pics!

-Ray

594-10-Edit by Ray, on Flickr

PRS by Ray, on Flickr

That is magnificent looking Ray! Paul Reed Smith has the finest and most exceptional wood library of any builder I can think of. I love the cross-grain and silking on the flame top of the one you sold. And I LOVE the same qualities on the one I bought.

I brought mine to a friends house after a gig this weekend and we played sitting down. He pulled out his '59 Les Paul true historic and the PRS 594 was infinitely more comfortable to play seated to me. I was also thinking about how comfortable the PRS 594 was while playing seated. Your post took me by surprise because I find the ergonomics of the body so incredibly comfortable to play. Go figure. We are all different.

[martingitdave]

Wow! I can't blame you for falling for that one. Wow!

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Groberts

That is magnificent looking Ray! Paul Reed Smith has the finest and most exceptional wood library of any builder I can think of. I love the cross-grain and silking on the flame top of the one you sold. And I LOVE the same qualities on the one I bought.

I brought mine to a friends house after a gig this weekend and we played sitting down. He pulled out his '59 Les Paul true historic and the PRS 594 was infinitely more comfortable to play seated to me. I was also thinking about how comfortable the PRS 594 was while playing seated. Your post took me by surprise because I find the ergonomics of the body so incredibly comfortable to play. Go figure. We are all different.

Yeah, we are all different. This was nearly two years ago and I had some health problems that were adding up to a pretty prodigious gut, which I've lost a good bit of since (with some left to lose). That was part of why I had trouble reaching the higher frets comfortably. My gut was in the way, but other guitars didn't give me that problem, so I think the leg cut was the specific issue with that one. I've played Les Pauls that did the same thing. Who knows, maybe if I'd kept it I'd be able to play it more comfortably now or, hopefully, more comfortably yet in another 6 months.

You look pretty trim and fit, so that issue may not have come up for you at all, but I've heard from others who had the same problem - not a lot, but 2-3 other folks when I initially posted about this when I still had the guitar and was trying to make it work. I played Lesters in my youth all the time. I mostly played standing then but even sitting, I was skinny as a rail and flexible as a rubber band and I never even thought about stuff like that...

And, yeah, I think the cross-grains on those tops are just about the nicest looking thing I've ever seen on a guitar. Surprisingly, I replaced that guitar with an Ibanez John Scofield semi-hollow that was built in China. And it has similar cross grain that was similarly, but not AS pretty, on a guitar that cost just over 1/4 as much as the 594 would have cost if I'd bought it new. And it played as well and sounded about 95% as good too. But that last 5% from the 594 was pretty special stuff - some of the overtones that spilled out of that thing were just lovely.

-Ray

[Groberts]

Not sure if this video does the PRS justice? This was the first time I tried overdriven solo tones on the PRS McCarty 594. I've been playing acoustic guitar exclusively for the past year, so I think I was trying too hard.

[aknow]

Nice choice.....Beautiful and enjoy it.