PRS McCarty Vintage Sunburst Solidbody Guitar, 1999

The PRS McCarty appeared in 1994 and is a tribute to Ted McCarty, president of Gibson from 1950 to 1966, one of its most innovative periods. Paul Reed Smith hired McCarty as a consultant in the late 1980’s and had a strong influence on modern PRS design and production.

Here we are looking at a PRS McCarty in vintage sunburst and with the distinctive Birds inlay option, dating to 1999 and built at the PRS shop in Stevensville, Maryland.

The McCarty model is based on a familiar design concept – a cutaway mahogany body with a carved, figured maple cap, and a mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard. The scale length is 25 inches, between the two most common measurements of 24.75 and 25.5 inches. A key characteristic of this model is the combination bridge/tailpiece

PRS has definitely learned the art of finishing, and as usual the McCarty Sunburst is very colour consistent and high quality, even after nearly 20 years. PRS typically uses a polyester basecoat and acrylic urethane topcoat, providing a durable surface that isn’t as prone to checking as nitrocellulose lacquer yet has much of the ‘nitro’ look and feel.

This example is in good condition, with moderate fret wear, light play wear and no significant scratches, dings or dents. It’s been well looked after, though from the fret wear it has clearly not spent all its time in the case. The nickel plated parts, the pickup covers, bridge and posts show some tarnish but if desired will clean up quickly with a product like Flitz polish.

The original hard shell case is included.