2003 PRS McCarty Hollowbody II
In a previous blog I told the story of how I was given a PRS McCarty by a student who said God told him to give it to me. The following week on the gig I told the band the story and was subsequently introduced to the crowd as, “Ladies and gentlemen, Jay EuDaly with his God-given guitar!” - and the appellation stuck.
That blog also tells the story of the many modifications I made to that guitar, and why.
I’ve used that guitar on at least a gig a week for over 20 years.
On April 7, 2024 I filmed an installment of Mark Valentine’s show, “Every Guitar has a Story” which featured the PRS McCarty. On June 24 I published a blog, “Jay EuDaly’s God-Given Guitar” which linked to the “Every Guitar has a Story” episode.
I usually write my blogs in advance and automate the publication. Sometimes I’ll have up to half a dozen blogs written and in the publication queue.
In a stark example of “Irony Strikes Again,” just 2 days before “Jay EuDaly’s God-Given Guitar” was published, this happened:
Yeah…that’s my God-Given guitar. I ran over it. It was in a gig bag, not a hard-shell case. It was leaning against the back of the van, I didn’t know it was there and I backed over it.
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
Ah, what the hell am I saying!? The Lord had nothing to do with it; it’s all on me.
The destroying of the guitar took place in the middle of a busy weekend; 5 gigs in 3 days. Fortunately, several months before, I had purchased a backup - a PRS SE Hollowbody II, “just in case.” The SE is a much cheaper guitar but I got a good deal on it and “just in case” had definitely happened.
After I decompressed from the weekend, I took a closer look;
“Maybe” I thought, “Just maybe, the guitar is repairable.”
I took it down to Fountain City Guitar Works. They have taken the place (at least in my mind) of Keith George. Keith was a master luthier, the guy everybody in the Kansas City area used for guitar repair up until he passed away in 2022.
Based on buzz around town, I had tested Fountain City Guitar Works shortly after Keith's death when I decided to convert my Crafter Hybrid Acoustic-Electric from steel strings to nylon strings. They passed that test. This one would be a doozy.
In case they said that the guitar was not repairable, I had a Plan B. I would have Fountain City use the totaled guitar for parts and modify the SE Hollowbody the same way I'd had the McCarty modified a couple of decades ago. So I took both guitars to Fountain City.
I said, "You guys are gonna hate this!" and opened the case and took out the pieces.
"I live for this!" was the response.
“Dude! This is the second run-over that’s come in this week!”
The verdict?
"I can fix this!"
That's what I wanted to hear! So I left the McCarty and took the SE home to use until the McCarty was done.
A month later I got a call. There was a large chunk of mahogany missing that Grant was going to need to get the neck back on. The only place I could think of to look was in the gig bag the guitar was in when I ran over it.
No luck. Grant said without that chunk of wood the guitar would require major surgery to repair, it would be over a thousand bucks and he couldn’t guarantee the result.
So, I resigned myself to totaling out the McCarty and reverted to Plan B; modify the SE. Disappointing, but... it might be a net gain.
As I wrote about my newly-purchased SE, there are certain things I like about it over the McCarty. Namely:
Body size/aesthetics: the SE body is a little bigger than the McCarty. I think this makes for a better balance. The McCarty was neck-heavy, the SE is not. I like the look of the slightly larger body. It also feels better to me ergonomically. It’s slightly heavier than the McCarty but still lighter than anything else I’ve got.
I really like the neck on the SE. I noticed that the instant I started playing it in the store before I bought it. Wide and Fat!
All the things that were wrong about the McCarty that caused me to modify it were also wrong with the SE:
I don’t like the sound of the pickups.
I don’t like the master volume knob. I want separate volume controls for each pickup. I don’t care about the master tone knob. I usually set it wide open and leave it alone.
On top of all that, it’s obvious that the tuners on the SE are cheaper than what’s on the McCarty.
So…
Put the pickups from the McCarty into the SE. Those pickups are originally from an old Ibanez Artist which now has the pickups from the McCarty.
Install a second volume knob in order to have separate volume control for each pickup.
Replace the SE tuners with the McCarty tuners.
The McCarty had strap-lock pins; move those to the SE.
So…the SE would have all the same mods as what I had done to the McCarty, plus the neck and body that I liked better.
Grant at Fountain City Guitarworks did the work. The result:
I picked it up on a Thursday. The following Saturday was Mama Ray’s Anniversary Jam at BB’s (I’m in the host band there). Here’s a 4-part history of that Jam; it’s been going on since 1984! The Jam was the perfect test - Jazz, Blues, various kinds of Rock and Pop - it's a really broad smorgasbord of genres.
Yass! This will work just fine!
I'm thankful the McCarty had a signed organ donor card. I can feel it's cell memory in the SE. So my God-Given Guitar lives on, kinda. I don't know what I'm going to do with the pieces of the old McCarty. It was a special guitar; I feel like having some kind of service - a Celebration of Life...or something.
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Another great story in the ongoing saga of the Master Guitarist. I especially liked the biblical reference and pray Job 42:12 becomes true for you, my friend.