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Hatsubai « Carvin's most popular neck-thru »
Published on 06/22/11 at 09:23Carvin is well known for building affordable neck-thru guitars at great prices. This one is probably their most popular model due to its features and affordability. The one I played had the following specs:
Alder body
25'' scale length
Maple neck-thru with an ebony fretboard, 12'' radius and tung oil finish
Fixed bridge
Sperzel locking tuners
Two humbuckers
One volume, one tone, 3-way pickup selector, 2 dual/single coil switches
UTILIZATION
There are a lot of features packed into this model. First of all, the fit and finish is top notch. The fretwork is good, and the neck feels great. It's not too thick and not too thin. The back of the neck feels great with the tung oil finish, too. The real cool thing about this is that it has switches to select between split coil sounds. This helps make the guitar way more versatile than just a normal two humbucker guitar. The Sperzel locking tuners are the icing on the cake.
SOUNDS
This is where it's a bit hit or miss. I'm not really a huge fan of the Carvin stock pickups. They sound decent, but there are better ones out there on the market. The guitar was a touch bright since it was alder with a maple neck-thru construction and an ebony fretboard, but if you like the bite, you should really enjoy this wood combo. It's the standard of most neck-thru construction guitars, anyway. I'm just more of a mahogany kind of guy. The split sounds were great with clean tones. They helped make this guitar way more versatile than normal.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for one of the best guitars for the money, check out eBay for one of these guitars. You'll get a crazy deal on something that's made in the USA, has great fretwork, is affordable and sounds good. You might want to do a pickup swap, but try them out first. Maybe you'll like them. I know my friend really enjoys these pickups.
Alder body
25'' scale length
Maple neck-thru with an ebony fretboard, 12'' radius and tung oil finish
Fixed bridge
Sperzel locking tuners
Two humbuckers
One volume, one tone, 3-way pickup selector, 2 dual/single coil switches
UTILIZATION
There are a lot of features packed into this model. First of all, the fit and finish is top notch. The fretwork is good, and the neck feels great. It's not too thick and not too thin. The back of the neck feels great with the tung oil finish, too. The real cool thing about this is that it has switches to select between split coil sounds. This helps make the guitar way more versatile than just a normal two humbucker guitar. The Sperzel locking tuners are the icing on the cake.
SOUNDS
This is where it's a bit hit or miss. I'm not really a huge fan of the Carvin stock pickups. They sound decent, but there are better ones out there on the market. The guitar was a touch bright since it was alder with a maple neck-thru construction and an ebony fretboard, but if you like the bite, you should really enjoy this wood combo. It's the standard of most neck-thru construction guitars, anyway. I'm just more of a mahogany kind of guy. The split sounds were great with clean tones. They helped make this guitar way more versatile than normal.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for one of the best guitars for the money, check out eBay for one of these guitars. You'll get a crazy deal on something that's made in the USA, has great fretwork, is affordable and sounds good. You might want to do a pickup swap, but try them out first. Maybe you'll like them. I know my friend really enjoys these pickups.