Carvin CT424

Carvin is a factory direct music gear maker from California. They make all of their stuff in house and their guitars are made to order. This guitar is a newer model based on their CT4 model. It is a CT4 with 24 frets. There are a ton of options you can get from wood to necks so I will just list the options the model I demoed had. All guitars come with set neck construction. The model I had features Honduran mahogany for the neck and body. The guitar had an ebony fretboard with a 14 inch radius and jumbo stainless steel frets. Up top on the headstock it has Sperzel locking tuners and a gold Carvin logo. The bridge is a tune-o-matic style bridge with a string through stop tail piece. It had its standard C22 Carvin pickups replaced with a set of Seymour Duncans. It had a master volume and master tone with coil splits and a 3 way toggle pickup selector.

UTILIZATION

The playability on these Carvins is perfectly tuned to your wants and needs when you select the options for your guitar. If you like a more traditional feel you can get a lower radius with smaller frets. If you are like me you get the flattest radius and the biggest frets. This guitar had stainless steel jumbo frets. Stainless steel frets means that they will never wear out or get dirty. They always feel new. This also means your frets will always stay level and your setup will stay true longer. The 24 fret model compared to the 22 fret model provides better upper fret access. You have clear access up to the 23 fret or so. The heel is pretty small as well. Locking tuners keep everything in tune no matter what you are doing. The way Carvin sets up its tune-o-matics is very nice. They are very low on the guitar. They are not standing up a 1/4 inch on their posts. It just looks more professional.

SOUNDS

I have experiance with the stock Carvin pickups and they are pretty mediocre. This guitar has a set of Seymour Ducans swapped in which is what what I would recommend to most people with these guitars if they do not like the stock Carvin pickups. This guitar I tested out had a JB in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. The JB is a nice and crunchy bridge pickup. It has the classic hot rodded PAF sound. The 59 in the neck is nice and smooth and better than the stock Carvin stuff. The 59 in the neck is like an old PAF. It is super smooth for your leads and can even do high gain leads pretty well.

OVERALL OPINION

Carvin is a great alternative to buying a super expensive custom guitar. With all the options they give you it might as well be a fully custom guitar. All the guitars are made in America and they will help you with your specs over the phone. They sell everything factory direct so there is no mark up on the models. You are essentially getting factory direct pricing. If you want a guitar with exotic woods and playability spec'd out to your unique wants and needs Carvin is probably the cheapest way to go. Cheap price wise but not quality wise.