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Rockmonster
Published on 04/09/08 at 19:45
Good ole' Carvin. Made in the USA. 24 frets, ebony fretboard, Wilkinson tremolo. C22N and C22B, volume, tone, 3 way toggle switch. Mini toggles for coil tapping. Sperzel locking tuners. Sweet mahogany neck with Tung-oil finish. I also had a mahogany body model with a reverse headstock. Very fast. This guitar is built to burn.
UTILIZATION
The neck has a GREAT feel. Overall "C" shape neck... not super thin like an Ibanez Wizard... but every bit as fast. Maybe with even a greater range of control for serious bends.. more thumb pivot. Access to upper frets is without parallel. Smooth as butter and prices that compete with imports. Very balanced instrument.. comfortable weight distribution for long sets. This guitar does get a nice sound right out of the box, but I did change the bridge pickup out. More in "Sounds"
SOUNDS
This guitar should be able to suit anyone's style except for maybe die-hard Jazz guys. (and gals ) It can pull off ANYTHING. Funk, Metal, Blues, Hard rock, etc. Perfect for studio use. It CAN do jazz as well... make no mistake! It just may not suit someone who lives for that semi hollow body sound. You can achieve loads of styles, and the coil taps increase your options greatly. Really decent single coil approximations... not exactly Strat-like.. but close enough.. maybe even brighter! I needed a guitar that had a little hotter bridge pickup, and the C22 would have to be my least favorite aspect of this guitar. Not a great pickup. Not horrible... but a bit lifeless and low output.. hard to describe. The M22T pickup from Carvin is great.. don't know why they came up with this thing. Anyway... switched it out for a Seymour Duncan JB (which coil taps on a mahogany bodied guitar very, very well.) and had much more gain. The C22N pickup is nice... I guess they are trying to get a 50's guitar sound. Not sure it was a success, but the neck pickup was worth keeping. Taps nicely.. and responds to cleans extremely well. Distortions..mmm.. well, certainly good enough. Quiet. Not super fat with a lot of distortion, but it can hang.
Hard to pick a favorite sound.. the cleans are very nice.. but with the JB... it definitely lends itself to shredding.
OVERALL OPINION
Had this guitar for about 3 years.. decided to go a bit more the "Classic" route.. I own a lot more Strats, Tele's, Gibson's, etc. And yes, I still have a few straight up metal type guitars.. but have gotten rid of most of my "All-in-one" type guitars. Loved the versatility.. but aesthetically, this was not really my cup of tea. Not really a metal guitar..(i.e. Jackson) and not really a classic ( Strat for instance ) and I guess I need more black and white options for my music gear. I have owned many guitars.. and yes, if I had unlimited resources and room to keep a bunch more guitars then I would own one of these.
My strongest feeling about the Carvin is that if you can afford ONE guitar.. get this one. It can literally do it ALL in one guitar. The mainstay is versatility.. and you definitely get the most bang-for-your-buck with this axe! Champagne features on a beer budget. This guitar is technically (way) better than any Les Paul or Strat... it just does not have their vibe or status. If that does not matter to you... you should definitely consider this guitar!
UTILIZATION
The neck has a GREAT feel. Overall "C" shape neck... not super thin like an Ibanez Wizard... but every bit as fast. Maybe with even a greater range of control for serious bends.. more thumb pivot. Access to upper frets is without parallel. Smooth as butter and prices that compete with imports. Very balanced instrument.. comfortable weight distribution for long sets. This guitar does get a nice sound right out of the box, but I did change the bridge pickup out. More in "Sounds"
SOUNDS
This guitar should be able to suit anyone's style except for maybe die-hard Jazz guys. (and gals ) It can pull off ANYTHING. Funk, Metal, Blues, Hard rock, etc. Perfect for studio use. It CAN do jazz as well... make no mistake! It just may not suit someone who lives for that semi hollow body sound. You can achieve loads of styles, and the coil taps increase your options greatly. Really decent single coil approximations... not exactly Strat-like.. but close enough.. maybe even brighter! I needed a guitar that had a little hotter bridge pickup, and the C22 would have to be my least favorite aspect of this guitar. Not a great pickup. Not horrible... but a bit lifeless and low output.. hard to describe. The M22T pickup from Carvin is great.. don't know why they came up with this thing. Anyway... switched it out for a Seymour Duncan JB (which coil taps on a mahogany bodied guitar very, very well.) and had much more gain. The C22N pickup is nice... I guess they are trying to get a 50's guitar sound. Not sure it was a success, but the neck pickup was worth keeping. Taps nicely.. and responds to cleans extremely well. Distortions..mmm.. well, certainly good enough. Quiet. Not super fat with a lot of distortion, but it can hang.
Hard to pick a favorite sound.. the cleans are very nice.. but with the JB... it definitely lends itself to shredding.
OVERALL OPINION
Had this guitar for about 3 years.. decided to go a bit more the "Classic" route.. I own a lot more Strats, Tele's, Gibson's, etc. And yes, I still have a few straight up metal type guitars.. but have gotten rid of most of my "All-in-one" type guitars. Loved the versatility.. but aesthetically, this was not really my cup of tea. Not really a metal guitar..(i.e. Jackson) and not really a classic ( Strat for instance ) and I guess I need more black and white options for my music gear. I have owned many guitars.. and yes, if I had unlimited resources and room to keep a bunch more guitars then I would own one of these.
My strongest feeling about the Carvin is that if you can afford ONE guitar.. get this one. It can literally do it ALL in one guitar. The mainstay is versatility.. and you definitely get the most bang-for-your-buck with this axe! Champagne features on a beer budget. This guitar is technically (way) better than any Les Paul or Strat... it just does not have their vibe or status. If that does not matter to you... you should definitely consider this guitar!