The Carvin / Kiesel thread

[spudmunkey]

Updates from today's live:

The Frank Fambale FG1 is now available in solid colors. It'll start with an alder body and plain maple top, and then with trans finishes, it starts with a mahogany body and flamed maple top.

The back of the neck is painted even with the solid colors.

You can also get it with the Gotoh trem on the FG1

They said they added some options to the FG2, but didn't go into details. I see there's a bunch of metallic finishes, now, but no idea how newly those were added. It used to just be the yellow.

 

[spudmunkey]

Per yesterday's live, you can now get:
Floyd Rose on the 22-fret version of the Delos

They've officially built an Osiris 5-string multscale bass (of the bevel twins, that was only available on the Zeus), so it may be on the menu now. Though they may require the Dark Glass preamp and their triple Tritium pickups, since that's how this one was made.

 

[mikernaut]

Predator Vision

 

[narad]

Ah that's kinda cool

 

[spudmunkey]

It was a surprise from the painters to Jeff, if I understood the story right.

He mentioned Jesse Ventura in the film, which amused me because the last few nights, I've been falling asleep to Abraxas, a shitty 90s sci-fi action movie starring him.

 

[kriff]

Predator Vision View attachment 141212

It's kinda cool, but also, kind of gross.

 

[spudmunkey]

A new logo on a couple of pieces of merch, both available in white and green, by the artist who designed the Archspire and The Zenith Passage band logos

For reference:

 

[The Monster With .]

A new logo on a couple of pieces of merch, both available in white and green, by the artist who designed the Archspire and The Zenith Passage band logos

For reference:
View attachment 141268View attachment 141267


View attachment 141269
View attachment 141270

That hat is sweet, I ordered one.

Kiesel has cool merch.

Anyone using the Holdsworth pickups for drop A 7 string? Thinking of replacing my Crunchlab.

 

[CanserDYI]

That hat is sweet, I ordered one.

Kiesel has cool merch.

Anyone using the Holdsworth pickups for drop A 7 string? Thinking of replacing my Crunchlab.

I have a Holdsworth in the neck position of my Vanquish 7, and it's the creamiest smoothest neck pup I've ever played. Makes me wish I got the Holdsworth over the Lithium for the bridge but I'm happy nonetheless.

 

[spudmunkey]

They announced a run today for a bevel-delete version of their A2.

They are doing the three spec tiers, "Stages", with the lowest, Stage 1, starting at $1649. If you opened the A2 builder, and added the included Stage 1 specs, it'd be $1939. If you pick the Antique Ash finish, it's included in Stage 1, but the non-run price for that guitar would be $2039.

As it stands right now:
1) The body style is exclusive to this run
.....A) Yes, it still comes with a forarm contour, similar to their DC or the bevel-delete Aries.
..........
2) There are 3 colors that are exclusive to this run, named after SoCal beaches
.....a) Solana: a reddish stain/dye orange
..........

.....b) Imperial: a purple-ish stain/dye finish
..........
.....c) Malibu: a dark blue-ish stain/dye finish
..........

3) The highest-spec option includes a matching "top" on the back, something they don't really offer*, so it's also basically exclusive to this run.



*yes, they offer 5-layer bodies as a part of the Kiesel Edition upgrade package, but outside of those 10 or so guitars per year with a 2-year wait list, they don't offer this 3-piece body any other way

 

[kriff]

GASing again but should probably wait for a sale...

 

[spudmunkey]

View attachment 142600
GASing again but should probably wait for a sale...

They normally have a "Multiscale May" promo that's $100 off.

Last year, there was also a "May the 4th" sale and Memorial Day sale that both overlapped "Multiscale May"

May the 4th:
free chambering with a top
free swamp ash body (with raw tone)
$50 off Hyperdrive, Leia, Lightspeed, Retro Solo, Solo, Vader

Memorial Day:
Free thinner neck
free chambering upgrade with purchase of top
free acrylic inlays
free Royal ebony fingerboard
$50 off roasted neck
$50 off KTB
$100 off 7-piece necks
free black burst edges
free fade finishes
free swamp ash body with raw tone, $50 off AAT

Though two things worth mentioning:
1) Jeff's stated that this year's sales will likely be scaled back from last year's
2) While they've done "free ash body wood with raw tone" for nearly every promo for the past few years, black limba and mahogany bodies have also been added alongside ash pretty frequently lately as either free or discounted options.

So there's a good chance that sometime in either May, June for Father's Day, or July's independence day that Black Limba body, Royal Ebony FB, multiscale, chambering (which I'd recommend for a heavy black limba body), and some neck wood upgrades will either be free or discounted.

 

[Church2224]

Dream 9 string....

 

[kriff]

They normally have a "Multiscale May" promo that's $100 off.

Last year, there was also a "May the 4th" sale and Memorial Day sale that both overlapped "Multiscale May"

May the 4th:
free chambering with a top
free swamp ash body (with raw tone)
$50 off Hyperdrive, Leia, Lightspeed, Retro Solo, Solo, Vader

Memorial Day:
Free thinner neck
free chambering upgrade with purchase of top
free acrylic inlays
free Royal ebony fingerboard
$50 off roasted neck
$50 off KTB
$100 off 7-piece necks
free black burst edges
free fade finishes
free swamp ash body with raw tone, $50 off AAT

Though two things worth mentioning:
1) Jeff's stated that this year's sales will likely be scaled back from last year's
2) While they've done "free ash body wood with raw tone" for nearly every promo for the past few years, black limba and mahogany bodies have also been added alongside ash pretty frequently lately as either free or discounted options.

So there's a good chance that sometime in either May, June for Father's Day, or July's independence day that Black Limba body, Royal Ebony FB, multiscale, chambering (which I'd recommend for a heavy black limba body), and some neck wood upgrades will either be free or discounted.

Oh that's perfect thank you. I'll wait a bit then!

Black limba, I'm not 100% committed to, I just like the look of it. I've got a non-chambered black limba Vader already which is relatively heavy for a headless guitar but not too bad still. So I'll just see what deals there are probably.

 

[Wucan]

Bumping just because I spotted on the official FB page the only gilded guitar I've seen that's actually pretty fuckin sweet instead of tacky:

 

[spudmunkey]

A really nice story to go along with it: a tribute to his recently-departed dad, with a lot of care and kindness from Flock and Jeff.

 

[spudmunkey]

Not sure when it happened, but the builder is now showing the neck-pickup-delete option for the rest of the non-pickguard bolt-ons, in addition to the A2 and Vader bolt-on that offered it from launch.



Their old neck heel design for the bolt-ons necessitated a neck pickup route, as least for a single coil. While the option had been offered for years on their neck-through, set-through, and Holdsworth, the only way to get a "bridge pickup only" bolt-on from Kiesel was the Delos, because the pickguard covered the route they needed to do even if a pickup wasn't going there.

When they launched the A2, it had a new neck pocket design for them, which allows for the deletion of the neck pickup route. Then the Vader bolt-on launched with the same design. After that, Jeff mentioned that this new heel was going to be rolled out across their bolt-on line, and it looks like sometime within the last 32 hours (when I last checked) this option was added to the builder.

 

[juka]

How is the quality of their Floyd Rose installs currently?

After playing headless sevenstrings for several years almost exclusively, I still miss a decent six string with an original Floyd Rose from time to time.
Tested several US Charvels and Jacksons and was pretty shocked about their lousy floyd installations and setups.
Now I hope the guys from Kiesel might have retained the art of a proper FR install and setup where other companies seem to have lost it over recent years.

 

[ramses]

Bumping just because I spotted on the official FB page the only gilded guitar I've seen that's actually pretty fuckin sweet instead of tacky:

Are they offering Cocobolo wood now?

 

[spudmunkey]

Th

Are they offering Cocobolo wood now?

They've had it for quite a few years off-and-on. They even used to have some for necks, but that's been gone for a couple of years. They seem to have regular fretboard stock of cocobolo, but it's never been offered as an option on this or their old website. Same with Ziricote fretboards and tops: they often have it, but it's never been on the builder.