Psyy
The Care Cup's Empty
Well gentlemen... this is a day to remember. A day of epic beginnings and a day of bittersweet endings. The seven string guitar has made its way into my life for the first time, and I doubt it will ever leave. In saying that, I can almost guarantee with the same fervour that I will never again look at a six string the same. Already my few models seem... inadequate. Boring, even. But alas, change must ever take place, and I can see a bright future for myself concerning sevens.
But enough of such talk. On to the story.
So I woke up this morning with the intention of doing nothing (exam week demands nothing more, really), and followed suit by promptly turning on my computer and heading upstairs to make a sandwich while it booted up. Now a day of laziness must be dictated properly, so I immediately brought up some good ol’ Haunted Shores tracks while I chowed down on my Panini. Eventually, I ran out of material to listen to, (all too quickly I might add. MOAR TRACKS MARK AND CHRIS) and decided it would be best if I moved on to Chimp Spanner from there on.
Now the point came where I was bobbing my head to the groovy low-end tapping part in ‘Bad Code’ when a doorbell rudely interrupted my listening process. Grumbling to myself that I had to pause halfway through such an amazing song, I climbed the stairs to the door, still looking as if I had just stumbled out of bed. I was met at the door by an elderly gent, sporting a rather frazzled haircut and a curiously large rectangular box.
He seemed to mumble out some sort of greeting, though to tell the truth I barely heard him, since my eyes had picked out the large text on the opposite side of the box: Carvin Manufacturers. I thanked him for his time (I’m sure quite abruptly) and all but shut the door in his face as I quickly traversed the steps to my living room, anxious to open my long-anticipated prize.
Now upon setting the box down, I suddenly realized I did not have the usual knife I carry around in my housecoat, so I went off in search of one. I came back moments later to find that my dog had already claimed the guitar as her own, though I have to admit she has good taste.
After a life or death battle with her to reclaim what was rightfully mine (the knife came in handy) I set about unpacking it. Fairly easy, and I have to say the case is very nice. Not bulky at all while still providing a good amount of protection. I took photos of the case, but didn’t bother to upload them to Photobucket.
Pictures of the axe:
First off, I'll say it came out exactly as I envisioned. With the recent threads I've seen speaking of Carvin's QC mess-ups, I was a bit nervous as mine neared completion. Aesthetically, I love it. Couldn't have asked for a better paint job.
The flame goes great with the soft fade black that outlines the body. Keith from Carvin was the one I dealt with and he suggested it when I initially gave him the specs for it. I'm ridiculously glad he is. If anything the soft fade black accents the flamed blueburst even better, and just gives a nice, subtle touch of a border to keep the guitar from appearing static.
I love the headstock. It's nice and slim, and the white Carvin logo looks very tasteful with the black border. Imo at least.
Here's another shot of the body in a different light. The blue looks much brighter than it is, but to me that's all the better. I can have a suave-looking axe, or a bright eye-jerker, depending on where I'm playing.
Neck-thru.
I've never played a neck-thru to be honest, and I'm sure I'll notice any subtleties compared to a bolt-on in time, but aesthetically it just looks much nicer to me. I suppose for some the stark cut-off from the painted body to the maple neck could be a downer, but I'm so pleased with the overall guitar I couldn't care less.
(Sorry for the poor quality on this one. Don't know what happened.)
Lastly, a review:
From the hour or so I've been able to play this thing, I love it. Nice and smooth, the action is extremely low. The only drawback is that the 7th string buzzes a fair amount, and feels almost wobbly when I pick hard. I'm not experienced enough with 7's (this is the only one I've been able to touch for more than 10 minutes) so I couldn't say if this is normal or not. Any advice would be appreciated.
Excellently balanced. When I've got it resting on my leg, it could stay there for eternity, really. And this makes it seem like I'm playing an instrument, rather than carrying one, if that makes any sense to anyone. I've felt like that while playing a few sixes over the years.
The pickups are as to be expected for stock. Muddy without much midrange control. The lows get to them really easily, but I plan on switching these out for some BKP's in the near future, so I'm not worried. Aside from that, they look really good. Best-looking stock pickups I think I've ever seen. For this style of paint anyway.
The neck feels good. I've gotten so used to 6 necks over the few years I've been playing that the concept of a flat neck is so weird to me. But it feels amazing. The width of the neck is probably fairly average for a 7, but it's just perfect for me. Couldn't have asked for anything different.
I think that's all I've got guys. Thanks for checking this out. For a guitar I only went with based on review, I think it was a pretty good purchase. Couldn't be happier with my first 7, considering the first impression I needed. 7 strings just feels... right. I couldn't explain much more than that.
Edit: I almost forgot. I need to thank Cataclysmichael for his great recommendation for this guitar. I'd been contemplating a Carvin for some time, but after asking him about it, he gave me a positive enough review that I was dead set on this model.
But enough of such talk. On to the story.
So I woke up this morning with the intention of doing nothing (exam week demands nothing more, really), and followed suit by promptly turning on my computer and heading upstairs to make a sandwich while it booted up. Now a day of laziness must be dictated properly, so I immediately brought up some good ol’ Haunted Shores tracks while I chowed down on my Panini. Eventually, I ran out of material to listen to, (all too quickly I might add. MOAR TRACKS MARK AND CHRIS) and decided it would be best if I moved on to Chimp Spanner from there on.
Now the point came where I was bobbing my head to the groovy low-end tapping part in ‘Bad Code’ when a doorbell rudely interrupted my listening process. Grumbling to myself that I had to pause halfway through such an amazing song, I climbed the stairs to the door, still looking as if I had just stumbled out of bed. I was met at the door by an elderly gent, sporting a rather frazzled haircut and a curiously large rectangular box.
He seemed to mumble out some sort of greeting, though to tell the truth I barely heard him, since my eyes had picked out the large text on the opposite side of the box: Carvin Manufacturers. I thanked him for his time (I’m sure quite abruptly) and all but shut the door in his face as I quickly traversed the steps to my living room, anxious to open my long-anticipated prize.
Now upon setting the box down, I suddenly realized I did not have the usual knife I carry around in my housecoat, so I went off in search of one. I came back moments later to find that my dog had already claimed the guitar as her own, though I have to admit she has good taste.
After a life or death battle with her to reclaim what was rightfully mine (the knife came in handy) I set about unpacking it. Fairly easy, and I have to say the case is very nice. Not bulky at all while still providing a good amount of protection. I took photos of the case, but didn’t bother to upload them to Photobucket.
Pictures of the axe:
First off, I'll say it came out exactly as I envisioned. With the recent threads I've seen speaking of Carvin's QC mess-ups, I was a bit nervous as mine neared completion. Aesthetically, I love it. Couldn't have asked for a better paint job.
The flame goes great with the soft fade black that outlines the body. Keith from Carvin was the one I dealt with and he suggested it when I initially gave him the specs for it. I'm ridiculously glad he is. If anything the soft fade black accents the flamed blueburst even better, and just gives a nice, subtle touch of a border to keep the guitar from appearing static.
I love the headstock. It's nice and slim, and the white Carvin logo looks very tasteful with the black border. Imo at least.
Here's another shot of the body in a different light. The blue looks much brighter than it is, but to me that's all the better. I can have a suave-looking axe, or a bright eye-jerker, depending on where I'm playing.
Neck-thru.
I've never played a neck-thru to be honest, and I'm sure I'll notice any subtleties compared to a bolt-on in time, but aesthetically it just looks much nicer to me. I suppose for some the stark cut-off from the painted body to the maple neck could be a downer, but I'm so pleased with the overall guitar I couldn't care less.
(Sorry for the poor quality on this one. Don't know what happened.)
Lastly, a review:
From the hour or so I've been able to play this thing, I love it. Nice and smooth, the action is extremely low. The only drawback is that the 7th string buzzes a fair amount, and feels almost wobbly when I pick hard. I'm not experienced enough with 7's (this is the only one I've been able to touch for more than 10 minutes) so I couldn't say if this is normal or not. Any advice would be appreciated.
Excellently balanced. When I've got it resting on my leg, it could stay there for eternity, really. And this makes it seem like I'm playing an instrument, rather than carrying one, if that makes any sense to anyone. I've felt like that while playing a few sixes over the years.
The pickups are as to be expected for stock. Muddy without much midrange control. The lows get to them really easily, but I plan on switching these out for some BKP's in the near future, so I'm not worried. Aside from that, they look really good. Best-looking stock pickups I think I've ever seen. For this style of paint anyway.
The neck feels good. I've gotten so used to 6 necks over the few years I've been playing that the concept of a flat neck is so weird to me. But it feels amazing. The width of the neck is probably fairly average for a 7, but it's just perfect for me. Couldn't have asked for anything different.
I think that's all I've got guys. Thanks for checking this out. For a guitar I only went with based on review, I think it was a pretty good purchase. Couldn't be happier with my first 7, considering the first impression I needed. 7 strings just feels... right. I couldn't explain much more than that.
Edit: I almost forgot. I need to thank Cataclysmichael for his great recommendation for this guitar. I'd been contemplating a Carvin for some time, but after asking him about it, he gave me a positive enough review that I was dead set on this model.
Food is so overrated...
) Maybe with my next one!
