Need opinions on future high-end 7/8 string purchase

[Rap Hat]

Well... After much debate, I'm leaning more towards having a Carvin DC800 built for me, and a DC7X built for my brother... Thoughts?

I'm a big fan of my DC800 and think it's an excellent guitar for the money. I have it tuned to drop E with a .076-.010 set and it works fine; intonates perfectly, has great action and above all sounds great even with the stock pickups. But, if it's your only 8 you might find the pickups lacking. They're high output and pretty bassy so keep that in mind re: the final cost. M8s are a good replacement, but for all-around awesome tone without breaking the bank I'd suggest the DActivators. I have them in an Agile and haven't yet run into a situation where their tone didn't work for a song.

I'd highly recommend getting it with a tung oiled neck and SS frets - the tung oil makes the neck super smooth and easy to play, with almost no stickiness like you'd find on gloss or satin, while the SS frets give it a longer lifespan before dressings are needed.

 

[alvo]

I'm a big fan of my DC800 and think it's an excellent guitar for the money. I have it tuned to drop E with a .076-.010 set and it works fine; intonates perfectly, has great action and above all sounds great even with the stock pickups. But, if it's your only 8 you might find the pickups lacking. They're high output and pretty bassy so keep that in mind re: the final cost. M8s are a good replacement, but for all-around awesome tone without breaking the bank I'd suggest the DActivators. I have them in an Agile and haven't yet run into a situation where their tone didn't work for a song.

I'd highly recommend getting it with a tung oiled neck and SS frets - the tung oil makes the neck super smooth and easy to play, with almost no stickiness like you'd find on gloss or satin, while the SS frets give it a longer lifespan before dressings are needed.

I have the same exact sentiments towards all Rap Hat's points. My DC800 has the tung oiled neck, SS frets, and p/up's upgraded to Lundgren M8's. The covered soapbar M8's are a direct fit so no routing needed but you will need new pots.

 

[Avogadr0]

Yeah instead of throwing down $3500 for an 8 string, just get two Carvins or one and a new amp. I love my DC800 and definitely am going the Carvin route again.

 

[Churchie777]

If you do want an 8 and if you'd money would allow it id drop that coin on.....
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/gu...263767-feeler-kxk-scale-8-redwood-beauty.html

 

[Pilgrim of the Dark]

I have the same exact sentiments towards all Rap Hat's points. My DC800 has the tung oiled neck, SS frets, and p/up's upgraded to Lundgren M8's. The covered soapbar M8's are a direct fit so no routing needed but you will need new pots.

I was thinking of going the satin finish route... I've had tung oiled maple fretboards that got ridiculously dirty way too quickly.

Have you had any issues with the oil finish needing to be touched up or with the neck getting nasty? (I am clean and wash my hands often, but my maple board still got nasty, lol!)

I talked to Carvin and they said they'll do a passive route on the DC800 for no extra charge, but they don't have 8 string passives yet... They said I can mail in any pups I want and they'll install them for $50 extra.

 

[Pilgrim of the Dark]

I'd highly recommend getting it with a tung oiled neck and SS frets - the tung oil makes the neck super smooth and easy to play, with almost no stickiness like you'd find on gloss or satin, while the SS frets give it a longer lifespan before dressings are needed.

I've had SS frets before and will NEVER go back to soft frets... Good looking out, though!

 

[alvo]

I was thinking of going the satin finish route... I've had tung oiled maple fretboards that got ridiculously dirty way too quickly.

Have you had any issues with the oil finish needing to be touched up or with the neck getting nasty? (I am clean and wash my hands often, but my maple board still got nasty, lol!)

I talked to Carvin and they said they'll do a passive route on the DC800 for no extra charge, but they don't have 8 string passives yet... They said I can mail in any pups I want and they'll install them for $50 extra.

I forgot about Carvin doing passive routes!

My Dc800 has the oiled maple neck but with an ebony fretboard. I haven't had that guitar for long and haven't had any issues with dirt (yet?) on the back or with the board. About 5 months in, so far so good.

If you are talking about the back of the neck I would think it wouldn't really get nasty as most of the time dirt and grime accumulates on the fingertips and would mostly be left on the fingerboard and not on back of the neck. This is just what I think though, so someone with more experience on this might be able to get you a better answer. I don't have experience with oiled maple fretboards so I can't help you there.

I have had Strats with satin finished maple necks and whenever dirt accumulated it was an easy fix, just wiped it off.

Sorry I'm not better help, man...shamelessly trying to reach 100 post count...

 

[Rap Hat]

I was thinking of going the satin finish route... I've had tung oiled maple fretboards that got ridiculously dirty way too quickly.

Have you had any issues with the oil finish needing to be touched up or with the neck getting nasty? (I am clean and wash my hands often, but my maple board still got nasty, lol!)

I talked to Carvin and they said they'll do a passive route on the DC800 for no extra charge, but they don't have 8 string passives yet... They said I can mail in any pups I want and they'll install them for $50 extra.

Awesome that they'll do passive routes! People weren't able to get that done in the past, so it's a huge advancement knowing they can do it now!

Unfortunately for your question it's only the neck that's tung oiled on mine, my board is ebony so I mainly have to worry about cracking due to dryness. I haven't had any issues with the neck itself getting gross though. I tend to wash my hands before playing and I'll lemon oil it every few string changes and that seems to be enough to keep it in tip-top shape.
I wonder if they'd do a tung oiled neck but seal the fingerboard? That way you'd get the ease of playability and not have to worry about a grimy board.

 

[Pilgrim of the Dark]

Awesome that they'll do passive routes! People weren't able to get that done in the past, so it's a huge advancement knowing they can do it now.

I figured there was no chance they'd do it, but I figured I might as well ask and add to the number of people asking for it... To my surprise, they said it's not a problem, but they'd charge me $50 to install whatever pups I mail them (humbuckers only, mind you). Seems well worth it to me