Ajaydizzle
Well-Known Member
So back in December me and the other guitarist in my band decided to pull the trigger on two Aries A6 guitars. I had been playing a RGA121 and he was playing an LTD EC401 baritone. After waiting only two months I got my Aries 6. Honestly, it's the best playing guitar I've ever owned. Kiesel really hit it out of the park with this one. I have always wanted a Carvin/Kiesel but I was always hesitant of going custom... It is so hard to fork out the money if you have no idea what the end result will be but I have full confidence in the guys at Carvin after this build. I will be getting another one soon!
Specs are as follows -
Hipshot bridge
Swamp ash body
Satin Matte Finish with Deep Black over Flame top
5-pc Walnut neck W/ Maple stripes
Thinner neck profile
Pointed 3+3 headstock
Headstock matches body finish
Black diamond inlays
Stainless steel frets
Gold plated hardware
Gold metallic logo
Ok so first impressions... I play in Drop A tuning with 12-60 NYXL and specifically asked them to set it up in that tuning. I sent them the strings and they set it up. Minor buzzing on the open low E but other than that it is FLAWLESS. Intonation is perfect up and down the fretboard. The action is really low so I have to learn to play with a lighter touch than usual but I'll just chalk that up to more practice time. I am fortunate to work for a company where I can get my hands on almost any production guitar at any time and there is simply no comparison to the playability of this guitar. The Lithium pickups have a ton of body and mid range to them but lacked the low end that I was used to with my blackhawks in my RGA121. I was a little nervous about it at first but during our first practice with our new axes, this turned out to be a blessing. Our guitars found their place in the mix! We had always been fighting with our bass player sonically but the lithiums really found their own pocket to groove in with relation to bass and drums. We have never sounded tighter. (I play through a PRS Archon and 4x12 Orange with vintage 30s and he plays through an Engl powerball and 4x12 with vintage 30s). When played clean with some compression and verb the neck pick up and split coils sound amazing. Tones of sustain with a very nice chime to every string. sometimes it does end up sounding a bit brittle but I might just need to drop the height of the neck pickup to mellow it out.
The final look of this guitar is what really blew me away though. Like I said before, I didn't really know what I was getting into with this build, I wanted something simple but flashy at the same time. I was worried about the Gold hardware most of all. I didn't want the contrast of the maple board and dark finish to clash too much with the hardware. The maple fretboard came out perfect and a little darker than I thought and satin finish let some of the natural color of the maple and ash come through as well. It actually turned out to be a little purple! All in all, it truly was an incredible build and a very, very easy process to go through Kiesel.
side note... we nicknamed him Uncle Bernie, after the late, great Bernie Mac. We felt this guitar was a good embodiment of his style
Anyways... Pics
I'll throw some family pics up later when I can convince my other guitarist to let me take some pictures of them together in some good light
Specs are as follows -
Hipshot bridge
Swamp ash body
Satin Matte Finish with Deep Black over Flame top
5-pc Walnut neck W/ Maple stripes
Thinner neck profile
Pointed 3+3 headstock
Headstock matches body finish
Black diamond inlays
Stainless steel frets
Gold plated hardware
Gold metallic logo
Ok so first impressions... I play in Drop A tuning with 12-60 NYXL and specifically asked them to set it up in that tuning. I sent them the strings and they set it up. Minor buzzing on the open low E but other than that it is FLAWLESS. Intonation is perfect up and down the fretboard. The action is really low so I have to learn to play with a lighter touch than usual but I'll just chalk that up to more practice time. I am fortunate to work for a company where I can get my hands on almost any production guitar at any time and there is simply no comparison to the playability of this guitar. The Lithium pickups have a ton of body and mid range to them but lacked the low end that I was used to with my blackhawks in my RGA121. I was a little nervous about it at first but during our first practice with our new axes, this turned out to be a blessing. Our guitars found their place in the mix! We had always been fighting with our bass player sonically but the lithiums really found their own pocket to groove in with relation to bass and drums. We have never sounded tighter. (I play through a PRS Archon and 4x12 Orange with vintage 30s and he plays through an Engl powerball and 4x12 with vintage 30s). When played clean with some compression and verb the neck pick up and split coils sound amazing. Tones of sustain with a very nice chime to every string. sometimes it does end up sounding a bit brittle but I might just need to drop the height of the neck pickup to mellow it out.
The final look of this guitar is what really blew me away though. Like I said before, I didn't really know what I was getting into with this build, I wanted something simple but flashy at the same time. I was worried about the Gold hardware most of all. I didn't want the contrast of the maple board and dark finish to clash too much with the hardware. The maple fretboard came out perfect and a little darker than I thought and satin finish let some of the natural color of the maple and ash come through as well. It actually turned out to be a little purple! All in all, it truly was an incredible build and a very, very easy process to go through Kiesel.
side note... we nicknamed him Uncle Bernie, after the late, great Bernie Mac. We felt this guitar was a good embodiment of his style
Anyways... Pics
I'll throw some family pics up later when I can convince my other guitarist to let me take some pictures of them together in some good light
