The Carvin / Kiesel thread

[spudmunkey]

One-piece top?

Yes it is, good eye.

One-piece Burlied maple top in Aqua Candy with a trans blackburst edge, swamp ash body in trans black, ziricote fretboard with offset (not staggered) abalone dots, standard chrome hardware, abalone-topped knobs, their standard (for this model) Berrylium pickups in the standard black with standard silver pole pieces, piezo system electronics upgrade, thicker neck, standard fretboard radius and standard medium jumbo frets, 5-piece maple/purpleheart neck in clear satin, their standard "CT" headstock (in burled maple, and painted to match the body), abalone Kiesel logo.

 

[xzacx]

Yes it is, good eye.

One-piece Burlied maple top in Aqua Candy with a trans blackburst edge, swamp ash body in trans black, ziricote fretboard with offset (not staggered) abalone dots, standard chrome hardware, abalone-topped knobs, their standard (for this model) Berrylium pickups in the standard black with standard silver pole pieces, piezo system electronics upgrade, thicker neck, standard fretboard radius and standard medium jumbo frets, 5-piece maple/purpleheart neck in clear satin, their standard "CT" headstock (in burled maple, and painted to match the body), abalone Kiesel logo.

Nice, I'm not a huge figured top fan, but I almost always favor a one-piece top to something super bookmatched and symmetric. I don't know if you saw the top prior to speccing everything out, but it all compliments each other really well.

 

[spudmunkey]

Nice, I'm not a huge figured top fan, but I almost always favor a one-piece top to something super bookmatched and symmetric. I don't know if you saw the top prior to speccing everything out, but it all compliments each other really well.

No, I didn't see it first. I do encourage folks to watch their "pick your top" live video sessions for deals (they usually have higher-grade woods at or lower than "standard" grade prices), and to see the specific tops before you buy...however they rarely have anything thick enough for carved-top models, so i went in blind. Thick was a thicc boi billet of burled maple.

 

[mbardu]

Can we have more pictures please ?

 

[spudmunkey]

Can we have more pictures please ?

Ugh...

Files are to big to upload here, and imgur hot linking doesnt work here.

So...here is the full gallery:
http://imgur.com/gallery/Rktx8bn

Here are a couple of screenshots:

 

[Mathemagician]

Well someone’s a fan of starry night.

 

[Avedas]

That top is nuts.

A one piece A5 flame maple would be cool to do a build with.

 

[spudmunkey]

Just some fun with an animation app:

 

[mbardu]

That top is nuts.

A one piece A5 flame maple would be cool to do a build with.

They have done some pretty neat builds with one-piece flamed tops.

Still.....Spud's build is better

 

[Avedas]

I really like the look of the CT6, but I'm kinda on the fence on how well I get along with carved tops.

I'm thinking of doing a DC600 for my next build with a blue fade finish on flame maple top with bevels and natural binding, ebony fretboard, and RNC black limba body and neck.

I wonder how much they charge for a fade finish. Probably a lot.

 

[mbardu]

I really like the look of the CT6, but I'm kinda on the fence on how well I get along with carved tops.

I'm thinking of doing a DC600 for my next build with a blue fade finish on flame maple top with bevels and natural binding, ebony fretboard, and RNC black limba body and neck.

I wonder how much they charge for a fade finish. Probably a lot.

If you go DC600, I don't know if you are aware, but they are now 25.5 scale. The DC127 remains 25, like the CT and CS.
In any case, the carved top is indeed not for everyone. It's not specific to Kiesel, PRS is the same- the ergonomics are certainly different.

Fade used to be 200 when I asked- but that was years ago so that most likely increased since.

 

[spudmunkey]

It will also depend on what kind of fade you are looking for, and how many colors. If it's just a fade between their standard sprayed-on transparent paints, it'll be the cheapest, but it'll also be the harshest transition. Making sure the colors you want are more of a subtle shift can help that a bit, like blue to aqua and not blue to green, but it'll still be a pretty abrubt change. This method is basically just like how they do their standard burst finishes, just changing the shape.

Then there's a fade with hand applied dyes/stains. Those are pretty much all done by Jeff, and with this type of finish, there's way more control over blending the colors for a smoother transition. Again, the closer the colors are the better, but the transition will be much much smoother. This type of fade, though, is going to be much more expensive than a sprayed-on fade (likely 2x3 times as much), and also take longer.

 

[spudmunkey]

Well someone’s a fan of starry night.

sure, but not specifically on purpose for this guitar. I was hoping it would look as close as possible to some colored stabilized burled wood, like you can find for pen/handle turning. In that regard, I don't think it could have turned out better without actually getting a billet of solid wood made like this stuff:

With maybe a little coral reef in there, a bit:

 

[mbardu]

sure, but not specifically on purpose for this guitar. I was hoping it would look as close as possible to some colored stabilized burled wood, like you can find for pen/handle turning. In that regard, I don't think it could have turned out better without actually getting a billet of solid wood made like this stuff:

Geeeez, yeah for sure it could not have been any closer.
So I take it you're happy with the looks then

 

[Avedas]

It will also depend on what kind of fade you are looking for, and how many colors. If it's just a fade between their standard sprayed-on transparent paints, it'll be the cheapest, but it'll also be the harshest transition. Making sure the colors you want are more of a subtle shift can help that a bit, like blue to aqua and not blue to green, but it'll still be a pretty abrubt change. This method is basically just like how they do their standard burst finishes, just changing the shape.

Then there's a fade with hand applied dyes/stains. Those are pretty much all done by Jeff, and with this type of finish, there's way more control over blending the colors for a smoother transition. Again, the closer the colors are the better, but the transition will be much much smoother. This type of fade, though, is going to be much more expensive than a sprayed-on fade (likely 2x3 times as much), and also take longer.

I had in mind a 2-3 tone fade to look something like this:

Something like deep blue -> denim (or light blue, or trans white). It looks like Jeff is the one who does these though so I guess I'd have to expect to pay a bit more.
That one with the burl top looks pretty damn good too though.

 

[spudmunkey]

Yeah, to me, at least the top and bottom look like hand-done fades. I'd need to see the middle one to take a guess. I suspect it's also a "by hand" finish, though.

 

[mbardu]

Yeah, to me, at least the top and bottom look like hand-done fades. I'd need to see the middle one to take a guess. I suspect it's also a "by hand" finish, though.

To my eye, the first one looks like it was sanded back in a "denim" way, but only progressively bottom-up to give it the denim fade look.

That burled Vader is perfect is though.
Just the right amount of figuring, it looks like an overhead drone shot of the edge of a tropical lagoon.

 

[Avedas]

That burled Vader is perfect is though.
Just the right amount of figuring, it looks like an overhead drone shot of the edge of a tropical lagoon.

That one is really special. Sad that it's probably not reproduceable though.

 

[spudmunkey]

Similar:

I think this is another view of the same Vader.

 

[mbardu]

I think this is another view of the same Vader.
View attachment 81503

Jeebus...if it didn't have a trem I would be hunting the owner to buy it...