Carvin 7 strings

[jim777]

Anyone play one, or have one in their arsenal? I grabbed one out of the 'bay becasue I was jonesing for a 7, but it hasn't arrived yet. Seemed like a great deal for the price.

jim

[toejam]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

I've never played one of their 7-strings, but I'll be ordering one soon. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I've got an SC90, had a DC120 (12-string) and a DC400. All great guitars! [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

There are some on Ebay for very good price.
I would love to try one.
[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[jim777]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

I just got this one : Carvin 727 , but it hasn't arrived yet. My other 7, a 7620, is getting a new body so I got the Carvin to sort of tide me over. Now if it would just hurry up and show up....

jim

[pro-fusion]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

I was lookin' pretty hard at that one, as well, since it's about 90% the same as what I would order from the factory. On the plus side, I think the Carvin 7's are probably the best-made 7's you can get short of getting some $$$$ custom-shop guitar (especially for a neckthru--the high-end Ibanez 7's are high quality, but all bolt-ons), and their necks tend to be very playable, with low action and such.

On the downside, the reviews of Carvin's 7-string pickups have been mostly bad (I've never played one myself, so I can't verify), and Duncans/DiMarzios won't fit in a Carvin 7 without either shaving the base of the pickup or routing the pickup cavity, since the cavity is just a tad narrower than the base used on those brands. Also, Carvin uses the TRS licensed Floyd on its 7's, rather than the 7-string Original Floyd Rose, and the TRS bridge is definitely inferior to the LoPro Edge on your 7620--I can vouch for that personally, having owned guitars with both bridges. You might want to consider buying an OFR 7-string bridge and replacing the TRS at some point. Finally, some folks feel that Carvin guitars don't really "sing", if you get my drift. I've gone both ways on that question, but it's out there. You'll know soon, I guess.

I've love to read your thoughts on this guitar when it arrives. The Carvin board is very good, but you don't tend to see a lot of critical discussion of the merits of Carvin guitars there, since (obviously) most posters there are enthusiasts.

[toejam]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

[ QUOTE ]
I just got this one : Carvin 727 , but it hasn't arrived yet. My other 7, a 7620, is getting a new body so I got the Carvin to sort of tide me over. Now if it would just hurry up and show up....

jim

[/ QUOTE ]
That Carvin is sweet!! I love white guitars. My SC90 is Classic White. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I used to have an RG7620 in red (Vampire Kiss) that was pretty cool, I kinda miss it.

[jim777]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

I'm going to put new pickups in it when I get it, probably a ToneZone7 in the bridge and a PAF7 in the neck (that's what I've got lying around). The routing issue doesn't bother me too much so I'll find a way to jam 'em in there somehow [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I keep hearing that someone (Hipshot maybe?) is going to be releasing a piezo 7 trem bridge really soon, so if that comes out by say July I'll go with that. Otherwise, I'll get the original Floyd on there.
I ended it up getting it at the opening bid, so I'm pretty pleased with getting the neck through with an ebony board for so cheap. But like I said, if it would only just show up already!

jim

[slayer]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

Very nice!! Great price. Jack.

[jim777]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

You know, on the Carvin site where it lists the 7 string options, it says "Original Floyd Rose tremolo", it doesn't say "Floyd Rose Licensed tremolo". I hope that isn't something new, as the guitar I bought is 2 years old. I'll email the seller and cross my fingers I guess.

jim

[pro-fusion]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

Their web site is wrong. Carvin uses Original Floyds on its 6-string guitars, but not on the 7's. The reason is that 7-string OFRs are a limited-production thing and expensive/hard to get. I believe they are made by a different outfit (Floyd's own operation, if I'm not mistaken), rather than by Schaller, which makes most of the 6-string OFRs you see. And actually, when trems first became available on Carvin 7's, I don't believe the 7-string OFR had been introduced yet--it's a relatively recent thing.

To my knowledge, *nobody* uses the 7-string OFR as original equipment, for the same reasons as Carvins. Of course, Carvin is the last manufacturer--other than Ibanez, with their proprietary Edge Pro trem--that is still building quality production 7-stringers. Everything else is Korean, and those are obviously going to come with a cheapo TRS trem, regardless of what else is out there.

[jim777]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

Well then, that bites [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Riscchip]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

A while ago I borrowed my friend's Carvin 7 string to try out and do a little recording with. It had non-original pickups in it, but I don't remember what kind they were. It seemed like a very nice guitar. Well made, attractive and the sound was nice--not at all thin like some say about Carvins. Even did some nice clean sounds, but really slick for the obligatory heavey stuff. I was thinking of buying one at the time, but ended up getting an Ibanez 1077XL (long scale) 7 string. I'd still like to get a Carvin 7 once of these days, though.

[Inearthed]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

There is an obscenely overpriced Carvin 7-stringer at the Seattle Guitar Center that plays very nice. I own a Carvin 127 (or whatever) that I'm holding on to for a friend of mine and it plays great. I heard a lot of people complaining about the Carvin pickups that come with them 'stock' but I played around with it for about 5 hours one night and I was really impressed. They're designed to get a wide range of tones and they definitely are able to.

The best part about Carvin guitars / basses? They're very reasonably priced used.

[Endrik]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

I think I'll order 747 soon, I need a good 7-string with good price.

[jim777]

Re: Carvin 7 strings

I'd like to say they're competitively priced, but they're neck through made in the USA to your specs and come in at about a grand. There's really no competition. I don't know how they play [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img], but even with the 5 piece neck they still come in at less than 1200 with a trem and case. You can't beat it with a stick. If the neck is right you're way more than half way home anyway, right?

jim