Carvin SH65 Fully Loaded!

[hippietim]

I ordered this one a few months back and it came last week. This is like the ultimate Swiss Army knife guitar. It has normal magnetic pickups, piezo bridge transducers for acoustic output, and the GHOST hexaphonic output for Roland GK compatible devices (GR-30, VG-99, Axon, etc.).

The fit and finish is superb. It sounds great and plays fantastic.

[jgcable]

OMG... Tim, that is crazy nice. You know how to pickem.

[Flatpicker]

Nice.
How is the neck finished?

[hippietim]

Nice.
How is the neck finished?

oiled neck

[Bengal65]

Looks great Tim! It must sound pretty neat with all those options!

[SEEGERMANY]

OK, edumacate me. I see two volume knobs, two tone knobs, and I'm assumming some type of coil tap switch. What is the fifth knob for?

Also, I've never had a guitar with a Bigsby. Are the units pretty heavy and if so, is the weight noticeable?

[hippietim]

Mark - it has 3 output modes: mag pickups, piezo, and Roland GK synth acces.

They cover the electronics pretty good here: http://www.carvinguitars.com/manuals/SH575.pdf

[hippietim]

Mark you will also appreciated how light this guitar is - I haven't weighed it but it feels like it's half of that Frehley LP

[SEEGERMANY]

Mark - it has 3 output modes: mag pickups, piezo, and Roland GK synth acces.

I read that in the first post and It went in one eyeball and right out the other! Sorry about that!

[Super_shredder]

nice ! i like the bigsby

[lerxstcat]

That's a thing of beauty, Tim! Just curious, though - why did you go with a Tele body but choose a 3+3 headstock instead of 6 inline? It's all personal choice, of course, and the block inlays are not that Tele-like either.

Also, regarding Bigsbys - what is the attraction? Granted I have probably never played with one that was set up right, but they seem to not have much range and take the guitar right out of tune. That is, the ones I have played were like that.

How much range does a Bigsby have when set up properly, and do they give you effects you couldn't get with a Kahler with standard springs and bar?

If it's about looks, I can understand that; they do give a guitar that classic vibe.

[pro-fusion]

Nice guitar. Don't care for the Bigsby, but each to their own.

[Spivonious]

Very nice! One of these days I'll order my own Carvin. I hear nothing but good things about them.

[shreddermon]

Great guitar, Tim. Pretty unique, with the Bigsby too. Carvin makes great stuff. Congrats.

[hippietim]

That's a thing of beauty, Tim! Just curious, though - why did you go with a Tele body but choose a 3+3 headstock instead of 6 inline? It's all personal choice, of course, and the block inlays are not that Tele-like either.

I really don't like the Carvin 6 inline headstock too much. Once I decided to go with mahogany I ended up thinking of this as more like a Les Paul than a Tele - bizarre eh? So block inlays and 3+3 head seemed to make more sense. If their single cut was available for synth access I might have gone with that instead.

Also, regarding Bigsbys - what is the attraction? Granted I have probably never played with one that was set up right, but they seem to not have much range and take the guitar right out of tune. That is, the ones I have played were like that.

How much range does a Bigsby have when set up properly, and do they give you effects you couldn't get with a Kahler with standard springs and bar?

If it's about looks, I can understand that; they do give a guitar that classic vibe.

I wanted the guitar to have a whidlee bar and I happen to like Bigsby's. They aren't for dive bombing - they have a very limited range. They are fantastic for vibrato - you can really lay into the bar without it sounding like the spastic disaster it would be with any other trem system.

A Kahler actually feels kind of similar but they don't work sonically on a lot of guitars - it's pretty easy for a Kahler equipped guitar to sound like ass with the wrong combination of woods and pickups. Bigsby's sound great!

If the nut is cut correctly you should have no tuning problems with a Bigsby plus this has locking tuners.

I have a Gretsch Setzer Hot Rod with a Bigsby - it's the guitar I play the most since it's in the living room so I knew what I was getting into.