Review of my white DK2M

[slayer]

Hey man, does your Carvin CT4C stay in tune without the Locking Nut with wild whammy use? Jack.

[TheBarr]

Nice review man. I agree, a better quality Trem should be used. They should come with an OFR and be done with it. Jack.

You mean something like this.

http://www.splawnguitars.com/amps_charvel.htm

[demeyes]

I think I might get one of these next year. I think I might also drop an OFR in it because its seems like the only major upgrade for it and I'm going to abuse the bridge on it!

[Szostak]

Great, great, great review! Damn i've never seen so much passion put into something that benefits others! But now for my complaint...Now I want a DK2M!!! Hehe :P

[Jason1212]

This is one of the guitars I have been eyeing since NAMM this past winter. Thanks for the in depth review on this one. After reading the overall good word on this one and hearing some not so good stuff on other options I will probably score one of these in a few months.

[Madness]

I just bought one of these yesterday (white) and this review is EXACTLY what I would have said about this guitar....EXACTLY. It felt like you were reviewing my giutar.
My bridge was also lowered all the way as well, only on the treble side though. luckily the action gets low enough to where I like it so I won't need to shim the neck but, any change in the guitar and I will though. The threaded collar for the pivot stud bottoms out (like the hole wasn't drilled quite deep enough) before it is all the way in the hole causing the stud to bottom out sooner. It's almost all the way in like the bass side but, not quite...
The only difference is the fret job on mine was flawless ie. no buzzing anywhere.

Overall I am happy with the guitar, like others have said, the flaws are easily fixable.

[Adam]

Hey man, does your Carvin CT4C stay in tune without the Locking Nut with wild whammy use? Jack.

It stays in tune better than most guitars WITH locking nuts. A well-cut nut is a thing of beauty. Sperzels help, though.

Great, great, great review! Damn i've never seen so much passion put into something that benefits others! But now for my complaint...Now I want a DK2M!!! Hehe :P

Wow, thanks!

It really is a great guitar. After playing it at a show last Friday, I know now more than ever that it's a keeper. The thing freakin' rocked it. I usually switch guitars halfway through a set, but I just used the DK2M the whole time - I didn't want to put it down. It was comfortable to play, easy to whip around (the center of mass is right at the neck joint) and it sounded great.

I got a bunch of compliments on the guitar & tone after the show, too.

The only difference is the fret job on mine was flawless ie. no buzzing anywhere.

Overall I am happy with the guitar, like others have said, the flaws are easily fixable.

Actually, the frets on mine are perfect as well. The only buzzing happened when I had over-tightened the truss rod to compensate for the high action, so the strings didn't have a big enough ellipse in which to vibrate without hitting the frets. Now that the neck is shimmed, I was able to fix this entirely.

I have a few updates to the review, also. See below:

[Adam]

A couple more things to add about the guitar

I noticed over the weekend that the knobs are actually screw-tightened knobs installed on split-shaft pots. This results in a little bit of wobble in the knob if the screw is loose. It's probably cheaper and better to upgrade to higher-quality solid-shaft pots than to change the knobs. At the moment I'm leaving it alone.

I also had a chance to peek inside the electronics cavity....

...Whoa. Scary.

My advice: don't look in there unless you absolutely must, or you have a very strong stomach. There is stuff going on in there that I couldn't even begin to explain. For some reason they didn't actually route cavity space under the entire area of the cavity cover. The whole thing is counter-sunk by about 1/8", but only part of it was actually routed underneath.

I didn't have time to take a photograph of it, so I have attempted to create a graphic illustration. This is from memory, so I cannot guarantee it to be exact. You'll get the gist of it, though.



The plus side is if you ever want to add a sustainiac, EMGs, or anything that requires a batter or additional routed, you have PLENTY of room and won't run the risk of screwing up the outward appearance of your guitar.

Despite all that, it sounds great. Don't ask me.

[Madness]

Actually, the frets on mine are perfect as well. The only buzzing happened when I had over-tightened the truss rod to compensate for the high action, so the strings didn't have a big enough ellipse in which to vibrate without hitting the frets. Now that the neck is shimmed, I was able to fix this entirely.

Whoops, I know see that you stated this in your original post...

[jackson1]

I didn't have time to take a photograph of it

You didn't have time to take a photo (1 minute), yet you had time to draw this on a computer?!!
Seriously, I'd really like to see a photo of the mess

[Adam]

You didn't have time to take a photo (1 minute), yet you had time to draw this on a computer?!!
Seriously, I'd really like to see a photo of the mess

Well I'm at work now - no guitar, no camera, and lots and lots of empty company time.

[Madness]

Wow, sorry man. I checked mine out after you posted that and mine seems to be fine.

[Adam]

Wow, sorry man. I checked mine out after you posted that and mine seems to be fine.

Oh. Well shit.

Yeah, actually, looking at yours it doesn't seem anywhere near as bad as I remembered. I looked at it Friday night after a pretty long night/show and too many drinks, so I apologize for making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Still, it is a bit of a mess in there when you think about what they actually have wired up.

• Two 4-conductor pickups (two conductors not used - no coil taps or phase inversions in effect)
• Two pots
• Three-way blade switch (bridge, both, neck)
• Mono output jack
• Ground

It could be a LOT cleaner than it is, at least when thinking about how little is actually going on in there. The one thing that's weird to me though, is why have such a big countersunk cavity cover when the actual cavity is 1/2 the size?

[Nazgul]

The one thing that's weird to me though, is why have such a big countersunk cavity cover when the actual cavity is 1/2 the size?

Weird indeed. But look at it from the bright side - if you need extra space for batteries or something and you route it out yourself and it ends up looking messy, it will be atleast covered .

[jackson1]

1. It's a nice and cleanly done electronics installation.

2. They are simply reusing the routing templates (optimizing workflow) and what a joy it is to see, that they left a lot of wood there, instead of routing the whole cavity full depth. Good job, Jackson.