Carvin SH575

**Revelation** · 09-01-2011, 07:20 PM

Just got my Carvin SH575 today.

Compared to the 335, it has a clearer tone and lacks the thick Gibson character. It has more of a acoustic sound but there is some nice character to it. Neck is very easy to play on.

No problems using the acoustic output and regular output at the same time. Sounds great clean, and with some distortion.

Carvin SH575-carvin-sh575-jpg

**tsar nicholas** · 09-01-2011, 11:56 PM

I LOVE this color

**kris** · 09-02-2011, 01:26 AM

looks great!!! ebony fingerboard.
how it sound?

**IanD** · 09-02-2011, 03:28 AM

Beautiful guitar Revelation, congratulations. As I have said on previous threads, the build quality, shape, size and the midi make it (for me) close to the perfect guitar.

I have been considering one of these for a while but I have some concerns about the neck. I love the '59 chunky neck on my Gibson, can't really bond with the thin (from back to front) neck of my Ibanez. How would you describe the neck of the Carvin?

**Revelation** · 09-02-2011, 09:51 AM

The neck on this Carvin to me is not too thin. I am 6 foot tall and I have decent size hands. I also hate the really thin necks built for someone to just play fast on all day. i want someting that I can grab on to. I have a Les Paul and this neck though not shaped the same, is in the same ball park, and playability is similar. I will put photo that shows the profile of the neck from the side and try to post it here. For some reason when I try to post on this web site from my Mac, it tries to load the photo and then after 5 min I get an error message.

The sound of this guitar is really very nice. It has a musical clean sound that is more balanced sounding that the 335. I have played a nice 335 for several days before getting this guitar (as there is a 10 day return policy). I like both guitars a lot, but since I already have a "Gibson" sound" with my Les Paul, the Carvin is more different from the Paul than the 335. The reviews of the SH550 here have laid out pretty well on how this guitar is. It is in between the PRS and 335 sound. It can sound great for rock music as it gives a nice polite but strong distortion sound. When you pull the treble knob and split it to single coil, using the back pick up on with the clean channel....add a little more treble, and wow, you have a country picking sound. It's not the twang of a Teli, but it can be used for country that would make any picker smile. It's not brittle or too weak, but has a very nice sound. but it is very useful.

The acoustic pickup is not noisy as was stated in a review somewhere. It is very nice sounding and combined with the guitar pickups can be a treat live or in a studio situation.

Everyone states the quality of the Carvin guitars is great, the tone is something that is a personal preference. I like having a Gibson sound but I like to have this Carvin sound as well. If I was to choose two humbucker guitars to have, give me a 335 and a SH575 and I would be a happy man. (This is someone who is a blues/rock player who loves jazz.)

**Revelation** · 11-07-2011, 03:09 PM

Update: After playing this guitar for a couple of months now I just wanted to report that I am still very happy with this guitar. It sounds great for jazz, country or rock music. What I like about it for jazz is it does not have that traditional deep rich jazz tone. If you want that sound, I would get something else. However the guitar has a wonderful clean sound where the high's, mid's and low's are more balanced sounding. It has it's own voice. Going through my Fender Twin or Boogie Express, I have obtained great sounding jazz sounds. I will also say that to me, this is the most beautiful guitar I have ever look at as well. Weight is good, neck is very easy to play on, and I can access the high part of the fretboard with no problems.

**cosmic gumbo** · 05-09-2012, 09:06 AM

Any advantage to the flat back, besides being cheaper to produce? I'm used to semi hollows with an arched back also.

**Spook410** · 05-09-2012, 12:50 PM

Not that is BLUE. Pretty wood. Sounds like you're really enjoying it.

**Flint** · 05-09-2012, 09:13 PM

I'm another with both the SH-575 and the ES-335. I think I should point out that generalizations about both these guitars are pretty useless.

For example, my ES-335 comes originally equipped with P90 pickups, which sound totally different from, say, the classic '57s. Which is the "real" 335 sound? Meanwhile, the Carvin allows the selection of a wide variety of pickups for this guitar. They all sound different.

As for the general feel and balance, again there is no standard comparison. Carvin allows a variety of top woods, fretboard woods, etc. Gibson's 335s have a variety of fret shapes and sizes, and Carvin allows half a dozen choices of frets. So what is the "feel"? It all depends.

I ordered the spalted maple top, and the spalting was so severe that I think the top is at least 50% plastic resin for stabilization. This influences the weight of the guitar.

I will say both are great instruments, very well made and a joy to play.

**Revelation** · 05-09-2012, 10:16 PM

Though Carvin does offer many options on their guitars I chose the stock pickups for this guitar and stock Alder body and maple top. The only thing I ordered was block inlays, the color, and heavier gauge strings as I did not want 010's on a jazz guitar. I admit both the Carvin amd 335 are great sounding guitars. I just wanted a different sound from the Gibson sound and the Carvin was my choice.

**zigzag** · 05-10-2012, 12:33 PM

I have a Carvin SH550 with stock S22s and I have a 2005 Memphis ES-335 with stock 57 classics. While I love the necks on both guitars, I prefer the neck on the 335 but play the Carvin almost exclusively. I'm going for two very different tones with both guitars. I prefer the bright, clear, balanced tone of the Carvin, however, I'm still experimenting with the 335 (strings, pickup height, picks, and amps/settings) to get more of a woody, warm, jazz box sound.

**Woody Sound** · 10-10-2016, 09:12 AM

More a New Guitar Makeover. Bought this SH575 semi less than a year ago. Very nice bare bones version. But I did not like all the gold bling hardware that was on it. So I found another one used, a very fancy tiger flame maple sunburst version with the black hardware. Bought it, swapped all the hardware on the two, and flipped it. Here is the result. Might be a lot of work for a superficial thing, but what do y'all think about the result?

**greasy0015** · 10-10-2016, 09:35 AM

I think that looks great. It's the type of guitar aesthetic I gravitate towards: Simple and clean. I don't care for gold hardware and fancy fret board inlays. I think I'm in the minority though!

**jazz.fred** · 10-10-2016, 10:52 AM

I owned an SH550 for about 3.5 years. All tricked out with gold hardware, abalone block inlay, stainless steel frets etc. I like "bling". The fretboard was too narrow and the strings were too close together, so I sold it. Well made, nice guitar though.

Your new Carvin looks very cool. Enjoy!

**jazz.fred** · 10-10-2016, 10:53 AM

I owned an SH550 for about 3.5 years. All tricked out with gold hardware, abalone block inlay, stainless steel frets etc. I like "bling". The fretboard was too narrow and the strings were too close together, so I sold it. Well made, nice guitar though.

Your new Carvin looks very cool. Enjoy!

**Boston Joe** · 10-10-2016, 10:58 AM

For me, it kind of depends on the guitar. The gold hardware on my JSM-10 looks right with the yellow/brown sunburst. The chrome hardware on my Strat and Tele look appropriate for the basic instruments that they are.

**Jim Soloway** · 10-10-2016, 11:37 AM

What's the single knob closest to the bridge? (Looks good BTW. Black is a much better match for cedar).

**Woody Sound** · 10-10-2016, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

What's the single knob closest to the bridge? (Looks good BTW. Black is a much better match for cedar).

That's the mag pu vol. The 575 is the model with piezo acoustic out and synth out. Hence all the knobs. The 550 has just mag pickups, 2 knobs.

Carvin SH575-carvinsh550-jpg

**aboutIt** · 10-10-2016, 01:47 PM

Clean and beautiful. How's the voice on that model? Does the cedar warm it up?

**50Hz** · 10-10-2016, 02:21 PM

Looks perfect. I love the stripped-down aesthetic. Would love to hear some samples as well if you get a chance.

**Woody Sound** · 10-10-2016, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by aboutIt

Clean and beautiful. How's the voice on that model? Does the cedar warm it up?

Yes in fact, fuller, less mid-range "honk." I've had a few of these 550s/575s pass through my hands so I can say so. But it's not a HUGE diff, as these are really carved out mahog bodies with the diff tops.

**Woody Sound** · 10-11-2016, 09:34 AM

Originally Posted by jazz.fred

I owned an SH550 for about 3.5 years. All tricked out with gold hardware, abalone block inlay, stainless steel frets etc. I like "bling". The fretboard was too narrow and the strings were too close together, so I sold it. Well made, nice guitar though.

Your new Carvin looks very cool. Enjoy!

The neck at the nut is actually 1.69, which is a hair over 1-11/16. But the string spacing is a bit narrow, and I think that gives the impression of a narrow fretboard. There is a lot of room outside of both e strings. I will probably get a nut installed with wider spacing.

**Woody Sound** · 10-11-2016, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by Woody Sound

Yes in fact, fuller, less mid-range "honk." I've had a few of these 550s/575s pass through my hands so I can say so. But it's not a HUGE diff, as these are really carved out mahog bodies with the diff tops.

PS - Carvin's fit & finish is impeccable, and the neck plays beautifully. And, the GraphTech acoustic system sounds more realistic than the Baggs that I had in the PRS Hollowbody Piezo.

**aboutIt** · 10-12-2016, 04:21 AM

Sweet. Thanks for the follow up, Woody. Speaking of the neck, how would you describe the profile?

**jim777** · 10-12-2016, 10:08 AM

That really looks great, I think you really did right by her. If you had just shown me a picture of the knobs, I would have sworn up down and sideways it was an active bass LOL