Carvin Holdsworth headless guitars with one pickup and a fixed bridge

**Jim Soloway** · 02-20-2013, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by Socalbill

I have a Carvin store near me, and I went a couple of days ago just to try the HH. They had three, all with two PUps. One had an all mahogany body and neck with an ebony board and an oil finish. They made me a deal and I brought it home. I plan to do some traveling this year, and I wanted a guitar for this purpose, but one that I could also play in other settings. So far I am very pleased with it although it is very different than what I usually play. Playability is wonderful, and so far I have just played straight into my Roland Cube 60, and the tone and clarity are great. It has a nicely chunky "D" shape neck and the playability above the 12th fret has really opened up some ideas for me. Today I will introduce it to my Pod HD and see what I come up with. This guitar is so tiny, you could probably just wear it!
Bill

A "nicely chunky D" are probably not the words I needed to read in order to maintain marital bliss

**Socalbill** · 02-20-2013, 03:15 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

A "nicely chunky D" are probably not the words I needed to read in order to maintain marital bliss

Yea, I was surprised it was that way, but the combination of the 20 inch radius, low action and the thicker neck works fine for me. I'm used to the thinner neck on my Eastmans, but this works too. Go figure.
Bill

**Socalbill** · 02-20-2013, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

A "nicely chunky D" are probably not the words I needed to read in order to maintain marital bliss

You know, after my reply I got curious and measured both my Eastman El Rey and the Carvin HH at the first fret and they are about the same thickness, but the Carvin has just a bit more shoulder then the Eastman. I have always loved the neck on my El Rey, but really the Carvin is pretty nice too. Hope that clarifies my statement.
Bill

**JPMike** · 02-20-2013, 05:03 PM

I own a Carvin HF2 and it's an amazing guitar, now that i think about it, the HH2 looks amazing.

Jim, what kind of woods would you go for it??

**Jim Soloway** · 02-20-2013, 05:13 PM

Probably stock, possibly some mahogany.

EDIT: one change for sure would be a rosewood fingerboard. I have a feeling this thing is already bright enough without having an ebony board.

EDIT #2: I just ran through their build/pricing ap. I'd forgotten about their "sale" on options. Doing a mahogany body and top didn't change the price at all, so that would probably be my choice along with a maple neck and rosewood board.

**Gertrude Moser** · 02-20-2013, 06:36 PM

If you can be patient, Carvin often seems to run sales in which "options" are reduced 50%. Just keep checking their site or sign up on the mailing list.

**Jim Soloway** · 02-20-2013, 06:53 PM

I just called them again this afternoon and got a bit of a disappointing answer. Apparently the case is just a shorter version of the standard G&G rectangular case. One of the real attractions of the guitar is its size but it the case is not reduced in size accordingly, then some of the benefit is lost.

**Bryan T** · 02-21-2013, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

I had wanted to build a headless several years ago when we were much more active than we are now. Unfortunately I was talked out of it for business reasons and I now really wish that I hadn't listened. The benefits are significant and the canvas is clear enough to come up with a lot of fresh ideas.

What are the benefits of a headless design?

**Jim Soloway** · 02-21-2013, 04:11 PM

The most obvious are extreme light weight without much risk of head dive and vastly improved convenience for travel. The hard tail version of the HH2 is abut 5.5 lbs.

**docbop** · 02-21-2013, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

The most obvious are extreme light weight without much risk of head dive and vastly improved convenience for travel. The hard tail version of the HH2 is abut 5.5 lbs.

Being a luthier ever thought of building something like the Traveler or Framework guitars?

**Jim Soloway** · 02-21-2013, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by docbop

Being a luthier ever thought of building something like the Traveler or Framework guitars?

Many times and if I thought I was going to keep going for several more years, I'd probably do it.

**Bryan T** · 02-22-2013, 12:52 AM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

The most obvious are extreme light weight without much risk of head dive and vastly improved convenience for travel. The hard tail version of the HH2 is abut 5.5 lbs.

Light weight is nice, but balance is what I really look for in a guitar. Don't you run the risk of having a guitar that is body heavy?

**rpguitar** · 02-22-2013, 01:44 AM

Body heavy? That really doesn't happen. I mean, we aren't talking about a 10 lb body and a 1 lb neck. The neck just lacks a headstock and tuners. The bodies of these headless instruments are always smallish, and some are chambered in addition, so that phenomenon simply doesn't happen.

I have owned 5 headless guitars, and every one has been well balanced.

**Socalbill** · 02-22-2013, 02:39 AM

My new HH2 has been pretty much strapped to my chest since I got it home, and it is remarkably comfortable and balanced. The two strap buttons at the base give you some interesting options for balance front to back as well. You can really take both hands off the guitar and it will stay where you had it. I'm liking this one a lot.
Bill

**Rustic** · 02-22-2013, 04:10 PM

Not to beat to death an old thread but without a headstock and a shorter string "after length" does this Carvin have more string tension than you'd expect? It may be coincidental but the headless guitars I've played have all had a tighter feel to the strings - playing 11s felt like 12s or 13s...

**JPMike** · 02-22-2013, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Rustic

Not to beat to death an old thread but without a headstock and a shorter string "after length" does this Carvin have more string tension than you'd expect? It may be coincidental but the headless guitars I've played have all had a tighter feel to the strings - playing 11s felt like 12s or 13s...

My Steinie GM7SA feels so loose that I can't really explain it.

**docbop** · 02-22-2013, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Rustic

Not to beat to death an old thread but without a headstock and a shorter string "after length" does this Carvin have more string tension than you'd expect? It may be coincidental but the headless guitars I've played have all had a tighter feel to the strings - playing 11s felt like 12s or 13s...

Isn't that more a product of scale length than string length past the nut?

**oldane** · 02-22-2013, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by docbop

Isn't that more a product of scale length than string length past the nut?

In theory, the extra lenght of string past the nut should make the fretting feel a bit more slack, provided there's no friction at the nut - but there is. Besides the length of string past the nut is much shorter than the vibrating string length, so IMHO I don't think I would be able to feel any significant difference. The scale length means more as you writes. The same has been claimed for the length of string between the bridge and tailpiece. That was the rationale of the Frequensator tailpiece of Epiphone giutars, but I'll be darned if anyone can feel any difference between a Frequensator tailpiece and a normal one - and if they can, I'd say it's "placebo". I also read somewheree that Epiphone themselves realized that but they stuck with the Frequensator design because it had by then become an easily recognizable brand characteristic, something people could see from a distance long before they could see the logo on the headstock.

**krusty** · 02-22-2013, 11:42 PM

Jim, have you ever tried an older Parker? I just sold all my PRS guitars, but the one guitar I will never sell is my Parker Nightfly M, equipped with Suhr pickups. It weighs in at under 6lbs and plays and sounds fantastic with the full carbon fretboard. I can get a beautiful woody jazz tone, screaming blues or even Hendrix with the coil split or metal depending on my amp settings (Mesa). I'm looking for an earlier Fly at the moment.

**Jim Soloway** · 02-23-2013, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by krusty

Jim, have you ever tried an older Parker? I just sold all my PRS guitars, but the one guitar I will never sell is my Parker Nightfly M, equipped with Suhr pickups. It weighs in at under 6lbs and plays and sounds fantastic with the full carbon fretboard. I can get a beautiful woody jazz tone, screaming blues or even Hendrix with the coil split or metal depending on my amp settings (Mesa). I'm looking for an earlier Fly at the moment.

I have but you know, I have two guitars for myself underway and my own instruments always come last after customers. It's almost like clockwork that when I know I have something in the works I get bored and start looking at a guitar to buy. Last year I ended up actually buying a couple archtops. I don't think either of them lasted more than a week or two. Probably what I should do is just put away the credit cards and wait to see how my two new guitars turn out.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 02-23-2013, 09:02 PM

Going back to the original comment: $100 to not install a pickup. I was looking at something similar. G&L has lots of lcustom options. Left-handed guitars are a no cost option, which is cool, but getting a reversed headstock -- which seems to be half way there -- is a $200 option. I guess you can't demand logic.