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Very cool guitar. I really like some of the clips I've heard done with this model and actually looked into buying one for a while. A few things to consider ... first, the 25.5" scale length is going to give the guitar a lot of snap. I'd suggest making at least some of your design decisions to put a bit more emphasis on warmth to counter that (mahogany/maple, mahogany/koa or even mahogany/mahogany might work well). A rosewood board might also be a good idea. Second, consider having a gig bag made for it. The guitar is very small but the case is huge and clumsy. I saw a quality leather gig bag for it a few months ago that was a huge improvement (you'll have to do a search for it. I'm not sure who made it). And finally, Carvin has one of the world's great stashes of koa. Tonally it may not be a perfect match for you and I'm not usually a fanatic about beautiful woods but the quality of koa that I regularly see from Carvin is just stunning.
Originally Posted by Toat
Last edited by Jim Soloway; 02-11-2014 at 01:14 AM.
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02-11-2014 01:12 AM
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Thanks for the advice! Will fretboard wood make a huge difference when using jumbo frets? I like the aesthetics of maple and I understand it's about the same, tonally, as ebony.
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I know that not every one agrees with me on this but I find that the fingerboard does make quite a difference. In my experience, ebony has a very fast attack, maple less so but it has a lot of high end focus, rosewood has a slower attack and as a result tends to warm things up a bit. Originally Posted by Toat
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I own an SH550, and it is my main guitar; can't say enough good things about it. (My next favorite guitar is an ES-335.) It has a maple top and stock S22 pickups. The S22s are balanced more to the mid/high end with much better definition than 57 classics and are brighter with higher output. You can split the S22 coils. It does not generate the sounds of traditional jazzbox, but it does generate some beautiful and versatile sounds. I love the neck, fretboard, weight (though some might find it a little heavy), balance, overall feel, looks and playability. It is a very well built guitar. I lowered the pickups, put some T-I Swing 10s on it, and I use a Jazztone 204 pick.
Return it if you don't like it.
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i'd love to hear it zigzag. I've thought about ordering one. Do they offer any paf style pickup?
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Like I said every one hears and see's things differently. For me the Heritage 535 I owned years ago originally had those Schaller p/ups in it, and I couldn't replace them quick enough. Dark,muddy, lack of definition are some terms that come to mind. But perhaps that why they produce a pleasant Jazz tone especially w/ flat wounds. For me personally I like the p/ups to have good string to string definition and even clarity. And that's single coils as well as humbuckers.
No perfect answer for all of our differing tastes.
Jack Z even though we have differing opinions on certain things I still appreciate your explorations and insights! But I still think your Nuts,LOL!
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and regarding carvin, i'm not a hater. I do like their basses and have recommended their bx250 and bx500 bass amps for use with jazz guitar.
I've actually owned 2 carvin basses and 3 carvin guitars in addition to several of their bass amps. I've also played many other carvin solidbodies as well as the 185 semihollow.
I think they make some cool stuff but none of the guitars have really impressed me too much. I still have high hopes for their semi-hollow guitars and have contemplated trying one of the holdsworth guitars.
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The nice thing about Carvin and most CNC guitars are they are very consistant from one to the next. But when it comes to carving a top on an archtop, I think you get the best out of the wood by human feel and touch. They are afterall just tools used to produce music. But guitars since they're so tactile seem to evoke more emotion from their owners vs. other instruments.
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To me, spruce sounds creamy and sparkly, whereas maple on a similar guitar sounds bright and honky.
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unfortunately, wine tasting terms don't mean anything to anyone. Lou at guitarsnjazz was telling me that his eastman jazz 16s had a really creamy tone but that means little to me. I've heard folks describe Robben Ford's dumble tone and jimi hendrix' electric ladyland tone as creamy...
It's like my favorite word "thunk". I think maple yields a thunky tone relative to spruce's open/transparent tone but those adjectives only mean something to me...
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I've got a Carvin SH550CE arriving in a week or two.
The cedar top isn't likely to make much difference in the sound.
I chose it because I'm not a big fan of the fancy woods.
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I have to jump in here and say I play a Carvin HH2 (the headless little guy) and I do love it. Mine is all mahogany with an ebony FB and an oil finish. I live near a Carvin store so I got to pick this guitar by playing about 5 of them with different woods and finish. I felt the mahogany sounded better than the other choices, but I also will admit I liked the way it looked as well. I am very happy with the tones I get from this guitar with the S22 pickups. I play straight into a Roland Cube 60 clean channel. People remark that my tone is very clear and defined. I don't think its a classic jazz tone, but it sure is nice.
Something else about this guitar, and I wonder what others think of this notion, it has a very nice acoustic tone. I have this idea lately that if a solid or semi-hollow guitar sounds acoustically pleasant, it is more likely to sound good amplified. Obviously there are exceptions, but I have found this to be generally true.
I think Carvin makes some very solid playable guitars. They cater more to rock obviously, and some of their stuff doesn't appeal to me, but that's mostly true across the board with guitar manufacturers.
And Jack, you are really a very good guitarist, so you get to be as picky as you like. I like to read your posts because your playing backs it up.
Bill
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FWIW, over the last few years, most of our guitars had either maple, spruce or cedar tops. There did seem to be a difference at least in our guitars. the cedar tops were more acoustically active than the maple tops and warmer than the spruce tops. The sample was not huge but the results were quite consistent and the guitars were quite similar in all other aspects. Originally Posted by RonD
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Likewise I thought the Holdsworth could make a great travel guitar, but I'd want to move the PU forward some.
Sometimes I look at my Tele and seriously consider a major surgical change to something similar to the HH, but with the Tele PU layout, or even the Benedetto B6 I have in the pile o'parts.
But of course a Tele is sort of a travel guitar already - small, disaster proof, and has its own remarkable sound with flats and a bit of knob tweaking.
I am all for hearing about any new Carvin experiences for a jazz player especially with some sound clips to go with it.
Heavens to Betsy, Lordy-Lordy, Fiddle-dee-dee (just sneaking in some bad words).
Chris
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>>> What do you guys think of a cedar top on an all mahogany guitar?
I have zero experience with tops so small as this. My assumption is that there is simply far less wood available to lend its character. But this could be very wrong.
It does seem to me that cedar would be giving the small volume of wood the best chance of lending some acoustic character to this small guitar.
Nice to have you on-board Toat.
Chris
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One thing about chambered guitars that really bothers me has nothing to do with the quality/attributes of the instrument. It's the incredible waste of expensive long time to grow wood. Watch this from about 2:00-4:00. Not preaching, just saying.
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The alternative is the expense of skilled labour to make even a lamianted back and side guitar let alone a carved top and solid back and sides. That CNC machine does in a few minutes what a luthier could take weeks to do.
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