Kiesel HH2X in Sapphire Blue

[El_Duderino_204]

This beauty has been part of my life since roughly 2 weeks now (see photos further below).

A few excerpts from the spec sheet:

- Alder body (chambered),
- Flamed maple top,
- 1-piece Maple neck,
- Regular AH Neck Profile,
- Fretboard: Ebony (less color-variation),
- 24 Gold Jumbo Frets,
- Scale length: 25,5",
- Fretboard Radius: 20",
- Diamond-shaped Abalone inlays,
- Color: Translucent Sapphire Blue,
- Clear Gloss Finish,
- Pickups: Kiesel Allan Holdsworth Humbucker in both Neck- and Bridge position,
- Push/Pull pots for coil-split option.

Maybe I will post a small written review in a few weeks time.
Up to now, I can say that I am very pleased with the guitar!

Cheers!

[jads57]

So I have both the Carvin and Kiesel versions of these wonderful guitars! I first bought one as a travel instrument,but over the past year and half they have become my main guitars replacing just about all others.

The only issue for me is the 24 frets displaces the sweet spot of the neck pickup. So getting a warm Jazz Clean tone is a bit harder to do.
I had a friend install a custom plate for the neck route, and installed a DiMarzio Tone Zone blade single size pickup. This way the strings don’t read the second coil of the humbucker. It seems to be working better for me at least.

Im also trying out their Beryllium pickups on the Kiesel and see if that improves the tone as well.

[D.G.]

I have one with almost the same specs! Roasted maple neck on mine.

I replaced the pickups — not an easy task — with a Fralin p92 in the neck and a Lollar low wind Imperial in the bridge. I also swapped out the pots from 500k for 250k, which is a Sadowsky trick.

[Woodstove]

So I have both the Carvin and Kiesel versions of these wonderful guitars!
Im also trying out their Beryllium pickups on the Kiesel and see if that improves the tone as well.

I have the beryllium pups on a Osiras and like them very much. But I use them more for strat and les paul tones than jazz. Don’t love the kiesel for jazz. I do for rock! I also have a piezo which often adds a nice flavor to them when blended. To the OP I also have a 20 radius neck with the jumbo frets and I LOVE the neck, mine is roasted maple.

[Woody Sound]

I have owned several modern Carvins/Kiesels, and on each one the neck and fretwork are impeccable.

[Average Joe]

I have one with almost the same specs! Roasted maple neck on mine.

I replaced the pickups — not an easy task — with a Fralin p92 in the neck and a Lollar low wind Imperial in the bridge. I also swapped out the pots from 500k for 250k, which is a Sadowsky trick.

Could I get you to expound on what the difficulties were and how you solved it?

I have a HH2 with Holdsworth pickups, and while I like the sound out of the neck pickup, the bridge is kinda thin and I consider changing it.

And OP: That is a great ooking guitar. Congratulations

[GuyBoden]

Really, really very nice guitars, I'd get one, but they don't balance well on my leg when I play in an upright position, unlike the Strandberg headless body shape which is perfect for me.

[Zigracer]

Cool. Like the blue!

[Woodstove]

While we're talking Kiesels- I'd like to find a way to lock the tremolo on my Osaris. For one I hate the fact that when you tune, while you turn the peg you have to move the bridge making tuning very unnatural and for me 100% dependent on using a tuner. And of course it effects intonation. I just read about a Wilkinson Locking Trem that can fit the kiesel. Also saw a product called Trem-No that can lock the existing bridge. Anyone have any experience locking a kiesel trem or replacing it with a locking trem?

[D.G.]

Could I get you to expound on what the difficulties were and how you solved it?

I have a HH2 with Holdsworth pickups, and while I like the sound out of the neck pickup, the bridge is kinda thin and I consider changing it.

And OP: That is a great ooking guitar. Congratulations

The problem -- at least on mine -- is that the "ears" for the stock pickups are shaped like a rounded triangle, instead of a square like on a standard gibson humbucker. The body is routed out for these triangular ears which means that a more standard square ear simply will not fit. There are 2 options:

1. Remove wood from the body to accommodate standard humbucker ears or,
2. Round off the ears on a standard pickup to fit the skinny hole.

I ended up doing a combo of both, slightly enlarging the holes in the wood, and rounding the ears on the replacement pickups (I used a Spyderco diamond sharpening rod to round the ears off, took quite some time.) Had I known about this issue, I would have had the guitar routed for standard humbuckers when I ordered it and saved myself the hassle.

Oh, and I also had to mod the pickup rings for a standard 2 screw mount instead of the stock 2 screw mount, i.e. I drilled a hole between the double holes on the bass site.

[El_Duderino_204]

So I have both the Carvin and Kiesel versions of these wonderful guitars! I first bought one as a travel instrument,but over the past year and half they have become my main guitars replacing just about all others.

The only issue for me is the 24 frets displaces the sweet spot of the neck pickup. So getting a warm Jazz Clean tone is a bit harder to do.
I had a friend install a custom plate for the neck route, and installed a DiMarzio Tone Zone blade single size pickup. This way the strings don’t read the second coil of the humbucker. It seems to be working better for me at least.

Im also trying out their Beryllium pickups on the Kiesel and see if that improves the tone as well.

Yes, good thing you mention this 'physical' constraint of 24 frets displacing the sweetspot. I have honestly not thought about that before ordering the guitar and actually they don't offer a 22-fret option for this guitar on the Kiesel webpage (as far as I can see). However, for my needs the clean-sounds coming from the front pickup were/are actually pretty nice, but I am a bit more in the Fusion-camp than the traditional Jazz-Guitar-Bebop camp. So, I can understand that these cleans could be a bit too bright or 'harsh' for some people, even when you try to tame this behaviour using the tone-knob.
Honestly, in my roughly 10-11 years of guitar-players life, I might have needed the 24 frets and this very-high-E maybe on a total of 2 to 3 occasions. So, I am not so sure whether the 24-fret spec is really necessary. But, since Allan had spec'ed it out that way, I had to have this ;-).

Now one question to you: you mentioned owning and playing the Carvin- and Kiesel-versions of the HH2 guitars. Did you notice some differences in either QC of the build (fretwork ...) and/or the sound of the AH-pickups? I am asking since I have read some forum-threads where people have praised the older (multiple pole-pieces) Carvin version of these pickups to the high heavens, while bashing the newer Kiesel-pickups (single pole-pieces). However, since I like these Kiesel pickups quite a lot, at least up to this point, I am asking myself how good these older Carvin-guitars actually were ...

[El_Duderino_204]

I have one with almost the same specs! Roasted maple neck on mine.

I replaced the pickups — not an easy task — with a Fralin p92 in the neck and a Lollar low wind Imperial in the bridge. I also swapped out the pots from 500k for 250k, which is a Sadowsky trick.

Cool. Was actually thinking about going for a roasted-maple neck as well, while fixing my specs, in order to improve tuning stability and not having to do many truss-rod adjustments. However, then I trew out this spec due to monetary reasons (:-)).
But, up to this point I like the behaviour of the guitar also in these kind of 'stability'-respects. I.e., in the first week of acclimatization, I definitely had to adjust the truss rod at one point (which takes like 1 minute). But after that, the thing has kind of been pretty much like a rock.

[El_Duderino_204]

I have owned several modern Carvins/Kiesels, and on each one the neck and fretwork are impeccable.

I can confirm this. Definitely the best neck, especially regarding fretboard and fret-work, on all guitars that I own. Furthermore, this is among among the best guitar-necks I have touched in stores, but where I never had the money to buy the actual guitar. I.e., in my opinion this is on the same level with luxury custom-shop models like a Pensa of similar things. This manufacturer (Kiesel) is known for great necks, and at least in my case they didn't disappoint.