My GAS a Pro-grade Instrument

[Glacies]

I hope this thread doesn't sound silly to you guys, but as I've gotten more serious in my playing, i've noticed the limitations of my equipment. Always a picky person, I'm sure better players would gladly deal with less than perfect equipment for far longer than I am willing to, but at least I'm making the retailers happy.

So I've been playing anything I can get my hands on and I've decided on a few things I really like.

1. Fat Strat orientation - I really like it, seems to fit the many styles I'm interested in.

2. Thinner neck - I have smallish hands, not freakish or anything, but enough so that playing low on a C shaped Fender neck gives me trouble. I seem to do much better on Ibanez style necks, but it's a bit fatiguing.

3. Sustain - None of my guitars have much sustain. I realize this is a somewhat complicated issue, but my equipment is very bad at this and I just got both my guitars professionally set up.

4. Overall quality - I feel limited by my electronics, I can't use some pickups, some pots don't really work at all. I will fix it at some point, but it's like... well I used to be a paintball player and I ran a gun called an Autococker, thusly named because it was like an automatic pump that physically cocked itself. Sometimes I'd go to tournaments and the gun wouldn't behave, so I'd spend time fixing the gun before a match and would sometimes have to sit out. I've felt like that with the band before.

So this has lead me to look at a couple of different guitars. Fender Strat, Ibanez RG, S, and some Carvin models.

I think I'm going to go with the Carvin DC135 - it's a neck-thru 24fret fat strat that I can fully customize. The neck joint is a full blend which should make life very easy for me when I play high up the neck. I am going to trust that it has high quality electronics, and the overall quality is very good based on all of the reviews I've read and some friends (lefties) ravings about the brand. Neck-thru should have good sustain and I think I should get my single coil Frusciante tone, along with my crunchy Tim Mahoney tone on the bridge bucker. I never use a single at the bridge, but for $10 extra I can put a splitter in for the bucker on the bottom and have that versatility should i ever want it. I know there's no true single coil tone on a split bucker, but I don't use it anyway and am just looking for some extra tone options.

This will be about $1k based on how I've designed it and I think it's what I want to do. The only thing I think I'll have to stress about with it is what color options I'll want.

What do you guys think about this selection? Do you have any other possible recommendations I should take a look at before this gets written in stone?

[marnold]

I've heard good things about Carvins, but I've never had the chance to play one personally. I don't know that the neck shape will be any thinner than a C. You might want to look at a Jackson too because that would seem to fit all your points. For sustain purposes to might want to eschew a Floyd and just get a hard tail. That said, I don't think my DK2M is lacking in sustain at all. The advantage of a Jackson, as opposed to a Carvin, is that you could try one in the store before buying. There are deals to be found too. I got my MIJ DK2M on closeout at Guitar Center for $299.

[mrmudcat]

You can order several neck configurations for the carvin and I do highly recomend these guitars quality is second to none!!

[Eric]

I was very interested in Carvins for a long time, but I never got around to buying one.

What guitars do you have at the moment? It kind of sounds like you just have the gear bug, which helps you explore but doesn't usually end with good results. I personally would just try to get everything running properly with the existing guitars and then sell them all before buying a nicer one. But that's not going to be a popular opinion around here.

Also, what sort of amp do you have? Getting a quality amp and spending $15 for a couple of pots might yield better results.

[kidsmoke]

I was very interested in Carvins for a long time, but I never got around to buying one.

What guitars do you have at the moment? It kind of sounds like you just have the gear bug, which helps you explore but doesn't usually end with good results. I personally would just try to get everything running properly with the existing guitars and then sell them all before buying a nicer one. But that's not going to be a popular opinion around here.

Also, what sort of amp do you have? Getting a quality amp and spending $15 for a couple of pots might yield better results.

:AOK

I tend to agree with him here. And if after getting your gear in top shape, if you decide it doesn't work, sell it, and possibly allow for higher pricepoint on the new guitar/amp you seek.

One of my best guitar buds in a Carvin nut, owns three of them. I've played them and they are really well made, comfortable guitars.

[Glacies]

Thanks for the replies fellas.


I was very interested in Carvins for a long time, but I never got around to buying one.

What guitars do you have at the moment? It kind of sounds like you just have the gear bug, which helps you explore but doesn't usually end with good results. I personally would just try to get everything running properly with the existing guitars and then sell them all before buying a nicer one. But that's not going to be a popular opinion around here.

Also, what sort of amp do you have? Getting a quality amp and spending $15 for a couple of pots might yield better results.

Eric, I have 2 electrics: Older SX Strat and an Epiphone Les Paul. I actually love the Les Paul, but I'm looking for some single coil tone, the buckers are somewhat limiting for what I like to play sometimes. Neck is really muddy. The SX is great, it's pretty comfortable although the neck is a bit fat for me, and the tone leaves a bit to be desired. If I get down on it, it gets out of tune pretty easily.

My amp is a Crate VC50212 (50Watt 2x12) - fenderish cleans and Marshallish chunk. Previous owner had some tubes swapped out to heat it up a bit, I've brought it back down to spec. I really love this amp, plenty of headroom to play reggae with real drums.

[Eric]

Eric, I have 2 electrics: Older SX Strat and an Epiphone Les Paul. I actually love the Les Paul, but I'm looking for some single coil tone, the buckers are somewhat limiting for what I like to play sometimes. Neck is really muddy. The SX is great, it's pretty comfortable although the neck is a bit fat for me, and the tone leaves a bit to be desired. If I get down on it, it gets out of tune pretty easily.

My amp is a Crate VC50212 (50Watt 2x12) - fenderish cleans and Marshallish chunk. Previous owner had some tubes swapped out to heat it up a bit, I've brought it back down to spec. I really love this amp, plenty of headroom to play reggae with real drums.
That's a pretty nice amp. I played one once and the clean channel was quite nice, dirty channel was maybe a bit noisy, but effective nonetheless.

I had an SX tele at one point and it had a huge neck. I liked it, but I can understand if you want something thinner. I think Carvins are good guitars, but it might be nice if you could try out some stuff first to make sure it's what you want. Given the custom nature of Carvins, they're kind of hard to sell for a good price if you decide to move on (you never plan to, but it just happens sometimes).

I would do one of two things (or both):

1) Upgrade the pickups in the Epi, as the stock ones can be slightly dark IIRC. Something like a SD Seth Lover or DiMarzio PAF might help.
2) Try a more traditional, slightly better quality strat. My first idea was a Squier Classic Vibe strat; the CV line is very very nice for the price. I'm not sure what the necks are like on the strats, but the custom tele I had came with a pretty freaking thin neck. The only thing is that there's no humbucker in the bridge. BUT if you like it, you could put one in.

Those are the ideas of a cheapskate at work. The Ibanez idea you have also seems like a good call. Strats are pretty freaking ubiquitous, so I would imagine you could find a good deal on a used one. There's a ton of quality at lower prices these days, so IMO it doesn't make sense to pay a lot unless you know exactly what you want or you are trying to blind people with bling.

I've had my heart set on multiple guitars throughout the years, but what I stick with is never what I would guess. I know I'm kind of giving advice contrary to what I said initially, but whatever; I guess I'm fickle.

[kidsmoke]

an Epiphone Les Paul. I actually love the Les Paul, but I'm looking for some single coil tone, the buckers are somewhat limiting for what I like to play sometimes. Neck is really muddy.

If that you love the LP physically, neck etc, and it's a good build, my opinion would be to spring for a new harness, leaving the Humbuckers in place. Comfort and a good neck can't be overated in my book, and electronics are relatively cheap.

Quality pots and and a height adjustment could very well completely transform that guitar aurally. I experienced that with my "custom shop" caliber Heritage.

Sounds like your a Strat guy, and It would never replace that, but it could well make it a very playable guitar that will fill the need when you just gotta have the meat of an LP. I was also able to greatly improve sustain on my Heritage by top wrapping (the tail was sky high due to the neck relief angle), and then further improved it by going with Faber locking hardware on it.

I debated launching the guitar, now I'm sooooo glad I didn't.

[Eric]

If that you love the LP physically, neck etc, and it's a good build, my opinion would be to spring for a new harness, leaving the Humbuckers in place. Comfort and a good neck can't be overated in my book, and electronics are relatively cheap.
Totally agree with this.

[kidsmoke]

Glacies....if you're interested in a Carvin, a good friend here in Chicago is a huge Carvin fan, owns a few. I told her....yep...her, about your interest and she's got a all Koa DC200. Amazing guitar. Available for far less than the numbers you referenced earlier in the thread. Let me know if you're interested and I'll put you two in contact with each other.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/DC200_zpsf9593913.jpg

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Nobody, of course, can tell you what guitar is going to work for you, but I say if you're playing regularly in a band, and considering the guitars you now have, you're ready for an upgrade.

And if you do go the Fender-type single coil route, you might want to consider re-doing the Epi LP in order to cover the humbucker side of things, as well as having a reliable backup guitar.

[Glacies]

Glacies....if you're interested in a Carvin, a good friend here in Chicago is a huge Carvin fan, owns a few. I told her....yep...her, about your interest and she's got a all Koa DC200. Amazing guitar. Available for far less than the numbers you referenced earlier in the thread. Let me know if you're interested and I'll put you two in contact with each other.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/DC200_zpsf9593913.jpg

Tio, looks great, but I think you guys have convinced me to start a little slower. I'm really interested in the S570 from Ibanez, I can find it for about $600 and from all accounts it seems to be a professional enough for me. I have put my hands on it in the store and like the feel a lot. I kind of associate Ibanez with Shreddiness, which I'm not shreddy in the least, but I seem to be able to get some great classic tones out of this. I think I might want to split the hums eventually, but I think I'll play around with it and see what I like about it. This is about half the price of the Carvin I'm interested in. Originally I was eyeing some of the JS models but I found out they were like $3k!


Nobody, of course, can tell you what guitar is going to work for you, but I say if you're playing regularly in a band, and considering the guitars you now have, you're ready for an upgrade.

And if you do go the Fender-type single coil route, you might want to consider re-doing the Epi LP in order to cover the humbucker side of things, as well as having a reliable backup guitar.

The S570 has a bucker at the bridge which seems to work for me so far (with a little tonal dialing), but I'm still interested in updating the epi. It was my first guitar, I don't think I'll ever get rid of it, and there's just something about a Les Paul to me, but the pots are seriously lacking and I think I mentioned the neck pickup is so muddy as to prevent me from really ever using it.

[kidsmoke]

For the Epi, might I suggest.....

http://jonesyblues.com/

buy a 50's LP harness all soldered up and ready to go. Top o' the line line CTS pots, paper in oil VitaQ capacitors. I had mine in 2 days, and for less than $100.00

Certainly not the only guy who provides this sort of thing, but I found his prices excellent, he was highly recommended, he's a "little guy", and then service and product exceeded expectations.

my "335" harness

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/Heritage%20535/b08a70de.jpg

regarding the Carvin, she was only looking for $750.00

[Bookkeeper's Son]

When you say that the pots are "lacking", what do you mean? I'm thinking maybe a humbucker-size P90 for your neck pickup, maybe a GFS Mean 90 (I like mine) or something similar that's brighter than a humbucker.

Personally, I wouldn't pay $100 for a control assembly when I can assemble one myself for half that price. But then, I'm poor.

[marnold]

Personally, I wouldn't pay $100 for a control assembly when I can assemble one myself for half that price. But then, I'm poor.

Normally I'd agree with you, but since it is such a PITA to rewire a hollow or semi-hollow guitar, I might just be willing to pay to have someone else do it. Of course, I only have solid bodies so . . .

[kidsmoke]

Personally, I wouldn't pay $100 for a control assembly when I can assemble one myself for half that price. But then, I'm poor.

..and talented.....I'm not skilled at soldering. And this guy buys dozens of pots, tests and matches them, and then does a gorgeous assembly job. With the attached pigtail, you only have to match the pickup leads to the pigtail wires and make a connection, then solder the ground. Done. Precision soldering skills not required.


Normally I'd agree with you, but since it is such a PITA to rewire a hollow or semi-hollow guitar, I might just be willing to pay to have someone else do it. Of course, I only have solid bodies so . . .

It definitely took a while, but with floss, guiding the new harness in wasn't too much trouble.

In Glacies case, it's an LP, which is a piece of cake. Literally 5 minutes plus soldering.

[Eric]

Tio, looks great, but I think you guys have convinced me to start a little slower. I'm really interested in the S570 from Ibanez, I can find it for about $600 and from all accounts it seems to be a professional enough for me. I have put my hands on it in the store and like the feel a lot. I kind of associate Ibanez with Shreddiness, which I'm not shreddy in the least, but I seem to be able to get some great classic tones out of this. I think I might want to split the hums eventually, but I think I'll play around with it and see what I like about it. This is about half the price of the Carvin I'm interested in. Originally I was eyeing some of the JS models but I found out they were like $3k!

The S570 has a bucker at the bridge which seems to work for me so far (with a little tonal dialing), but I'm still interested in updating the epi. It was my first guitar, I don't think I'll ever get rid of it, and there's just something about a Les Paul to me, but the pots are seriously lacking and I think I mentioned the neck pickup is so muddy as to prevent me from really ever using it.

That seems like a good plan of action WRT the Ibanez. You can see if you like that and what it does well, doesn't do well, etc.

Before you do too too much with the Epi, I might recommend you just mess with the pickup height a bit. I dinked around with pickup replacement in the past and got very different sounds on an LP by just raising up the neck pickup a bit. It's entirely possible that you will want to change the pickups anyway, but it's a quick tweak that can yield surprising differences. Just screw the two screws on the side of the pickup ring clockwise to raise the pickups.

[Eric]

Not near you, but seems like a pretty good deal on what might be a similar guitar:

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/msg/3688174081.html

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Normally I'd agree with you, but since it is such a PITA to rewire a hollow or semi-hollow guitar, I might just be willing to pay to have someone else do it. Of course, I only have solid bodies so . . .

I think that was just for the assembly itself, not installation. Soldering the components together would only take a short while. And I think we're referring to a LP, anyway.

Edit: Oops - nevermind:thwap

[Glacies]

That seems like a good plan of action WRT the Ibanez. You can see if you like that and what it does well, doesn't do well, etc.

Before you do too too much with the Epi, I might recommend you just mess with the pickup height a bit. I dinked around with pickup replacement in the past and got very different sounds on an LP by just raising up the neck pickup a bit. It's entirely possible that you will want to change the pickups anyway, but it's a quick tweak that can yield surprising differences. Just screw the two screws on the side of the pickup ring clockwise to raise the pickups.

I just took in into my guy for a setup - works out of his garage, is cheap but quality. He charged me extra for this one but I haven't picked it up yet or asked why, I'm wondering if he adjusted the pickups.



When you say that the pots are "lacking", what do you mean? I'm thinking maybe a humbucker-size P90 for your neck pickup, maybe a GFS Mean 90 (I like mine) or something similar that's brighter than a humbucker.

Personally, I wouldn't pay $100 for a control assembly when I can assemble one myself for half that price. But then, I'm poor.

Pots barely change the tone at all on the epi, and the volume knob is essentially On/off - there's no rolling off the volume. I never cared too much about upgrading it, especially because I wanted to learn how to play first. Now I'm there (debatable) and want to invest in what has developed into an important part of my life.

I looked up doing some work with the pickups on the SX, and couldn't find anywhere near a cost effective solution. What kind of pickups, where do you get them?

[Glacies]

Now I'm thinking about a P90 on the epi at the neck. That sounds really sexy to me.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

I'm no electronics tech, but soldering isn't rocket surgery. Four CTS 500k audio taper pots, Switchcraft 3-way and jack, a couple caps (I don't put much stock in bulltique caps, personally), and some wire. About 50 bucks. Don't overcomplicate it. The Epi stuff wears out - mine did after 3 whole years of light use. That said, my guitar didn't get any better due to the new parts; just solved the scratchy pots and dodgy 3-way. I didn't expect a sonic improvement; it wasn't a reasonable expectation. It was simply a repair project.

I got the parts from http://www.guitarnucleus.com/gnstore/elec.html - reasonable prices, good service.

[Eric]

Pots barely change the tone at all on the epi, and the volume knob is essentially On/off - there's no rolling off the volume. I never cared too much about upgrading it, especially because I wanted to learn how to play first. Now I'm there (debatable) and want to invest in what has developed into an important part of my life.

I looked up doing some work with the pickups on the SX, and couldn't find anywhere near a cost effective solution. What kind of pickups, where do you get them?
I was going to recommend some Rose Mariposa pickups at $30 for a set, but it looks like they've jacked up all of their prices and they're now $60 for a set, which is still decent, just not as good obviously. Toneriders are supposed to be good pickups.

In my experience, a pot is a pot unless you switch out audio taper (brings the volume down logarithmicly, similar to how we hear) for a linear taper (all of your volume will be within the first 15% of the travel of the pot), there's not a ton of difference in sound. Feel, yes. Sound, not a super-duper amount. Then again, I haven't done much in the way of direct A/B comparisons with this stuff. I think what I'm trying to say is that if you don't notice much of a difference in adjusting the volume and tone knobs, it might have something to do with how the amp is set up. Or maybe I've just never experienced that.

P90 is all about preference. I prefer the sound of humbuckers, but that's just me.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

I figger that new controls are a worthwhile investment if Glacies wants a reliable gigging instrument or backup.