Well, the Carvin finally showed. Unfortunately, I now know why it was in QA for so damn long...
I appears they most likely put a fixed bridge on it and then had to go back and re-route for the floyd, because the route isn't the best fitting I've ever come across.
They also didn't install the floyd locking nut. Two thumbs way down... although I had contemplated this setup when ordering, I'm not so sure now.
So, aside from the gaffs on Carvin's part, what do I think?
On the upside:
- plays beautifully. Great setup work. It's set up basically identically to my Ibbys in terms of neck relief and action... they must be psychic.
- cool case (although it doesn't offer tons of protection, it took a hit during shipping that didn't make it to the guitar).
-
stainless frets rock. They're so smooth!
- I actually don't mind the pickups (I'm not a metal guy)
- I thought they were going to **** the paint up. And when I first opened the case in a dark room, I was almost sure they had. But in the sun it's got that orange flame I was looking for. Two thumbs up!
- the string spacing seems (no, I haven't got the vernier calipers out to measure) a bit tighter than on my EdgePro Ibbys. I like it.
- I didn't really think you could improve on the AANJ for
upper fret access, but I was wrong. The neck through really opens things up even more. Super comfy.
On the downside:
-WTF? How about some bubble wrap around the case for shipping?
- the forgot the locking nut :wallbash: Guess if I'm going to keep it I'll be ordering a tremol-no and making this my hard tail guitar with fine-tuners....
- along the lines of the the previous point, for someone used to playing Ibbys, the way the whammy bar sits and the spring tension of the trem is pretty bad... given, I'm not used to it, but it's really tight and the bar sits at a funny angle.
- I'm not sure what they strung the thing with, but the low B is a bit floppy and everything else is a bit tight. I'll restring...
- some of the finish work is a little iffy... like where they painted over the side of the fretboard in the upper register. I know they tape off the back of the neck, fine, but spraying the sides of the board is a little weird. And then there's the floyd route... I mean, it works fine, but for $1500 beans I expect perfection.
-the forearm cutout is too small, and the body shape makes it awkward to play sitting down
I'll see if I can post some sound clips later.
