Help me out here guys. Hopefully you won't be TOO biased towards Iby's...lol
Shredder might be a little misleading... I already have an RG550 with EMG's. It slays! But I want something with the same playability yet a little more mellow. Maybe dimarzio's or even...gasp.... bare knuckles?
Right now I'm thinking maybe a Carvin C66 or an Ibanez J custom. I have $1200-$1500 to spend. Open to ideas.
Some things to consider...
-I want a quilt or flame top, and a maple fretboard.
-I'm fairly sure I want a floating trem. In a perfect world I would get a hardtail for the sustain, but I like the way floyd roses stay in tune plus I love those sick harmonic dives.
I'm tempted to go with Carvin. I did a mock up of a custom shop and it came to $1200, which is about $400 cheaper than what a j custom or a Jackson PC1 would cost me used.
But like I said, I wouldn't be posting this if I didn't want ideas.
fyi: I use an Axe-fx with a dcm600 into a VHT 4x12.
Shredder is a bit of an odd term realistically... I'd say a good bet for you and it would look sick would be to build a Warmoth Stratocaster the way you like it... Maple top, Bareknuckle 'buckers (Though I'd get the Bareknuckle Irish Tour Rory Gallagher singlecoils myself), AAA Maple neck w/ 'board... You'll build a hell of a guitar for the money...
I'd also definitely recommend going for an old school pickup, never been a fan of high gain "shred" pickups myself and if you look at the stuff a lot of the really really heavy bands are playing you'll mostly see standard Gibson/ Fender/ PRS pickups...
The other option I'd recommend is a PRS Mira or used Custom...
I don't know enough about Carvin to say but I know Warmoth quality is epic Win! Do you know anybody who has one you could try? Equally if you keep an eye on Warmoth and they're showcase bodies you'll probably see something that fits the bill cheaper than a fully custom one...
I just checked out a warmoth bass they had at a local guitar shop - and the thing was sweeeeet. That's what I'd do. The neck pocket was toight! Mmmmmmm.
Carvin necks aren't as thin as Ibanez necks, they're closer to standard Jacksons, not the Jackson 'speed neck'. They are very comfortable though, especially the oiled ones. Some companies have painted necks that I find very easy to play, like Jackson, EBMM, and PRS, but in my opinion Carvin really isn't one of them.
I've got both a warmoth guitar and a Carvin and I'd say the Carvin is higher quality. Jbandy, I'd probably go with a Carvin in your case. Customization ftw.
Whats the fretboard radius for an Ibanez Wizard I? I always wondered...
Maybe you should call them up and be like I want the neck of a Wizard I on my Carvin! On the carvin forums people get away with other cool stuff on their guitars that are not mentioned on the site just by calling them. Who knows?
the PC-1 is a great guitar with an oil finished neck. The only down side is the neck might be a little thick for most. Also access to the 24th fret is a little lacking.
I love mine thou
that Jackson above me is beautiful ^^^ damn......
I would go with a JP6 music man with piezo option.
I'm seriously considering selling a couple of my Ibby's
for another one. Either the Luke or an Axis model.
Since you already have an RG550, a good addition to that guitar would be a Suhr Pro Series S5 for HH config or S6 for HSS. You'll have a huge tonal variety that way
I had a Carvin DC127 that was a great shred guitar. I got a 14" radius maple fretboard, Dragonburst "triple-step" top, gold hardware, Floyd, Stainless Steel Jumbo frets and 25" scale for about $1500 with a case. Very cool guitars... I only sold it to pay for my Bernie Rico Jr. at the time. As far as "shredder" guitars go, that price is almost unbeatable.
Bang for buck Carvin is the best builder out there my friend. I've seen very few over the years, but each one was built, fit, and weighed excellent. Can't say I've really liked the stock pickups though.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ibanez JEM Forum
1.3M posts
69.6K members
Since 2000
A forum community dedicated to Ibanez JEM guitar owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about collections, displays, models, styles, scales, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!