Carvin Contour 66-T

I will begin by saying that this guitar is extremely well built. From it's beautiful Birdseye maple neck, flamed maple top, and contoured body to it's quality Wilkinson tremolo, Sperzel tuners, and stainless steel frets it ranks with any maker of guitars out there. The set-up that it came with was perfect and the electronics and very quiet. Very nice. It came the way I ordered it so it's features rank a "10"

I'm using this guitar with the Carvin Legacy head. It has sustain for days and the pick-ups are very evenly matched. I have used Duncan '59s for many, many years so I'm not quite sold on the Carvin pick-ups yet. To my ears they don't clean-up as well as the Duncan's when you roll the volume back and I do this quite often instead of using a booster or overdrive pedal for different parts of songs. They seem to have a higher output than the Duncan's and I prefer a more vintage sound. Don't get me wrong though, the Carvin pickups are of high quality and may suit someone else's playing style perfectly.

The setup as I said was remarkable out of the case. Perfect! The finish couldn't be better. It did take me a bit to get used to the color though. It was a slightly different from the catalog but beautiful none the less.

Built very solidly. The tightest neck pocket I have seen on a bolt-on neck.

Here is were the story takes a turn. The Carvin on-line tracking is useless, the guitar came to me 6 weeks late without any packing in the box what so ever. It had a scuffed-up case because it had been bouncing around during shipping. I wasn't pleased when it arrived with that lack of care and called Carvin to tell them I was sending it back. I guy on the other end of the line clearly didn't know what he was doing, didn't even take my name, and sounded like he could have cared less. Very, very disappointing. If I hadn't played the guitar that night and fell in love with it I wouldn't have it now. A case of "don't hate the child because the parents are idiots."

I have owned close to 50 guitars over the years. PRS, Gibson, Fender, Custom made, ... and this guitar smokes every one. Fantastic price and incredible workmanship. It makes me want to play and I can't think of a better compliment. Now, if Carvin could get their customer service together I'd be shopping one of their other guitars also. Hmmmmm, I still might.

New production Ordered January 10, 2006, made in San Diego, California. This model is a Superstrat style guitar, 22 frets, 12" radius ebony fretboard, medium jumbo fretwire, abalone inlays, alder body with a flame maple top, Greenburst finish top, matching headstock, natural binding, black back and sides, and a black neck and back of headstock. For hardware it has black chrome Sperzel locking tuners, Wilkinson locking tremolo and Dunlop straplocks. For the sound section it has Carvin creme and black C22N and C22B humbuckers with a creme AP-11 single coil in the center, one volume, one tone and a 5-way switch. I ordered it with a tweed case and a Levy's garment leather strap.

The guitar sounds good. The wood combination is warm and punchy. It has a nice mid-range to upper register feel that I think is a must for any arsenal. I played it through a Carvin Vintage 16, Carvin Bel-Air 212 and a Mesa Boogie Mark I reissue. It sounds good through all of them. I am personally not overly fond of the pickups. I think that the Carvin humbuckers are plenty hot if that is what you are looking for. I personally like my Rio Grandes that I use on pretty much all of my other humbucker equiped weapons. I will tell you that I tested these pickups next to the Rios and a Seymour Duncan JB and they out-louded both of them. They can be a touch harsh but you can back off the volume a little to compensate for this. It sounded the best with the Mesa which has a lot of headroom. The guitar sparkled and brought a smile to my face. I could feel it punch me in the guts on diatones and chords. For a lead instrument it would cut through about anything. I left my Vintage 16 on my practice settings (Clean for the Rios and JB) and it overdrove the amp a little bit. Just enough to make the sound a little greasy. I liked it. The AP-11 by itself again, it is loud and definately harsh. Again back off the volume and fixes the problem. The in between out of phase sounds are awesome. The main strength of this setup is its versatility. You can pull a plethora of sounds out of it. I give it a ten becuase even though I would use different pickups, it still sounds excellent and is a great guitar.

The guitar came out of the case in tune, setup perfectly, and I have no complaints. All of the stories that I heard and the reviews that I read are true about Carvin. They do a great job. I inspected this guitar intently. I found no, and I mean absolutely no, flaws anywhere on the guitar. It is beautiful. If only Gibson would make guitars this well finished.

I will, unfortunately, not be able to see how well this one holds up. I do have a Bolt-T that I bought at the same time as this one and I will guage durability from that one. I believe from what I see this guitar is built solidly and will hold up to any abuse that you want to throw at it. I would not feel uncomfortable using this for a main guitar and I think it would hold up on the road.

I have pestered the Carvin folks a lot in working out the details for this one. I asked for a couple of things that they don't normally do. They were extremely helpful and have earned my continued business.

I started playing guitar about 15 years ago. I also own a Carvin Bolt-T, a Jackson Soloist, a Fender Mark Knopfler Strat, a Fender Muddy Waters Tele, a Guild GAD-50, my other son a Robin Savoy and I play all of this stuff through a Mesa Boogie Mark I Reissue, a Carvin Vintage 16, and Carvin Bel Air 212. I use a Vox Wah, Vox Volume, a Budda Phatman, an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, and I keep things in tune with an indispensable Boss TU-12. I use Levy straps, mostly, and Hercules Guitar Stands and Planet Waves custom series cables, only. Over the years, I have owned several Strats, Teles, Ibanezs, epiphones and amps galore from Ampegs and Fenders to Mesa Mark IV's and there are not many manufacturers that I have not experienced.

I bought the guitar for a friend that deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom. The set up and finish are to his specifications. I am happy with the purchase and I intend to buy one for myself at a later date with a few differences, of course. I change the pickups in my Carvins because of my own sonic taste that I have developed through years of trial and error.

This guitar really shines in its setup, finish, and in the overall feel of the instrument. I generally do not like a fret board with a flat radius. I like 7.25 to 10, but this one plays like a dream. It feels great, stays in tune, and looks like a $3000.00 guitar. I hope Carvin sticks to the way they do things. They use quality components and they have impeccable workmanship. They even use G&G cases. They could have used a cheapie, but no, they did not. I still love Fender, especially since they have started better quality control, but I recommend Carvin to anyone. For the price and quality you get they are definitely worthwhile investments.