Carvin DC1227T

2003, Made in USA, 24 fret, Mahogany neck and body, neck thru, Wilkinson tremelo, ebony fingerboard, locking tuners, tobacco sunburst, standard Carvin frets and 2 Carvin humbucker pickups. This guitar has the Fishman Acoustic piezo pickup option, so it has active electronics with a master volume, master tone pot for the magnetic pickups, master tone for the piezo pickup, a mixer pot, coil taps, phase switch, and 2 output jacks to separate the magnetic and piezo pickup signals if desired.

I added the Roland synthesizer pickup, so it is ultimate gizmo machine!

I would have gone with a Floyd Rose, but there would not have been enough room for the synthesizer pickup. It fits perfectly with the Wilkinson tremelo. Can't dive bomb as radically with the Wilkinson, but it is extremely smooth and stays in tune better than my DC400 with the Floyd.

Came with a hardshell case.

I have little experience with anything but Carvin in my 25 years of playing. With this setup and my Marshall AVT 50W combo, I can get a huge variety of sounds. I've never been able to perfectly emulate the classic Gibson or Strat sounds. As others have said, Carvin's have a great, but unique tone. I hoped the Mahogany would help produce a deeper tone than I've had with my previous Maple body Carvins, but I haven't noticed much difference. I'd say the overdriven sound can be a bit "thin" and trebly, but is easily compensated for by the tone and pickup controls. For clean sounds, the tonal possibilities are limitless. With the neck thru construction, the sustain is great, and its amazing how loudly this guitar resonates with no amplification.

I run the piezo output direct to a PA and EQ so it sounds just like an amplified acoustic. I'm quite impressed!

Operation is very quiet, but I once played a Kirk Hammet signature ESP guitar with EMG 81's, and it was definitely quieter with the same amplification.

The paperwork stated the guitar was shipped with "942" strings, but they were obviously 10's. It sounded great, but too stiff for me. With 9's it feels absolutely wonderful. Had to adjust the tremelo for the lighter strings, which was very easy. Didn't have to mess with the action or intonation (though I should probably check this more carefully).

I love the ebony fingerboards and the neck on Carvins. The neck is slightly thicker than my old 89 Carvin DC400, but it didn't matter to my playing. Finish is beautiful.

In my experience, Carvins are extremely solid, and can withstand a lot of abuse. I had some minor issues with the electronics on my older DC400 however.

I ordered this off the internet site from their selection of in stock guitars (didn't want to wait 3-5 weeks to have one custom built). Didn't deal with anyone for whole transaction. Previous dealings with Carvin have always been positive however.

25 years of playing. Played nothing but Carvins for the last 20, as they just give you a lot for the money. Other guitars just have not felt quite right to me, except for one ESP Kirk Hammet signature guitar, which played and sounded awesome. I play through a Marshall AVT 50. Also have a Digitech RP2000, crybaby wah, and a Roland Guitar synth. This guitar works great with the synthesizer. The great action and sustain I think really helps get the most out of it.

This guitar is my dream machine. I was tempted to go with a Brian Moore to get the all the built in synthisizer and piezo PU's, but their USA made models were very expensive by compared to Carvin. If this were stolen, I would utilize the built in Identification microchip feature, and hopefully track it down (I don't know if works that way, but Carvin guitars do come with this hidden chip!)