NGD - Achievement Unlocked (After 25 years)

Moloch

About 25 years ago I almost made a bad move. I had a Gibson Les Paul Studio (1994, ebony board, 'good wood years', all that stuff). Great guitar, but not the speediest and I've always been a metal player. It was my second ever guitar and, though I knew it is a quality instrument, that urge to get something a bit more 'shreddy' was always at the back of my mind.

One day in 1995 I went to my local store (Fret Music, sadly missed here in Southampton) and saw something unusual. It was a Carvin Ultra V and, as soon as I tried it, I could feel the quality. It was so easy to play it was like it was fretting the notes for me. It had an ebony board, a hard case and it would cost about £100 less than I could sell the Les Paul for. I had to have it, but I was a kid and couldn't afford to have two guitars. So, I put the Les Paul up for sale and there was a lot of interest.

But then... Sanity prevailed.

The Ultra V, for those who don't know, is basically a smaller and reversed version of a Jackson Randy Rhoads. It's a bit 'niche' and was only really suited to straight-up metal. Even as a headbanging teenager I knew that the Les Paul was a safer bet to stick with long term, so I stuck with what I had. However, I kept an eye out for Carvin superstrats. In the end they were so rare in this country that I stopped looking. Then last year I stumbled across one on Facebook Marketplace and bought it.

Lovely player! Great sound!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the active electrics had been mostly gutted (not really a problem, but not mentioned in the ad).

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the front had two holes in it from when the dickhead seller had tried to rout it for direct mount pickups and completely f**ked it up (not mentioned in the ad and the pictures were angled to conceal the damage).

PayPal got my money back and I dispatched it back to him, but having finally tried a Carvin superstrat I knew they were most certainly for me and I had to have one.

And now I do and it's everything I wanted it to be: Fast, loud and absolutely gorgeous. It's like a hot stripper, only without the ever-present risk of contracting an STI. Behold!

And the Les Paul? I still have that too. Being a grown-up is great, other than the whole 'Why does most of my body hurt?' thing.

Nunogilberto

Nice! I like the thru stringing and LP style bridge.

Moloch

Nunogilberto said:

Nice! I like the thru stringing and LP style bridge.

Yeah, I really lucked out there. Most seem to come with either tremolos or tremolo-styled bridges. Those are fine, but a tuneomatic just feels so natural to me and makes setups extremely easy. Lowered the action on this one down to almost nothing in seconds and it still plays without fretbuzz.

Voxman

Darryl_Morris said:

Nunogilberto said:

Nice! I like the thru stringing and LP style bridge.

Yeah, I really lucked out there. Most seem to come with either tremolos or tremolo-styled bridges. Those are fine, but a tuneomatic just feels so natural to me and makes setups extremely easy. Lowered the action on this one down to almost nothing in seconds and it still plays without fretbuzz.

Wow, impressive - especially as that Bottom E looks like its touching the fret!

Normally I'm not a fan of natural finishes but that looks lovely, and I really like the string through too. What pup selector options does it give you?

Moloch

Voxman said:

Darryl_Morris said:

Nunogilberto said:

Nice! I like the thru stringing and LP style bridge.

Yeah, I really lucked out there. Most seem to come with either tremolos or tremolo-styled bridges. Those are fine, but a tuneomatic just feels so natural to me and makes setups extremely easy. Lowered the action on this one down to almost nothing in seconds and it still plays without fretbuzz.

Wow, impressive - especially as that Bottom E looks like its touching the fret!

Normally I'm not a fan of natural finishes but that looks lovely, and I really like the string through too. What pup selector options does it give you?

I have no idea what Carvin does with their necks and fretwork, but the three that I've played have all allowed for obscenely low action. Right now the bridge is basically bolted down to the body as low as it can go and there is still no choking on notes!

There's a standard three-way toggle and then the two additional switches act as independent coil taps for each of the pickups, so I can get a full mix of humbucker and single coil combinations.

guitarmangler

Very cool. The ones with the carbon graphite rods in the neck play amazingly well, crazy low action without them seemingly ever to move. Enjoy.

StefB

A lovely story and a lovely guitar. I’ve had a few Carvins, class guitars. Enjoy.