I bought this guitar (part 37) [update]

[chromedinette]

I had a Hamer tele copy once, that used the same saddles as that trem bridge. If one wasn't careful, the saddles could get knocked out of alignment, but I was a serious neanderthal with my right hand then(still am, though not as bad).

[Infinite Ego]

If you can work with that neck carve then you'll be a pretty happy dude. Hard to beat the price/performance thing with Carvin. My zilla has a pretty good neck -- the reason I dumped a lot of $ into upgrades on the pickups ... the other one, however, will have to go someday. I just hate it. I may see if my daughter wants it ... giving me yet another excuse to replace it with a new PRS double cutaway.

I think I have one acoustic, one PRS, and one amp left in me.

[Infinite Ego]

let's see a photo of the whole guitar. Interested to see how that headstock looks with the body.

That's a nice sunburst.

[aliensporebomb]

The neck carve is perfect for me - it wasn't a stock radius - it was 20". That isn't even in the Carvin catalogs or website as one you could get, you had to ask for it. The salesguy said the person who consigned the guitar said it was the Holdsworth neck carve so.....the same guy also said the pickups were Holdsworth model pickups too but the documentation doesn't say that so...who knows.

ST300T, Honey Burst Flamed Maple, Flamed Maple headstock, Holdsworth 2+4 headstock shape, Abalone Dot Inlays, Stainless Steel Jumbo Frets, 20" Fretboard radius, plus standard fit black tolex case.

The whole guitar.



Kind of similar to this - maybe that's why I thought the AH headstock was cool:



Backside:


My desk is a mess:


More pics - the camera doesn't pick up the color so well, it seems more dull in the pics than it does in person.











The pickups I wondered about myself. I thought perhaps it was the Holdsworth pickups but the build list doesn't say anything about them so I suspect they are stock. They sound great thru the stu pre.

[aliensporebomb]

Here's a shot of my hand fretting on the neck. The neck is definetely bigger than the usual shredder necks but it's not bad at all - I didn't really see a flat spot at the center per se but....



Quick and dirty demo?
madsound.dyndns.org/guitars/carvin/ST300_Demo.mp3

I didn't shred like a demon but just played some clean swelled chords and some various lead sounds.

[aliensporebomb]

Feb 18, 2013 11:36:02 GMT -5 chrissh said:

Didn't see that coming ;D

That's ... not a bad find for a trade in and a few dollars. Looks like a nice guitar with good specs

Tips: Yes, the tuners have to be locked quite snug (though the castings can crack if cranked too tight), with minimal string wrapped around the posts. Make sure the nut is cut well and the strings stretched. Keep the bridge floating and parallel to the top of the guitar. Use a guitar lubricant in the nut slots and where the knife edges contact the pivot posts. You should be golden.

From many years ago, I remember the Holdsworth neck being pretty big and kind of flat on the back, much like a classical neck. True? And how are the pickups?

Feb 18, 2013 10:23:19 GMT -5 aliensporebomb said:

Tried the damn thing again. Had to have it. It's in the house.

The neck is positively made for legato stuff. Whoever bought it never played it. Case came with the warranty cards, hang tags, paperwork, build list, case candy plus baggies for the case key, truss rod, whammy bar. Case was mint, I actually scuffed it a bit getting it in the car.

The Wilkinson is a lot nicer when you actually use the locking tuners the guitar came with. Facepalm.

Priced it out on the Carvin Price calculator at their website - with all the options the price was north of $1500 USD as shipped from them. Total expenditure out the door? About 100 bucks and an old guitar I wasn't playing anymore.

The Wilkinson is a total strange duck to me. The previous owner had action so low it was absurd. I've raised it a bit and also set it so the trem floats but might raise it a little further still. I might do some insane legato madness thing with it set like this just to do it for the next CD.

It's still absurdly low in some respects. I've done setups on Floyds and regular strats and the SuperVee bladerunner but it will take me to dial this in a little bit better than I currently have it. Hard to believe some guy was playing with action that low, even Shawn Lane would have found it crazy low.

Nut is a graphite nut and very slippery. I've never used those locking tuners before so they are a bit new to me too. Thanks for the advice on not cranking them too tight - kinda similar to "don't crank down the Floyd Rose tremelo blocks too tight.

I have no idea what I'm going to do when this needs restringing. The string ends are so neat and tidy at the tuning pegs it looks like a robot did it.

[Infinite Ego]

The 20" radius was an option ever since the AH guitars....didn't know they had removed that from their options list. Yeah, those are not the AH pups but, rather, their run of the mill (probably not much difference anyways). They have a somewhat thick sound with a lot of midrange. Not quite as detailed and even as, say, a classic 50s style hummer.

That's a good looking guitar. You'll never want a guitar with regular frets after playing on those SS for a while. Congrats

[bear]

With the Sperzels and probably other locking tuners, also be aware that you should not loosen the thumb screws too much. There is a pin inside the tuner that the thumbscrew pushes up to the string slot. If you take the thumbscrew off, the pin can fall out, never to be found again on a darkened stage . . . Total drag.

[aliensporebomb]

I found the 20" option on the website - it was a bit hidden but in their section on neck radiuses but mentioned nearly as an afterthought.

Maybe they think AH is an alien and just wanted to have a mention of it somewhere but the 20" isn't in the build-up part of the website. No problem, this guitar has it.

What a ridiculous eye popping burst.

I see what you mean about the SS frets - good grief - "what have I been missing all these years?"

Thanks for the tip on the sperzels - the locks have just been backed off a little so the strings can be tuned.

The pickups I can live with. I found that Carvin->Giggity->Boogie was a nice and surprising sound.

[chrissh]

Sperzels only lock the string inside the tuner post, so they are only unlocked when changing strings. They should still be able to tune and turn like regular tuners, when the thumb screw is tightened. That's why you use minimal string wrapped around the posts; minimal string coiled around the tuner is more likely to return to pitch when using the Wilkinson. And yes, the little pin inside can drop out and disappear if loosened all the way.

Also, the two posts the bridge pivots against should have little set screws inside that lock them into position once the post heights have been adjusted. And the saddles set screws lock them into place after height and intonation are adjusted. Just be careful to not over tighten them since they can strip easily with too much torque. Keep the little wrench straight and just snug them tight.

Yes, it's exactly like those little Floyd blocks that shatter when overtightened. Remember when you first discovered they did that, then had to special mail order replacements? Ugh.

There is a little to learn about these things but it will become obvious after you've lived with it for awhile. Glad to help.

It sounds good in that audio track, still very ASB though fluid and clear.

[mirth]

I actually really like the stock neck pickup in my Carvin, the bridge pickup was horrid though. By the way, if you decide to replace the pickups, keep sharp objects away from you as no other pickups fit well, and you'll have to dremel the edges on your new (non-returnable) pickup of choice and pray that it actually fits. Or you can router out that nice top to make it fit. You'll want to break lots of things....just warning you.

I used to have a Blaze in the bridge, but have put a D-Activator in there recently and it was a major upgrade actually.

I want stainless steel!! But I've been too cheap recently. Haha.

[aliensporebomb]

Feb 19, 2013 8:48:57 GMT -5 chrissh said:

Sperzels only lock the string inside the tuner post, so they are only unlocked when changing strings. They should still be able to tune and turn like regular tuners, when the thumb screw is tightened. That's why you use minimal string wrapped around the posts; minimal string coiled around the tuner is more likely to return to pitch when using the Wilkinson. And yes, the little pin inside can drop out and disappear if loosened all the way.

Also, the two posts the bridge pivots against should have little set screws inside that lock them into position once the post heights have been adjusted. And the saddles set screws lock them into place after height and intonation are adjusted. Just be careful to not over tighten them since they can strip easily with too much torque. Keep the little wrench straight and just snug them tight.

Yes, it's exactly like those little Floyd blocks that shatter when overtightened. Remember when you first discovered they did that, then had to special mail order replacements? Ugh.

There is a little to learn about these things but it will become obvious after you've lived with it for awhile. Glad to help.

It sounds good in that audio track, still very ASB though fluid and clear.

That's what confused me - my assumption was the tuners wouldn't move when locked.

So I backed off on the locks to adjust the bridge height and now the high end string is floating around attached to the bridge but not to the tuner, I need to get it back in there but it will be close I think. Gack. Will take some getting used to.

I thought the pickups sounded great - I realize they are maligned by some but it ended up being better than I expected. The neck was great clean but the bridge pickup had this really unusual melancholy sounding voice under overdrive.

I also used the bridge pickup clean for the swelled chords in my demo.

[chrissh]

Yeah, the thumb screw literally pins the string inside the shaft, like a tiny little vise. That is the entirety of the locking mechanism. Unscrewing the thumb thing just releases the string from the tuner. No big deal. I also occasionally check to see that the thumb thing is snug; sometimes (rarely, and not as a rule) they have loosened a little bit with certain sets of Sperzels. My current set has never loosened.

[bear]

Never had a problem with Sperzels going loose, just losing a pin. In which case you can get by on normal-ish string wrapping, but of course heavy trem doesn't keep as well in tune then on that string.

[aliensporebomb]

I figured it out - those Sperzel tuners are clever but I can see the need to take care - I keep thinking I'm tightening them and I ended up loosening them a couple of times. Ugh. I'll get it though.

Now the guitar is set up pretty much how I want it. I was going nuts with the whammy tonight. Who says the Wilky isn't usable for stupid stuff? The trem floats, the tuners are locked yet I can still tune if I need to and the stability is better than very good.

So sloppy tonight - it's obvious I haven't played as much as I should this past week. Alternating between Mr. Melodic and "he bashed the headstock into the window and fell forward and tripped over all the cables and fell down the stairs".

Don't know if I should subject you poor people to the likes of that noise though.