Carvin DC727

Alright, so now I've gotten to mess around with my guitar for some time, and I have a pretty accurate picture of its capabilities/tonalities...

So, here it goes!

Specs:

Tung-oiled Swamp Ash Body
Tung-oiled Maple Neck
Bird's Eye Maple Fretboard
20" Radius
Stainless Steel Medium Jumbo Frets
Graphite Nut and Saddles
Sperzel Tuners
Push/Pull Coil Tap
3 Way Blade Switch
Routed for Battery Box (in case I want active pickups)

Cost $1198


FINISH/AESTHETICS:

Absolutely perfect. Really, to me it's perfect!

The all tung-oil finish feels so awesome. No friction at all on the back of the neck, no gloss to get sticky and mess with your forearm when it's resting on the top of the guitar. The figuring of the swamp ash and bird's eye maple completely exceeded my expectations.

SET-UP:

I opted for the stainless steel medium jumbos, super-light strings (9-52), and a 20" radius.

The medium jumbos feel like vintage sized frets! Perhaps that's because they feel "slicker" than nickel frets, and are so unobtrusive when sliding from fret to fret. The radius is also perfect for barre chords, arpeggios, and legato playing. I have not broken-out the chromatic tuner, but to my ear, the intonation sounds dead-on.

The action is slightly low for my taste, but I'd rather have a little lower action than one which is an inch off the fretboard.

I read on various forums about how super-light strings are a no-no for 7 string guitars-- they will buzz, or sound muddy, or not have enough bass, etc. I have not had any buzzing/flopping problems with my low B, even though it is only a 52...but then again, I use 008s or 009s on my Strats, and play with a very light touch.

SOUND/TONE:

This is a very mixed bag. I did not immediately love nor hate the pickups. I like bright sounding guitars, and my 727 does not disappoint. It is very resonant, and actually projects very well for a solid-body guitar when played unplugged.

The bridge humbucker has a very "biting" sound. It is pretty clear, and more treble/upper-mid sounding. It works very well for pinch/artificial harmonics, and shows nice note separation when playing distorted chords.

The neck humbucker is warmer, darker, and not nearly as treble-sounding. I don't care for the neck humbucker using distortion. However, it sounds fantastic for clean playing. When split, it is somewhat noisy but produces an excellent round/glassy/chimey tone that I love. It sounds very similar to the H22N I had in my old DC127.

Much to my surprise, I can get somewhat of a Strat tone when using the neck humbucker in split mode (playing clean).

I am probably going to change out both pickups, even though they do have some good qualities to them. I am in love with the sound of a single coil in the neck position, and so I will replace the neck humbucker with a Rio Grande Tallboy-- this is a 4 conductor humbucker which can actually function as a true single coil.

I will replace the bridge with either a Blackout, Pearly Gates, or JB. (All pickups I am familiar with and love...)

Let me stress that these pickups are definitely not "crap" as some reviewers may say on Harmony-Central. They have some very good tonal qualities, but are just not the perfect fit for me.

Additional, I was pleasantly surprised by the overall tone of my guitar/pickups/amp. This guitar is very clear, with a nice upper-mid and treble response. I was initially concerned that the guitar's sound would be very muddy and bassy with the low B string, as I had almost no experience playing 7 strings. The only 7s I had played, had floppy bass strings and seemed very dark/undefined when playing with distortion.

This is not the case with the Carvin, whether it be because of my wood choice (swamp ash/maple neck/maple fretboard), pickups, amp, or any combination thereof.

I am absolutely contented with the basic tone of my guitar!

I am hoping to post a video on youtube of my guitar today, to show more of how it sounds/plays. Unfortunately, the sound quality may not be too good.

Thanks all for reading!

If anyone is considering a Carvin over an Ibanez, Schecter, or Agile, I think they will NOT be disappointed. I don't believe I will have a need or desire for a different 7 string in addition to this one. Time will tell, but this really fits perfectly for what I had imagined a 7 string to be!