[HighGain510]

Originally Posted by Apophis

But maybe he want's that bright sound

Carvin guitars are notoriously bright though! I ordered mine with a maple neck and swamp ash body so I'm hoping that combo does it for me. I was tempted to go with mahoghany or walnut for the neck to add a little warmth to it so the guitar might darken up a bit but after playing Bulb's I think the swamp ash with the maple neck sounds pretty nice.

[heffergm]

Man... this gets tough! There are so many combinations.

I really do like the quilted maple top though, so I think that stays. I guess it comes down to whether I want it cleared or just tung-oiled to cut down on all that gloss.

Choices, choices.... this could take a while, but by all means, keep the suggestions coming. And if you've got pics other than what I've already seen at the carvin site, fire away!

[HighGain510]

Just speaking from personal experience here (I've had a little over a dozen carvins over the past 6 years or so) I would highly recommend the gloss finish for the body. It will resist the elements a bit better and stand up to dings and scratches MUCH better. My DC-200 was tung oil finished and it got all sorts of little dings and scratches that never showed up on my gloss finished guitars from Carvin. Also if you're planning on getting the tung oil finish on the back of the neck I would suggest going with a one-piece neck rather than the 5-piece as someone (I think it was Jeff? ) mentioned that after a while the two thin stripes started to poke up from the neck as the weather took it's toll on the neck. I never experienced that one personally as any Carvin guitars I had with the 5-piece necks were ordered with gloss finish on the neck as well. Hope that helps dude.

I've got pics of a bunch of the Carvins I've owned before but they are on my home computer so I'll post up a bunch for you when I get back home later this weekend.

[heffergm]

Originally Posted by HighGain510

Just speaking from personal experience here (I've had a little over a dozen carvins over the past 6 years or so) I would highly recommend the gloss finish for the body. It will resist the elements a bit better and stand up to dings and scratches MUCH better. My DC-200 was tung oil finished and it got all sorts of little dings and scratches that never showed up on my gloss finished guitars from Carvin. Also if you're planning on getting the tung oil finish on the back of the neck I would suggest going with a one-piece neck rather than the 5-piece as someone (I think it was Jeff? ) mentioned that after a while the two thin stripes started to poke up from the neck as the weather took it's toll on the neck. I never experienced that one personally as any Carvin guitars I had with the 5-piece necks were ordered with gloss finish on the neck as well. Hope that helps dude.

I've got pics of a bunch of the Carvins I've owned before but they are on my home computer so I'll post up a bunch for you when I get back home later this weekend.

Good tip on the gloss for the top finish, I'll keep that in mind. As for the 5pc neck problem... that's weird. Generally, I know unfinished necks are somewhat more prone to the elements, but they shouldn't separate. My UV has certainly never had that happen. Sounds like an isolated (hopefully) problem.

[HighGain510]

Originally Posted by heffergm

Good tip on the gloss for the top finish, I'll keep that in mind. As for the 5pc neck problem... that's weird. Generally, I know unfinished necks are somewhat more prone to the elements, but they shouldn't separate. My UV has certainly never had that happen. Sounds like an isolated (hopefully) problem.

Yeah I never encountered it myself either. It sounded like the 3 pieces were contracting and the 2 stripes weren't? I could see it happening perhaps but never saw something like that personally. Just throwing it out there, I ordered mine with a solid maple neck and tung oil finish on the neck only FWIW.

[Drew]

Maybe a trans finish over the quilt, instead of natural? Trans red or trans blue would both be pretty hot.

[heffergm]

I think they may actually have a picture of exactly what I'm looking for...

If you hit the main page for the DC747 and hover over the 4 smaller pictures under the main one, you'll see a quilted maple/birdseye/quilted maple guitar with a mahogany body:

https://www.carvin20.com/catalog/gui...hp?model=dc747

Damn that's nice... just imagine the hardware in black instead of gold and I think that's about it!

[kmanick]

If you are going to get a quilted maple top, I would go for a mahogany neck.
It took a set of BKs and a 250K volume pot to get mine sounding the way I wanted it to. these are bright guitars, mine is all mahogany but the quilted top , the maple fret board and the SS frets really 'brightened" it up a lot.
Now mine sounds killer but it took a while to get it there.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by HighGain510

Carvin guitars are notoriously bright though! I ordered mine with a maple neck and swamp ash body so I'm hoping that combo does it for me. I was tempted to go with mahoghany or walnut for the neck to add a little warmth to it so the guitar might darken up a bit but after playing Bulb's I think the swamp ash with the maple neck sounds pretty nice.

Mines a maple neck, though I have a mahogany body. I've got the flametop too. We'll see how ours compare in brightness, though I imagine yours will be a bit brighter.

Also if you're planning on getting the tung oil finish on the back of the neck I would suggest going with a one-piece neck rather than the 5-piece as someone (I think it was Jeff? ) mentioned that after a while the two thin stripes started to poke up from the neck as the weather took it's toll on the neck. I never experienced that one personally as any Carvin guitars I had with the 5-piece necks were ordered with gloss finish on the neck as well. Hope that helps dude.

Wasn't me. The last one I had did have a 5 piece, but it was a clear satin finish, not a tung oil. But that makes sense though. I know carvin likes to push their tung oil finish, but that makes me quite nervous given the climate here in IL.

Originally Posted by Drew

Maybe a trans finish over the quilt, instead of natural? Trans red or trans blue would both be pretty hot.

I've got mine coming with a trans Crimson Red on flame, so I'll sure as hell be posting pics of that when it comes the 19th of Dec.

That being said I still have gas for yet another Carvin with a clear flametop, birdseye board, no inlays, and gold hardware. That'd look F'ing sweet too!

[heffergm]

Originally Posted by kmanick

If you are going to get a quilted maple top, I would go for a mahogany neck.
It took a set of BKs and a 250K volume pot to get mine sounding the way I wanted it to. these are bright guitars, mine is all mahogany but the quilted top , the maple fret board and the SS frets really 'brightened" it up a lot.
Now mine sounds killer but it took a while to get it there.

Wow... you're not kidding. I listened to the sound clips of the dc727. They don't say how the one they recorded with was built, but it is very bright in any case.