NGD - Carillion Polaris 6 - Koa

I forgot I didn't make a NGD post for this guitar. Pics First!









Specs:
Polaris Body Shape
Reaver Headstock
25.5" Scale
Set-Neck
Standard Carillion Neck Profile

Oil City Alnico Humbuckers with koa/blackwood bobbins
Floyd Rose
Hipshot Locking Machine Heads
Stainless Steel Frets
1 Push-Pull Volume + 3 way switch

1 Piece Mahogany body
Flamed Koa top
Australian Blackwood and Rosewood neck
African Blackwood fingerboard
Ebony Fretboard binding
Maple and Ebony veneers to separate layers

Demo video playing one of my original guitar solos:


In Short:
Probably the best guitar I've ever laid my hands on. Absolutely effortless to play and sounds great.

Long Version:
Ordering - I wanted a high quality 6 string with a Floyd for a long time. I have to go custom for my scale length preference on 7s so I'll admit this was a luxury buy and I wanted too support Chris some more. His business has taken off now so I'm glad I got in when I could! The build took about 4 months to completion. Chris is always a joy to work with with his strict build times and excellent communication. Plenty of pictures and easy to change minor spec details when build is taking place. This was originally the specs of my Blackmachine B2 which I never got and I have to say I ended up with a nicer(and much cheaper!) guitar in the end going with Carillion.

Playability - This is probably the best guitar I've ever played and I don't find 6 strings comfortable. The fretwork combined with the African Blackwood fretboard, ebony binding and rosewood neck make it very smooth. It's effortless to fly up and down. My preference on a 7 is for bolt-on but Chris persuaded me to try a set-neck this time. It changes the tone but I like how fat a note sounds and without the directness attack notes aren't as sharp which makes lead playing a little but nicer than on my 7s. High fret access is no problem. I forgot to order my custom profile on this neck but in the end it didn't matter, I wouldn't normally order a flat back but the round curve on this makes the smaller neck(than my 7s) more comfortable. Like my other Carillions You can see I have the pickup switch positioned so its enough out of the way that I don't hit and within in reach to quickly move back and forth while the volume knob is lined up just below the bridge so I can roll it forward and back without touching the bridge with my forearm.

Tuning stability - Perfect, I've been recording a solo with a crazy whammy part and the guitar is still in tune after 20 mins of takes. I can see why so many players used to get floyds and block them for tuning stability live.

Fretwork - Flawless as usual. Action is low with minimal buzz and can go lower. Fret ends are nice and rounded so you don't feel them. Its hard to tell from the pictures but they are really well done. Frets are polished super smooth and being stainless steel they will never oxidise or wear so the guitar will stay like this.

Woodwork - Chris always picks out exceptional pieces for my builds. I tried to capture the figure as best as possible in my pictures and you can see all the extra little woodwork details like the sandwich headstock and maple/ebony binding. I picked out the mahogany based on looks which means its a little heavier than I'd like so I just need to get up and stretch my legs if I'm playing longer than 30 mins. Australian Blackwood is a great substitute for Koa, it blended really well as a neck wood.

Pickups - I wanted koa/blackwood pickups to match the rest of the guitar. Tom Winspear cut the bobbins for me and Ash at Oil City wound the pickups. They are based on the Blackbirds used in Blackmacine guitars but with a more modern voicing. Alnico 9 in the bridge and Alnico 5 in the neck. I'm really happy how these turned out. The bridge has enough tightness for technical rhythm work and the highs are rounded off enough for bridge leads. Its like a Seymour Duncan/Dimarzio mix.

My Carillion collection. Quilt 7 is in B, Koa 7 is in Bb and Koa 6 is in D which covers all my needs for now. Someday I'll get a 28" baritone for downturning but I honestly don't have GAS for guitars anymore. It took a lot of money and time to really figure out what I like in guitars but I'm glad I finally got there.

 

Cheers guys! It really is an amazing guitar. I haven’t touched the truss rod since I got it either which is nice. The climate isn’t to variable in Ireland but it’s nice to have guitars that don’t need any maintenance apart from string changes and the rare fretboard clean.

Knock it all you want, I can’t be offended by some disliking something about a coffee table guitar lol. Honestly I’ve grown to dislike the look of single colour bobbins, I just love the look of zebra bobbins and how they contrast against each other.

interesting enough I wanted to delay to this build cause I was recovering from an injury. Chris put it off as long as possible but said he really couldn’t wait any longer so we went ahead with it. Funny having a builder message me looking for updates for once haha.