April 2008 \ Reviews \ Electrics \ Review: Carvin SH550

Review: Carvin SH550

Mike Broward
 Premier Guitar April 2008
Had my neighbors glanced through my windows at the right moment they would’ve seen a strange sight – me walking around with a brand new Carvin SH550 strapped over my shoulder, noodling away with a crazy man’s grin on my face.

You see, part of my ritual of trying out a new guitar is to ramble around the house with it, playing it unplugged just to get a feel for it by itself. The madman’s smile had everything to do with the resonance of this custom shop instrument and the guitar’s comfortable body. It was a really good fit from the get go.

My review model featured a translucent shade of blue that flowed over the beautiful flame maple top and matching headstock like deep water. It had a mahogany body and a set neck. I was in no rush. There was a lot to take in before plugging in. Carvin has been big on UV finishes over the last few years – in fact, the high quality gloss has a very identifiably Carvin look that you’ll recognize once you’ve been around a few.

This guitar came with abalone block inlays and gold hardware. The 550 is equipped with a 3-way pickup selector switch, a volume knob and a tone knob. The tone knob pulls out for a coil-splitting option that I found useful. I like the overall less-is-more attitude of this model’s electronics and the simplicity of the controls.

I’ve been familiar with Carvin guitars for quite some time, so I expected the attention to detail that I saw on this model. The finish was first class. The feel of the instrument was solid and the playability was incredible. I checked the intonation straight out of the case and it was spot on. There are certainly lighter guitars out there, but I suspect few players approach this style of guitar and expect it to weigh much less.

The “Rapid Play” 25-inch scale length neck had a profile that was a little different but comfortable to me within minutes. The action was about as low as I would take it but there was no buzzing with any of the 22 medium-jumbo frets and I couldn’t find any dead spots. Carvin incorporated a two-way truss rod system two years ago that seems to have made a huge difference in adjustability and playability. They say they’ve also incorporated a unique neck- conditioning process and a new, more precise method of leveling the fretboards. The results are noticeable – we’re talking ultra-consistent low action. I could really feel the notes vibrating in my left hand as I strolled from room to room.

Another part of my ritual is to “try on" the guitar and check it out in a mirror. Stop laughing – you know you do that too. Let’s just say it looked fabulous.

Okay, so how did this guitar sound? I took it out for a night of romping at one of Nashville's better known blues sit-in spots and waited for an hour to get up. From the first couple of notes I found the guitar to be intuitive and toneful with a wide variety of dynamic response. The house band players all filtered up to the stage within a few songs to check it out. I love that about this town – you see some nice instruments everywhere you go, but true players don’t hide their penchant to get in on the musicality of something that catches their eye and ear.

The warm rhythm pickup, a covered S22 humbucker, gave a distinct clarity to the notes being played. You could hear every note in a chord, there was no blandness about it. The rear pickup, also a covered S22, had the same clarity and musical tone but with a nice growl mixed in to complement the bite of the treble brightness. The thickness and oomph of the lead pickup only confirmed what I had suspected from the beginning with this guitar, that it would sing!

There were a few spots where I just held on to a note and let it sustain. This guitar made me want to hear it. I was also able to get under the band and just whisper phrases with this guitar; it felt like the whole room would listen and get it. I had a great time on this guitar and really fell for its feel and overall sound. Of course, many other players commented on the instrument’s beauty, as well.

In summary, when I consider the soulfulness of this guitar and its quality of construction and finish, I am amazed that an American company’s custom shop can offer it with so many options at such a low price – $1699 shipped direct. Considering what people are used to in the 335-type class of guitar it is in, it’s an awful lot of sweet sounding guitar for the money.


Buy if...
you want a top rate semi-hollow built to your tastes
Skip if...
you aren't sold on the weight and style of a carved-top
Rating...
4.5 

MSRP $1699 - Carvin - carvinguitars.com


     

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Comments

 (18 comments) display by
UsernameComment
Jazz.fred
on 08/22/2011 		I've had my SH-550 for just over a year now and it is an very good quality american made guitar for under $2k. When you add in the customizability, it becomes the guitar value of the century.
Herb
on 03/04/2009 		I've got the SH575, same as the SH550, with the addition of a Graphtech Ghost system that adds piezo tone on a separate output with bass, treble, and sweepable mid controls, and a 13-pin interface that lets you do MIDI stuff with boxes from Roland and Axon. All the MIDI converters have an analog output, and this mixes the mags and Piezos in the SH575 with a mix control on the guitar. rolling off the treble on the mags and rolling off the bass on the piezo, then mixing, can give you anything from compressed PAF jazz box tone to something brighter, with the wonderful piezo end-of-string high harmonics (which don't sound so good by themselves). The result is a guitar that moves between jazz, blues, and rock at least as well as a '335 (which is saying alot).

Do know that the guitar is much closer to a chambered Les Paul than a '335, with the same heaviness, and, perhaps surprisingly, the same sustain. This will keep you from cloning a jazz box, but it adds it's own charms, and is suitable for most jazz unless you're comping with a big band (the sustain is just wrong). Feedback resistance is very good. Most all examples are gorgeous -- enough so that if you don't play it well, you're going to look like a real poser. Wood and workmanship are great. It's a real winner. The MIDI support is great too. It's a blast to play a violin, string section, church organ, clarinet, etc., and with the decent tracking of today's equipment, a guitar makes a good controller for these voices.
Sam
on 02/01/2009 		Wupz, obviously my incessant rambling exceeds your comment limit: Sorry `bout that, but as I was saying "At the end of the day, I always grab my Bessie(strat) if she's here, even if I played with somethin' else all day". Now that she's back, I think she's got some serious competition, somethin' I've never said or felt since I got a real Fender strat: `till now! The blonde beauty's deep clear quilted maple top/headstock overlay with a 10" radius birdseye maple fretboard & stainless med-jumbo frets, all on the solid carved mahogany back & exquisitely set mahogany neck really produce a creamellow (I’m sure not a word) tone that I feel is primarily a product of the combination of the tone woods(& maple fretboard?). Gold hardware & Bigsby complete the picture, but mere words can't describe the completely blended/formed/whatever they want to call it, heelless neck to body set & the fluid feeling the neck contour provides. Feels like it was made for my hands; up and down the fretboard, & I don't have the vocabulary to describe again that righteous tone. All considered, kudos to Carvin, their pursuit of perfection, their in-store personnel and phone demeanor (I've heard described as uncouth but NOT in my case on 3 previous non related calls). Oh yeah, did I remember to say: The SH550's a WAY KEEPER? Gracias el Mucho Grande de Carvin, if that means anything in Socal: WHAT A GUITAR! If anybody's wondering: Build exactly the one you want, order it, get it, play it, palm it, shred it, beat it, tap it, slap it, use it & abuse it (within prescribed rational limits!) for 10 days (from your receipt - not from Carvin's shipping date) and send it back if you ain't absolutely happy with the guitar. NQA: Rtn shp $26 in same case/bx shpd, with a RA from by Carvin. If you feel as I do after trying mine: You WILL NOT let yours get away: I AIN'T! Yeah: It's that good!
Sam
on 01/31/2009 		Got my SH550B on January 8, on time as advised via US mail from Carvin ~mid November `08 (ordered at San Diego store when I happened to be there on November 1, 2008) that my guitar should be colmpleted on 01/05/09 w/2-3 day regular shipping. I have never owned a Carvin guitar before, but the attention to detail in this instrument so far surpasses anything I've experienced from the "big two" (& others) that it genuinely surprised me. It's definitely a beautiful blonde, but the guitar's tone and sustain are what's truly amazing. I really did not expect a semi-hollow to produce such warmth, but my only other real semi-hollow experience is with an ES335 and it didn't approach the full bodied/(buttery?) tone of the SH550. Maybe it's that two inch solid (carved/contoured inside and out) maple top vice a bent/laminated top. Who knows? I did have to do a basic ground zero setup after shipment resulted in excessive bow (which, when rectified: amazingly resulted in the thing being in tune after delivery to the muggy southeast from the desert that San Diego really is!) After that, only slight intonation adjustment on two strings was necessary, the rest were right on. Also, my peculiar pick/strum attack required lowering the humbucker covers to their specified clearance due to interference producing a clang like string on tin/thin metal (wonder why?!), as stated though: due primarily to my attack & the cover's minimal clearance, NP now, no buzzing, action sublime, just pickup covers too close to strings. Once that was fixed the humbuckers produce a warm rich harmonic depending on selection or their combination, that's unique to compliment the resonance inherent in the semi-hollow contour of the body cavity. Splitting the coils produces another sound altogether, but still with a resonance unique to this semi-hollow. Had to put my trusty strat in the shop for a fret job the last two weeks to check the SH550 out (I always grab the strat at the end of the day if
Dennis K.
on 12/02/2008 		Carvin is simply building the best playing, bang for the buck guitars in the starting to cost a few pesos category! I just received an AE185 semi acoustic electric from Carvin and after 25 years of playing I feel like it's my first guitar all aver again, they are that good!
Chris Quakenbush
on 11/26/2008 		These guys have hit a home run here! The 14" body size sits comfortably between a 13" LP and a 15" ES-175. The rear edge is beveled all around and there is NO neck heel. Not small- none. The accoustic sound is beatiful which is my litmus test. I have not been a fan of Carvin pickups but these are very complex tonally. I think I read that they are specific to this guitar. An instrument choice is personal so I am not advocating the this is a guitar for everyone but I have always been looking for something between solid bodys and jazz boxes and I found it here. I have never cared for 335's(again personal) because they sound dead and thumpy accoustically. This guitar is alive plugged or unplugged. Throw in Sperzel matte finish locking tuners, pull tone coil tap, Ebony board,low set bridge(routed underneath) and a spot on factory setup and I think Gibson better watch its back.
Tim Brown
on 06/01/2008 		It looks very similar to a Gibson Florentine with the " F HOLES",which is one of the best sustaining Les Pauls around!!!
Randy Staples
on 05/01/2008 		Matt's a dope.
Mike Broward
on 04/12/2008 		Hi
The wood are Mahogany neck and body, ebony fretboard. The test model came with AAA flame maple. With the Carvin Guitar it is a solid maple top that is "carved" on top and bottom using a CNC machine i would imagine.
The body of the guitar is chambered on a CNC also, unlike the solid block of maple that goes through a Gibson. The weight is comparable to a 335- 335 depth also. The test model came in at 8.9 lbs, a little over the listed model weight (7.1) in the Carvin website. At print time Mark Kiesel (guitar V.P.) of Carvin commented that they had decided to do extra chambering at the neck to lessen the weight a bit. Of course the density of two pieces of mahogany can differ and that will affect the weight.
Carvin offers like 50,000 different option combinations so you can have your guitar built how you want it, if it is one of the options they offer. Things like different neck profiles are not done because of the CNC machining is all programed in and the cost of re-programing for each guitar is too high. Build time can run as little as a few weeks to six weeks depending on the season- Xmas is long, summer is short.
I think if an article is short on some specific questions or information that it can generate interest or curiosity in the product. Although this was not intentional on my part, and I do appreciate Mark's comments, you should know that there is a team of editors who decide what is needed and how much space is given to each article. For more information, go to the Carvin website or call one of their salespeople.
Matt
on 04/09/2008 		This is terribly short on details - what woods are the neck and fingerboard? What makes this like the 335 in terms of construction -does it have a solid maple plank running through the center of the body, or is it a hollowed out/chambered mahogany body with a maple cap? And is that top in the pic a flame or a quilt? How deep is the body - LP or 335 depth? So its heavy - how heavy? The lower bout looks broad - how broad? Who is this review meant for, anyway - your average teenager buying her first guitar for 1700?



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