The SC90 is, in a sense, Carvin's Les Paul, owing to its single-cutaway body, dual-humbucker configuration, 3-way toggle, and a pair of volume and tone controls.
Reviewed by:
mental_meltdown, on may 16, 2006 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: friend
Features: The SC90 is, in a sense, Carvin's Les Paul, owing to its single-cutaway body, dual-humbucker configuration, 3-way toggle, and a pair of volume and tone controls. A classic Paul, right? Wrong. Actually, the SC90 is a classic Carvin, having many of the same accouterments as their other models, including a neck-through-body construction, a 24-fret ebony fingerboard with an extra-flat 15" radius, a 25" scale, Sperzel tuners, a well-shielded electronics cavity, and an extra-slick finish. our test guitar came in a nice brown sunburst, as well as having sexy rounded sides, which is a $40 up-charge over the standard squared sides. The guitar came with a Tune-O-Matic bridge/stop tailpiece combination and Carvin's new C22 humbuckers, which feature one row of adjustable polepieces and one row of fixed "slugs" like a Vintage PAF. However there are 22 polepieces per pickup here, hence its name, and they give your strings a magnetic bath so you won't lose any signal during string bends. The body has alder wings attached to a neck-through section of maple. And I like this: According to the catalog, the action on the SC90 is guaranteed to be 1/16" off the fretboard. Alas, on the guitar I recieved, the strings were literally on the fingerboard when I opened it up, apparently the result of an usual packing error. // 9
Sound: The sound of the axe is also appealing to my rock. With an alder body, maple neck, and humbuckers, you're going to get a tone more like a Strat with stacked humbuckers than a mahogany-bodied/-necked Les Paul, despite the Gibsonesque body shape. This was especially evident in the center pickup position (i.e. both 'buckers on), where the tone was definitely twangier than the nasally honk of a Les Paul in the same position. Again, this is a Les Paul in shape only, and if yuo want true LP fatness, go buy a Paul. The tone on this SC90 can best be summed up as fat twang. I could especially see blues, roots-rock, and country players digging it. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: Mine was not factory direct. My buddy says it was tuned and everything factory direct. // 6
Reliability & Durability: The Carvin will withstand an playing even if it is misused. The strap buttons are solid, the hardware lasts, and the finish is thick and indulgent. I never need a backup when I use my Carvin due to the fact that it is dependable. // 6
Impression: It shouldn't be any surprise that a lot of Carvin endorsers are chopmeisters, either being chicken-pickin' country wizards, fusioneer, or shredders; then again, the Monkees play 'em, too. Some players complain that Carvin necks tend to need more tweaking than your average electric, but that's a personal matter between you and your truss-rod wrench. In any case, I recommend everyone try an SC90, at least for the opportunity to grope one of the company's fast, smooth heeled necks. // 6
Reviewed by:
thekevinfoltmer, on october 31, 2005 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 1200
Purchased from: Carvin.com
Features: The Carvin SC90 was made in the USA in California. It has 24 frets and jumbo frets and it was made on an ebony fretboard. It comes with a solid top. The body is made out of Mahogony and the finish which you are able to customize was a flamed top. It has a cutaway body and active electronics. There is a volume, tone, 5-way selector, 2 coil taps, and a phaser. It comes just like all carvins with Sprezel locking tuners. // 9
Sound: This guitar fits my music style pretty decently mabee someone more into the metal scene would like it more but overall it fits my quite well. I use a Line 6 Spider II 120 watt and MXR Distortion Compressor and a Dunlop wah. It is rich and full sounding and the guitar has a wide amount of variety becuase of the coil taps. The coil taps alow it to sound like a Stratocaster and then on regular you can pretty much fit any style of music. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The action when I got my guitar was very low. The wood was pefectly cut, and all of the electronics worked well. // 8
Reliability & Durability: This guitar will withstand live playing I would know, I played with it. The hardware will last long and they come with strap locks allready in them and they are solidly put it. The finish is allright nothing special. // 8
Impression: My overall impression on this guitar is that it is a pretty sweet guitar. When ever I play with my friends they allways tell me how nice it sounds and wuite the upgrade it is for me. I have been playing for 5 or 6 years. And if it was stolen I wouldn't buy it again becuase I'm not digging the locking tuners they put in. It makes the strings to hard to bend. // 8
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