Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: pauldo on March 28, 2012, 03:58:02 PM
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A friend of mine is on the fence about which guitar to get (I;m trying to push him towards a Further)
Right now his top two choices are either a Paul Reed Smith 513 or a Carvin SH675. He uses some midi/ synth stuff.
Any thoughts/ experience with either of these from my 6 (skinny) stringed friends?
TIA
Paul TDO
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While I have no experience with either of these specific models, I do have a couple each of PRS and Carvin guitars. Both companies make excellent quality instruments (I'm not giving any opinion on the PRS SE line of guitars which are their cheap line - I've never played one).
In my experience, Carvin represents more bang for the buck. Also, only the Carvin of these two is synth access. I assume your friend would likely be adding a Roland pick up to the PRS. Here I definitely have an opinion based on experience. I find the string saddle type pickups for synth track significantly better than the add-on Roland pickup. So if it were me and synth access was important, between these two I would go for the Carvin. Another brand your friend might want to check out is Godin. They make some very nice synth access guitars (I have an LGX-SA that is a wonderful instrument). Godins also give great value for the price, imho.
Another consideration - the PRS 513 is a discontinued model, so I suspect your friend might be looking at used instruments. PRS guitars hold their value much more than Carvin or even Godin. So buying a used Carvin or Godin should result in a much better deal than a used PRS. Conversely, one would likely be able to get more selling the PRS than the other two.
Bill, tgo
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If I wasnt buying an Alembic, I would buy a Historic Reissue of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul. But thats me.....
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I've yet to have a negative experience with anything Carvin..
John
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I have played 3 PRS's (no Carvins). I recently acquired an Alembic Tribute. The Alembic is superior BY FAR to anything else I have ever played. The first time I played it I played better than I ever had before, it's one of those types of instruments. My next best guitar is a Gibson Lucille, and since I have had the Tribute, the Gibson hasn't come out of the case; although, to be fair, the Gibson has a completely different neck and feel.
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I've played Carvin amps, and I wasn't terribly impressed. I've tried out Carvin guitars briefly, and found them to be good instruments. I suggest that if your friend doesn't have the money for a Further (and since they seldom show up for sale used), he should consider a Roger Giffin. Roger was building a very similar guitar shape way before PRS was even formed, and his client list would be the envy of any manufacturer (Clapton, Page, Richards, McCartney, Harrison, Entwhistle, Townshend, Gilmour, Dire Straights, Head of Gibson Custom Shop, Fender Custom Shop Builder, etc., etc., etc.). For about the same money he can own a custom guitar where he can choose the features.
So much of this sort of decision lies with his preferred style of music. If you guys play mostly Grateful Dead and Jam band stuff, I say save for the Alembic. If he likes more of a traditional all around rock sound, I'd say consider the other brands.