I got my new Carvin Contour 66 (C66)

BluesGuyJ

New member
It came in on Thursday and I have been putting her through her paces.

Honestly, one of the best feeling and most comfortable guitars I have ever played. This physically suits me more than my Lipe Virtuoso.

Here are the specs, again:
C66 with Wilkinson
Mahog body and neck
QQuilted maple top
Rosewood board with 22 jumbo stainless frets and no inlays
gold hardware
spirzel locking tuners
14 inch radius
done in cherry sunburst finish with deep triple stain
HSH C22s and APS11 center pickup
5 way with 1 tone and 1 volume
Graphtech nut

matching quilted maple overlay on hadstock.

The quilted maple top is 2 piece, center joined and apparently the mahogany body appears to be 1 solid piece.

The stainless steel frets are great to play on and just make things feel so smooth.

The pickups sounds pretty good, I think I am still going to swap them out for something else though. Either a set of DImarzios or set of Suhr pickups.

The unplugged tone is great. Strong but really balanced from lows to highs. I would say its a smidgen on the darker tone, but that's the mahogany neck and body coming through. I didnt want a super bright acoustic tone, I already got that with my Lipe and that does its own thing just great.

The neck carve feels just right. Thicker than my newly revamped custom Ibanez Wizard II neck and thinner than my Lipe Virtuoso. It's a few strong steps from a shredder neck, which is good to me.

Again you guys, I can not see photos and literally bought this Carvin not totally knowing what the body shape looks like. Just knew it was super strat style.

I would order anothr Carvin, no questions. This thing is right up against many other Music Mans and ESPs I have tried out.

Final cost for me with all of my upgrades?

It was like $1,390. That is a damn steal. I will try and get some pics uploaded. A video, hopefully too. I just got the new I Phone 4S and it's sweet.
 
Re: I got my new Carvin Contour 66 (C66)

Congrats!! I have wanted one since they came out. LOVE the look of them and have heard great things about them.. Just dont need another superstrat..

Your specs are very similar to what Id choose. Mahog, mahog, quilt top...
 
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Re: I got my new Carvin Contour 66 (C66)

Did you buy this new from Carvin? I love my singlecut, and I must admit that my SC90 has been my go-to-guitar for the last 2 months.
 
Re: I got my new Carvin Contour 66 (C66)

I got it new. I must say, I had never played a guitar with stainless steel frets before and this was a gamble, but I love them. I love the feel and the slight difference in tone, big time.

I am definitely going to swap out the pickups, they sound great and are warm, but do not lend themselves to tapping and legatto playing with these specific tone woods. I need some pickups with a little bit of a greater response in the higher harmonics/treble area.

GGod I love this thing.
 
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