Bolt Electric Guitar
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Bolt-T Bolt Electric Guitar |
| as featured
in the January, 1998 |
"The sum total of comfort, great playability, sexy good looks, plenty of options and sounds to die for..." |
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The Bolt-T represents Carvin's return to the domain of bolt-on necks after quite a lengthy absence. If anything, the San Diego-based company considers the neck as the first among equals as far as its instruments are concerned. Carvin was the first luthier to offer guitars with through-necks made of alder (a lighter wood than maple), and the profiles of all Carvin necks have received high praise from not just our own Martyn Booth (see July 1 997's review of the DC127T), but from the notoriously hard-to-please American music press as well. Guitar Shop magazine's Pete Prown was sufficiently moved to christen them 'ubernecks', which certainly adds another descriptive noun with which to impress your friends. BUILD QUALITY This particular Bolt features several options offered by Carvin, a full list of which would fill this whole page. For instance, if you'd rather have a different pickup configuration - perhaps a humbucker to complement your two single coils - or a different tremolo system, then no problem. All Bolt-T bodies are hewn from lightweight alder, and the attractive figuring comes courtesy of a two-piece, half-inch cap of flamed maple. Needless to a veritable rainbow of finishes is available, all the way from a natural oil finish to this example's translucent purple. Contouring is kept to the bare minimum, restricted to the usual belly and forearm curves, although even these are far less pronounced than those of a Fender Stratocaster; more wood equals more tone, don't forget. The scratchplate is a multi-layered white pearloid affair (red tortoiseshell is also available) and supports three of Carvin's own AP1 1 black single coil pickups; controlled by simple master volume and tone pots and a standard five-way blade switch. The micro-switch acts as a selector for the bridge pickup and has its best use when you're in positions four or five. This switch isn't a master selector but adds the bridge unit to selections involving the neck pickup. For example the fourth selection on the five-way (neck and middle) with the micro switch engaged sees all three single coils in action, thus adding another couple of tonal strings to your bow. By the way, if you opt for the C22T humbucker-equipped model the micro-switch acts in the same manner, but controls the neck single coil, as opposed to the bridge unit. The trustworthy, brushed-chrome Wilkinson VS-100 tremolo is fitted as standard to Bolt-Ts, although there's a hard-tail Bolt available, too. yet another option is gold-plated hardware should sir or madam so require. Build quality are Carvin's bywords, so it'll come as no great surprise to learn that my search for a blemish or mark of any description - on either the wood or finish - was fruitless. PLAYABILITY This particular 'uberneck' is fashioned from maple and finished with tung oil resulting in an ultra-smooth feel, while the generous ebony fingerboard boasts 22 medium-jumbo frets. With a scale of 25.5 inches (half an inch longer than through-neck models) and a radius of 15 inches, the immediate impression is one of extreme comfort. The back of the neck is quite flat, but still fits snugly into your hand. Although the width at the nut of 42mm is commonplace, you nevertheless get the impression of a more substantial piece of wood. A flamed maple veneer crowns this superb neck in a suitably attractive style and I have to say that, overall, this particular example is up there in my personal Top Five 'Nicest Necks Ever'. Carvin has taken great care to ensure tuning stability, by providing a graphite nut coated in Teflon for smooth string travel. The design of the headstock also has this in mind; notice that it's slightly tilted to negate the presence of a string tree - much like Jackson's straight-string pull headstock on their AT range. To aid things further, our example also features the optional Sperzel locking machineheads. SOUND Even before you plug it ins the Bolt is acoustically loud due in part to the resonance of the alder body. Once amplified, its numerous voices prove diverse in the extreme. The AP11 single coil at the bridge can become very harsh indeed, especially when using a high-gain setting; your eardrums do tend to moan a tad. Fortunately, the Carvin's tone control is very efficient and you can remove the piercing trebly edge without a thought. That aside, the gamut of those familiar Stratocaster sounds is present, from the glassy, hollow tone of the second position, through to the warm honk of the neck pickup. The best way to benefit from the extra two tones provided by the micro-switch, is arguably with a clean sound. With the neck and bridge units operating together, the sound possesses more middle and bass than the neck pickup alone and, with the tone control set at about six, you have a jazz tone that most semis would be more than proud of; rich, firm and fruity. With all three pickups operating together in series, the resultant tone is the loudest and possibly the fullest on offer. Adding a touch of vintage-style overdrive means you can approximate a fair impression of a Gibson Les Paul in its middle position. Rock and metal players will arguably be best served by the humbucker option for obvious reasons - but I can confidently predict that players of virtually every other style will find more than enough tones to satisfy their needs here. Fortunately, the tuning stability measures taken prove 100% and the Wilkinson trem is set up so you can pull it back a fair way and1 should you so desire, it's possible to pull off Steve Vai whinnies as well as more Marvin-esque subtleties. Whichever style I chose, no amount abuse caused the strings to go out of pitch; could this be the final nail in the locking nut's coffin? Only time will tell. VALUE FOR MONEY This is, in effect, a hand-built American guitar, but one that doesn't require prospective owners to sell their granny for. The price of £1,055, which includes a moulded hard-shell Carvin case to boot, represents nothing but top buy, and you can knock off further pounds by passing on some of the options present on our model. However, if it were me, I'd leave it exactly as it is and be satisfied that I had a whole lotta guitar for a relatively small amount of money. VERDICT The 'through-versus-bolt-neck' debate will doubtless rage on after we're all dead and buried. Suffice to say that each style has its own feel and sound, and devotees will continue to buy whichever suits their respective needs and preferences. Apart from the slight concern of whether a totally single coil-equipped Bolt-T would serve a rock player as well as it could is debatable; any other player will have no qualms about taking this Carvin out on the road or into the studio. The sum total of comfort, great playability, sexy good looks, plenty of options and sounds to die for, adequately covers most of the main requirements for a modern electric guitar. I suppose a price drop to a tenner is too much to ask for? BUILD QUALITY 5/5 |
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