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Carvin DC800 8-String Behemoth
Carvin’s entered the battlefield of 8tring guitars with their new DC800 at the request of oceans of customers just aching to make it rain $100 bills all over their faces. Now is the time for Carvin to respond and they have done just that.
DC700 vs DC800
The Differences
The build of the DC800 was modeled after the DC700 7-stringer, but has developed enough differences to make it stand on its own two feet plenty well enough. While the DC700 has a 25 ½ inch scale the DC800 takes it up a notch to 27 inches. The DC700 also features a Tune-o-matic M bridge with the strings loading through the back of the body while the DC800, also loading through the body, uses a hardtail bridge instead. The neck thickness has obviously increased to 2.15 inches at the nut from 1.91 inches and 3.03 inches at the 24th fret from 2.6 inches at the 24th fret. Other differences include the obvious increase in weight from 7.75 pounds to 8.25 pounds and the flatter neck radius from 14 inches to 20 inches.
The Similarities
Beyond that the stock similarities are quite the same. It has an ebony fretboard set on a hardrock maple neck with an alder body and neck through construction. The tuners are Sperzel locking tuners and the pickups are two A80 active humbuckers. The pickups are controled by one master volume and one master tone with a 3-way switch.
Customizations
Carvin is known for offering very expansive customization opportunities for each of their guitars and the DC800 is no different. The details above are merely what they offer as a stock guitar, though you get your pick of the litter on just about any aspect you could possibly desire to alter to meet your needs. Often certain models have a bit more limitations on their customization so here’s what’s available for the DC800.
The neck can be a selection of maple, mahogany, koa, or walnut. The body you get with comes in a sort of a packaged deal depending on what you choose for the neck. Options include alder, swamp ash, koa, and mahogany. Several top woods are also available including plain, quilted, and flamed maple, mahogany, various types of walnut, and a couple options of koa as well. The sky is the limit for the color be it solid colors, bursts, transparent finishes, or natural.
The fretboard options include ebony, several types of maple (each which requires the tung oil finish) or rosewood. While the fretboard radius comes stock at 20 inches you can round it out to 14 inches if you so choose.
The pickups are A80 humbuckers and that’s what your sticking with. Currently Carvin offers no alternatives to the pickups and electronics. No alternatives are currently available for the hardware either save for whether it’s chrome, black, or gold. The hardtail bridge and Sperzel tuners are sticking around though.
Pricing
Save for a few details your options for customization are still wide open and while I can’t quote what your customization would cost I can tell you that a stock model costs just $100 more than the DC700 at $999.
For more details check out Carvin’s page on the DC800.
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