The rumble on extended range guitars gets hotter day by day and now Carvin enters that 8 string battle with their new custom shop guitar model DC 800 Extended Scale 8-String Guitar.
The DC800 features an alder body and neck-through eastern hard rock maple neck with easy access neck heel. The body has straight edges along with a deep forearm cut and belly cut for comfortable playing while maintaining a modern look. Body and neck woods comes in variations of mahogany, walnut, swamp ash and koa. Moreover 4A flamed/quilted maple, flamed koa, figured walnut, burled maple and spalted flamed maple top woods tops are also available. 27” scale ebony fingerboard with white dot inlays, medium jumbo nickel-silver frets and a semi-flat 20” radius are standard.
Official Carvin Site reports;
The evolution of Carvin's electric guitar continues with the release of the new DC800 27" scale extended range 8-string guitar. For years, customers have been asking the Custom Shop to take our vast experience with 7-string models, and offer the same craftsmanship and features in an 8-string model, and we're proud to respond with this amazing new instrument. The DC800 has several new features, including Carvin A80 active 8-string pickups and a new hardtail bridge. The body has a deep rear body cutout and deep top arm contour for comfortable playing. With hundreds of available options, you can build your DC800 exactly the way you want it, and have an instrument that you'll be proud to play and own for years to come.The DC800 is more than just a 7-string guitar with an extra string added. This guitar has been designed from the ground up as a completely new model, and will appeal to the most demanding jazz, prog-rock and metal guitarists who need the extra range an 8-string guitar provides.The DC800 has a standard alder body and maple neck-through design. Alder is a high-quality tone wood used by many manufacturers because of its relative light weight and fine resonating tone. It's slightly darker in color than maple, which accentuates the DC800's neck. Alder also has a subtle and attractive grain that looks great in any of Carvin's many finishes, including solid colors, translucent finishes and our metallic solid finishes. Although alder is the standard wood, optional woods such as swamp ash, maple, mahogany, walnut and koa are available, all of which have their own tonal characteristics. You can add premium top woods, such as AAAA flamed maple, AAAA quilted maple, flamed koa, flamed spalted maple and California Claro walnut.
The standard maple neck clarifies the overall tone of the instrument, but other neck woods, such as mahogany and koa are offered for their own slightly warmer tonal qualities. 5-piece necks of different combinations of maple, walnut and koa add to the already great looks of this instrument, and if an optional top wood is selected, you can choose whether you want the neck to show on the top or not. All of our necks and fingerboards undergo a long conditioning process in our de-humidification chambers to remove any stress in the wood and prevent future warping or twisting. Carvin's dual-action, fully adjustable truss rod helps keep the neck straight and true, and allows you to set the action just the way you like it. The graphite-teflon nut is precision-cut, and allows the strings to move smoothly without binding. The new 4 X 4 pointed headstock adds to the aggressive looks of the instrument, and the straight string-pull design helps reduce string breakage, especially with heavy playing.The DC800 features a standard 27" extended scale ebony fingerboard with white pearl dot inlays, a semi-flat 20" radius and 24 medium-jumbo nickel frets. Carvin offers more fingerboard options than most manufactures offer for their entire guitar lines. You can choose from rosewood, maple, birdseye maple or flamed maple fingerboards; and dot, block, diamond or Signature inlays in mother-of-pearl or genuine abalone. Carvin also offers a number of fretwire options, including jumbo, low-wide and stainless steel. Carvin's "Rapid Play" low action neck assures effortless playability throughout the entire fingerboard, while the smooth neck heel allows easy access all the way up to the 24th fret.Our new 8-string hardtail bridge with strings fed through the body is standard. This new bridge is fully adjustable for height and intonation, and provides exceptional sustain. Sperzel™ locking tuners ensure you'll stay in tune no matter what your playing style is. Standard hardware is chrome, or you can upgrade to black or gold.Direct-MountA80 HumbuckersThe DC800 comes equipped with Carvin's new direct-mount A80 humbucking pickups, which produce clear mids and highs, and an aggressive growl in the lower registers. Controls consist of a master volume and passive tone control with a 3-way lever-style pickup selector. Active electronics provide exceptional tonal variety, suitable for all styles of playing.Carvin also offers the DC700, which is a 7-string model with similar features as the DC800. The DC700 features active A70 pickups, a 25 1/2" scale length, and Carvin's M-bridge, with a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo optional. The DC700 can be outfitted with many of the same options, include top woods, body & neck woods, fingerboard woods, inlays, fretwire and much more.The DC800 is built at Carvin's Custom Shop in San Diego, California.
| construction | neck through | |
| scale length | 27" Extended Range | |
| body | alder | |
| neck | hardrock maple | |
| fingerboard | ebony, 20" radius | |
| inlays | standard white dots | |
| neck width | 2.15" wide @ nut, 3.03" wide @ 24th fret | |
| hardware | chrome | |
| bridge | hardtail, strings through body | |
| tuners | Sperzel locking tuners | |
| frets | 24 medium-jumbo, .103 wide X .048 tall | |
| pickups | A80 humbuckers | |
| electronics | active electronics, master volume & tone, 3-way lever-style pickup selector | |
| tuning | F# - B - E - A - D - G - B - E | |
| dimensions | 40.5" long, 12.75" wide body, 1.68" thick body | |
| weight | 8.25 lbs |