Skip to main content
Image
Price Paid
$1899
Condition
New
Country of origin
USA
Body wood(s)
Mahogany
Neck wood
Maple
Fretboard
Ebony
Fretboard Scale
25.5
Number of frets
24
Pros

Neck through body, satin neck finish, 24 fret 14” radius fingerboard (20” radius option), SS jumbo frets, Hipshot designed tremolo, Kiesel Lithium pickups, Luminlay side dots, green acrylic dot fingerboard inlays. Weight is probably 6 pounds.

Cons

Outdated headless design. Tuners on the bridge are very stiff. At the time I ordered, nickel frets were not an option, in fact a lot of available options are not available on the virtual builder, so your best bet is to use their virtual builder as a guide and physically call them to actually order it.

Summary

I’ve owned 2 Carvins, a PRS style CT4 and a Strat style Bolt, both, while solid guitars, were not as good as the PRS or Strat that I owned that they were copying… This Kiesel Vader is quite possibly the best playing guitar I have ever put my hands on. The satin neck, ebony board, and stainless fret all make for a very smooth feel across the neck. The Hipshot designed tremolo feels more like a Floyd Rose than it does a typical non locking tremolo unit, like Fender or Gotoh traditional tremolos, you can basically do all your Floyd acrobatics on this tremolo…. And it stays in tune. The Vader 6 is a very well balanced guitar, given the lack of headstock, and very light around the neck and shoulders. I have heard stories of the lock screws being sharp and breaking the strings, I haven’t experienced that. There are lots of complaints by people about how they can’t get this or that, but I challenge anyone to find a Gibson, Fender, Jackson, Ibanez, etc., on a music store wall or online retailer that has 1/3 the options. The Lithium pickups are a huge upgrade from the old Carvin pickups, both tonely and aesthetically, they are high output and balanced perfectly, with great sustain and harmonics. I have no use for split humbucker tones, so the 5 way blade switch is just overkill for me, have preferred a 3 toggle with a push pull volume. Excellent guitar overall though.