Kiesel No More

I believe that's true. You are protected by the agreement when paying with your credit card.

I would imagine all of these transactions were paid for by credit card. A simple charge back would get their attention and replies to your inquires. Follow the money, as they say.
 
Yes, the Sankey Dove and Peregrine pair were really something!

I knew what I was commissioning back then. Wish I could have kept them.

Currently going through another gear purge, as I only play electric on rare occasion.

I have a Carvin Holdsworth, and a 7 string Kiesel Vader , and both have had QC issues....my Strandberg and custom Peregrine (www.sankeyguitars.com/peregrine) are much more stable and satisfying headless....thanks again @pima1234
 
I purchased a Carvin Bolt-T with the much maligned Wilkinson VS-50 bridge. I enjoyed the way the guitar played and the frets were well polished. I was a bit bummed when it arrived because I could see tool marks in the ebony fret board near the fret ends, so someone got sloppy on the finish work. I also didn't care for the pickups and ended up swapping them for a Suhr set that I liked a lot more. It was a fine guitar for $700. I sold it to fund a washer and dryer purchase after I got married a year later.
 
I have a Steinberger which uses the same system when using single-ball strings. Works fine on the Steinberger even though the screw directly holds the string as well. A very good guitar, easy to tune, and not very expensive. Genius bridge/tuning machine design. I've replaced the neck pickup with an EMG 89, and in single coil mode I even get a pretty believable strat tones out of it, glass/sparkle and all.

I can see how this string clamp design could be very easy to screw up though.
 
Please allow me to blow off some steam here.

I own four Carvin/Kiesel guitars. Two DC127's, a DN612 Double Neck, and a Vader. I've been playing them as my main guitar since 1992. But the company's quality and especially customer service, despite appearances, has gone to crap.

One example; I recently ordered a pair of H22 Holdsworth 22-pole humbuckers. The coil wiring and/or internal construction did not match the Carvin standard (I have successfully installed other H22, M22, C22, and Lithium pickups). They behaved, sounded, and tested wrong no matter how they were wired (and I am very experienced at this). My inquiries to Kiesel about the proper wiring, or the possibility of assembly error, of these H22's went unanswered. No reply. None. The pickups are in a drawer, where they will remain indefinitely.

I also recently ordered a Vader with a $400 top to be hand-selected and fit by Jeff Kiesel. I sent in pictures of the type and direction of flame I wanted. What I received was exactly what I explicitly told them I did NOT want. Since it took 12 weeks to build, and I needed the guitar to pay the bills, I kept it.

Now, the lock nut on the headless Vader is proving to be garbage. They use the ancient design, first adopted then abandoned by Kahler, where an Allen screw insert rotates directly onto the string, acting as an effective string cutter. The line between the Allen screw holding or cutting is a very fine one. You must be very very careful to screw it down hard enough, but not too hard.

Now, the nut won't hold the unwound strings. They just slip through the Allen screws no matter how hard you tighten them. This design is an abomination and should never be used on any guitar, let alone a $2000 guitar. It is a joke. Kiesel has yet offered no reply, let alone useful help. I replaced it with a $4 Chinese part from Aliexpress that has a much better design. The quality of the metal is poor, but at least the design securely holds the strings without breaking them.

I've loved and used Carvin guitars for many decades. But I'm afraid I have to say goodbye. Their customer service is a disgrace compared to what it once was. The first problem I ever had was with a 1990's double neck. Mark Kiesel called me personally to resolve the problem. That was then. This is now, and now sucks.

I'm sure dozens, if not hundreds, of you have nothing but glowing things to say about them. I was once like you, and I understand where you are coming from. I wish I could still be there with you.
I’m really worried and sad to hear this. I still play my 1983 Carvin DC200 daily. I’ve filed the frets 4 times myself. With thousands of hours on it, not even the input jack has failed. I’ve only touched the torsion rod a few times, and the action is still incredible. I’ve been looking forward to getting a DC600, but ever since Jeff took over the business it seemed to me that it became more about volume versus quality. I never heard any complaints however, until now.
 
Periodic quality control (those dudes build a LOT of guitars, every single one of them a one-off) and SoCal attitude aside, Kiesel is the ONLY place you can get those wood options, scale length options, hardware options, fret options, fretboard options, finish options, all done up in a custom package that in most cases still somehow allows you a trial period if you don't like it (WTF ????), all for what generally still averages to ~$2k if you don't get it done up in diamond encrusted roasted coconut burl. They dry their wood out so hard they ring like bells, the only other guitars I've heard ring like that from wood being so dry are ESP Japan, Suhr, or Tom Anderson.
 
Periodic quality control (those dudes build a LOT of guitars, every single one of them a one-off) and SoCal attitude aside, Kiesel is the ONLY place you can get those wood options, scale length options, hardware options, fret options, fretboard options, finish options, all done up in a custom package that in most cases still somehow allows you a trial period if you don't like it (WTF ????), all for what generally still averages to ~$2k if you don't get it done up in diamond encrusted roasted coconut burl. They dry their wood out so hard they ring like bells, the only other guitars I've heard ring like that from wood being so dry are ESP Japan, Suhr, or Tom Anderson.

All of that is/was the enticing factor for most (including myself) to buy one. But none of that makes up for losing grip on quality control coupled with crap customer service. I've seen on a couple of different forums now customers receiving cracked fretboards on their brand new builds and the solution in each case was, "send it back and we'll try to glue it". On a brand new guitar? No.
 
I figured out the problem with the nut. The setscrews used to hold the strings were a random jumble of two types, both crap.

The screw on the left was used by Kiesel for four of the strings. The bottom of the screw has a vertical wall that instantly transitions to a flat bottom, forming a 90 degree angle. This screw slices through a string like butter.

The screw in the middle was used by Kiesel for the second and third strings. It has a shallower angle where it contacts the string, and will not cut a string. But neither will it hold a string under .011" no matter how hard you tighten it.

The screw on the right is one I picked up at my local Lowes for 30 cents. The contact surface angle is somewhere between the two types of Kiesel screws, and holds the strings securely, yet will not cut a string no matter how hard you tighten it. I replaced all of the screws with these and seem to be problem free.

Were it not for the sheer luck of finding these screws at Lowes, my $2100 guitar would still be useless, due to a 30 cent part that Kiesel just couldn't get right.
Hey, I know it's only five years later lol, but would you happen to have the measurements for the screws you replaced them with, I can't get the screw to hold the string for the life of me.
 
Please allow me to blow off some steam here.

I own four Carvin/Kiesel guitars. Two DC127's, a DN612 Double Neck, and a Vader. I've been playing them as my main guitar since 1992. But the company's quality and especially customer service, despite appearances, has gone to crap.

One example; I recently ordered a pair of H22 Holdsworth 22-pole humbuckers. The coil wiring and/or internal construction did not match the Carvin standard (I have successfully installed other H22, M22, C22, and Lithium pickups). They behaved, sounded, and tested wrong no matter how they were wired (and I am very experienced at this). My inquiries to Kiesel about the proper wiring, or the possibility of assembly error, of these H22's went unanswered. No reply. None. The pickups are in a drawer, where they will remain indefinitely.

I also recently ordered a Vader with a $400 top to be hand-selected and fit by Jeff Kiesel. I sent in pictures of the type and direction of flame I wanted. What I received was exactly what I explicitly told them I did NOT want. Since it took 12 weeks to build, and I needed the guitar to pay the bills, I kept it.

Now, the lock nut on the headless Vader is proving to be garbage. They use the ancient design, first adopted then abandoned by Kahler, where an Allen screw insert rotates directly onto the string, acting as an effective string cutter. The line between the Allen screw holding or cutting is a very fine one. You must be very very careful to screw it down hard enough, but not too hard.

Now, the nut won't hold the unwound strings. They just slip through the Allen screws no matter how hard you tighten them. This design is an abomination and should never be used on any guitar, let alone a $2000 guitar. It is a joke. Kiesel has yet offered no reply, let alone useful help. I replaced it with a $4 Chinese part from Aliexpress that has a much better design. The quality of the metal is poor, but at least the design securely holds the strings without breaking them.

I've loved and used Carvin guitars for many decades. But I'm afraid I have to say goodbye. Their customer service is a disgrace compared to what it once was. The first problem I ever had was with a 1990's double neck. Mark Kiesel called me personally to resolve the problem. That was then. This is now, and now sucks.

I'm sure dozens, if not hundreds, of you have nothing but glowing things to say about them. I was once like you, and I understand where you are coming from. I wish I could still be there with you.
I have a 1984 DC200, 2013 DC600, and a 2021 Vader. I’ve had zero problems except for the Vader, and that’s the question I have for you. It always stayed in perfect tune, like almost flawless. I changed to lighter string gauge, adjusted the neck, trem springs and pretty soon it started going out of tune like a fender strat lol. I stripped the bridge off and looked at everything from knife edges, to the body/neck for cracks etc. Everything was fine and a constant 45% humidity. Do you think my strings are simply sliding or pinch stretching at the locking nut because of defective bolts? I never thought of checking that….. during Covid they had excuses for some quality issues and Jeff addressed them , even publicly so, but now in 2023? I’m anxious to see what you have to say. I get high quality bolts for trems and locking nuts from a place called monster bolts I think, I’ll have to check. They’re all hardened high quality application specific.

I really look forward to hearing your response. I can’t believe you got no answer about the humbuckers. I’ll talk to Jeff Kiesel personally as I did last time to try and resolve these issues
 
Hey, I know it's only five years later lol, but would you happen to have the measurements for the screws you replaced them with, I can't get the screw to hold the string for the life of me.
I didn’t realize how old this thread was til now. Please let me know what you hear. Nothing like going from perfect tuning to all of a sudden trash. If you dont get an answer I’ll measure the screws with a caliper, and check the thread pitch etc as well
 
I didn’t realize how old this thread was til now. Please let me know what you hear. Nothing like going from perfect tuning to all of a sudden trash. If you dont get an answer I’ll measure the screws with a caliper, and check the thread pitch etc as well
Hey man, stretch the strings and check if the are pulling through from the head, that is what is happening to me. It is really annoying, that's for sure. Glad I'm not alone.
 
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