Continuing with my mid-week mini reviews of smaller guitars that may be of interest to ukulele players, I realised that everything so far has been for the acoustic fan. Let's change things up with the Blackstar Carry-on electric.
The Carry-on series by British amplifier maker, Blackstar evaded my radar until I started these reviews and as an electric guitar owner I just had to take a look!
The term 'Carry-on' here alludes to the travel size of the instrument as it is certainly smaller than pretty much all electric guitars out there. I think the name is a bit of a mis-nomer as despite being small it suggests you could take this as cabin baggage. In reality it's too big for any UK airline regulations on cabin baggage size, but there you are... It's still very small!
It seems too that this is not a throwaway concept by Blackstar, rather they have taken things seriously by getting this designed by the very much lauded UK guitar brand Gordon Smith. In fact it shares a lot in the looks department with the fuller scale Gordon Smith guitars. But here it's all shrunk down into a tiny body and a 20.7 inch scale with 19 frets. If I am honest, the name Blackstar on this had me interested from the off (they don't make bad gear) but the addition of partnering with a name like Gordon Smith really swings it further!
The whole thing is solid and that is to say, there is no joint at the neck, rather the whole Okoume body and neck are carved from one piece of wood. Interesting!
It's a solid body electric so, of course, not much to say about the acoustic tone. At first glance I thought a single pickup was going to be a limiting factor, but actually that mini humbucker is coil-splittable which turns it into a single coil with a pull of the volume pot. So it's essentially two very different sounding pickup options albeit without being able to blend the two - it's bucker or coil! Still, take a look at the video review below to see what I thought.
I really love the look of the white on this one with contrasting pick guard, but the black option is pretty darn cool too.
So it's not just the acoustics that can be had in small sizes - if you are after a small electric, I think this is terrific!
GUITAR VIDEO REVIEW
GUITAR SPECS
Model: Blackstar Carry-on Guitar
Scale: 20.7"
Body and neck: Solid Okoume
Finish: White or black glossed drop top, satin back and sides
Bridge: Tune-o-matic Gibson style with through body ferrules
Pickup: Mini humbucker with coil split
Controls: Tone and volume
Fingerboard: Laurel
Frets: 19
Nut: Bone
Nut Width: 43mm
Tuners: Der Jung gears
Strings: D'Addario 12's
Weight: 1.76kg
Extras: Gig bag, other package options for more ££
Price: Circa £299
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Is the fretboard radiused or flat? I can't seem to find any mention at the mfr's site. Have a fun 'holiday' with your family!
ReplyDeleteRadiused
DeleteFYI, I see Blackstar do sell a cheaper version of this, ~£150, marked Carry-on on the faceplate, same scale length, but with a bolt-on neck, so taken apart it would fit in carry-on luggage. It's half the price of this one, has a humbucker pickup without a coil-split function, no scratch plate or body binding, no gig bag but it fits in a baritone uke gigbag.
ReplyDeleteApparently, it also has the radiused fingerboard.
DeleteThanks for the informative review,coincidentally I’ve just shelled my hard earned on a blackstar carry on bass.
ReplyDeleteFull size basses look daft in ukulele groups.
Good to know it’s got a bit of pedigree behind it.