LsL CV Special “Carli”

Legendary guitarist, Carl Verheyen, has selected LsL Instruments to create the Carl Verheyen Signature Model, the "CV Special." Carl is known for his discriminating taste in gear. His standards for tone and playability are the highest possible. With that in mind, LsL worked closely with him to create an instrument that would not just be another signature model but would be the guitar that Carl most often reached for when either working on stage or during one of his countless studio sessions.

Carl Verhayen is certainly one of the very finest guitarists out there, and he is known to be extremely discerning when it comes to guitars and gear. Carl could’ve worked with any number of builders, and the fact that he chose Lance Lerman to develop this guitar says a great deal about LsL instruments.

This one has the all the articulation, character and voice of the iconic S-style guitar. However, the tone controls are more versatile, allowing you to get a deeper, more full sound at every pickup setting. The guitar also has an incredibly warm sound. Many S-style guitars tend to need time being played to mellow and warm up, and finding both the warmth AND articulation in a bolt-on design is a delicate balance for any maker. That’s why players have always loved old S-style guitars, which have the articulation of single coils, but have mellowed and warmed enough to have tremendous versatility. I don’t know how Lance does it, (I’d love to know!) but somehow, his guitars come new with all the sonic benefits of a loved, played, well broken-in instrument.

I will say, that I love the look of a slightly reliced guitar. That said, the so-called ‘relicing’ of guitars is very focused solely on the look. You’ll find that many reliced guitars look like older instruments (which is cool), but don’t sound like the older instruments we all love.

With LsL guitars in general, and this one in particular, you just can’t find a better ‘broken in’ new guitar, with the aging deeply into the d.n.a. of the guitar.

As I’ve said before, it all starts with Lance’s starting with rough wood, carefully choosing the right stock, the right grain orientation, and then shaping all the parts by hand.

When you play an LsL, you know that the neck and body were made by hand, you can just feel it. There are subtleties in the way the neck feels, just a sense of perfection. Lance uses what he calls a ‘Lowered Apex’ on the fingerboard edges, which makes the neck feel like it is part of your hand and buttery to play. All curves have an apex, and by lowering the apex of the neck edge curve to a point below where the neck and fingerboard meet, you get the feel of vintage S-style guitar neck where the fingerboard seems to melt into the neck, which, by the way, is a nice medium C shape modeled after Carl’s mainstay ’61 Strat.

The pickups are hand wound LsLs, again wound to match Carl’s ideal - his ’61, with the bridge pickup would slightly hotter, giving a little more push to the sound. He uses classic paper and oil capacitors in the tone circuit, which adds significantly to the warmth of the guitar. That’s the thing about getting a hand made guitar, all these elements are tuned to the instrument, and it takes a lot of work to figure out, for example, what tone capacitor works in a particular guitar. The pots in this guitar are also fantastic. They are the Bourne pots, which are lower torque, and they are glassy smooth and responsive.

The tremolo bridge is not just a pitch down, but to Carl’s specification, you can also bend pitch up: a half step on the E string, whole step on the B, and a minor third on the G. This increases the sonic possibilities a surprising amount, and is a very cool feature. If you’re worried about trem feel though, don’t be. You can use the trem like a standard trem without any difference in feel.

All in all, this is just an extraordinary guitar, from the mind and hands of an extraordinary guitar maker and an extraordinary guitarist. If you know about Carl Verheyen, you know he is an incredibly versatile guitarist who shines in many styles of music, and can truly play anything. So it should come as no surprise that this guitar would find a home in any style of music. If you like S-style guitars, you won’t find a better one. And you can get this one here new, with all the warmth and feel of a guitar that is 50 years old!

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.

ABOUT LsL GUITARS
The LSL Guitars motto is, "Never sell a guitar you don't want to keep." It all started when Lance Lerman experienced an eBay scam where he paid for a '73 Tele that never arrived. At that stage in his career Lance had had at least two stints as a builder/repairman of instruments and had generated 25 years of professional woodworking experience, running multiple large woodworking companies in the US and China. In response to his eBay experience Lance took it upon himself to build a Tele from scratch. With some dread he brought it to the amazing guitar guru, Tommy Kay, handed it over and let him play it. Tommy said, "YOU made this?" "Yeah, I made it" was the reply. Tommy: "You made the body?" And again the answer was "Yes." "You made the neck?" "Yes, I made the whole thing, all of it, except the metal parts, from lumber - planks of wood." Tommy's answer: "I'm blown away!, I'm totally blown away!" Then the question that started a guitar company: "Can you make more of these?" From that point forward, Lance started turning out guitars which kept selling immediately - sometimes within hours. This continued until it became apparent that this was the job Lance was really looking for. A job he felt passionate about, loved doing and quite possibly was one of the few things one could still make in the US successfully. So LSL Instruments was born, and they are finding success with the delivery of every instrument.