The HF2 is unique among contemporary 6-string guitars. It has a 2 1/8" thick semi-hollow body made from alder, which is a high-quality tone wood used by many manufacturers because of its relative light weight and and fine resonating tone. Alder has a subtle and attractive grain that looks great in any of the Custom Shop's many finishes, including solid colors, translucent finishes and metallic solid finishes. The HF2 has a unique twin-beam internal suspension that allows the top and back to resonate freely, producing a sweet, semi-hollow tone. Optional body woods such as mahogany, walnut and koa are available, all of which have their own tonal characteristics. The standard top and back wood is birch, or you can add premium top woods, such as AAAA flamed maple, AAAA quilted maple, flamed Hawaiian koa, spalted maple, burled maple and California Claro walnut. All of Carvin Guitars neck and fingerboard woods undergo a long conditioning process in our de-humidification chambers to remove any stress in the wood and prevent future warping or twisting, and our woods are carefully hand-selected and inspected to ensure your new HF2 will be free of defects.

The neck of the H2 is maple with a gloss finish standard. The neck is precision set into the body, for optimal sustain and playing comfort. If you like, you can choose from many of the Custom Shop's optional woods for the neck, such as koa, limba or mahogany, as well as an optional satin or gloss finish on the back. The unique 2 X 4 headstock is alder and finished to match the body, or can be topped in AAAA flamed maple, AAAA quilted maple, flamed Hawaiian koa or any of our other exotic woods to match your top wood. This headstock design is very compact, and accentuates the overall look of the H2. The graphite-teflon nut is precision-cut, and allows the strings to move smoothly without binding.

The HF2 features a standard 25.5" scale ebony fingerboard with white pearl dot inlays, and a flat 20" radius with 24 jumbo nickel frets. You can choose from a wide assortment of fingerboard options, including rosewood, maple, birdseye maple, flamed maple or zebrawood fingerboards and dot, diamond, signature or block inlays in mother-of-pearl or genuine abalone. Nickel-silver jumbo frets are standard, and the Custom Shop also offers a number of fretwire options, including low-wide, stainless steel and gold EVO. The "Rapid Play" low action neck assures effortless playability throughout the entire fingerboard, while the lower cutaway and set-in neck heel allows easy access all the way up to the 24th fret. The fully-adjustable dual action truss rod allows you to set the action exactly the way you want it, and dual carbon-fiber reinforcing rods make the neck remarkably stable.

A tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece is standard. You can also select an optional Bigsby vibrato in polished aluminum (silver) or gold, for classic looks and great vibrato tone; or a Wilkinson tremolo. Premium locking tuners with a 19:1 ratio are standard, and standard hardware is chrome, with gold or black optional. The HF2 has two lower strap buttons, allowing the guitar to stand safely leaned against an amp.

The HF2 comes equipped with our Holdsworth H22 humbucking pickups. Carvin Guitars uses vintage plain enamel magnet wire and seasoned Alnico-5 magnets to achieve Allan's tone. Each coil has 11 polepieces, all of which are fully adjustable to customize individual string volumes. The H22N neck pickup is rated at 7.3k ohms, and produces fantastic singing characteristics, while the bridge position H22T, rated at 8.6k ohms, produces smooth sustain. Standard pickup colors are black coils and bezels, but any combination of black and cream coils and bezels can be chosen. Electronics consist of a master volume, master tone and 3-way pickup selector.