Well after waiting a little bit under 3 months, I finally received my Custom Carvin DC727! 
One of the things I would love to see someday is a 7-string Thorn but I know Ron has his hands full with everything he's got going on currently and the time it would take to redesign the Thorn design to HIS quality standards in a 7 would be a lot. 
I liked the other DC727 and 747 models I've played in the past so I figured a custom one was in order! 
Here are the specs:
Custom Carvin DC727
Fixed Bridge
Deep Triple-Step Dragonburst finish on Tubular/Sausage Quilt with Matching Quilted Maple headstock (Gold Carvin Logo)
Birdseye Maple fretboard with no inlays (requested a LOT of figuring in the birdseye! )
Swamp Ash body with a Maple neck
Tung Oil neck
Stainless Steel Jumbo fretwire
2 coil split toggles and phase toggle switch
Black Hardware
Graphtech saddles
Dunlop Straplocks
The pics:
The Deep Triple Step Dragonburst was darker than originally expected and at first I was a bit down but it's growing on me quickly. More black in the finish than I thought I suppose. Guess I was just shocked that it was THAT much darker than my friend's guitar that was made with Dragonburst before they introduced the "Deep Triple Step" finishing technique. It's really more of a Peacock Burst but still looks good!
Issues with the guitar? Well, they forgot the Phase toggle!
I was going to install a set of the Graphtech Ghost piezo saddles later on but without that toggle I'd have to get someone to drill a hole in the top so that throws that one out the window I guess. 
Not major, just less money I will have to spend on the guitar! 
There are two small scratches on the birdseye maple fretboard at the 19th fret so I was a little bummed that it got through QC, but it looks like it was done with the fret file and maybe they didn't want to rebuild it as it was nearing paint and the stainless steel fretwire was already in. *shrug*
I called them up last night and they're offering to discount the guitar if I want to keep it or do a whole new rebuild. I was leaning towards a total rebuild but after playing it last night I realized that it plays and sounds really nice, even with the stock pickups (which will soon be replaced with a Lundgren M-7 set) and I'd almost be afraid of having them do a rebuild and having the replacement look nicer but not sound as good as it seems to be hit or miss tone-wise with Carvin guitars at times, especially with their "revolving door" crew.
The swamp ash and maple is definitely a fantastic combo for clarity in the low notes on a seven string so I'm glad I went with that over mahoghany. I dropped the lowest string to A last night and you can hear the note definition. With mahoghany it probably would be a bit muddier on the low end.
All in all I think I'm most likely going to accept the discount (probably $1-200 off IIRC) and be happy with it once the replacement pickups are installed by Mike Sherman up in CT. He used to build Dimebag Darrell's (of Pantera, for any non-metal guys on the board ) custom guitars when Darrell was endorsed by Washburn guitars. I have another custom 7 on order with him right now and I'm looking forward to playing that one too... sound be killer! 
Just wanted to share the new guitar with you guys as I was excited! Eric, if this is the wrong section feel free to move it to the proper area!
One of the things I would love to see someday is a 7-string Thorn but I know Ron has his hands full with everything he's got going on currently and the time it would take to redesign the Thorn design to HIS quality standards in a 7 would be a lot. I liked the other DC727 and 747 models I've played in the past so I figured a custom one was in order! Here are the specs:Custom Carvin DC727
Fixed Bridge
Deep Triple-Step Dragonburst finish on Tubular/Sausage Quilt with Matching Quilted Maple headstock (Gold Carvin Logo)
Birdseye Maple fretboard with no inlays (requested a LOT of figuring in the birdseye! )
Swamp Ash body with a Maple neck
Tung Oil neck
Stainless Steel Jumbo fretwire
2 coil split toggles and phase toggle switch
Black Hardware
Graphtech saddles
Dunlop Straplocks
The pics:
The Deep Triple Step Dragonburst was darker than originally expected and at first I was a bit down but it's growing on me quickly. More black in the finish than I thought I suppose. Guess I was just shocked that it was THAT much darker than my friend's guitar that was made with Dragonburst before they introduced the "Deep Triple Step" finishing technique.
It's really more of a Peacock Burst but still looks good! Issues with the guitar? Well, they forgot the Phase toggle!
I was going to install a set of the Graphtech Ghost piezo saddles later on but without that toggle I'd have to get someone to drill a hole in the top so that throws that one out the window I guess. Not major, just less money I will have to spend on the guitar! There are two small scratches on the birdseye maple fretboard at the 19th fret so I was a little bummed that it got through QC, but it looks like it was done with the fret file and maybe they didn't want to rebuild it as it was nearing paint and the stainless steel fretwire was already in. *shrug* I called them up last night and they're offering to discount the guitar if I want to keep it or do a whole new rebuild. I was leaning towards a total rebuild but after playing it last night I realized that it plays and sounds really nice, even with the stock pickups (which will soon be replaced with a Lundgren M-7 set) and I'd almost be afraid of having them do a rebuild and having the replacement look nicer but not sound as good as it seems to be hit or miss tone-wise with Carvin guitars at times, especially with their "revolving door" crew.
The swamp ash and maple is definitely a fantastic combo for clarity in the low notes on a seven string so I'm glad I went with that over mahoghany. I dropped the lowest string to A last night and you can hear the note definition. With mahoghany it probably would be a bit muddier on the low end. All in all I think I'm most likely going to accept the discount (probably $1-200 off IIRC) and be happy with it once the replacement pickups are installed by Mike Sherman up in CT. He used to build Dimebag Darrell's (of Pantera, for any non-metal guys on the board
) custom guitars when Darrell was endorsed by Washburn guitars. I have another custom 7 on order with him right now and I'm looking forward to playing that one too... sound be killer! Just wanted to share the new guitar with you guys as I was excited! Eric, if this is the wrong section feel free to move it to the proper area! -Matt-
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Thorn Artisan Deluxe # 153
Thorn Junior-Ninety # 09
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Thorn Artisan Deluxe # 153
Thorn Junior-Ninety # 09
-Too many strings.
) with the guitar I must say, even with the stock so-so pickups it sounds pretty darn good. 
The maple board looks and feels great! With the coils split it has a very nice spankiness to it on clean settings. 
Soon enough.... hehe! 
It's nice because I can still grab the detuned riffs but don't have to sacrifice the high "e" like you would if you were playing a detuned 6'er or a baritone. All the lows and all the highs, more of a sonic spectrum essentially. 