Latest Carvin Guitar Build Quality

[Heritage Softail]

These guitars look like Megan Fox and Katherine Heigel in hot love scene, with each other....

I have never found a relatively new Carvin of any stripe to play. Gibson has lost favor with me lately. Played at least a dozen in the last 2 months. PRS is good, but I don't want to dismiss Carvin without even a good look.

I hear the pickups are weak. Not too big a deal if the build is excellent and action great.

In the configurator, I one I like comes up to $1800. Not cheap but not a 3K PRS either.

These guitars seem to have a fanatical following. I am assuming that since you can't find them used, people like them and don't sell 'em.

Any words on Carvin?

 

[LTE]

I have a 90 something Carvin 7 String.

Great guitar really, easy to play, really sturdy and well built. Pickups are fine, probably will replace them down the road.
I can go more into detail if you'd like.

 

[Turumbar82]

I played one at a pawn store one time. I don't know what model it was. The pickups didn't sound bad. The neck was one of the easiest playing necks I have ever touched.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Pickups are only 200-400 and are not an urgent issue. I will be trying out the Bare Knuckle Riff Raff in my SG soon anyway so the pups are not a deal breaker.

I had a Carvin tube half stack amp back in 1983. It was good. See no reason to think the guitars will be a let down. With so many forums around, if they sucked.... it would be blogged to death....

 

[gonzo]

i'm getting ready to drop a pair of bill lawrence L-90's in my '84 Carvin DC200K.

one of the first things i did (after immediately shaving the neck when i first got it) was to change the bridge pickup out.

i put in a duncan custom custom.

i like the neck pickup, so i left it.

great thing about the Lawrences, they aren't overpriced like the majority of the other boutique pickup manufacturers (and dimarzio and duncan for that matter!) so i wont spend more than $120 for a matched pair.



Carvin:

what can i say, i've had mine since 1984, i'll never get rid of it, despite having 3 custom guitars made since, it's still my main guitar.

it withstood full time gigging for years, and has been tossed about like a *****, and it's still solid as any gibson or fender i've ever seen.

still, it's such a personal thing, guitars, you gotta play one to know if it works for you or not.

who would have bet van halen made his millions using a piece of **** guitar......

 

[Old BF Shred]

See my thread: Considering a Carvin ST300...

You can see the pros and cons of ordering one. I had some initial issues, but now I am glad I got it!

The neck is a bit thick for my tastes, but I am getting used to it. You should ask them about how the neck will be shaped and thickness. They show no options on their website, but you should ask anyway. :wink:

The finish is a good as it gets....the P/U's are so-so...they seem to be bright sounding, which works great for the neck position (as Gonzo points out), but too shrill for the bridge pos. I put in a JB and that helped immensely.

The 'neck through' thing is awesome. The sustain is unreal even with a Floyd Rose! (but maybe you're looking at a carve top; if so, never mind).

The fetboard itself is nothing short of magic. Action is super low (I actually raised mine). I ordered Stainless frets which adds to the smooth feel.

Hardware is top notch. You would have to pay at least 2-3 x as much for some other major brand and PRS won't give you Floyd Rose as an option.

I was lucky I live near San Diego so I got to go check them out before ordering. Let us know if you get one!
Good luck!

 

[ryjan]

Make sure you select the tung oiled neck option. They're slicker than baby oiled ice.

 

[gonzo]

you know, i had a friend's neck-thru tele-looking SC90 for two years....
and tho it was solid as anything else i ever found, i prefer the set neck build myself.


so, if you're looking for neck thru, there are lots of models for that, including the modern version of my carvin.


but, if you're looking for a more traditional build, something that's similar to a gibby or PRS, look at the CT6 and the CS6 California Carved Tops

 

[jab]

Everything from Carvin is top quality, and I've been buying guitars, bass and PA gear from them for what must be 25+ years and will continue to do so.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I am selling a California Carved Top CT4, pearl white, gold hardware. Paid $1250 for it, will consider any reasonable offer. Near mint condition. If you want to try one out without dropping the big bucks, it's a beauty and plays & sounds incredible (and yes, they feel PRS-like). They are the real deal. Before I bought it, I went and played every humbucking guitar I could find in GC and nothing compared to the build, feel and action for the money. Plays like something you think would cost $2-3k. This is a few years old though, so I can't comment on "latest" build quality at Carvin. I have been playing nothing but my Fenders (Tele/Strat) the past couple of years, so it sits in its case. But if you do want that humbucking tone with versatile cleans, I highly recommend. Can send you pics if interested.

 

[barryathome]

I have owned many Carvin guitars over the last 20 years. I have 2 right now. I also have Gibson and Fender guitars. Carvin guitars are spectacular and worth every penny. The pickups suck IMO, so replace them right away. They don't hold value like a Gibson, Fender or PRS, so buying used can often be a better way to go. We guitarist like to tell ourselves resale is not an issue, we'll keep it forever, but look, most of us rarely do.

 

[MesallicA]

Make sure you select the tung oiled neck option. They're slicker than baby oiled ice.

This, especially if you want a thinner neck.

 

[toneguy86]

I have owned many Carvin guitars over the last 20 years. I have 2 right now. I also have Gibson and Fender guitars. Carvin guitars are spectacular and worth every penny. The pickups suck IMO, so replace them right away. They don't hold value like a Gibson, Fender or PRS, so buying used can often be a better way to go. We guitarist like to tell ourselves resale is not an issue, we'll keep it forever, but look, most of us rarely do.

I think Carvin is a great company as others have said. The guitars I have played seemed excellent and reasonably priced. As others have said, bridge pickups were not really my taste, but for wood and build of that quality and money...that is an easy thing to fix. Their amps are good as well. I have thought of getting one as a backup for my other amps.

I was impressed with the customer service and quality of the Carvin gear I own. My whole PA is Carvin and it blew Mackie, JBL and most everything else I have heard away for about half the price.

Mark

 

[lesterpaul]

They don't hold value like a Gibson, Fender or PRS, so buying used can often be a better way to go. We guitarist like to tell ourselves resale is not an issue, we'll keep it forever, but look, most of us rarely do.

.+1...I have owned Carv's...lefty's at that!very impressed with the deal a-z...personally loved the necks AND customer service-they do it right IMO...used would be the way to go unless you are jonesin' for a custom job

 

[Heritage Softail]

No Jones'in for a custom. I will be on the look-out for them in the area Guitar Centers and other big stores that post used gear online. They must be pretty good. People definitely hold on to 'em. In a year of browsing between the two Guitar Centers here in Atlanta I have not seen one!

 

[barryathome]

They are on eBay all the time. I actually put Seymour Duncan in my CS6 last weekend, man it made all the difference in the world.

 

[sted]

Never heard a bad word from Carvin owners, they are, by all accounts very good instruments. The resale will not be good on them though, so be sure you want to keep it!

 

[pabloguitar]

I did have one issue with a Carvin I bought....

When it arrived, I started playing it and instantly noticed that the high E string kept falling off the side of the neck. The low E string had a ton of extra room. I thought maybe the neck warped in the few days of shipping. Got out my straight edge and it was perfectly straight. I don't know how, but during manufacturing the Floyd Rose was installed offset slightly from being in-line with the neck. I called Carvin and it was shipped back. After they inspected it, they confirmed my suspicions and said that they could fill the holes with dowels and re-drill new ones (for the Floyd Rose). I said "No way, build another one" and they said "Ok". I had no problems at all, although it did suck having to wait a couple more months!

I currently have 3 and will never get rid of them. That one was number 2 so I still bought another one after that. In fact I'm seriously thinking about ordering another very very soon, another 7 string. I love them. I agree about the pickups. I put EMG's in all of mine. For the 7 string, some routing was required since the EMG's will not fit the hole that the Carvin pickups occupy (7 string only, 6 string EMG 81's, 85's, etc. fit in fine). That was not a problem at all, just had to be very careful. EMG's didn't (and I believe still do not) make bezels for their pickups but I found a site online that makes bevels for the EMG 707's.

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Don]

I've had this DC150 for two weeks. It appears to have been built in 2008 (Carvins are difficult to date). I can't get enough of it. I really am enjoying this guitar. The build quality is the best I've ever seen. I've seriously never seen a Gibson built this nice. Between the ergonomics, the ebony fretboard and the stainless steel frets, it's a dream to play! Before this guitar I had never seen a Carvin in person, never mind played one!

Best of all it cost $425 shipped in near mint condition!

I wasn't thrilled with the pickups at first, then I moved the tone cap's lead from the volume pot's switch lug to its output lug (the important part of the so called "'50s wiring" mod that Les Paul owners like). That made the volume control far more usable. The tones that I'm getting are great now.

My Les Paul hasn't been out of it's case in two weeks!

 

[eudaimonia02912]

These guitars look like Megan Fox and Katherine Heigel in hot love scene, with each other....

I have never found a relatively new Carvin of any stripe to play. Gibson has lost favor with me lately. Played at least a dozen in the last 2 months. PRS is good, but I don't want to dismiss Carvin without even a good look.

I hear the pickups are weak. Not too big a deal if the build is excellent and action great.

In the configurator, I one I like comes up to $1800. Not cheap but not a 3K PRS either.

These guitars seem to have a fanatical following. I am assuming that since you can't find them used, people like them and don't sell 'em.

Any words on Carvin?

I bought a new all-koa DC back in 2005. The built quality was excellent. Their pickups aren't great, but you can fix that yourself.

 

[Heritage Softail]

There is a very interesting discussion on Rig Talk if should one consider a Suhr or Carvin for 1/2 the money and toss in some better pickups. I am finding lots of people really like the Carvin build quality, same fret wire as Suhr, similar wood/neck options available. Just not as good of pups and the resale is a little worse.