Played Carvin CT-4

[fdesalvo]

Wow, that's HAWT!

 

[SabuJSE]

I'm usually not a fan of maple necks - but that thing is sweet

 

[blindmuddy]

Thanks guys, I really like this guitar and it looks even better than the pics cause you cant see all the birdseye in the pic.

 

[sixstringmonk]

Thread resurrection:

I've done business with Carvin three times. I first bought a Legacy combo, then a Legacy head, and then a CT6C (floyd). Unfortunately, I had to send the CT6 back twice. When I got it there was a ding in the neck. I sent it back within 24 hours of getting it, so unfortunately I missed that there were a few uneven frets, so I had to send it back a second time for a fret level. Now that everything has been taken care of, I will honestly say that my CT is the best guitar I've ever owned or played by a long shot. It beats out my Ibanez 90's RG, my 2002 VSBL Jem, and a 89 Parky Nitefly. I would by from Carvin again without at doubt.

 

[18&Life]

I still
Purchased used in 2004:

OMG this thing is ugly as hell !!! :lol: :lol:
Who was the owner,some guy from VILLAGE PEOPLE gay band ? :lol: :lol:

 

[gonzo]

i'm the proud owner of a 1984 all Koa DC200K
bought it while i was gigging on the road, it's still my number one axe.

i bought it, when i was in the middle of a 6 month search for a les paul.

i played just about every les paul available on the southern east coast!!
LOL

and this PARTICULAR carvin, just slayed em all.

after 23 years, it's still going strong, and i consider it my main guitar.

 

[devilrob1979]

A Koa DC with a Kahler's on my must-have list.

 

[highwaynine]

My bassist's Carvin 5-string is one of the sweetest instruments I've ever handled. His Carvin amp had some issues, but is now just fantastic, with all kinds of sound flexibility and oomph.

My Carvin amp (a nomad) was perhaps a bit too "vintage" for me. The overdrive was flabby, and the cleans nondescript. Hence my purchase of the DC-5 I'm now in love with. I still haven't ruled out a Carvin guitar someday.

 

[fitz8005]

just got this baby in the begining of december. it looks much better in person, imo.

as someone already said, nothing to be crazy about in respects to the stock pickups, so i threw in a dsonic and air norton. sounds 20x better and makes me love this guitar so much more. the neck plays like butter and it's all around a very comfortable feeling guitar. can't wait to get some $$$ to get me a custom 7 string.

 

[thinskin57]

here's my take on carvin:

their amps are built SO cheaply now. they should just get it over with and make 'em in Mexico while they're at it. back when that was the only half way decent amp i could afford, they all gave me problems.

their guitars are better than their amps but the necks are too shredder profile for me. i'm glad to see that they're offering a 10" fingerboard now, along with rosewood. 15" inches does not make my hands happy. if they ever offer a V shape neck, i'll probably give them a try. one concern i DO have though is this- i've seen two or three used carvins at GC, and it appears that they're not drying their wood properly. the fingerboards shrunk on all of them to the point where you could run your fingernail down the length of the neck along a ledge that formed between the junction of the fingerboard and the neck. maybe it's an issue with the tung oil finish as they all had the oil finish. hopefully their gloss finishes aren't prone to this.

 

[devilrob1979]

My 17 year old DC127 has no problems with a shrinking board but it's got a gloss neck so perhaps that is the cause. I had a Carvin amp and sold it to get my Mark IV. It was a Legacy and I never had any problems with it other than it wasn't exactly what I wanted. I had it for 5 years though and it served me well. Carvin's neck profile has thickened up a bit over the last few years as well so it might be worth it to you to check 'em out again. The CTs have a slightly thicker profile than the neck throughs and the Holdsworths are pretty thick. I've never played a Bolt series and can't comment on those. They also just recently released a singlecut carved top and a semi-hollow.

Just so you all know I'm not some Carvin fanboi. I have an LS1503A active PA speaker and my DC127 both of which are great. I'm also banned from both Carvin forums for saying f-you to one of their moderators in a PM after he actually said I was full of sh#*t in a public thread.

Stay the hell away from their Cobalt acoustics. They're made in China and are utter crap. I had one and would be more than happy to share pictures of its crappyness.

 

[thinskin57]

kicked off the carvin forum? you BAD boy, you! LOL
that's great!

 

[devilrob1979]

Yeah, this was my pm:

"Go f**k yourself. I've been wanting to say it for a long time so there you have it. Go ahead and ban me now."

The guy was the biggest fanboi douche of them all. Nobody could say a bad thing about a crappy guitar (most of their American guitars are top knotch but there are some lemons) without a diatribe by this guy. I just had one too many especially considering I got this guitar:

Glue seepage at the neck joint, bad inlay patch job

Lifted frets. Those that weren't lifted were sharp as Hell.

Horrible nut work

scratches

ding

more bad nut work

This isn't to say that their American made guitars are bad. I've played three recently built ones (an Ultra V, a Holdsworth and a CT) and all were incredible guitars. My '91 is absolutely amazing with the most insanely low action of any guitar I've ever picked up and absolutely no fret buzz (I credit some of that to the radius matching abilities of the Kahler on it as well). Those boards are destroyed by a couple of bad apples but most of the people on there are great. I never had a problem with any other moderators except for the one either. I spent several years on them and got to know some fantastic players and genuinely good people as well. For example, when one of the poster's son passed away a bunch of us chipped in to buy him a brand new Carvin C66. A fund was also set up when a couple of other people fell on hard times. It's a very close knit group it's just too bad there is a prick with power there.

 

[thinskin57]

i was considering a cobalt at one point as a "beach" guitar. glad now that i didn't. i had a feeling...

 

[Accio Recto]

Yeah, this was my pm:

"Go f**k yourself. I've been wanting to say it for a long time so there you have it. Go ahead and ban me now."

The guy was the biggest fanboi douche of them all. Nobody could say a bad thing about a crappy guitar (most of their American guitars are top knotch but there are some lemons) without a diatribe by this guy. I just had one too many especially considering I got this guitar:

This isn't to say that their American made guitars are bad. I've played three recently built ones (an Ultra V, a Holdsworth and a CT) and all were incredible guitars. My '91 is absolutely amazing with the most insanely low action of any guitar I've ever picked up and absolutely no fret buzz (I credit some of that to the radius matching abilities of the Kahler on it as well). Those boards are destroyed by a couple of bad apples but most of the people on there are great. I never had a problem with any other moderators except for the one either. I spent several years on them and got to know some fantastic players and genuinely good people as well. For example, when one of the poster's son passed away a bunch of us chipped in to buy him a brand new Carvin C66. A fund was also set up when a couple of other people fell on hard times. It's a very close knit group it's just too bad there is a prick with power there.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. I've got one of their Cobalts (C980T 12-string Jumbo) and it's absolutely flawless. The thing practically plays itself. Just goes to show there's good and bad with almost every manufacturer.

 

[Accio Recto]

EDIT - Duplicate post

 

[devilrob1979]

If you got yours before January of this year it was made in a different factory in Korea. They've since moved to China.

 

[Accio Recto]

If you got yours before January of this year it was made in a different factory in Korea. They've since moved to China.

Now that's upsetting. I got mine in 2006 and it's great.

I'll NEVER, ever, buy any guitar made in China, no matter what brand. Just on principle.

 

[devilrob1979]

I felt the same way and was mocked and ridiculed on the board for my feelings. The move was made after I ordered my guitar and it sat on backorder for 2 months ostensibly because of quality issues when in reality they were switching to the Chinese factory. I did get a nice letter of apology from Mark Kiesel, the owner of Carvin after I CC'ed him on an e-mail to a customer service rep though which was very classy in my opinion. By the way, those threads on the Carvin Museum board have been deleted.

 

[gonzo]

my 1984 carvin dc200K is still my number one guitar.

i've never found another guitar, that has it's sound, or feel.

flawless work all around, here it is 24 years later....