Carvin guitars

Re: Carvin guitars

greekdude said:
Also my experience. Solid build, good woods, nice design, but lousy electronics and rusty screws. Also instead of their own pups they might start to offer better SD or DMZ or EMG pups. Frankly the Carvin pups are not up to the expectations of a pro player.
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As far as electronics, most people I know have had no problems with them. I have heard complaints, but they're in the minority. Regarding the pickups, people complain all the time about Gibson and other MIA brand stock pickups just the same and switch them out for Duncan, Dimarzio and EMG. My only gripe with Carvin wasn't the quality of their stock pickups, but rather the fact that regular aftermarket pickups didn't always fit as drop in replacements. At least the DC600 has regular pickup mounts now, I don't know if they've standardized that.
 
Re: Carvin guitars

Yes, I believe all routes on all models have been standardized.

As for the electronics. Never had an issue with Carvin's passive electronics.
The Actives on the other hand would get scratchy every 3 or 4 months and I would have to use electronics cleaner on the pots and switches.
Something about that active circuit would just amplify the slightest bit of oxidation on the pots and switches.
Ended up swapping the actives out on my DC400 to a passive 2 vol/2tone setup (carvin parts). They've been in that guitar for a few years now. No issues.
As for actual electronics failure. Never had any pot or switch or jack fail on me.

Never really had an issue with Carvin pickups. Never felt a need to swap them out. I actually think they're one of the better OEM pickups out there.
 
Re: Carvin guitars

I have a Carvin Singlecut Goldtop and it is easily in the top 5 of my all-time guitars (been through 50+). I agree, they use mickey-mouse electronics, but everything is super neat and I didn't have any issue with them other than I thought they were a bit "cheap" for the money I was paying. All-in-all, great guitars for the money!

I'm quite sure that if you called Carvin and asked for compound radius you could get it (for a $$$). A buddy of mine HATES the inlay on the 1st fret and called them to ask if they could do it without the inlay and they said they could but it would be a "custom order" and likely around $300 extra.
 
Re: Carvin guitars

I've said it before already that I need another guitar like I need a gaping hole in my wallet but if I could justify it, Carvin and Schecter are the two manufacturers whose guitars I'd want to add to my family.

Who knows, maybe in the future...
 
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Re: Carvin guitars

kherman said:
Late '03 through part of '04 Carvin guitars did have a 12"-16" compound radius fretboard. Short lived. Was not very popular. Then the CT came out. Shortly after they switched to the 12" radius standard. 14" and 10" were options. Now the 14" is standard and 10" and 12" are options.

Prior to the compound fretboard, the fretboards were a 15" radius.
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Damn.. Mad I missed that
 
Re: Carvin guitars

Laughing Kookaburra said:
I'm not a fan of purple either, but if people see Carvin as a damaged brand because of some of the offered options...

I don't know what to say to that type of thinking.
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It's a fact of life. If you don't research much, but see 20 Carvins, and 15 of them have hideous options, you'll tend to think they produce ugly guitars. I think a high percentage of Carvins out there are quite ugly, although they also make some of the most beautiful guitars I've seen (I have two).

I think it's good to have a certain awareness of how a guitar looks on you, also. For example, some fat, balding geezer who looks like he just walked out of a fertilizer warehouse would look a bit silly holding a neon pink JEM or the like. He'd look a bit more natural with a more traditional design. People can say "I don't care what I look like, I just play", but then again, they don't go on stage wearing purple pajamas, do they? So they must care a little. ;)
 
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Re: Carvin guitars

MkIII Renegade said:
It's a fact of life. If you don't research much, but see 20 Carvins, and 15 of them have hideous options, you'll tend to think they produce ugly guitars. I think a high percentage of Carvins out there are quite ugly, although they also make some of the most beautiful guitars I've seen (I have two).

I think it's good to have a certain awareness of how a guitar looks on you, also. For example, some fat, balding geezer who looks like he just walked out of a fertilizer warehouse would look a bit silly holding a neon pink JEM or the like. He'd look a bit more natural with a more traditional design. People can say "I don't care what I look like, I just play", but then again, they don't go on stage wearing purple pajamas, do they? So they must care a little. ;)
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I think they tend to be on the ugly side, but Carvin has IMO aimed their production at aging hair metal guys for the last couple decades. You can get a guitar that looks like a more sophisticated version of a Gunslinger or some other traditionally eye gouging superstrat. I follow the company on Facebook and it like they just got done r+ding a newer design to fit in with the djent ultrastrat look like Blackmachines and those guitars Scale the Summit uses with half the buttend gone.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
 
Re: Carvin guitars

I recently played a used CT-6 that was all decked out--drop dead gorgeous and it played and sounded great. I don't really need another guitar, but that one had me "pondering the possibilities".

Bill
 
Re: Carvin guitars

i remember thumbing through the Carvin catalog back in the 80's. I somehow didn't like them back then partly because of the way they looked and also because as a teen, I just saw what my idols played and Carvin wasn't one of them. Recently here on the internet I was reminded of Carvin so I checked out the website. I appreciate their craftmanship and having made in the USA. But I think my opinion remains the same.
 
Re: Carvin guitars

I don't think that the high rate of awful looking Carbins is the customer's fault exclusively.

There is a LB76 or whatever it is called in the local music-go-round. 6 string neck through. Plain black.

It looks like ****. I mean it really does. It looks like a single piece of molded plastic. No trace of class.

So that is a plain black instrument. How hard can it be. It would rather say that Carvin customers need to be actively good at it to get a nice looking instrument.
 
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