Re: Carvin guitars?
Lee_L said:
I've heard nothing but good things about them, but I'd love to hear more. I was looking at their BOLT model, and I'm liking what I see. I can get a Strat copy with the looks and features I want for less than an American Strat. Wilkinson tremolo, Sperzel locking tuners, Ebony fretboard, and for me...pearl white with a tortoise pearloid pickguard. For about a hundred bucks less than an American Strat from Fender, and that includes a hardshell case. I've heard their pickups aren't the best, so I may replace them with Duncans, or a set of Rio Grandes. What do you guys think? Do you have any experience with Carvin guitars?
I used to stop into the San Diego showroom every couple of weekends and mess around with the stock on the walls. I think in general the quality of the guitars is pretty good, but some things I didn't like. The plastic they use for the scratchplates is not the same that Fender uses, and even the tortoise-shell pickguards look especially cheap. The other thing I don't always dig is their color selection. They do some cool tint jobs but their straight paint selection leave something to be desired in my opinion - besides black and white, there's no colors there that make you think 'strat'.
The necks are really fun to play on - the ebony is slick and they're really just well made - nothing like my mim strat neck - much closer to my rg. The last thing you may want to consider is the fact that they're routed for what appears to be three humbucker configuration. The routes do not match up with standard pickguards however, and a number of people have ended up routing out the whole thing to get a larger than normal swimming pool route.
The cutaways are much smaller than a regular strat - just a nod to the strat really, more than an imitation. My feeling is they really tried to mix it up enough so they wouldn't be sued. Their Bolt Plus body is actually much closer to a real strat body. The neck bolt on plate is also smaller than fender - don't know about any pocket differences but it'd be interesting to see a strat neck on bolt, and vice-versa.
The pickups weren't bad - nothing like my duncans, though! =) Kind of ballsier than a regular strat pickup. I'd probably switch them out after playing with them for a couple of days...
I thought the same thing at first and IMHO, if you want a strat I'd say go for the real thing. Depending on what you like about the strat, you may be disappointed by one or more of the changes they made. I can say it's a great quality guitar for a great price. I thought the American Series strats came with cases too, though.
I still entertain the idea of building a bolt or bolt plus kit - that would chop off an extra 200 bucks or so and it'd be a great way to get a quality guitar cheap. Although I think the older guys probably have enough access to parts that they can build nice frankenstrats, etc. regardless...
I think a bolt plus hardtail kit with a mahogony body and a C5/59 combo in it would be a cheap way to get a pretty nice guitar...
