Carvin

[JeffB]

Re: Carvin

I cant remember who it was...Mike maybe...that got a couple screwed up guitars from Carvin awhile back ...and then they totally treated him like crap..and "silenced" him on the Carvin boards...

I dont care how good they are...that whole ordeal was enough for me never to buy one. I can deal with flaws, nobody is perfect...sometimes things happen...thats what Customer Service is for...but when the CS is that bad...no thanks...I dont care if it's Gibson, or Hamer or Carvin, or whomever...

and FWIW...I think Gibson makes damn good pups, and I'd have liked to have had a Carvin someday

 

[Mincer]

Re: Carvin

Yes, I know Carvin calls itself a Customshop.
But, we know that's it's not a full blown custom shop where the only limitation is your imagination. Of course those type of shops usually cost above $3000 for a guitar.
Kent

Gibson and Fender have 'custom shops' too, but they aren't really custom at all. You can pick from certian models they make (which is actually a limited run, not 'custom') and you can't ask for just anything- it has to be something that they have a template for, and has appeared somewhere on an LP or Strat. If you want real 'custom', stick with a private luthier, and you will come out cheaper than buying a 'custom' Gibson. It may not resale for much, but who would want to buy your weirdo guitar anyway? Chances are you'd keep it for life.

Back on topic, the Carvins I have played were very nice. A good price for a guitar you can customize with many options- I wish Fender would follow this...order a base model, and add customazations as options, instead of 150 different Strats.

 

[kherman]

Re: Carvin

I cant remember who it was...Mike maybe...that got a couple screwed up guitars from Carvin awhile back ...and then they totally treated him like crap..and "silenced" him on the Carvin boards...

I dont care how good they are...that whole ordeal was enough for me never to buy one. I can deal with flaws, nobody is perfect...sometimes things happen...thats what Customer Service is for...but when the CS is that bad...no thanks...I dont care if it's Gibson, or Hamer or Carvin, or whomever...

and FWIW...I think Gibson makes damn good pups, and I'd have liked to have had a Carvin someday

See, you remember that one incedent.

But, what about all us others that have been posting on here about our Carvins that didn't have that issue.

I posted a thread on my new '05 DC727 and on how well Carvin treated me.
It was a replacement for my '02 that developed a truss problem.
Carvin built me the '05 . Covered under the '02 warranty. So, no charge to me. The '05 came out great.

I think I maybe got 6 hits on that thread.

But, Xeromus's thread got swarmed with people ready and willing to trash.

That doesn't make it anymore right.
But, can one judge an entire company by that incedent?

We hear about Gibson QC all the time.
But people will go out and try 50 of them to find the right one and think nothing of it.

Yeah, you can't go into a bunch of stores to try and find the right Carvin.
Also, your dealing one on one with Carvin, so it becomes more personal.

Must just be human nature to be intrigued by the bad and ignore the good.
As the saying goes, the squeeky wheel gets the grease.

Kent

 

[B Bent]

Re: Carvin

See, you remember that one incedent.

But, what about all us others that have been posting on here about our Carvins that didn't have that issue.

I posted a thread on my new '05 DC727 and on how well Carvin treated me.
It was a replacement for my '02 that developed a truss problem.
Carvin built me the '05 . Covered under the '02 warranty. So, no charge to me. The '05 came out great.

I think I maybe got 6 hits on that thread.

But, Xeromus's thread got swarmed with people ready and willing to trash.

That doesn't make it anymore right.
But, can one judge an entire company by that incedent?

We hear about Gibson QC all the time.
But people will go out and try 50 of them to find the right one and think nothing of it.

Yeah, you can't go into a bunch of stores to try and find the right Carvin.
Also, your dealing one on one with Carvin, so it becomes more personal.

Must just be human nature to be intrigued by the bad and ignore the good.
As the saying goes, the squeeky wheel gets the grease.

Kent

Kent,
I agree bro. When I bought my Carvin and figured out after 2 weeks that I wasn't gonna be able to get used to the active electronics and all the switches they gladly took it back with no questions. BTW did I mention how cool they were when I ordered the guitar? The guy tried to steer me away from the actice electronics after me giving him an idea of my guitar personality, but I didn't listen. The guitar was superb though. And mark my words I will buy a Carvin CT like the one in Fusion101's link!!

 

[aleclee]

Re: Carvin

That doesn't make it anymore right.
But, can one judge an entire company by that incedent?

Maybe not, but I think they can judge Carvin by the way they handled things when he brought up the issue on the Carvin forum.

I'd like to think that Evan and company would be a bit classier in the way they'd handle a disgruntled customer.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Carvin

It's one incident that NEVER should have happened.

You don't treat your customer's like crap. I've been in service related industries all my life. I have no tolerance for that. Xero was treated very poorly. I don't want to spend my money with someone like that.

When I had issue with my last Gibson purchase, their CS was quick to respond, polite, apologetic, and offered for me to to talk to one of the VPs there. And I did not send them the nicest email in the world. I was quite frank, but polite.

You don't ever make the customer feel like $hit because of YOUR goofs.. period. Were that my business, I'd have fired everyone involved in that debacle, and sent XERO a free guitar.

And when I was in the Archery Industry, due to a couple of my companies F-ups, I got sev customers FREE, yes FREE bows for all the trouble they were put through due to either us or our canadian distributor. These bows sold for roughly $800. They were not warranty issues. We ended up sending these people bows at no cost to them,to make them happy...and to make us happy. Those people will be customer's for life. It's good business. You eat a couple bows, and the profit in time is more than made up. Word of mouth advertising.

Carvin in Xero's case in no way shape or form showed any kind of "good business" sense. It was enough for me to dismiss them wholly.

 

[Fritz6]

Re: Carvin

It's one incident that NEVER should have happened.

You don't treat your customer's like crap. I've been in service related industries all my life. I have no tolerance for that. Xero was treated very poorly. I don't want to spend my money with someone like that.

When I had issue with my last Gibson purchase, their CS was quick to respond, polite, apologetic, and offered for me to to talk to one of the VPs there. And I did not send them the nicest email in the world. I was quite frank, but polite.

You don't ever make the customer feel like $hit because of YOUR goofs.. period. Were that my business, I'd have fired everyone involved in that debacle, and sent XERO a free guitar.

And when I was in the Archery Industry, due to a couple of my companies F-ups, I got sev customers FREE, yes FREE bows for all the trouble they were put through due to either us or our canadian distributor. These bows sold for roughly $800. They were not warranty issues. We ended up sending these people bows at no cost to them,to make them happy...and to make us happy. Those people will be customer's for life. It's good business. You eat a couple bows, and the profit in time is more than made up. Word of mouth advertising.

Carvin in Xero's case in no way shape or form showed any kind of "good business" sense. It was enough for me to dismiss them wholly.

ABSOLUTLEY! This post should be on the front page of every company's website. All the companies who read this board should make note of this. I remember this incident also. Good news travels fast and bad news travels faster in the internet age.

John@blackrose, Evan and Jeff @highorder pickups have all been standup guys from day one. Jeff didn't have any ceramic mags when I placed an order
a while ago. He felt bad so he gave me an A2-A3 and A4 mag to make up fpr it!

Before I learned how to do double screws conversions he did one for me and wasn't going to charge me for it! I paid him but never forgot the kind gesture.

People like that get and KEEP customers. We've all had Carvin incidents happen to us. And we all do the same thing. We NEVER go back and spend the rest of our lives telling people about it.

As someone who works hard with bills to pay I have ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY ZERO TOLERANCE FOR COMPANIES THAT KICK ME IN THE TEETH WHEN I TRY TO GIVE THEM MY MONEY.

Mistakes happen, it's how a company handles those mistakes that sets them apart. Most people live till around 70 or so. That's alot of years of bad word of mouth advertising. If you're not going to take care of the people paying your bills, what the hell did you get into business for in the first place?

 

[PRG]

Re: Carvin

If you look at my homemade guitar in my avatar, that's a Carvin neck-thru blank. I never had any problems in my phone and email traffic with them. The neck arrived flawless, plays great, and has great tone. No complaints here. When I build my next neck-thru, I'll call them and order another blank.

 

[jalguitarman]

Re: Carvin

I read the thread well after the fact and would say that marketing freaked out
but i have read alot of threads of people that like them and have been treated good. I ordered a carvin dc400 last week with a floyd and, ss frets and, 14" radius hence my post about fretboard radius. The man i talked to seemed very helpful and was willing to help me get the exact guitar i wanted. I was concerned after reading the problems that xero had but i decided to try them out and hope they would treat me right. I was looking into a PRS earlier this year but i would have had to come up wit tons of cash to get what i want. Ebony fretboard, Floyd rose, 24 frets. Not even sure i could have gotten one with a floyd rose, althogh i did not know i wanted a floyed at the time, plus I have three guitars with rosewood boards and i do not have the funds for a private stock axe, maybe someday.. I also ordered mine with mahogany body and neck. I am looking forward to getting it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone has faves but i think my new axe is going to SMOKE!!!! I got a M22 sd and the H-22n.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Carvin

nevermind....

-Mike

 

[big_black]

Re: Carvin

Just make sure your ebony doesn't have leprosy...

 

[PRG]

Re: Carvin

Good choice on the mahogany body/neck, John. Mine has mahogany wings, but a maple neck and ebony fretboard. It's fairly bright and very tight sounding (especially with Alnico 5 or Ceramic Duncan p'ups). That mahogany neck on yours should soften the tone up some and give it some smoother mids. I'd say try the Duncan Custom in yours, it's awesome in mine.
As for the neck radius, I like mine, it's plenty comfortable for most things. The ebony is smooth playing and the 25" scale is just the right size.

 

[jalguitarman]

Re: Carvin

Good choice on the mahogany body/neck, John. Mine has mahogany wings, but a maple neck and ebony fretboard. It's fairly bright and very tight sounding (especially with Alnico 5 or Ceramic Duncan p'ups). That mahogany neck on yours should soften the tone up some and give it some smoother mids. I'd say try the Duncan Custom in yours, it's awesome in mine.
As for the neck radius, I like mine, it's plenty comfortable for most things. The ebony is smooth playing and the 25" scale is just the right size.

Cool! Thanks man. I also ordered it with the triple step stained deep purple color and they are selecting a .specfic flamed top for me. I asked them when i first called if thay had a hidden AAAAA flamed maple option, and he told me thier tops were AAAA and above and said they could request an exceptional one. So, i asked for a top with more figure than grain. Some thing with a wide flame pattern and highly detailed. Can not wait!!!! I imagine i will have it the first week of january. I hope i will like the pups enough that i wont want to change them out for a while.I asked for helped and they said these should give me the sound i want, but i will keep your pup recomendation in mind. Thanks man. Hope you have a very blessed holiday.:jester:

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Carvin

I guess I just don't get the big deal.
People will buy their Gibsons, Fenders, IBANEZs, PRSs, Etc... with stock pickups.
Think nothing of it, and just swap them out to their prefered brand and models.
But, because Carvin doesn't offer a brand name pickup, they get criticized on it. Or people will pass on them for that reason only.
Why?
Why doesn't it matter that the others don't offer brand name pickups like Duncans, Fralins, Lawrance, Dimarzios, etc..?

Besides, companies that do offer brand pickups like Jackson and ESP, it's only certain pickup models on certain guitar models. So, it wouldn't necessarilly be the pickup models someone prefers. Might not even be the correct brand for that person.

Yes, I know Carvin calls itself a Customshop.
But, we know that's it's not a full blown custom shop where the only limitation is your imagination. Of course those type of shops usually cost above $3000 for a guitar.

Again if you don't like em, just swap them out for your prefered pickup choice and throw the Carvin pickups on ebay and get a few of your bucks back.

To me swapping pickups is no bigger a deal than switching string brand and guage.

Kent

I have no problems whatsoever with swapping pickups. I've done it on all my guitars. The problem I have with Carvin is their use of non standard pickup rings and pickup routs. For example, on both my DC127's, I had to drill holes in the rings and round out the legs of my pickups just to get them in the routes. Neither my Gibson not my Hamer needed that.

Another example would be a DC135. Say you wanted to install a pair of SSL-1's in the neck and mid. It'd be impossible due to the routes. You're pretty much stuck with using the stocks or going to a pickup that has the same footprint, which BTW, is not the same as a standard strat's pickup.

I'm all for being different as long as it serves a purpose (like their neck bracing design).Being different for it's own sake can be annoying.

 

[kherman]

Re: Carvin

Another thing people have done is have the Carvin pickups custom rewound.
Not by Carvin obviously.
But, this is another route to go if retro fitting after market pickups is a concern.

Kent

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Carvin

If you look at my homemade guitar in my avatar, that's a Carvin neck-thru blank. I never had any problems in my phone and email traffic with them. The neck arrived flawless, plays great, and has great tone. No complaints here. When I build my next neck-thru, I'll call them and order another blank.

You can get the exact same blanks from Stew mac..

 

[ankalar]

Re: Carvin

You can get the exact same blanks from Stew mac..

For $50 more.