Carvin Impressions?

[jnavas]

Anyone have any experience with their instruments. Every review I read seems overly positive. I need a super strat style guitar for stage use and would like to keep it under a grand. Even if the pickups do suck (the only complaint I can seem to find), I have a half dozen or so different Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups sitting around that I can swap in to them.


Resale isn't important, as I will more than retrieve my investment with whatever I purchase.


I picked up an almost new Jackson Soloist in the local want ads, and while it is an incredible instrument, the neck is too thin for me and I lost interest in having a Floyd years ago, so I have to find something a little more tame.

 

[6Tones]

I think the quality and value of their guitars is great, I own a TL60.I have owned a Bolt T in the past,nicely built but the body was too thin for me,I like the curves of a traditional strat.

 

[TechpriesT]

Build a Warmoth strat, you can make it pretty decent for under a grand.

 

[Joe]

A used Carvin or Warmoth can be had for 25% of a new one, I know this from having taken baths on resale.

 

[Mike Anderson]

Originally posted by Joe
A used Carvin or Warmoth can be had for 25% of a new one, I know this from having taken baths on resale.

Buy it used, or buy it to keep.

I have no idea why the resale value is so low. They're quality instruments. I've owned a Carvin amp, and I presently own a Carvin bass. Both are excellent.

 

[mge80]

You simply can't get the quaility of a Carvin for anything even approaching what you can get a Carvin for from any other manufacturer. Their guitars are the equal of those costing much more. In fact, I would stack my Carvins against ANY manufacturer's guitars with confidence.

I play Carvin guitars and amps exclusively, and don't even consider anything else. I don't know how much strongly I can state this or recommend them.

BTW, my Carvins are for me to keep and to play...not to re-sell, so I couldn't care less about what anyone perceives their resale value to be.

 

[mge80]

Originally posted by TechpriesT
Build a Warmoth strat, you can make it pretty decent for under a grand.

Build a Carvin Bolt. You can build a BETTER quality guitar (far better than "pretty decent") for about half "a grand".

 

[dzook]

I'm considering ordering a Carvin as well. I saw somewhere, however, something about the Carvin pickups not being the same size as Seymou Duncans etc and changing them would require cutting into the guitar. Is this just BS - or is there any truth in it?

 

[Mark C]

They're high quality, but you have to like skinny necks and flat fretboard radii. If you don't then they may not be for you. Personally, I'd build a super strat rather than buy a Carvin, but it's not because they don't build good guitars - they just don't float my boat.

 

[kselbee]

I have a Carvin CT6 that is KILLER and I've owned quite a few brands. I've considered a second Carvin and would highly recommend them.

 

[jnavas]

Thanks for all of the info.

This is the first place I've had someone mention the neck profile. That could be a deal killer for me. I have big hands (the PRS wide/fat option feels tiny to me), and a thin neck/flat radius is very uncomfortable for me to play. The Califonian models might have a beefier neck-but I really need a single coil or two.

The pickup compatibility issue is troublesome as well-but its nothing a routing bit and a little duct tape couldn't remedy.

 

[LeifK]

I have a mahogany Califonia Carved top CT3. It's built just as good as any of my other guitars. Very solid feeling. The neck is not thin...but not super chunky either. The pickups are pretty decent and the split tone is the best I've heard...much more like a single coil than the McCarty pickups ever got.

You could always throw in a set of p90's to get closer to a singlecoil sound.

 

[Reeek]

My two favorite guitars are Carvins. I can pretty much have any guitar I want within reason but I just have a hard time going anywhere else for an everyday super playable guitar considering the outstanding build quality and materials they use. I own a California Carved Top CT6M in Tiger's Eye on Flame and a Holdsworth HF2 Fatboy that is as sweet a player as ever.

The CT6M is simply an incredible guitar then when you consier I paid $1350 for this thing. After seeing it, feeling it and playing it, everyone I've shown it to and who played it are amazed.

I will buy other guitars and probably a few very nice guitars but I will always own two or more Carvins for as long as I play.

 

[angelo]

Originally posted by jnavas
I have big hands (the PRS wide/fat option feels tiny to me), and a thin neck/flat radius is very uncomfortable for me to play.

Then I think you're out of the game. I have only played a handful and all were fine -- but all had the same neck

 

[mge80]

Originally posted by angelo
Then I think you're out of the game. I have only played a handful and all were fine -- but all had the same neck

All Carvins do not have the same neck. The DC/SC neck-through models have the thinner neck and compound radius fretboard, the CTs have a thicker (but not a Les Paul thick) neck with a straight 14" radius, the bolt-on necks (Bolt, Bolt Plus and C66) have yet a different neck from these other two...sort of an in-between, and then the Holdsworth models, H2 and HF2 Fatboy ,have a neck all their own...which is bigger and has a wider fretboard.

So all Carvin necks are not the same. They are made however, to be a "fast" type neck. But like anything, they are not for everyone. However, for me...the CT is perfect.

 

[angelo]

Originally posted by mge80
All Carvins do not have the same neck. The DC/SC neck-through models have the thinner neck and compound radius fretboard, the CTs have a thicker (but not a Les Paul thick) neck with a straight 14" radius, the bolt-on necks (Bolt, Bolt Plus and C66) have yet a different neck from these other two...sort of an in-between, and then the Holdsworth models, H2 and HF2 Fatboy ,have a neck all their own...which is bigger and has a wider fretboard.

So all Carvin necks are not the same. They are made however, to be a "fast" type neck. But like anything, they are not for everyone. However, for me...the CT is perfect.

Thanks, I should have said that of the few I have played they were all the through body 24 fretters. Sorry if I misled or tried to sound like an expert on carvins. I should have been more clear.

 

[mge80]

No problem at all. I assumed that's what you meant. I was just clarifying for everyone and providing a bit more info. That's all.

 

[Reeek]

The Holdsworth models have a 20" radius . . . VERY flat and the neck is a bit thicker than the other models, to me anyway. Regardless, if anyone feels they play well on flat fretboards, the Carvin Holdsworth neck is simply amazing. I still feel like I'm a better guitar player when I play the Fatboy.

 

[mge80]

You know Rick, just when I think I have all the guitars I could possibly want or need, I start thinking about a Fatboy. Somehow, I believe I see one in my future. This after getting "the most perfect guitar I have ever played" in my CT4M and now waiting for a DC145M that is being built....

I do think I'd like to play one first though, since the fretboard IS significantly wider than the other models. I guess I'll have to take a trip down to SoCal and visit one of the showrooms...or show up at your house one day...

 

[Reeek]

Gordon, not so much wider as flatter . . .

I used to call the Fatboy the finest guitar I ever played until the CT6M came along. Now they're stall mates.

And for those who may have read about neck heavyness on the Fatboy, I did the bounce test again last night. I use flat, real suede straps. I let go of the guitar with Dunlop Straplocks, bounced up and down and the neck never dives. Ever. It doesn't feel like it points up like the CT6M but it doesn't dive whatsoever. Stays at a slight upward angle securely.