have any fellow prs users played a carvin ct series?

I know a dude who ditched his LP for one...

It's gonna fill the same niche as a 22 fret PRS (same style, scale, types of materials) and Carvin makes some damn nice instruments, especially from the perspective of someone like me (read: poor college student). I don't think you would regret it.

 

and didn't regret it at all. I ended up with another one, and couldn't be happier!

 

If you like the Carvin flavor, go for it...it sure isn't PRS or Gibson tonally, but some people seem to be BIG fanboys.

Personally I can't stand the neck carve, electronics and hardware, not to mention I'd prefer my LPs, PRS SCs any day of the week for tone & playability.

The only upside I can see here is a slight price difference & the Stainless Steel fret option...in fact I've built a couple of Warmoths & USACG axes for just that reason.

I'd probably give a Carvin a try if I wasn't so insulted by them forcing their crap PUPs on me...the dam PUP rings aren't even drilled the same as std. HBs, so you end-up re-drilling new holes & some PUPs like Rios & Anderson won't fit in the shallow cavities.

I can't wait until my luthier starts doing Stainless Steel refrets

 

FWIW, I do know that their pups fit perfectly into standard standard HB spaces. Whether a standard HB would fit in their guitars, I can't say, but I bet a look around the Carvin forum would get ya the answer.

 

But as someone who has owned Carvin's on and off for years, whatever changes they made to their pups, they hit a home run. If your anywhere near Albany, NY, your welcome to try out my CT's.

 

They switched the standard bridge pickup a while back, from the C22T, which simply wasn't a good pickup, to the C22B, which is much better - it's not some fancy custom wound thing, but it'll hang with production pickups (SDs, Dimarzios, so forth) without breaking a sweat.

I have, though, seen more than a few Carvins where someone's switched out the pickups without an issue or redrilling - some replacement rings fit, others don't.

I really like their single coils, but you wouldn't have single coils on it anyhow so that's something of a moot point for this discussion.

 

I think the 6 string pickup cavities work with aftermarket pickups, it's the 7 string cavities that might require some tweaking, from memory of what I've read.

as for 10 days not being enough to make a decision, you're going to have a hard time buying a guitar from anyone with that requirement.

 

Carvin's C22B (new standard bridge) and M22T are quite good. The C22N neck is good in some guitars, not others. I like the M22V which is a more open sounding neck pickup somewhat like an SD Alnico 2 Pro.

 

A CT6 is my current main guitar and previously played LPs and PRS. It's a great guitar for the money and I'm very happy with the platability, feel and tone and customizability. I'd DEFINATELY recommend giving them a shot.

 

Yeah, the 6 string cavities are the right size - the only issue is that the mounting rings use three screws on the pickup, rather than two, which means that you need either a different mounting ring or some detail work with a drill on the new pickup.

I've been looking into it, 'cause I've got a hankering for a P90.

 

The neck carve is the big drawback for me. They only offer one and it's too skinny.

 

Everyone I've talked to about the CT says that it's a different neck from the usual, something chunkier.

I agree, though, the standard neck does run a bit thin for some people. Vintage it ain't.

 

Actually, I'm not sure about CT pickup mtg. rings, but earlier Carvin PUP rings didn't line-up at all with the body screw pattern on standard Gibby PUP rings, although I heard someone made custom rings for that purpose...

 

this is because most carvins are flat tops and most gibby's are arch tops. makes sense they wouldn't line up right. the whole pup ring won't sit right on the gibby's.

 

Never had a problem matching up PUP rings on a flat-top or carve-top (excluding some cheap copies in the 70s) except on Carvin guitars & after I used Warmoth PUP rings which were also non-standard.

In fact, after recently using Warmoth rings on one custom axe I bought an extra 3 sets just in case when I noticed standard PUP rings don't line up to the surface mntg. holes.

Haven't owned a Carvin since the early 90s so perhaps they've changed since then?

 

I'm a Les Paul guy but I thought I wanted a PRS so I was in the market. I played over a dozen and was just about to drop some serious money on one when I realized I needed a guitar with a Floyd Rose and my PRS plans were put aside. On a complete whim, I ordered this:



It's a beautiful guitar and I think I prefer it to most of the PRS guitars I was considering. This may have to do with the longer scale. I'm still in love with the sound of my Les Pauls, but this Carvin seems more alive than most of the PRSs I played. Granted, there were some really nice PRSs that I would own in a heartbeat, I just needed a Floyd and this guitar fit the bill. Carvin and PRS are two completely different animals. All I am really adding is that my new Carvin has certainly exceeded my expectations.

 

Yeppers, it looks like I was right...go figure

Carvin makes both their pickups & mtg. rings SMALLER than standard (Dimarzio, SD, Gibson etc) so you're more or less stick with Carvin PUPs unless you want to drill some new holes into your axe and probably rout the body to boot!

Carvin Forum search

How lamo is that??