Carvin Guitars

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This thread inspired me to check out the Carvin website for the first time in a long time. I am truly impressed with the number of new guitar models they have created in the last ~5 yrs, including the DC600 and Holdsworth Steinberger style headless guitars, not to mention the more traditional large bodied guitars, they have an exhausting selection at this point! :shock: They used to have a rather slim lineup with the DC400 at the top, but that has effectively become more of a midrange guitar for them in recent years.

A long time sore point has been the stock M series pickups, which tend to be rather thin-sounding, although they improved this quite a bit with the C series (and the active preamp adds a nice boost for any of their passives, although all of their 22 pole piece pups have a rather industrial look). I haven't tried their actives yet, but would love to hear them in person. I have to say that there are some rather lustful pieces on their website! I'm sure I'll ending up with another Carvin of some type fairly soon, although one of their more thick-bodied guitars, and probably with a fixed bridge (I think a Floyd blows the Wilkinson away). One of the things I've always loved about their guitars and basses from an aesthetic point of view has been the variety of beautiful tung oil finished models. Too bad they REALLY stick it to you on the options, which is where their true profit comes from ($400 to have a koa neck and body!! :shock: ). You can easily get up into used PRS territory by the time you option out a nice Carvin, but the PRS would have sold for $3000+ new and will be worth a lot more in the future, so you just have to accept it as something you want and go for it.

There are some real steals on ebay, but the naive owners always seem to start asking over the top prices before they finally come down to reality...a big part of that lack of cache is that some owners choose one or two dubious options that can make the guitar fugly as-is...almost like a gaudy '70s custom van with shag carpeted walls. :lol: Especially when they overdo the gold hardware, inlays and purple finishes or the like.
 
The tone wood and pickup combination can make or break a guitar. I made the mistake of ordering a DC400 Claro Walnut with the M22SD and M22V pups. Had I realized the type of tone Walnut construction would provide along with a maple neck through design, I would have selected different pups. When I got the guitar, I could not stand the tone, also at the same time my Mark V was not performing at its peak as it was HF dominant and sounded like crap regardless of what guitar I used.

I fixed the amp issue with new tubes and speakers. Never been happier. Corrected the problem with the pups too. Replaced them with the S22's (metal covered ) which sound awesome. I also have a DC400 that had the c22 pups and they sounded killer. Since I liked the S22's so much I got a set for all of the DC400 guitars I own. The C22's found their way onto my DC200 along with the updated electronics. The old pups from the DC200 found their way to the DC100 (also has the same electronics upgrade but without the coil taps). M22SD I still have, but not in use at the moment. I believe they would perform better on a bolt on guitar than a neck through or set neck. I did have the M22SD installed on my DC100 for a while. The old M22V and M22T sounded better on a solid maple DC100 guitar (solid maple is okay, but not an option I would order).
 
I debated a Carvin for a long time and when I researched it I regularly found that people like to change out the pickups. That to me neither hurts or helps Carvin, many people change out pickups on guitars such as Gibson, Fender & Ibanez. The thing I think you can fault Carvin for is that they should offer at least one or two popular sets of pickup combos from at least one (ideally more) of the pickup makers such as Duncan or Dimarzio.
 
The Carvin pickups are not all that bad. However, some do have a high resonant peak frequency which can make the guitar sound on the brittle side. There are some pups I do not like and others I do. Most if not all of my HB pups are the metal coverd S22's (even though the RPF is moderately higher than some of the others, the overall tone is not brittle when compared to the C22 series that is used with the S22. I currently have 9 Carvin electric guitars. There are only two that I do not have Carvin Pickups which are the Bolt guitars. I did like the overall tone of the S60A but I wanted more range beyond the blues so I changed them for Lace Sensor Hot Gold versions. Now I can run my amps at high gain without ice pick. If I had a Fender Strat, I would have done the same thing. A few of my Carvin guitars were adopted though Ebay and some had other brands of pups. SD Pearly Gats were on one of them, sounded good but I felt the Carvin S22 were far better. Considering I have two superstrats (Carvin Bolt C), three DC400 (neck though strat shaped body) one CT6 and one CS6 and a few older models. My favorites are the superstrats. To be honest, I did not like Floyd Rose bridges and had a dislike for bolt on necks but that was until I bought a used Bolt C (original owner did not care for the Floyd Rose bridge). I actually bonded with it and loved the guitar so much I ordered a new one (Deep Moss Green, Flame maple top and a Black Limba body, typical maple and walnut neck with burled maple fret board.) I have never had a guitar that had so much sustain, and it sounds incredible as a heavy metal shredder too (required pup change for that).

My two favorite guitars from Carvin: Bolt C and the DC400W. Both of these guitars were ordered though Carvin. The Bolt C has a 14" radius fret board, Medium Stainless Steel Frets, gold hardware, Floyd Rose Bridge, Flamed Maple cap over a Black Limba body. I Replaced the pups with Lace Sensor Hot Golds. This Axe is world class in my opinion. The DC400W is the basic Claro Walnut model, Medium Stainless Steel Frets, 14" radius fret board, S22 pups.

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A shot of both bolts together (colors do clash since one is moss and the other is Teal)

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My CS and CT guitars were also bought used. Considering the cost to order new, I wanted to make sure I actually liked the guitars. The tone of the CS is perfect. The CT is also a great guitar. Both are 22 fret models. I have more of a preference for a strat style guitar than the other. The CS is the Gibson Les Paul styled guitar. Ebony, 14" radius fret board, Abalone inlays, Mahogany Neck and Body with Flamed Maple cap, Note color looks like a red accent, it is actually more of a light brown tone than red. The CT is the other , Quilted Maple cap over mahogany body, neck is also mahogany with Ebony fret board. Stainless Super Jumbo frets and only side makers on the neck (no inlays). Carvin S22 pups on both as well.

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I love my Carvin. I ordered it back in 2009, and with all the other guitars I have, it's still my favorite. This April, I will be ordering another. This time it will be a DC600C.

 
I am considering getting yet another Carvin. This time a CT624 with Floyd Rose with the Graph Tech acoustic saddles. Still debating what woods to choose. May just keep it standard mahogany with maple top. I may opt for the Claro Walnut top. If I go with the flame maple top it will be the same color as the bolt, moss green, something about that color in the sun is just spectacular to look at.
 
I just picked up my third Carvin- a recent SH645. Like my DC150, it has stainless steel frets on an ebony fretboard and plays great. I just removed the treble bleed caps and rewired it like a '50s Les Paul. This makes the guitar clean up better with a germanium Fuzz Face and cranked non-master volume amp.

I'll post pics once I put it down.
 

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