Carvin CT4T on order

[scolfax]

I just bit the bullet on a new Carvin CT4. The non-standard options I chose are:

 

Wilkinson trem

Candy Red Metallic

Stainless Jumbo Frets

Black Coils w/ Cream Bezels

 

Now I just need to wait 5-10 weeks!

[rock-lobster]

you won't regret your carvin. i certainly didn't.

[O'Rourke]

Good choice on the stainless frets, they didn't offer those back when I bought my old DC 127. You'll love the way it plays, Carvins have very good attention to detail on the fretwork and the playability is outstanding.

[scolfax]

The only option I struggled with was the 12" neck radius. I have a 12" radius on my Ibanez RG, and a 10"-16" Warmoth compound on my parts-o-caster - and I like them both.

 

I was considering going for a 14" on the Carvin, but 12" seemed like a safer bet for some reason. I checked out the PRS site, and apparently all of their guitars have a 10" radius except for the Santana's.

[rock-lobster]

i was regretting the 12" radius (wanted 14) until it arrived in my hands.

 

you really won't be disappointed by that.

[scolfax]

I ordered my Carvin to look something like this PRS:

 

 

So I asked them if they could give me black knobs and a black switch tip, but keep the chrome hardware. Their response?

 

"...those knobs would have to be purchased separately then put on."

 

What?! I'm not pissed, but that's pretty lame. I know that Carvin isn't what's traditionally known as a true "Custom Shop", but replacing the knobs? I just don't get it.

[RaVenCAD]

Hey cool, another CT owner! Just got my CT4 a couple days ago.. Killer guitars man, you'll love it..

 

re: the knobs and stuff.. I can see both sides. It's a simple thing to do, but then it's something non-standard and they have to tell someone to do it and then when they forget, you'll be calling asking why it didn't happen. Far easier for you just to buy the parts and do it yourself.

 

You shoulda got the S22 pickups though.. Not especially for the pickups, but just so that your cavity is routed for non-Carvin sized pickups for future swapping purposes. The standard route has to be altered if you ever want to put aftermarket pups in.. I dig my S22s, but I can see myself changing them out sometime in the future.

[scolfax]

I know this is going to read as pissy, so please take any attitude with a grain of salt.

 

I am paying $1400 for a more-or-less "Custom" guitar based on 20-or so options of my choice, one of which is the color of the knobs. I'm willing to bet the box of black knobs is right next to the chrome knobs, so the only thing that needs to happen is that the guy putting the knob on pays attention to a note on the build order.

 

I'm willing to bet that if I wasn't lazy and phoned them instead of writing an email that they'd take care of it - the guy who replied to my email was probably just as lazy as I am and took the easy way out.

 

Regarding the pickups - do you mean to say that they actually route the pickup cavities on the body 1/4" deeper if the model of humbucking pickups is different? That's way more work than reading a note that says "use black knobs"!

[jds22]

I'm thinking about a CT3 at the moment.

 

Candy red with a birdseye maple fretboard.

[RaVenCAD]

No, it isn't.. It's part of a CNC program. The CNC operator gets your order spec, selects the "CT4T w/S22 route" program and goes to get his cup of coffee.. Where as if you wanted C22, he'd select the "CT4T w/C22 route" program and then goes to get his coffee..

 

Carvin is a custom shop in about the same way Ford or Chevy are. They have some options and you can pick a few, but those options do not deviate from the predefined groups chosen by Ford/Chevy.. If you want fuzzy dice in a Ford, you gotta get em yerself. I'll admit, you'd think it'd be a simple change and they'd do it without any grief, but usually they aren't very open to "new" ideas.. Be careful though, if you call and they'll do it, make sure you don't get slapped with the dreaded "option 50", which means a custom option requested by the customer that CAN'T BE RETURNED UNLESS DEFECTIVE.. Call em and ask, all they can say is no..

[scolfax]

Did you end up with an "option 50" for that custom blue paintjob?

[RaVenCAD]

Nope, but it wasn't custom. It's the standard saphire blue with blackburst edge. You can request what they call a "thin burst" which means just put a little black on the edge instead of all over the thing. They "let" me pay an upcharge of $100 to get them to match a photo of one they did. They didn't match jack, so that came off the price earlier today.

[scolfax]

I just called Carvin to see where the heck my guitar is... it's been 7 weeks since I ordered it. They said it's scheduled to go out on 6/24 - exactly 10 weeks from my order.

 

Wow, when they said 5 to 10 weeks they really meant it!

[bsman]

Don't sweat the 12" radius: I've had guitars with 7.5", 9.5", 12", and 16" radii, and they all play fine. In fact, other than the 7.5" (I've had this on two teles) which I found a bit annoying, I was able to navigate quite easily around all the other widths.

[Eddie]

 

I'm willing to bet that if I wasn't lazy and phoned them instead of writing an email that they'd take care of it

 

 

Very likely.

[leelee]

I'm comtemplating in bitting the bullet for a CS3/6 myself right now.

 

Specs:

 

Single Cut

Floyd Rose

Stainless Steel Frets

Dual Humbuckers (will be changed to HB shaped P90's)

Mahogany Body

22/24 frets

 

The grip I have is the 22 frets on the CS.. Does anyone know any other similarily priced guitar with the same specs but with 24 frets? Also, I'm debating whether I should go for the 6 over the 3. The thing that I'm deciding is the finish. (Black vs purple quilt black burst) It's a matter of if the nicer finish is worth the extra $500.

 

Regarding to changing the black plastic knobs and what not. I was wondering if anyone has called in to change the kind of knobs/placement of them to Carvin? I don't want the toggle switch on the top portion of the guitar. I'm looking to get only 2 volume and 1 3-way switch(no coil splitting needed since I don't plan on keeping the pickups in there) on the lower body of the guitar. Will Carvin do this for free? Or would there be another upcharge?

 

Thanks you Carvin gurus!

[scolfax]

You could always call and ask - but based on my experience trying to change the color of my switch tip and knobs - I doubt that Carvin would move or remove the switch for you.

[Lefty's Ghost]

I would have gone for the covered pickups, but it sounds like you will be getting a very cool looking guitar regardless. As you can see I'm on a covered pickup kick as of late.

[Eddie]

 

You could always call and ask - but based on my experience trying to change the color of my switch tip and knobs - I doubt that Carvin would move or remove the switch for you.

 

 

But those are two very different things.

 

I doubt that Carvin would remove the switch or knob placement based on their manufacturing process.

 

As I said before, it's likely that a phone call would have been sufficient to change the color of your knobs and switch tip.

[scolfax]

Well, tomorrow it will have been 10 weeks since I placed my order. Wonder what's gonna happen?!

[RaVenCAD]

Probably nothing, maybe something.. Time will tell..

[scolfax]

10 weeks and a day now. Not a peep. I called "customer service" and all they could tell me was the "scheduled date" which isn't more than I can check right off of the web site.

 

Ignoring my impatience, this does seem like a strange system. If customer service can't (or doesn't) actually have a window into the progress in the factory, how would they catch if an order slipped through the cracks?

[GCDEF]

 

10 weeks and a day now. Not a peep. I called "customer service" and all they could tell me was the "scheduled date" which isn't more than I can check right off of the web site. Ignoring my impatience, this does seem like a strange system. If customer service can't (or doesn't) actually have a window into the progress in the factory, how would they catch if an order slipped through the cracks?

 

 

As I understand it, they've been really backlogged for a while now. They removed their guitar-traq thing because people were getting impatient with seeing their guitar sitting in one place for a month. Speculation on my part based on postings on their forum, but they're avoiding to committing to anything because they're pretty far behind on the orders.

 

From what I've heard, read and experienced myself, customer service is no longer important to Carvin. There's been a really noticeable change in attitude there recently.

[RaVenCAD]

 

From what I've heard, read and experienced myself, customer service is no longer important to Carvin. There's been a really noticeable change in attitude there recently.

 

 

Well I've heard, read and experienced the other end of things. You haven't had dealings with Carvin in a long, long time, yet you still preach on how bad they are. I've dealt with them as recently as a month ago, and they were great.

 

OP.. Who did you speak with in customer service? If you got anyone but Bart, call back. Giovanni has never impressed me, nor has the other guy (don't know a name), but Bart always finds out what I need to know. Did you try your salesman?

[GCDEF]

 

Well I've heard, read and experienced the other end of things. You haven't had dealings with Carvin in a long, long time, yet you still preach on how bad they are. I've dealt with them as recently as a month ago, and they were great. OP.. Who did you speak with in customer service? If you got anyone but Bart, call back. Giovanni has never impressed me, nor has the other guy (don't know a name), but Bart always finds out what I need to know. Did you try your salesman?

 

 

It's been about a year. I don't remember the names, but I spoke to the person who claimed to be the customer service manager. He couldn't give a crap about me as a customer. Customer service shouldn't be a crap shoot about who you speak to on the phone. If you call a company with a legitimate service issue, the representative should attempt to resolve it.

 

I don't know how much time you spend on their forums, but there are a lot of people that aren't happy. Threads get locked and deleted in a hurry over there. If you spend enough time you can seem the disappearing and getting sanitized. It's pretty amazing to see the disdain the mods on their bulletin board display towards their customer.

 

Take the OP here. He spent presumably well over $1,000. His order is late, and they're making no attempt at all to tell him what's going on. That isn't good service.

 

As to you supporting them, it took what 3 tries and 9 months for them to get your oder right? I'm amazed you still have anything nice to say.