Members craigny Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 My Carvin CT4 is, without a doubt, the finest guitar I've ever played in my life. The fit and finish is perfect, the neck shape is almost ideal (could be a smidge thicker, but until I owned a Gibson I never noticed it was lacking..), the pickups (S22s) cover everything I like to play (Metallica to Joe Pass) and the attention to detail is amazing. I would not hesitate to buy another one.As for Carvin being a custom shop, no. They're as custom as Burger King in that you can have whatever you want, as long as it's an ingredient that they offer. They're not going to deviate very much from their pre-defined menu. Thankfully, that menu is very broad and covers most of the things people can want. One of the biggest gripes I see is about their pickups, but those gripes usually come from people that have never tried them. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to that assume the first thing to do after opening the case is to replace the pickups. They don't even give them a chance. I did and I love them. Are there better pups? Certainly? Are there worse pups? Most definitely. Give them a chance before you assume they're horrible. +1 man....I LOVE my CT4M...ive owned high end Gibbys, Fenders, Peaveys , Parkers...you name it...and the Carvin is right on Par with all of them, and ive owned way too many guitars to be blinded by a honeymoon phase...i may still be a hack as a player, but IMO ive become very good at determining whether a guitar is good or not...The neck and playibilty is the best ive had, I agree that a better way to describe them is "made to order", and that would be considered a custom to alot of other brands as their custom shop is essentially you tailoring one of their existing models to your liking through options..which is exactly what Carvin does. Like Raven stated the first thing i was concerened about was the pickups due to listening to people talk on the internet as the opinions were mixed except for the people who actually owned them and gave them good marks...i got my Carvin before ever playing one. Well that concern faded away as soon as i plugged it in....and FYI Carvin began in the business making you guessed it...PICKUPS....Way too many people assume that if they arent Duncans or Dimarzios or another PU company that it = no good....my CT4M can play cleans to Broots....the pickups are very articulate....they sound to me like the '57 classics i had in my LP.....they definatley have thier own voice....so if your used to say a JB ahhh..yeah youll have to probably make some EQ adjustments if you are looking for the same kind of sound...but honestly if thats the case why bother ever getting anything else?? So to sum up for the money Carvin is a NO BRAINER....and its a shame to say it but they are even a bigger steal on the used market. My next guitar will be a "made to order" V220....speced out at $1700....still below what i paid for my LP Trad with a discount.. CARVIN RULES!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 That's not the case with him. It wasn't that long ago. IIRC, He took a DC127 and tricked it out so that the price approached $1400. He sold it for around $750. Basically he got the going rate for a DC127 and took a bath on all the options. The key to getting your money back selling a Carvin is to keep it pretty simple. I lost about $300 when I sold mine. He lost $700. I agree with you completely on that one. Gold hardware, quilted maple, dripping in abalone, not a good recipe for resale value. But, then again, I don't really care what the resale value on my CT is. It's not going anywhere I did have a DC127 though, which IIRC cost me right at $1100.. I traded it for a Parker Fly that I sold for $950, so I didn't do too badly on mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members James Clausen Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 My DC400 is the best guitar that I have played. I get all the tones that I want from it and the action is perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BryanMichael Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Not following the logic there. Example: Wilkinson bass bridge. Great idea. Strings snap into saddles or straight through. Two different feels, two different sounds. Looks great. After 10 years the cast aluminum that it was made of wears poorly. I replaced mine with a heavy duty Schaller bridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 67mike Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Last summer I talked with a very famous Luthier who has worked with the best in the biz..... He said 2 companies ship their guitars out with perfectly set-up necks: 1) PRS and 2) Carvin. So...that sounds pretty damn good to me for the work Carvin does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danocoustic Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 can i start this thread tomorrow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 can i start this thread tomorrow? Sure thing! Carvin lovers will discuss Carvins all day, every day. I think we are missing something in this thread though.. CARVIN PIC FLOOD! (I'll add my contribution when I get home.. Can't hit Photobucket from work..) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tedmich Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Guitars costing 2X more than Carvins are sometimes better, but that is not praise. I estimate the PRS and Gibson logos alone cost about $800 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ArmyGuitar Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 I think we are missing something in this thread though.. CARVIN PIC FLOOD! OK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Carvins (I have several) compare well to similarly priced mass-produced guitars like Fender and Gibson. They do not compare to real high end guitars: hand made one-off instruments made to customer spec that cost a minimum of 3-4 times as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrfan Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 That's not the case with him. It wasn't that long ago. IIRC, He took a DC127 and tricked it out so that the price approached $1400. He sold it for around $750. Basically he got the going rate for a DC127 and took a bath on all the options. The key to getting your money back selling a Carvin is to keep it pretty simple. I lost about $300 when I sold mine. He lost $700. Do you expect to be able to recoup most of your cost on ANY guitar you buy new? If so, you must be like the folks on my local CL who have been posting their $1100 Les Paul Studios for months and even years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members craigny Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 ...don't mind if I do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JR13 Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Do you expect to be able to recoup most of your cost on ANY guitar you buy new? If so, you must be like the folks on my local CL who have been posting their $1100 Les Paul Studios for months and even years... Personally, if I can get 60% of what I paid back when I sell something, I'm happy. In the case of my DC127, I got back ~86%.. Not too shabby.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Do you expect to be able to recoup most of your cost on ANY guitar you buy new? If so, you must be like the folks on my local CL who have been posting their $1100 Les Paul Studios for months and even years... That wasn't the point, but I don't think I've ever sold a Gibson for less than I paid for it, whether I bought it new or not. And most Fenders will retain their value pretty well. People buy Carvins partly because they like to be able to customize them. Obviously you can't do that with used Carvins, so part of the attraction they have new doesn't exist on the used market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 I don't know much about Carvins. There are apparently a few Carvin dealers here in England but not near me. However I did a bit of browsing based on this thread and maaan, I like the looks o' this one:As for resale value, whilst it may not be great news for buyers of new guitars who think they may want to sell later (who does that anyway apart from a very few?) it's pretty great for anyone wanting to buy used (always assuming there are owners who want to sell). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flintc Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 I've been playing a Carvin SH-575 for 2 years now. It was flawless when I received it, and it hasn't changed. The neck has stupid low action and has never needed a tweak. I put heavier (and flatwound) strings on it, but that's a personal preference. The guitar itself turns heads. There have been no issues of any kind, not with the finish or the construction or the electronics or anything else. Best balanced guitar I've played, and the neck fits my hand perfectly. Now, I haven't played dozens of different Carvins, so maybe I just got lucky. But from where I sit, I know I could pay a lot more, but I wouldn't be able to buy a better instrument. (And it makes sense to me that when a guitar comes in 2 colors and that's all the variation available, you'll get better resale value. Carvin offers so many variations that a used Carvin is pretty well guaranteed not to have some feature you would have chosen - color, top wood, neck construction, inlays, pickups, controls, electronics, fretboard wood, trem, tuners, and a bunch of model-specific stuff as well. So if you're buying a guitar to minimize your loss when you sell it, and don't much care how it sounds or feels, Carvin is a poor choice for you.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 BTW, is it just me or has the pic I posted up there vanished for everyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seven58 Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 There aren't many makes of guitars that I have not tried. My Carvin CT6M is one of the finest instruments I have ever played or seen. Fit and finish are excellent and it plays like a dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RaVenCAD Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 BTW, is it just me or has the pic I posted up there vanished for everyone?Carvin doesn't allow linking to their pics.. It's maddening! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members honeyiscool Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Performance wise they're great, and they're made right here in San Diego* but guitars with plus tops and deep cutaways will always have the shredder stigma, whether that's fair or not. * It's cool to know that we have two of the better American guitar manufacturers: Taylor and Carvin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 Carvin doesn't allow linking to their pics.. It's maddening! That seems like a bad move on their part. Oh well, I saved it and uploaded to photobucket so .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members honeyiscool Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 That's a {censored}ing kickass guitar. I just wish the body was smaller, like 339 instead of 335 size, and I'd prefer a trap tailpiece, instead of Bigsby. Already got one. Semi hollows shouldn't always have to be these huge lumbering things, but that is exactly the kind of Carvin I would get. (That's the thing about companies that make shred type instruments. Semi hollows are the one thing they rarely {censored} up.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blazingblake Posted January 26, 2012 Members Share Posted January 26, 2012 I've said this before and i'll say it again one day I will own a carvin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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