carvin opinions

[RR05xx]

Re: carvin opinions

My impression of Carvin going back to the '80s has always been "mail order Jackson". That said, I have a cousin (who is in his mid 20s) who swares by a carvin that he has .....but he also thinks that Charvel is an ice cream retailer. Nuff said.

[Sinistas]

Re: carvin opinions

mmm....carvel ice cream

Anyways, I love Carvin. My band's other guitarist just bought a DC127 because he loved the way my DC125 played. \m/

[lerxstcat]

Re: carvin opinions

I have a few older Carvins that I like a lot,
and I'm always surprised by those who don't like them, but to each his own. Mine are all set neck 24.75" all-maple ones though, as opposed to the neckthrough 25" scale maple with poplar wings that they've made for the past 15 years. They are really two different
types of guitars, and prefer the older ones even though they are quite bright in tone. That's why you have EQ on your amp! I felt that I got the brightness of a Strat even in humbucking mode, with the sustain of a gibson due to the set neck and humbucker. I have rarely seen one with finish flaws though, and haunted the Carvin stores in Hollywood and Santa Ana when I lived in SoCal, playing quite a few of them. Pete, I'm starting to think all the factory seconds got shipped to Oklahoma! LOL!

I also advocate buying used due to the low resale value. At least then if you don't like it you can recoup most or all of what you paid, which you'd never come close if you buy it new from Carvin. They do have the 10-day trial but if you initially dig it and change your mind in a month, well you lost half your dough.

Of course, I don't like their current headstock or body shapes that much either, so it's easy for me to opt for the used ones.

[fr0sty]

Re: carvin opinions

Agreed about the older maple ones. I have owned a bunch of Carvins, the older all maple bodied ones were much better. Although I did have an all Koa DC 135 that was killer...

[toejam]

Re: carvin opinions

[ QUOTE ]
Mine are all set neck 24.75" all-maple ones though, as opposed to the neckthrough 25" scale maple with poplar wings that they've made for the past 15 years.

[/ QUOTE ]
Carvin hasn't used poplar in quite a long time. They use alder as their standard wood. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] They also offer swamp ash, maple, mahogany, koa and alder (these all are also offered as neck woods besides body woods). Poplar is not available.

[lerxstcat]

Re: carvin opinions

You're right, the Carvin Museum says they switched in 1996. [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] I guess it's been a few years longer ago than that since I lost interest in their new guitar lines. That was probably around 1990 or so, which is when they actually switched from maple to poplar. My preferences in their old lines were the Gibson shapes like the CM130, CM140 and DC150, and the metal guitars like the V220 and Ultra V. The couple of years when they had pointy headstocks were cool too.

[pro-fusion]

Re: carvin opinions

Yeah, Carvin went really conservative in 1992-93. Since that was around the same time that the 'center' of the guitar world switched from Jacksons and Ibanezes to PRSs and Les Pauls, you can't really blame Carvin for doing that. But any Carvin before 1992 is guaranteed to be interesting, at least. Too bad a lot of them have Kahlers, especially the V220s.

[Jackson-Charvel]

Re: carvin opinions

Was it the DC125 or DC127 that was a single humbucker?

[pro-fusion]

Re: carvin opinions

[ QUOTE ]
Was it the DC125 or DC127 that was a single humbucker?

[/ QUOTE ]

DC125. You can still order one, though they aren't shown in the catalog anymore.

You can also still order the DC145 H-S-H configuration as a "hidden" model, but sadly you can't get the pointy headstock and Strat-shaped body wings of the classic DC145--damn, I wish I still had mine!! [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Until about 1992 or so, there was no separate DC127 model--you had to order a DC125 and add the neck humbucker as an option. The DC200 and 400 always came standard with dual hums, however.

[ChickenScratch]

Re: carvin opinions

Dude, I have a pointy headstock carvin that I ordered this year. It's an exact replica of Jason Becker's but in black. The Pointy is a hidden option that's an extra $100.

[gtrbuyer]

Re: carvin opinions

Here is my DC125 with my spray can paint job..I really dig this guitar. Excelent bang for the buck and plays great.

http://www.usacharvels.com/charvel/n...arvindc135.htm

[pro-fusion]

Re: carvin opinions

[ QUOTE ]
Dude, I have a pointy headstock carvin that I ordered this year. It's an exact replica of Jason Becker's but in black. The Pointy is a hidden option that's an extra $100.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that was a limited-time thing, unfortunately.

[ChickenScratch]

Re: carvin opinions

Well then I guess I got lucky!

[slayer]

Re: carvin opinions

Carvin will still do the pointy option for $100, just gotta ask, but to my dismay, they won`t do the Suqare Strat type body anymore, I don`t care for the one they make now, it`s to beveled. Jack.

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: carvin opinions

But which pointy head shape are you guys are talking about?
the one really looks like Jackson head or the one that came out later?