carvin opinions

[bluebullet]

anybody have any carvin guitars. im thinking about ordering one

[jgcable]

Re: carvin opinions

Which one??

[ChickenScratch]

Re: carvin opinions

I have a Carvin DC 125 and a DC 127 (made as a replica of Jason Beckers). They are by far the best guitars I have ever played. Got my first one this year and I know that in a couple weeks I'll be up to three since my bud is sending me one of his.

Amazing neck, great construction, great pickups and for the price it's a steal!

[bluebullet]

Re: carvin opinions

im thinking about that contour66 or that holdsworth but the holdsworth is a chamberd hollowbody so it might be a little to jazz sounding

[fr0sty]

Re: carvin opinions

Carvins are great. The pickups are a love/hate thing though...

[wodka]

Re: carvin opinions

Nice guitars but I agree the pickups aren't for everyone. The standard Holdworth can handle rock/blues very well. The Fatboy model is much more suited for jazz. Buy one and try it out. Their 10 day trial makes easy and they don't question if you return.

[gemini8026]

Re: carvin opinions

I owned a DC127 for a short while. Feature wise, it's easily the best bang for the buck usa made guitars out there. I really liekd the sound of the active pups.

BUT, I found the neck very uninspiring for some reason. It was well built, but the guitar just didnt feel good in my hands and make me play the way my Wolfgangs, etc have!

[Jimi D]

Re: carvin opinions

Well, I'm going to be the dissenting opinion here: I used to own a DC127; I picked it up after reading and hearing so many positive things about Carvin guitars, and I owned it just long enough to know I'll never buy another Carvin as long as I live... The pots and switches were cheap crap, the pickups were awful! the finish was thick and sloppy (with a particularly ugly botch up where the finished body met the unfinished neck), the cavity and trem covers were made of the cheapest styrene plastic I'd ever seen on a guitar and the neck felt stiff, square and hard, as if it had just come out of the CNC machine. yuck!

[pro-fusion]

Re: carvin opinions

I've owned three Carvins over the years. My two more recent DC127s didn't do it for me--too thin sounding and the fretjobs were less than inspiring. Neck shapes were ok, if a bit thick in comparison to Jackson.

The one I regret getting rid of was my '89 DC145. That thing was a beast--it was all-maple and would tear your head off. The sound reminded me a lot of Tony Iommi's sound in the late '70s and early '80s when he was playing an all-maple John Birch SG copy. Incredible clarity on even the most dense chords with tons of distortion--but I did have to play with the EQ a lot to get rid of some of the brightness, as well as putting a DiMarzio Super3 in the bridge to beef up the low end. Also, the neck on that guitar was a lot more Jackson-like, and the frets seemed better finished than the new Carvins I've played. I was stupid to get rid of it about the beginning of this year, but I needed the money...

Since Carvins have terrible resale value, I say buy a used one on eBay to see whether you really like it before taking the plunge on a new one. If you are more into Jacksons, and 'metal' guitars generally, you might be happier with a late '80s-early '90s "pointy" Carvin, rather than one of the new stodgier ones.

[Flametop]

Re: carvin opinions

I bought my DC400ca in early 98. I can't really say anything bad about it. I really like it and it's well built. I have to agree about the Carvin pickups though. Too weak/thin sounding in a lot of situations. I wish I had a duplicate set of the pickups that are in my Soloist(Axis/Tone Zone)to drop in.

[Twisteramps]

Re: carvin opinions

First, if you dig your carvins - then dig em! We all enjoy different things.

Every Carvin I've played or owned (Owned A V220 briefly, and about 1/2 dozen here and there over the years) felt really stiff, in a bad way. I don't mean the string tension, it just felt very cold and dead and just... no mojo. I know, guys are going to rip on me about this, which is fine... But every Carvin I have played just left me really cold. Some of em I didn't even plug in - I strummed a few chords, played a few runs and they just made me want to throw em across the room.

Play em before you buy if you can, or at least the same model... at least they do have a nice 'try out' period where you can send em back and just be out the S/H.

Pete

[Snoogans]

Re: carvin opinions

I've owned two, a V220 and an Ultra Vee. The V220 weighed a ton, and was just a clumsy plank of a thing. It was hugely powerful, but had no real tone. The UV "Ugly Backwards Rhoads" (Jamesy [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]) is a real monster, she plays and sounds as good as anything I've ever tried, and I love it to death.

[slayer]

Re: carvin opinions

I owned 2 and sold 2. The necks were way too thin and yes, I thought they sounded lifeless also. It may be the pickups, Carvin should really offer other brands of pickups and a thicker/rounder neck option. Jack.

[bsteff666]

Re: carvin opinions

From what I've seen in the catalog.......I'm really liking that new California Carved Top. Looks very nice & very PRS-like.

[Robotechnology]

Re: carvin opinions

I love my Ultra V--sound great and has an awesome neck profile.