How does Warmoth's quality compare to Carvins?

Jarrett · #1 03-11-2013, 06:50 AM

For those that have owned both, especially one of the Carvin SB series, what did you think of Warmoth's quality in comparison?

nukes_da_bass · #2 03-11-2013, 06:51 AM

Good question- grabbing popcorn...

jazz41 · #3 03-11-2013, 07:07 AM

I can answer as having done both kits recently. I got a B40 kit and a Warmoth SG body build.

I really really really like the Carvin kit cause it all comes in one box. The fit and finish on my kit is spot on. Everything is great right out of the box. Neck feels great. Mine was a two piece walnut body and is niiiiiice. Also, was cheaper than the total cost of my Warmoth build.

My Warmoth is a one piece mahogany SG body. Never worked with mahogany (or walnut for that matter) before and I found that it showed my oily fingerprints before I stained it. Used an oil based ebony stain. Will use a conditioner on the wood next time beforehand, cause the stain didn't take as evenly as I had hoped. The thing with the Warmoth is you can get it custom ready for whatever you want to put in it. It's not like you get Warmoth pickups, bridges, controls etc. I got a P/J combo in mine. I don't know about a Warmoth neck. I chose to get a Carvin neck, since my B40 kit neck was so nice. I chose to get the SB neck for my Warmoth, due to the good stuff I read, but after having it for a while now, I prefer the B40 neck. It feels slimmer.

Between the two, both bodies feel great. I can't comment on a Warmoth neck though. I like that Warmoth offers such a wide variety of bodies, woods and styles, but for value, you can't beat the Carvin kit, mainly cause it is all there for you for a bit cheaper. Both of my builds play and sound great, but I tend to grab my Carvin kit more than the Warmoth (primarily because of neck feel).

Hope that helps.

bal704 · #4 03-11-2013, 07:46 AM

I've built basses from both Warmoth and Carvin. The Carvin kit is easily the best kit on the market. Note I said kit. Everything you need is in the box. The woods/fit/finish are top-drawer. I've currently got a B50 kit build as a main player.

Warmoth gives you more options, but it is a more difficult build than the Carvin kit. You can pick whatever bridge/tuners/pickups etc you want, just be prepared that the fit may not be exact if you deviate even the slightest from what Warmoth specifies. Those pickups you have in your drawer may require a small bit of sanding to fit into the route for example.

Quality wise, I'd say they are even. Both excellent quality. Your skill as a builder will be the determining factor on quality for either of these, not the quality of the parts.

Bass Viking · #5 03-11-2013, 04:28 PM

Excellent question. I’ve assemble 3 Warmoth parts basses, one Carvin bass kit, and I own an SB5000. Warmoth quality is very high and compares favourably to Carvin. I did have a couple of issues with some in stock products I bought. Not major ones but I thought I’d mention them: The neck pocket on one body could have been a little more snugly cut. One of the necks had glue in the nut slot that was difficult to remove (not sure how that got there), and the nut slot was cut a bit wide. None of the other 4 necks I purchased had this issue. My wenge neck, my favourite, had some rough fret ends that I had a tech take care of. Again, the other necks were fine in this regard. Right now, I have a wenge neck/korina body 4-string that sounds and play great.

If you have any specific questions, fire away!

medgeking · #6 03-12-2013, 01:01 PM

I've built a bunch of guitars from parts, mostly Warmoth. My first guitar build was a Carvin kit (guitar) and it was perfect for my first build. Not only is the quality of material fantastic, but as others have mentioned, the kit includes everything you will need for a VERY good price.

Warmoth is much more flexible and to be honest, I never returned to Carvin because I ended up replacing virtually every part of the Carvin guitar over the years (different pickups, Warmoth Neck, new tuners, etc). My main problem with Carvin is that their necks are very slim, and I prefer something with more meat. I'm also very particular about pickups and while Carvin pickups are very good, they aren't my favorite. I've never built a Carvin bass though and I'm very tempted to do one.

I've now assembled 2 Warmoth basses and they are both really incredible. I think the quality of wood and workmanship is very similar to Carvin with the only caveat being that Warmoth seems to have a little more variation on things like neck carve - meaning, if you order 5 necks all with the same neck carve, there will be a slight variance across them.