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Carvin LB75 ressurection

#21
DiabolusInMusic said:
Love the project and can't wait to see it completed but I wouldn't factor the cost in, especially new. A used Carvin LB75 goes for maybe $600 CDN, if you're lucky. I bought an LB76F for $400~ a few years back. I couldn't sell it, even with a set of Lane Poor's. Did get a good trade for it but last I heard the current owner couldn't sell it. (Mind you, he was also asking some INSANE price for it.)
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I am under no illusions as to the value of used Carvins. I got this for less then the value of the case. My valuation was to see if I can end up with a finished product less then what it would have originally cost. What will happen here is when I am finished it will essentially be a new instrument with options above what it originally sold with. I don't have a fretted fiver at the moment so it will fill a hole. And yes I haven't seen a koa Carvin recently for any kind of reasonable price. Mostly I am posting this to show some extreme luthiery.
 
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#24
MPU said:
I'm totally in with this kind of "makes no sense"- projects. Makes no sense to do this kind of a repair for a client, but makes sense to do for your own bass. Like you said, extreme luthiery and that's fun when you don't need to try to make any kind of profit.
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Agreed. But I would do this for someone if they had great attachment to the instrument and realized the cost would never be recouped and were okay with it. And yes I love a little extreme luthiery.
 
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#29
The center laminate is glued up. The three pieces were pinned to keep them aligned for the gluing process. The three were clamped to a 3"x4" aluminum beam I have to keep them straight. I have a set of new tuners on order and getting new headstock water slid made as the original will be obliterated when I put a koa overlay on the headstock. Next is the strip down of the bass and getting it jigged up for the big slice.
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#31
Jeff Siddall said:
I dunno. Search around and you won't find a good condition Carvin with Koa for less than $1K. I have tried.
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I picked up a koa Peavey Dyna bass a year or two ago for $150. Turned it into a little project, cleaned it up, replaced the electronics and donated it to a local youth group. Made no sense financially, but the end result was a really cool bass. I just hope I don't see it on Craigslist. Heh.
 
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#32
they got really into walnut in the early 2000's. the rounded body sides became standard then as well. could be 2000, but i'd suspect a few years later.

i'm no "expert" but i am definitely a carvin fanboy.

these basses have good bones. I recently sold my top-of-the-line basses and kept my carvin with nordstrand pickup and pre. love it!!
 
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#34
Rabidhamster said:
That appears to be walnut in the pics, and its very nice looking
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Yeah, I wondered that myself. Koa tends to finish with a more streaky/blotchy appearance, and is more reddish brown. Color is hard to judge with photos but if the photos so far are an accurate representation then the more greyish brown, along with the strong growth lines, does point more to walnut. Either way it's great.
 
#36
Rabidhamster said:
That appears to be walnut in the pics, and its very nice looking!

Heck if the truss rod isn't actually broken I'd say leave it alone and play it, but Im interested to see the outcome for your dream Carvin!
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Here is a piece of unfinished koa next to the body for comparison. I have a walnut bass and it is different. And dream Carvin is an incorrect assessment. My dream bass is the one pictured just after and is as yet unfinished.
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#37
Jeff Siddall said:
Yeah, I wondered that myself. Koa tends to finish with a more streaky/blotchy appearance, and is more reddish brown. Color is hard to judge with photos but if the photos so far are an accurate representation then the more greyish brown, along with the strong growth lines, does point more to walnut. Either way it's great.
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If I hadn't had a few pieces of koa lying around I would have assumed walnut as well. I actually did when I first saw it. Here is another piece of curly koa I have for comparison. I erred with koa being lighter the walnut. Specific gravity of koa is .63 and walnut is .55. But those figures are average and individual boards can vary. The koa I have on hand seems lighter then some of the claro walnut I have but I haven't really weighed for comparison. This bass weighs 8 lbs 14 oz.
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#38
Slidlow said:
If I hadn't had a few pieces of koa lying around I would have assumed walnut as well. I actually did when I first saw it. Here is another piece of curly koa I have for comparison. Koa is also lighter then walnut and this bass weighs 8 lbs 14 oz.View attachment 4463895
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Those last two pics next to pieces of koa does make it look like a pretty good color/grain match. I too would think it would be tough to build a bass with a lot of walnut at under 9 lbs, but I also didn't think koa was any lighter than walnut!
 
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#39
Got time to strip it down today. A few discoveries. So the bore holes were to inject silicone to obviously stop a truss rod rattle:eyebrow:. Just stupid:facepalm:. The plugs weren't even glued:rollno:. The original Carvin tuners are junk:spit:. I've seen chinesium ones that are better. No wonder I see a lot of reports of posts breaking off as was one on this bass. Looking at the hipshot bridge and the base plate is aluminum:wideyed:. Cool for light weight so it will stay:thumbsup:. I have the pickups out and next the preamp:bag:. I'll be checking over the preamp as I might change it to 18V. Need to check the onboard power handling and probably just have to increase the voltage of a few caps. Anyway here is a pic exposing the truss rod via a bore hole and the silicone showing:meh:.
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