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9+ weeks for a Carvin?
- Thread starter jeff schmidt
- Start date
I can't believe I read this whole thread!
What makes you think that all 6 strings are created equal?
Hell, there is differences within the same brand; let alone different brands, ie: string spacing, pickups, electronics, bridges, wood etc.
Well Mr. Tobias is my favorite luthier and I almost bought a Pedulla MVP in 1989. I am a 4 string player but I have played 4, 5 and 6 string MVP series and to me they are
the most comfortable playing 5 and 6 string basses that I have ever played.
No offense to the OLP players, but it would be basically the same if you bought an OLP to see if you would like a stingray
or not.
Why did you not cancel your order?, especially after you said the resale value sucked. Why waste your time(and Carvin's) and money? Was it so you could actually "bash" the bass, seeing that you couldn't talk bad about it without actually putting your hands on it?
jeff schmidt said:
What makes you think that all 6 strings are created equal?
Hell, there is differences within the same brand; let alone different brands, ie: string spacing, pickups, electronics, bridges, wood etc.
jeff schmidt said:I have 2 Pedulla PentaBuzz basses that each took exactly 8 weeks from order to my door.
I have an MTD 535 - got it in 16 weeks.
9 weeks ++ for a F'N Carvin?I should've known better than to try and save a few bucks.
Well Mr. Tobias is my favorite luthier and I almost bought a Pedulla MVP in 1989. I am a 4 string player but I have played 4, 5 and 6 string MVP series and to me they are
the most comfortable playing 5 and 6 string basses that I have ever played.
No offense to the OLP players, but it would be basically the same if you bought an OLP to see if you would like a stingray
or not.
Why did you not cancel your order?, especially after you said the resale value sucked. Why waste your time(and Carvin's) and money? Was it so you could actually "bash" the bass, seeing that you couldn't talk bad about it without actually putting your hands on it?
Jeff,
You have Carvin representatives publicly trying to appease you, and you are still belligerent. This company is trying to make it right and you will not let them. I wiser person would have leveraged this into a great experience, and Carvin would have let you (and sadly probably still will if you get your wits about you).
EDIT(JT): respect for other members is rule 1 here at talkbass.
You have Carvin representatives publicly trying to appease you, and you are still belligerent. This company is trying to make it right and you will not let them. I wiser person would have leveraged this into a great experience, and Carvin would have let you (and sadly probably still will if you get your wits about you).
EDIT(JT): respect for other members is rule 1 here at talkbass.
Tripoutski said:
I liked your first (unedited) and anomymous screed on maturity where you called me a girl. That was awesome. Why did you change it?
Tripoutski said:
Classic.
Although, personally, and this is just my opinion - I prefer the F-bomb version you originally posted.
I think the lesson for you is to go with your first instinct and not go back and second-guess yourself and edit posts.
Again - just my opinion.
+++++++++++
FWIW - I'm done talking about the service I experienced with the Carvin people - both sides have had their say - nothing more to see here.
BUT - the bass arrived. So I will post some pics and maybe some sound. Hopefully today or tomorrow.
I may just open a new thread dealing exclusively with the bass.
Yes, indeed, you are free to repost my original message. I was stooping to a lower level and I was not proud of it, and freely admit it. Also, I changed it because I did not want to display myself in that way. I own it, and I made steps to correct it. The humanity! My bad.
But it was accurate.
But it was accurate.
If I'm being completely honest, I wouldn't order a bass that would take any more than a week to get here (this is my love for used instruments). I don't care how great Fodera is, or how nice Sadowskies are (I'm sure they are nice!). 5 months is too damn long!
.
dannoman said:
Carvin now has a sound clip of the Icon 6 string on its Jam Room. Go here and click on IC6: http://www.carvin.com/jamroom/
jeff schmidt said:
Looking forward to your comments. Please don't let your feelings towards Carvin customer service affect your assessment of the instrument.
- May 2, 2004
- 2,862
- 244
- 38
- Disclosures
- owner/builder, ISLAND Instrument Mfg.
ICON PICS-OPINION-VID
Some pics
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I created a 10 minute video going over a few aspects of the bass - if you're really interested I've loaded it up on YOUTUBE.
DETAILS:
ALDER BODY
BIRDSEYE MAPLE FINGERBOARD
MAPLE x3 -KOA x2 5 PIECE NECK
QUILTED MAPLE TOP
GREEN BURST FINISH
PIEZO EQUIPED
I've restrung the bass as a piccolo A,D,G,C,F,Bb
REVIEW: Let me disclose my biases.
I had an unsatisfactory experience with carvin service people.
I admit to be spoiled by my MTD and Pedulla basses.
I have owned LB75s (fretted and fretless before) and sold them.
I don't play in a band context - only as a soloist so my needs are different than 90% of the people reading this.
I don't need a "regular bass" with regular bass sounds. I'm looking for something different.
Also - I'm not really a reviewer, nor an expert and don't feel obligated to being objective - just giving my opinion. Take my opinion for what it's worth to you.
Ok - nuff BS - on with my thoughts.
Overall the bass is very attractive. I like the icon body style better than the other carvin styles.
It's very comfortable on the lap and with a strap - feels solid without being too weighty - the neck is lean without being thin - and has mass without being chunky.
Electronics - the soaps still sound like carvin. If you like that sound you won't be disappointed. I'm not a fan - but I will say that the carvin sound is fairly benign and can be molded into more favorable sounds if you know how to blend pups, eq , pres and compression.
Since I play mostly solo - the voice of the instrument is pretty important to me because it's the only thing you hear. That's why I ordered the piezos - and they did not disappoint.
In fact- without the piezos I would certainly send this bass back. It's not that it's a bad bass - it's just that there's nothing distinct or special about it's sound. The piezos are the one thing that gives the instrument a sonic distinction. It makes the bass for me.
The carvin magnetics just don't cut it for me. Note to Carvin - please please please please - offer options with Barts, and other pick-ups made by pick-up experts. Please.
String spacing as you can see in the pic above is 16 1/2 mm
I'm used to 19mm so that is taking some serious getting used to. If it were truly a "custom shop' you could choose the string spacing that best suits you.
Seems to me that string spacing is a pretty dumb issue to have to use to choose 1 bass over another. But I digress.
I re-strung the bass as a piccolo pretty much the minute I pulled it out of the box. But I did play it as a normal bass for about 5 minutes. The B was a little soft (but I'm not a B string fan anyway) so I can't really guide you on that.
Action and playability out of the box was pretty bad - but I did a set up on it and got it to where I like it without much trouble. The neck is still settling in from the truss adjustment I made - another 1/8th of a turn and it should be golden.
Like I say in the video - it has good basic bass sounds and if you have effects, pres and other tone shaping gear I'm sure you can find the sound you want. But there's nothing like boutique sound - and obviously this bass doesn't do that.
As shown on the video I think they wired the pick-up pan backwards - the coil splitter seems to put the pickups out of phase when both are used.
Also there's a nasty clicking noise that intermittently pops up when the instrument cable is moved - like when you're walking around with the bass on stage.
Will I send it back to have carvin fix these issues?
Hmm. That means having to call customer support . . .and I think we all would probably rather avoid each other at this point - so I'll probably just pay a local tech to deal with it if I decide to keep the bass.
Here's the thing I'll cry Mea Culpa on - I realize my comments led people to think I was dissing carvin players. I didn't mean that. Also that I was dissing carvin as "cheap" basses. They're not. The ICON is far nicer than either of the LB75s I previously owned.
I paid $1,800 for this. My 535 cost twice that - and my pentabuzz each cost 1K more. If carvin offered nicer magentic electronics, and a choice of string spacing it would totally belong next to those basses.
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btw- the blue pedulla penta-buzz is for sale.
What's up with the backward stringing? Is that the way you normally play? Did you ask Carvin to string it that way?
MM
MM
MysticMichael said:What's up with the backward stringing? Is that the way you normally play? Did you ask Carvin to string it that way?
MM
Looks from the group shot that all 4 basses are strung that way, so I'm guessing that's how Jeff plays.
songwriter21
I have an obsession for wood. The musical kind.
Why, why, why are people so damned impatient, and also still think that more money generally means better?? That is such a tired way of thinking, and it's very untrue in this day and age-IT DOESN'T. Plus, coming from Jeff Schmidt, while a fantastic player who won the Bass Extremes competition, is stuck with the equation "<$$=better sound, construction, service, blah, blah, blah". C'mon Jeff, that is so out of whack. I wouldn't think that, coming from such an open-minded artist! I don't want to think lesser of you Jeff, whereas you could probably care less, but that is being a sheer instrument snob. Carvin is very high-quality, and friendly and patient, if you're friendly and patient. Don't bother them while they're making you a great bass, especially paying considerably less. Relax.
The reason Jeff and many other pros have such expensive instruments, is because they have the money to invest in a musical work of art. I'd do the same thing, if I had some cash-everyone would! A lot of the time, these instruments sound phenomenal, because of small build teams (or in Mike Tobias's case, one guy) paying attention to only a FEW basses or guitars at a time. So, the instruments rarely have flaws, because of such close attention. Huge companies like Ibanez, Fender, or Carvin, have lots and lots of instruments to prepare, so the attetion factor isn't nearly as great, obviously. But, that's certainly not entirely true for Carvin, if you're patient. I had an LB75 that sounded every bit as good as two custom Modulus Quantum 5's that I also had. What's totally a laughingstock, though, is that my cheap Korean Fender Jazz 24 sounds as good as, if not better, than the priciest Ken Smiths, Foderas, Pedullas, Warwicks, and Roscoes I've tried. Why? A)Price means next to nothing today (I'll tell more on this) B)I let Carvin build my bass according to their schedule-if you have a good backup already-what's the problem? (There IS lots of high-end quality in their basses if you're patient) and C)You're paying waaaaay less than for something like a Fodera or MTD, so yeah, the time won't be on the mark (APPROXIMATE), and maybe the service either, if you're inquiring too much. It's not that much money, and Carvin is, again, big, so no kissing the buyer's butt here, really. Oh, and they have about, um, a gazillion orders from all over the world every day, so you, that one person, just MIGHT have to wait longer than expected...you'll get your bass, so stop crying, and just play with what you've got in the meantime. Jeff, you've got some BADASS basses already, and you're a monster player, so I would think that would suffice for now!
Custom basses are expected to be the best, and usually are, because of the small (generally) size of the company, the care from the size of that company, and the cost of materials. Mike Tobias is ONE guy...yeah, one guy building all of those basses, and buying all of those pieces of wood and hardware gets a bit costly and intensive. You're paying out the ass for that intensive labor and those expensive parts that usually aren't already mass made, and in stock already. Fodera has a few people, and their stuff is all completely hand-guided, too, also importing tons of super-exotic wood and complicated electronics, etc., etc. Think if those two companies were as huge as Carvin-the cost to build your custom bass would drop just a tad, unless they had eight bazillion endorsees to pay all the time, like Fender or Schecter. Carvin is kind of the best of both worlds-they're big enough while selling directly (and have only a number of endorsees), that their prices are much lower than a small build team, but little "enough" that they can build something really nice, to your preferences-to an extent. I can't say more about why Carvin customers bitch and why I absolutely loved mine, because it's the same thing over and over. Read my additional "two cents", under the thread, "Carvin-like or dislike?"
Lastly, you CAN find a seriously awesome, mass-produced Korean slab o' wood-hence, my Jazz 24...and I HATE FENDER. It's just not as easy to find a good one, because companies are really churning them out. Yes, price does mean something, when you go below $500, possibly. But, above that, there's a lot that sounds unbelievable for chumpchange.
The bottom line is, that the more money you put in, the more you're going to get it to your liking, and the more they're going to kiss your butt. The less money you put in, the less it's going to be just how you like it, and they're not going to care as much. The latter half now, people-YOU DON'T HAVE TO BLOW YOUR INCOME ON PLAYABLE ART, BE PATIENT AND YOU'LL BE HAPPY. How much more can you explain this "been-there-done-that" topic?
The reason Jeff and many other pros have such expensive instruments, is because they have the money to invest in a musical work of art. I'd do the same thing, if I had some cash-everyone would! A lot of the time, these instruments sound phenomenal, because of small build teams (or in Mike Tobias's case, one guy) paying attention to only a FEW basses or guitars at a time. So, the instruments rarely have flaws, because of such close attention. Huge companies like Ibanez, Fender, or Carvin, have lots and lots of instruments to prepare, so the attetion factor isn't nearly as great, obviously. But, that's certainly not entirely true for Carvin, if you're patient. I had an LB75 that sounded every bit as good as two custom Modulus Quantum 5's that I also had. What's totally a laughingstock, though, is that my cheap Korean Fender Jazz 24 sounds as good as, if not better, than the priciest Ken Smiths, Foderas, Pedullas, Warwicks, and Roscoes I've tried. Why? A)Price means next to nothing today (I'll tell more on this) B)I let Carvin build my bass according to their schedule-if you have a good backup already-what's the problem? (There IS lots of high-end quality in their basses if you're patient) and C)You're paying waaaaay less than for something like a Fodera or MTD, so yeah, the time won't be on the mark (APPROXIMATE), and maybe the service either, if you're inquiring too much. It's not that much money, and Carvin is, again, big, so no kissing the buyer's butt here, really. Oh, and they have about, um, a gazillion orders from all over the world every day, so you, that one person, just MIGHT have to wait longer than expected...you'll get your bass, so stop crying, and just play with what you've got in the meantime. Jeff, you've got some BADASS basses already, and you're a monster player, so I would think that would suffice for now!
Custom basses are expected to be the best, and usually are, because of the small (generally) size of the company, the care from the size of that company, and the cost of materials. Mike Tobias is ONE guy...yeah, one guy building all of those basses, and buying all of those pieces of wood and hardware gets a bit costly and intensive. You're paying out the ass for that intensive labor and those expensive parts that usually aren't already mass made, and in stock already. Fodera has a few people, and their stuff is all completely hand-guided, too, also importing tons of super-exotic wood and complicated electronics, etc., etc. Think if those two companies were as huge as Carvin-the cost to build your custom bass would drop just a tad, unless they had eight bazillion endorsees to pay all the time, like Fender or Schecter. Carvin is kind of the best of both worlds-they're big enough while selling directly (and have only a number of endorsees), that their prices are much lower than a small build team, but little "enough" that they can build something really nice, to your preferences-to an extent. I can't say more about why Carvin customers bitch and why I absolutely loved mine, because it's the same thing over and over. Read my additional "two cents", under the thread, "Carvin-like or dislike?"
Lastly, you CAN find a seriously awesome, mass-produced Korean slab o' wood-hence, my Jazz 24...and I HATE FENDER. It's just not as easy to find a good one, because companies are really churning them out. Yes, price does mean something, when you go below $500, possibly. But, above that, there's a lot that sounds unbelievable for chumpchange.
The bottom line is, that the more money you put in, the more you're going to get it to your liking, and the more they're going to kiss your butt. The less money you put in, the less it's going to be just how you like it, and they're not going to care as much. The latter half now, people-YOU DON'T HAVE TO BLOW YOUR INCOME ON PLAYABLE ART, BE PATIENT AND YOU'LL BE HAPPY. How much more can you explain this "been-there-done-that" topic?
