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Brian Bromberg Carvin Model Part 2

#242
Brian Bromberg said:
I just reached out to them. Trust me when I tell you that all of this is going to be corrected and stopped ASAP. Carvin is to good for this, the bass is to good to be wrong, and you guys deserve only the best as well as getting the bass that you actually ordered. I'm on it...........
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Your the best!

Even though I think my options are exhausted and I still don't have the bass I thought I bought....

It is a great bass!
 
#248
jim777 said:
Fantastic to see Brian kicking some ass though :)
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Personally, I'd like to hear Mr. Kiesel's explanation of recent events. He lurked here on TB before when the BX500 amps first came out. There's been other heads/presidents/owners of companies offering their explanations and assurances to their customers on these types of threads...I think he should.
 
#249
Brian Bromberg said:
I just reached out to them. Trust me when I tell you that all of this is going to be corrected and stopped ASAP. Carvin is to good for this, the bass is to good to be wrong, and you guys deserve only the best as well as getting the bass that you actually ordered. I'm on it...........
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no, Carvin is not too good for this and, no, the bass is not too good to be wrong. My instrument and the instruments of others are clear evidence of this.

Trust is, without a doubt, a big issue. Carvin failed to meet very simple business standards and continues to violate the trust of its customers. My situation leads me to ask other questions about my instrument such as: Are these the medium stainless steel frets I ordered? I don't know. Unless I have them evaluated by someone with metallurgical experience, I guess I will have to "trust" they are the correct frets. Is the truss rod installed and functioning correctly? I don't know. Is this the Alder body that I ordered? I don't know. You see my point.

At this point, I'm considering retuning the bass for a complete refund and looking elsewhere. I am already anticipating another "Carvin surprise" when I receive my fretless in the near future. I have no confidence that I will receive what I ordered. One should look forward to the arrival of a new instrument, not meet it with scissors, packing tape and return label at the ready.

Mr. Bromberg's efforts are greatly appreciated. However, no matter how many highly respected endorsers Carvin brings on board, they are simply not involved in the day to day process at the factory. I have a very hard time believing there isn't some type of final inspection process where the instrument is evaluated from top to bottom against the order sheet and all functions and features are detail inspected before it's packed for shipment.

Carvin continues to be burdened with the reputation it has earned.
 
#250
Matt Morgan said:
Unfortunately, no, Carvin is not too good for this and, no, the bass is not too good to be wrong. My instrument and the instruments of others are clear evidence of this.

Trust is, without a doubt, a big issue. Carvin failed to meet very simple business standards and continues to violate the trust of its customers. My situation leads me to ask other questions about my instrument such as: Are these the medium stainless steel frets I ordered? I don't know. Unless I have them evaluated by someone with metallurgical experience, I guess I will have to "trust" they are the correct frets. Is the truss rod installed and functioning correctly? I don't know. Is this the Alder body that I ordered? I don't know. You see my point.

At this point, I'm considering retuning the bass for a complete refund and looking elsewhere. I am already anticipating another "Carvin surprise" when I receive my fretless in the near future. I have no confidence that I will receive what I ordered. One should look forward to the arrival of a new instrument, not meet it with scissors, packing tape and return label at the ready.

Mr. Bromberg's efforts are greatly appreciated. However, no matter how many highly respected endorsers Carvin brings on board, they are simply not involved in the day to day process at the factory. I have a very hard time believing there isn't some type of final inspection process where the instrument is evaluated from top to bottom against the order sheet and all functions and features are detail inspected before it's packed for shipment.

Carvin continues to be burdened with the reputation it has earned.
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I completely agree with this post. I sure would like for Mr. Kiesel to respond as I know Mr. Sadowsky sure would have by now.
 
#252
Matt's experience and Grateful's experience makes me wonder if the Carvin people are really dialed in.

Granted, TB is but a limited demographic and may not be indicative that most of the custom spec'd basses come out wrong. But when you custom order a bass, the expectation is that it arrives exactly as ordered. I would be upset as well. I don't think Matt is blowing this out of proportion. I would be upset. And he shouldn't have to endure additional downtime/wait time to get what he specified in the first place.

Maybe it's worth another $1000 to buy a bass from a more reputable builder of custom ordered basses. At least then you get what you ordered.

It would be good business practice for a rep from Carvin other than Brian Bromberg to monitor this thread and demonstrate professional courtesy. No disrespect intended to Brian Bromberg who is clearly stepping up to make sure his signature basses are delivered with the same degree of professionlism that he embodies. I'm sure Carvin will make it right. But the thing is, the end user shouldn't have to wait and wonder if their custom ordered bass will arrive as spec'd.
 
#253
Carvin issued a return UPS tag via email and I shipped the bass back to them today (at no cost to me) for the necessary modifications. I'm going to give them one attempt to correct the instrument. I typed and printed very clear instructions on what I expect and included a copy inside the case with the original order sheet. I also taped a copy of all the issues to the outside of the case.

Just to be perfectly clear; the information and opinions I've expressed in this thread are strictly my own and related to my experiences. I'm sincerely hopeful that there are a significant number of Carvin/Bromberg owners out there that had and are having completely positive experiences with Carvin and this line of instruments.
 
#254
Matt Morgan said:
Just to be perfectly clear; the information and opinions I've expressed in this thread are strictly my own and related to my experiences. I'm sincerely hopeful that there are a significant number of Carvin/Bromberg owners out there that had and are having completely positive experiences with Carvin and this line of instruments.
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As I said before, I own many Carvins. But I'm nobody's fan boy. I've had the same types of issues with my Carvin basses & guitars before and they made it right for me. But it shouldn't have been sent out with the wrong options or wiring problems in the first place. I'm beginning to think the hardest job in the world is working @ Carvin and McDonalds. As it seems they don't get your order right the first time. ;)

It shouldn't be on to Brian to "get on" Carvin to their sh** straight, is it? Hell no. Wake up Carvin! This is your chance to respond to your customers....you know, the ones that keep you in business.
 
#255
Guys, you all have to do what you have to do but let's not forget that most everyone who has purchased a Carivn B2 Bass has been extremely happy with them. All you have to do is read this forum to see that. But, with that said sometimes in a major manufacturing facility making thousands of products things happen, and that is what I am trying to find out right now. I had a long conversation with them yesterday and they are going to get to the bottom of it, trust me.

Every manufacture everywhere has had issues in the past. Sometimes it is faulty parts from a vendor, sometimes it's miscommunication. Sometimes it's oversight or just human error. And sadly from past experience with other companies it can also be greed, ego, and just not giving a crap to make $$$ !@#$ happens. I'm sure in Carvin's case it is a simple matter of communication and knowing where the problems are and fixing them. I know personally that they are spending most likely well over a $100,000 on more computerized routing machines to improve production speed and accuracy. You can't grow as big as they have if you are unethical or don't do good work. In fact I will put their workmanship up against anyone's. There are many good people there who care about their instruments a great deal. This I know from spending time in the factory and getting to know them.

Look at how many problems car companies have with recalls etc? I'm not making excuses for them and trust me when I say I will get to the bottom of it as my reputation is on the line as well as theirs. We spent a lot of time on the development of these basses and I am very proud of them.

So before we all rush to judgement and make decisions about what we don't know yet let's find out straight from the horses mouth and see what's going on. I know for a fact they read your comments as I send them to Carvin!

As soon as I hear anything I will certainly let you know what's up!
 
#256
Brian Bromberg said:
Guys, you all have to do what you have to do but let's not forget that most everyone who has purchased a Carivn B2 Bass has been extremely happy with them. All you have to do is read this forum to see that. But, with that said sometimes in a major manufacturing facility making thousands of products things happen, and that is what I am trying to find out right now. I had a long conversation with them yesterday and they are going to get to the bottom of it, trust me.

Every manufacture everywhere has had issues in the past. Sometimes it is faulty parts from a vendor, sometimes it's miscommunication. Sometimes it's oversight or just human error. And sadly from past experience with other companies it can also be greed, ego, and just not giving a crap to make $$$ !@#$ happens. I'm sure in Carvin's case it is a simple matter of communication and knowing where the problems are and fixing them. I know personally that they are spending most likely well over a $100,000 on more computerized routing machines to improve production speed and accuracy. You can't grow as big as they have if you are unethical or don't do good work. In fact I will put their workmanship up against anyone's. There are many good people there who care about their instruments a great deal. This I know from spending time in the factory and getting to know them.

Look at how many problems car companies have with recalls etc? I'm not making excuses for them and trust me when I say I will get to the bottom of it as my reputation is on the line as well as theirs. We spent a lot of time on the development of these basses and I am very proud of them.

So before we all rush to judgement and make decisions about what we don't know yet let's find out straight from the horses mouth and see what's going on. I know for a fact they read your comments as I send them to Carvin!

As soon as I hear anything I will certainly let you know what's up!
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Brian, I hear you. My B24 is my go to bass...without doubt, it's the best Carvin bass ever. But....they do seem to have a QC problem. Will you believe that I received a LB70 with the pickups wired out of phase? How does this pass QC? Probably because they just tap the pole pieces with a screw driver after installing the electronics? I would think if the bass was actually played, they would hear how thin and out of phase it sounded when both pickups are on. But regardless, I fixed things like this on my own. I shouldn't have to, should I? And remember, I'm they guy who received the broken headed bass. I realize that it may mostly be UPS at fault, but they assured me that they will use Fedex for the replacement bass. Only to find out that the "Big Brown" drop my bass off again.

The B24 is bad ass and I know another one is in my near future...but as Matt says, "Are these the medium stainless steel frets I ordered?"
 
#257
Brian Bromberg said:
Guys, you all have to do what you have to do but let's not forget that most everyone who has purchased a Carivn B2 Bass has been extremely happy with them.

In fact I will put their workmanship up against anyone's. There are many good people there who care about their instruments a great deal. This I know from spending time in the factory and getting to know them.

I'm not making excuses for them and trust me when I say I will get to the bottom of it as my reputation is on the line as well as theirs. We spent a lot of time on the development of these basses and I am very proud of them.
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Brian,

As always, thanks for being on top of it. Despite my unhappiness with the Carvin store selling me something different than what I thought I bought, none of this is/should be directed at you. As I've stated many times, and will continue to state, your designs and the ergonomics of these basses set them apart from most other basses on the market, and in a good way.

I agree 100% that Carvin's build quality is top notch and would also put them up against anyone. That's what makes this all so frustrating. They make amazing basses, with (IMHO) the B24/25 being the absolute best bass they make. To stumble on careless stuff like installing the wrong pickups, or wiring pots backwards, is just shooting themselves in the foot! Tech support not knowing schematics for different models and sales not knowing what they have on the wall is just poor communication. So much of this is so easily avoided! I'd love to see them get this nailed down! These basses are just too good!
 

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