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Can you identify this Carvin bass?

#41
I've been working on Carvin instruments for a very long time.. In say 40 years, I've seen ONE oil finished Koa bass that had to go back to the factory with a bad neck. That's it. Every other instrument, was extremely well built, nicely finished, and equipped with the best aftermarket hardware of the period. I've modded many basses, my favorite was the complete Alembic pickup/ electronics retrofit in an LB-70. Killer bass. It was a great bass before the upgrade. Carvins, have always been VERY reasonably priced instruments, and the resale, has always been below average. I passed on a GREAT sounding lefty LB70 a few years ago, because it had a reversed, pointy headstock, and a loud lime green paint job. Stupid mistake. I could've kept it just to record... it was that good sounding. If you don't give a poop about resale, Carvin basses are a real bargain. The new Keisel stuff, is not as reasonably priced as in the past, but I've worked on many of those and so far, the quality is superb.
Furthermore, any company as lefty friendly as Carvin has ALWAYS been, gets major points in my book.
 
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#43
ejaggers said:
Also, how do you determine the year?
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I don't know if they still do this, but several years ago I emailed the serial numbers for a couple of Carvin instruments to their customer support and they were able to pull up the order information. Might be worth a call or email to see if that is an option for finding out the build year and other details.
 
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#44
This thread inspired me to go looking on Reverb and eBay for Carvin Basses. I can see that the asking prices have gone up considerably. Now that Carvin is no more, perhaps they are more in demand and maybe even "collectible".....

All I can add here that may be of value to OP is this: My first "real" bass was a gorgeous Carvin BB75 Koa and Maple one piece neck. I did sell it to finance other bass purchases and out of all the equipment I have sold in the past, this is the one I wish I could take back. Carvin basses and guitars (a number of which I have played) are high quality fine instruments rivaling many much higher priced ones.
 
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#45
@LHbassist, where can you find the battery compartment door to fit this bass, or would you have to make one?
15980001971213jsan.jpg

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#50
Others seem to have beat me to it. Just call Keisel.. AND, if that doesn't work, there's tons of places that supply pretty much the same sized part. And the entire assembly simply bolts to the floor of the routed area. I don't think you can buy just the covers.. the complete assembly is usually really inexpensive.


ejaggers said:
@LHbassist, where can you find the battery compartment door to fit this bass, or would you have to make one?
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057912
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#51
I had a Carvin bass from the 90s with the stock Carvin branded Jazz pickups that I swapped out in favor of the EMG set.

I discovered that Carvin routs both of the pickup cavities the same size, as opposed to the way Fender routs their Jazz set for two different size pickups (the bridge pickup is about 3mm longer than the neck pickup).

I removed a small amount of material from one of the pickup cavities to allow the 4 screw hole flanges to fit. I think it would also work to instesd grind away some of the plastic from the screwhole flanges on the pickup itself.

Another alternative would be to just buy two pickups of the correct size.

Just something to plan ahead for if considering swapping in new pickups.
 
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