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Carvin SB5000 / SB4000 Roll Call...Part 2!
- Thread starter smperry
- Start date
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Hey thanks for your honest assessment. I've never even noticed the brown dots before... is this a new thing?
LOVE the vintage cream color! I was afraid this color would look too yellow, but it looks great on your bass. And I really dig the inlays - to me it would look strange if they were wider. Just me though. Great bass!
I don't know if the dots are new. The website calls them tan, I think.
And in the right lighting, the vintage cream can show a lot of yellow.
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Beautiful bass, but, umm...call me crazy, but I don't think that's a reverse headstock. I think that's a right handed neck on a left handed bass. The inlays are upside down...
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Never thought of it that way: a reverse Icon headstock has the longer edge on the top and 3 tuners on the bottom. I guess for a lefty the easiest way to do that would be to use a standard right hand Icon neck. The direction of the inlays doesn't bother me, never noticed it.
If the 3 tuners were on the bottom the hipshot would actually protrude at the nut. The way I have it the hipshot is almost hidden and almost even with the nut when flipped. Not noticeable when playing at the first fret.
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I've found myself thinking about getting an SB5000 again, lol. It's the cheapest bass to have basically everything I want but I have one question. Has anyone tried removing the pickguard from theirs? Does it have that huge, ugly MIM Fender style route?
No route..all smooth
I ordered my tung-oiled Koa SB5000 without a pickguard...I can always add one in the future if I like.
My SB4000 that I sent back with the flaw on the headstock is in the In-stock basses on the Carvin site already 
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They fixed it pretty quick..it just got back to the factory this last Friday.
I hope someone gets to really enjoy this Bass, it played and sounded very nice..I just wasn't a big fan of the flame on walnut...wanted curly figured
My rebuild should be great though
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They fixed it pretty quick..it just got back to the factory this last Friday.
I hope someone gets to really enjoy this Bass, it played and sounded very nice..I just wasn't a big fan of the flame on walnut...wanted curly figured
My rebuild should be great though
pulled the pickguard on mine. no ugliness. i like it better that way. sorry for the low res. pics.
I figured there wouldn't be any ugly routing under the pickguard. Why would Carvin go through the expense of having two different set ups for the same SB? That is, if they're all the same bass with or without a pickguard, we all save money.
BTW, I like the sunburst without pickguard look. Very Jaco-esque.
Any Sadowsky owners who picked up or have some experience with the SB line? I'm really curious about a few things between the two basses.
The prices on these SBs are too low for me to ignore! I'm really at a crossroads right now trying to decide between putting twice as much down for an MV4/MV5 or trying out one of these Carvins first. I always go back to Sadowsky no matter what other jazz type basses I've liked - Nordy's, Fenders, Lulls etc. I just really like the Sadowsky basses. A part of me thinks it will be no different in this case and then another part of me is saying - You can get a fretted and fretless version of a killer bass for the same price as the Sadowsky!
The prices on these SBs are too low for me to ignore! I'm really at a crossroads right now trying to decide between putting twice as much down for an MV4/MV5 or trying out one of these Carvins first. I always go back to Sadowsky no matter what other jazz type basses I've liked - Nordy's, Fenders, Lulls etc. I just really like the Sadowsky basses. A part of me thinks it will be no different in this case and then another part of me is saying - You can get a fretted and fretless version of a killer bass for the same price as the Sadowsky!
My SB4000 that I sent back with the flaw on the headstock is in the In-stock basses on the Carvin site already
Invalid Link Removed
They fixed it pretty quick..it just got back to the factory this last Friday.
I hope someone gets to really enjoy this Bass, it played and sounded very nice..I just wasn't a big fan of the flame on walnut...wanted curly figured
My rebuild should be great though
Holy crap! I just saw your ex on the In-Stock page at Carvin. That bass is beautiful! So basically the issue was a chip on the headstock (a legit beef) but you say the flamey look of the walnut top just didn't do it for you? Wow. Maybe you should have replaced Simon on American Idol?
Any Sadowsky owners who picked up or have some experience with the SB line? I'm really curious about a few things between the two basses.
The prices on these SBs are too low for me to ignore! I'm really at a crossroads right now trying to decide between putting twice as much down for an MV4/MV5 or trying out one of these Carvins first. I always go back to Sadowsky no matter what other jazz type basses I've liked - Nordy's, Fenders, Lulls etc. I just really like the Sadowsky basses. A part of me thinks it will be no different in this case and then another part of me is saying - You can get a fretted and fretless version of a killer bass for the same price as the Sadowsky!
If you really, really like Sadowksy basses, then save your money and get one.
However, let me tell you my (already posted earlier) SB5000 story: A buddy of mine bought a Sadowsky Metro5, brand new and I got a chance to play it. It was nice - it didn't send me into a lather, but it was nice (not as nice as the NYC's I've played, I must say - but every bass is different). Anyway, I liked it well enough. A few days later I went by the nearby Carvin factory store to finally check out an SB5000... and my first though - my *very* first thought upon playing it was "Wow, this is nicer than that Sadowsky I just played...". Again, every bass is different: I went up to the factory store about 2 weeks ago and played several SB5000s - and they all felt "meh" to me. Several had dead strings and poor setups - but my point is that - *every bass is different*. That's what sucks about buying on-line (a concept that many folks just can't get their heads around, I guess). The good news with Carvin is if you don't dig it, you send it back and you're only out the shipping cost. You just have to really be ready to send it back if it isn't your thing - which most folks will resist...
Hey thanks a lot for that review...I did read your first one but it was good seeing your recent impressions as well.
I do like the idea of being able to order and return it plus it would cost me more in gas to drive anywhere to check these basses out than it would to pay for shipping both ways.
But, like you said, I really really like Sadowsky basses so I think it would take a lot to pull me away from 'em. Hmmmm....
I do like the idea of being able to order and return it plus it would cost me more in gas to drive anywhere to check these basses out than it would to pay for shipping both ways.
But, like you said, I really really like Sadowsky basses so I think it would take a lot to pull me away from 'em. Hmmmm....
The $3000 price tag does a good job of pulling me away from Sadowsky.
Some are probably well worth it. I've played a few, and a good buddy of mine owns one, but I would never have payed that much for it.
But that's just me - to each his own!
I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with this, but here is a video from Carvin's website that goes into great detail about the J99A pickup.
It's definitely worth checking out if you are considering Carvin's bolt-on series:
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It's definitely worth checking out if you are considering Carvin's bolt-on series:
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The $3000 price tag does a good job of pulling me away from Sadowsky.
Some are probably well worth it. I've played a few, and a good buddy of mine owns one, but I would never have payed that much for it.
But that's just me - to each his own!
Well it's about 1K difference between the two I'm pondering. For anybody else who had questions similar to mine, I found jzucker's comments on pg 17 & 18 of the first intallment of this thread summarizing the differences between the Sadowsky and SB5000 helpful.
very cool, I may have to put a pair of these into my LB75, need to do something to wake it up
Holy crap! I just saw your ex on the In-Stock page at Carvin. That bass is beautiful! So basically the issue was a chip on the headstock (a legit beef) but you say the flamey look of the walnut top just didn't do it for you? Wow. Maybe you should have replaced Simon on American Idol?
Lol
Don't know why but I only like to see flame on Koa
When I ordered the figured walnut I had them put in the request for a wide unique grain with little or no flame. I don't think it will last that long in-stock.
I am looking forward to getting my rebuild SB5000 in Koa...So even if it has some flame to it, I will be happy if it is on Koa.
Lol
Don't know why but I only like to see flame on Koa
When I ordered the figured walnut I had them put in the request for a wide unique grain with little or no flame. I don't think it will last that long in-stock.
I am looking forward to getting my rebuild SB5000 in Koa...So even if it has some flame to it, I will be happy if it is on Koa.
I guess there is always an element of risk when ordering natural wood finishes. Even when from the same tree, not every slab is the same. I was close to ordering a claro walnut top on ash body with tung oil finish before choosing flamed maple instead. I had some concern about a figured walnut top after checking out some samples at the Carvin galleries. That is, one top would be absolutely breath taking then another would look like a butcher block (even more so for ash bodies). While no two flamed maple tops are quite the same either, it at least seemed to me that the pretty grain tends to be more consistent with flame maple Carvins. So, I went with a satin finished triple step black stain (hope to have her in 2 more weeks).
Well, good luck on the koa rebuild; she’s sure to be a beauty. Honestly, if your old axe were a 5-string and if I didn't already have an SB on order, I would have snatched it. I think its stunning but to each his own.
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