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Carvin SB5000 / SB4000 Roll Call!

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#1,003
jzucker said:
FYI I went to lower my action yesterday and discovered the bridge pieces are down as low as they could go. I tightened the truss rod but looks like I'll have to shim the neck to get the action to where I want it. Carvin should address this at the factory prior to shipping. Shouldn't be a difficult fix. Anyone else have this issue?
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definitely an annoying issue. the store i work at is an ernie ball dealer and years back they had an ernie ball limited edition buttercream bongo 5 string. it was a pretty expensive bass. i slammed the saddles and the action was still very high. that bass needed to be shimmed bad. i let it got in instruments in that thousand and lower range usually, but i was pretty surprised to see it in this nearly 2000 dollar bass.
 
#1,004
I let my SB acclimatize for a week or so, then I started tweaking it. I put my bridge pieces down and it basically laid the strings on the frets. I tweaked the neck a hair, then started working them back up. I ended up with mine in a similar position as it came from the factory. Very low action, lower than my old Warwick with a lot less buzz and dead spots.
 
#1,005
I called their tech support and was told that I have to return it for repair. I asked to check their other stock to see if there is any adjustment room under the bridge pieces. I'm trying to figure out if they're all like this or was the neck pocket cut too deep on mine. They basically refused to answer the question and insisted they could only help me if I shipped it back to them for analysis. I don't know why they can't just look at a new bass and answer the question.
 
#1,006
Jarrett said:
I let my SB acclimatize for a week or so, then I started tweaking it. I put my bridge pieces down and it basically laid the strings on the frets. I tweaked the neck a hair, then started working them back up. I ended up with mine in a similar position as it came from the factory. Very low action, lower than my old Warwick with a lot less buzz and dead spots.
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Is a week the official norm for allowing a bass guitar to acclimate if it’s been shipped across the continent? This concerns me because after all, we only have 10 days to send the instrument back. I wouldn’t want to send a perfectly good bass back prematurely nor would I want to be stuck with a problem neck either.
 
#1,010
jzucker said:
I didn't say neck problems. I said the bridge didn't have any adjustment height left. It was almost all the way down when I got it. Maybe a 64th of an inch of adjustment left before the bridge pieces bottomed out. I'd be curious if this is the way they're made or did I get one with an issue.
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No, that qualifies as a neck problem... or perhaps a basic design/construction problem!

I really hate the idea of shimming the neck with a "business card" - it can't improve the sound, ya know?

Assuming you can't send it back, you *could* look into either a different bridge *or* modifying the bridge saddles to lower string height...
 
#1,013
Kwesi said:
How awesome would an SB5000 look with a Hipshot A :D?
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i don't think the hipshot would improve anything. The bottoms of the bridge pieces could be ground down but I don't want to send the bass from OH to CA to have that done. It'd probably be cheaper to just have it locally repaired but it's kind of annoying that they won't give me the information about whether they are all like that ....
 
#1,018
is your neck pretty straight? An amazing amount of lowering of the action can be done by taking most of the relief out of the neck.
Plus - an awful lot of expensive basses come out of the workshop already shimmed - I don't know why, but I suppose it's the tiny variability in the neck pocket angle etc that you could get with a hand-built bass. However, Carvins are CNC produced, or I thought they were. I bet you can get a low-as-you'd-want it action with a truss rod adjustment.
Of course, if you can't send it back.
I've had Lakies, MPG's and Fenders that all came shimmed out of the box,( and I've read about lots of others), but I think some people don't realise how low some people like their action, and just pass other basses that would be ok for them action-wise.
 
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