Did Bunny Brunel leave Carvin for ESP?

Yes, he did. I'm pretty close to the Sr. VP of marketing and sales at ESP. This happened a few months ago. I was quite interested since Bunny was my biggest influence in the early 80's.

 

Looks cool, kinda Conklin shaped but less stretched out, I like the headstock too.

 

Doesn't look much different from his Carvin bass, but I guess that's understandable. Neat bass, though.

 

The Bunny was always my favorite Carvin design. Looks like they are gone from Carvin's site.

 

The Frank Bello model with the polished pick guard looks kinda sweet

 

Totally, I had p-fever a while back and came close to buying the 204 a couple of times.

 

I had this thread crossed over with another I was reading...(whoops) Here is a link some of the 2015 models.

http://www.espguitars.com/pages/2015-product-preview

 

The Bunny Brunel had been a Carvin endorser for what, 20 years? That's a heck of a long endorsement arrangement.

The ESP version of his bass looks pretty nice. Nearly the same as the Carvin, but with a nicer looking headstock.

 

Bunny Brunel has been in the Carvin catalogs since I started playing

Not sure exactly how long.

 

Kinda ironic since Carvin still has a double B initial endorser (Brian Bromberg).

 

I've come close to ordering a fretless Bunny a few times. This might be cool. I think the electronics may be a step up from what Carvin offers.

I love my RB1005.

 

It looks like Carvin's doing a good job of running off their loyal, long-time endorsers and signature artists...

 

Ya know, as influential as the guy has been in the instrument world (don't forget he's the "BB" in Yamaha's BB series, too), I don't think I've ever actually heard Bunny Brunel's music.

I know who he is, but do I know anything he played on? Not that I'm aware of.

This ESP looks nice; just like the Carvin but with a cooler headstock. I like it.

 

He's all over YouTube. Check out some of his stuff, especially with Chick Corea. He's a monster in the Jazz/Fusion world. He's also one of the nicest musicians I've ever met. Really open and down-to-earth.

+1. Maybe instead of fancy colors (and often too many of them at once) maybe Carvin should revamp their headstocks!

 

I saw Bunny with Chick Corea on the Tap Step tour in the early '80s. I also have some CAB CDs.

 

Not a fan of the 5 inline headstock at all. I do like Carvin's headstock better on that bass.

 

Agreed, the 5 inline looks goofy. I'm liking the 4 string version, thought.

 

Wow, I did not know that.

[edit: ...and apparently for good reason: Not true, as per below.]

 

The Carvin looks better, but Carvin's got the finish thing down.