NBD !!! Carvin Icon 6 - Alder/Walnut

[Mesofine]

Carvin factory and showroom is a very cool place. If you find yourself in Northern San Diego and the opp arises, stop in, plug in and spend a few hours. Great place.

 

[5below]

That's some Awesome Sauce right there! Beautiful!

 

[Cliff Bordwell]

Congrats!

 

[bholder]

not sure.

it's lighter than my STR Sierra 5. about the same as my ash Jazz.

VERY comfy.

I was thinking the walnut would be heavy, but it's really mostly alder, which I'm not very familiar with, must be lighter.

 

[Zoot H Rollo]

Congrats!

thanks Cliff!

sorry we couldn't work out a deal. you are my first stop for a custom!

so, full disclosure:

according to the Carvin web site, this bass as configured with the piezo (no longer offered from what i can tell)
sums out at...

$1989.00 without any discounts.

the seller had it listed for $1295.

i offered $995.

he took it.

considering it is basically new, i can't complain.

 

[MaxThroughput]

Nice bass. I had one built last winter and it's my favorite instrument ever. The action is so low on these things though that I had to raise mine significantly because my right hand isn't delicate enough yet to softly pluck the strings without clanking them off the fretboard making that aggressive sound. That's a good problem to have though. The fretwork on these is remarkable.

 

[1954bassman]

i was gonna swap in some Aguilar DCB pups.

but the new Carvin humbuckers and preamp are NICE!

plus it has the piezo bridge - likin' it.

Yeah, I would go with it as it is now, at least for a while. Good chance you will love it in it's original form.

Beautiful bass, enjoy.

 

[Zoot H Rollo]

Yeah, I would go with it as it is now, at least for a while. Good chance you will love it in it's original form.

Beautiful bass, enjoy.

thanks!

agreed! i ain't touchin' it. i mean the bass. i mean i'll touch it to play it...

uhhh, never mind.

 

[bholder]

Nice bass. I had one built last winter and it's my favorite instrument ever. The action is so low on these things though that I had to raise mine significantly because my right hand isn't delicate enough yet to softly pluck the strings without clanking them off the fretboard making that aggressive sound. That's a good problem to have though. The fretwork on these is remarkable.

Neat. For whatever it's worth, I had that same experience (stock setup neck too straight, action too low for my skills) with my 1st Sire V7. I do love the Carvins, though, have a herd of older ones.

 

[Zoot H Rollo]

(stock neck too straight, action too low for my skills)

you simply need more Indiscipline.

 

[JayVek-72]

Beautiful! Congrats, Enjoy it!

 

[fourtet102]

6 string Carvin that I had to sell was my biggest mistake ever. Congrats on your ICON!!

 

[Crusher47]

Great score, she is a beauty!

 

[stringthrough]

Very nice. I keep thinking about a 6 string but a gotta get comfy with a 5 string first.

 

[todd0864]

Beautiful bass! I'm always checking their "guitars in stock" bass section on their website. Found a green 5er S/MM on there that I was interested in, went to pull it up the next day and it was gone.

 

[Zoot H Rollo]

i don't see many Icons on the used market.

Same with the AC model.

All the decent ones get snatched up pretty quickly.

 

[Lo-E]

Congrats on the new bass. It's a beauty! Carvin really does make some nice basses. They always have, as far as I can tell.

I let a fretless Carvin 6 slip away from me at Spam Ash just a few weeks ago. Thought about it overnight and it was gone the next day. Ooops. I'm not really a six-string guy so it didn't hurt very much.
One of the very, very few "ones that got away" that still bothers me today is a koa fretless LB-50 I saw while on tour in a pawnshop in Philly in the early '90s. It was freakin' incredible. Just an unbelievable neck. I was traveling light and decided I didn't want to have to carry it for the rest of the tour. DUMMY! To this day I don't know what I was thinking.

I have never experienced that level of "jaw dropness" with any other bass.

I have never experienced that noun before, but I'm sure going to hold onto it now!

 

[FrenchBassQC]

Nice bass, congrats...

 

[el murdoque]

I made a similar steal from the shop back in '96 when i wanted to place an order for a bass, but fell in love with the one they had arriving for the showroom that very day.

Sexy bass, congrats!

 

[Zoot H Rollo]

kinda has a Ken Smith thing goin'.

heavy on the kinda.