Very cool video about how Carvins are made

[Spector_Ray]

I had the rare opportunity of playing a Carvin and I'll say the craftmanship, fit and finish are top notch. That being said, I'm not crazy about the bodies. I would love to build on of their kits just for the halibut.

Sounds like Craig Chaquico is playing the bed music.

 

[KenToby]

I know from first hand experience what world class pro basses Carvin builds. Here is one I posted back in July of 2007. I did lots of homework and chose Carvin for their quality and variability.
I love everything about it after the pickup mod. I may swap out the preamp but with the sweepable mid, I admit, its pretty good.

7/2007...
I got my factory fresh Carvin Bunny Brunell about 2 weeks ago and now that I've added some finishing touches, it's ready for prime time.

What you see is the result of my asking myself, what would be the bast way to pick up a custom bass at an off the shelf price? After reading a lot and asking tons of questions. the choice was pretty easy - Carvin. Knowing the build quality and materials to be very good, I went in knowing I had the option of swapping the electronics if tone is an issue.
I ordered the Bunny Brunell 5 string due to the longer upper horn for better balance (compared to my LB75). I picked a quarter sawn Maple neck with highly figured Birds eye maple finger board. The body wood is of Mahogany capped off with a highly figured Claro Walnut top. I picked up the new 18 volt preamp w/sweepable mid control. I also chose their new pickups, not for their tone but because their dimensions are the same as Nordstrand Dual Coils. I dropped the Nordstrand Dual Coils and 3 position switched in and I feel I have not only a custom bass, but a versitile tone MONSTER!! Had I gone this route with most any other custom builder, I could have spent an easy $3K+. I have about $1700 into this one. Yup, I know about Carvin's resale value but this one is a keeper.
Thanks for looking!!

KT

 

[62bass]

I know from first hand experience what world class pro basses Carvin builds. Here is one I posted back in July of 2007. I did lots of homework and chose Carvin for their quality and variability.
I love everything about it after the pickup mod. I may swap out the preamp but with the sweepable mid, I admit, its pretty good.

7/2007...
I got my factory fresh Carvin Bunny Brunell about 2 weeks ago and now that I've added some finishing touches, it's ready for prime time.

What you see is the result of my asking myself, what would be the bast way to pick up a custom bass at an off the shelf price? After reading a lot and asking tons of questions. the choice was pretty easy - Carvin. Knowing the build quality and materials to be very good, I went in knowing I had the option of swapping the electronics if tone is an issue.
I ordered the Bunny Brunell 5 string due to the longer upper horn for better balance (compared to my LB75). I picked a quarter sawn Maple neck with highly figured Birds eye maple finger board. The body wood is of Mahogany capped off with a highly figured Claro Walnut top. I picked up the new 18 volt preamp w/sweepable mid control. I also chose their new pickups, not for their tone but because their dimensions are the same as Nordstrand Dual Coils. I dropped the Nordstrand Dual Coils and 3 position switched in and I feel I have not only a custom bass, but a versitile tone MONSTER!! Had I gone this route with most any other custom builder, I could have spent an easy $3K+. I have about $1700 into this one. Yup, I know about Carvin's resale value but this one is a keeper.
Thanks for looking!!

KT

By "new pickups" you must mean the soap bars. That's interesting. While I doubt I'd like the sound of the soapbars Carvin makes, if the dimensions match up with the Nordstarands, and IF Carvin would route a kit body for the soapbars, I might consider building up a kit using them. One problem I see with that is the soapbars are one dimension only. I think the Nordtrands come in different lengths for 4, 5 and 6 strings. I'd want a 4 string so the routes might be too long.

I do intend to build another Carvin kit someday soon and hopefully before the prices for them goes up any higher. They've almost doubled in price since they were first introduced.

 

[LCMBassist]

Yeh my mate Johnny sent me that....I was gonna post it up but you beat me! Haha. Very cool vid, those machines are PRECISE.

 

[excane]

I know from first hand experience what world class pro basses Carvin builds. Here is one I posted back in July of 2007. I did lots of homework and chose Carvin for their quality and variability.
I love everything about it after the pickup mod. I may swap out the preamp but with the sweepable mid, I admit, its pretty good.

7/2007...
I got my factory fresh Carvin Bunny Brunell about 2 weeks ago and now that I've added some finishing touches, it's ready for prime time.

What you see is the result of my asking myself, what would be the bast way to pick up a custom bass at an off the shelf price? After reading a lot and asking tons of questions. the choice was pretty easy - Carvin. Knowing the build quality and materials to be very good, I went in knowing I had the option of swapping the electronics if tone is an issue.
I ordered the Bunny Brunell 5 string due to the longer upper horn for better balance (compared to my LB75). I picked a quarter sawn Maple neck with highly figured Birds eye maple finger board. The body wood is of Mahogany capped off with a highly figured Claro Walnut top. I picked up the new 18 volt preamp w/sweepable mid control. I also chose their new pickups, not for their tone but because their dimensions are the same as Nordstrand Dual Coils. I dropped the Nordstrand Dual Coils and 3 position switched in and I feel I have not only a custom bass, but a versitile tone MONSTER!! Had I gone this route with most any other custom builder, I could have spent an easy $3K+. I have about $1700 into this one. Yup, I know about Carvin's resale value but this one is a keeper.
Thanks for looking!!

KT

Except for the extended upper horn (which is why I hate that model)......that bass is friggin HOT. Really nice!

 

[Bass Viking]

very nice vid...a little unsure of wat was happening, though, one minute their cutting the instrument and another their laying the inlays in

They showed a guitar body being cut but the neck attached to it had already been fretted. I thought the fretting came later in the process. You learn something new everyday!

it was kinda funny, because i was watching that guy spray the guitar green, and he goes to the front, and im like: what are you doing? that's beautiful natural spalted maple! why are you painting it!

Someone probably ordered it that way. Major Metal perhaps?

 

[Bass Viking]

Except for the extended upper horn (which is why I hate that model)......that bass is friggin HOT. Really nice!

It is kind of phallic looking.

 

[Spector_Ray]

They showed a guitar body being cut but the neck attached to it had already been fretted. I thought the fretting came later in the process. You learn something new everyday!

I guess it just depends on the builder.

 

[Freddels]

I know from first hand experience what world class pro basses Carvin builds. Here is one I posted back in July of 2007. I did lots of homework and chose Carvin for their quality and variability.
I love everything about it after the pickup mod. I may swap out the preamp but with the sweepable mid, I admit, its pretty good.

7/2007...
I got my factory fresh Carvin Bunny Brunell about 2 weeks ago and now that I've added some finishing touches, it's ready for prime time.

What you see is the result of my asking myself, what would be the bast way to pick up a custom bass at an off the shelf price? After reading a lot and asking tons of questions. the choice was pretty easy - Carvin. Knowing the build quality and materials to be very good, I went in knowing I had the option of swapping the electronics if tone is an issue.
I ordered the Bunny Brunell 5 string due to the longer upper horn for better balance (compared to my LB75). I picked a quarter sawn Maple neck with highly figured Birds eye maple finger board. The body wood is of Mahogany capped off with a highly figured Claro Walnut top. I picked up the new 18 volt preamp w/sweepable mid control. I also chose their new pickups, not for their tone but because their dimensions are the same as Nordstrand Dual Coils. I dropped the Nordstrand Dual Coils and 3 position switched in and I feel I have not only a custom bass, but a versitile tone MONSTER!! Had I gone this route with most any other custom builder, I could have spent an easy $3K+. I have about $1700 into this one. Yup, I know about Carvin's resale value but this one is a keeper.
Thanks for looking!!

KT

What are the extra knobs/switches for?

 

[KenToby]

The knobs control the stock 18 volt Carvin preamp functions of: Volume, Blend, Bass, Treble and sweepable mid. The switches are three ways that activate the inner, outer and parallel coil configurations of each pickup. Like I said, this bass is a tone monster!! If you had to duplicate it with any of the boutique builders you could expect to pay a new price of over $3K, probably closer to $4K+ with he asking price of options like figured tops that sell in the $300+ range. Bang for the buck, it's VERY tough to beat Carvin IMO!!

Again, my philosophy going into my Carvin decision was to get as close to my dream bass as possible and customize anything outside of that. With master luthier Mike Lull in town there is no reason I couldn't have the perfect bass... with change left over. I may have him sand a bit off the high side of the asymetrical neck for a more even profile which I like.
By the way, I added the pickups and switches myself.

Thanks,

KT

What are the extra knobs/switches for?

 

[perfektspace6]

That video was absolutely fascinating to me. I can't believe how quickly the machines can work. It doesn't look real.

Thanks for posting.

I keep thinking about picking up an Icon 5 or 6. Tough to beat the options and quality at that price. Not to mention it makes me feel good to buy from guys making my bass in the US.

 

[Showdown]

I don't know why they are stubborn to offer third party electronics. Maybe it's some kind of pride issue?

I don't know. Why doesn't Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, Peavey, Ibanez, Rickenbacher, Musicman, Dean, Guild, ESP, Danelectro, G&L, Hamer, Warwick, or Gretsch offer third party electronics?

I don't understand why people think Carvin should do what most other mass producers of basses don't do.

 

[Showdown]

I had the rare opportunity of playing a Carvin and I'll say the craftmanship, fit and finish are top notch. That being said, I'm not crazy about the bodies. I would love to build on of their kits just for the halibut.

I built a B5. It turned out real nice. I got it with a fretless neck, and later bought a fretted neck. It is fretted now, but I can go back to fretless anytime.

Their kits are great if you like working on basses, but aren't really good enough to build from scratch (like me). And you can end up with a nice bass for very little money.

 

[DanielleMuscato]

I don't know. Why doesn't Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, Peavey, Ibanez, Rickenbacher, Musicman, Dean, Guild, ESP, Danelectro, G&L, Hamer, Warwick, or Gretsch offer third party electronics?

I don't understand why people think Carvin should do what most other mass producers of basses don't do.

Well, they're not exactly a mass producer of basses. They do bill themselves as a Custom Shop, and each is made-to-order, except a small selection of in-stock instruments (from returns, demos, scratch 'n dent, prototypes, etc, as I understand it). You can choose your pickup configuration and type of pickups, active or passive, piezo option, etc.

It's not totally unprecedented that you'd be able to choose what type of electronics are installed, even from mass producers, to a degree. Nordstrand, for example, makes their own pickups, but offers Aguilar preamps. Fender offers Seymour Duncan and Bill Lawrence pickups on certain models. Some ESPs come with EMG pickups, others with Duncans. Peavey, Ibanez, Yamaha etc all have similar practices.

 

[ezstep]

My first 5-string was a Carvin LB75. I ordered it back in 1993 or 94, all mahogany, including neck and wings, ebony f/b, black hardware, stacked humbies, all exactly what I wanted. 14 years later, it is still my "go to" bass, the one that I grab on the way out the door. Craftmanship is very good, and I have never had any neck issues, but if you read the forums enough, you also hear about Fender neck issues, balance issues, electronics issues, etc. Some people love Fenders, some people HATE Fenders, and I suspect the same for Carvin, for Lakland, for MTD, etc.

I have recorded (direct through an Avalon U5) probably a few dozen albums (do they still call them albums?) with the Carvin, and the band has collected a couple of awards along the way, so I cannot say that the electronics are terrible. Anything I don't like about the sound can be adjusted at the amp or at the mixer.

And, for comparison, I also have an MTD Kingston (five, active), 1988 G&L SB-1 (four), and an Alembic Orion (four). But my first instinct is to grab the Carvin and go to work. It is my taxi-cab, if you know what I mean.

 

[Commreman]

I bought an LB75 used about 5 years ago, and it very quickly became my go to bass as well - I have done hundreds of gigs with this one! I found the stock electronics perfectly acceptable, and the only reason that I switched out the pre amp was because the stock one fried out. I absolutely love the neck and ebony fretboard. Next to my '64 P, this is the most comfortable neck that I've played (35 years experience, and LOTS of basses). Had I been a member of Talkbass prior to buying the bass, I probably would not have done it, based on all of the negative Carvin bashing that goes on around here. That being said, I am a very happy Carvin owner - these basses are screaming bargains. They just don't appeal to the "gear snob" in all of us, but big whoop - they are versatile workhorses!

 

[fleabee]

Great find to the OP. Carvin has some nice lookin stuff too.

 

[LarryO]

Don't know if anyone caught this but at the 1:59 mark of the video you can clearly see the cnc machine (or at least the display) was made by FAGOR. That's like a gay superhero....LMAO

 

[LiquidMidnight]

About Carvin's electronics;

I just got a Brand new 5 str fretless , after I got stolen and the new electronic ( with the full parametric mid ) is very good.

People that are bitchin about Carvin's electronics probably haven't tried that version.

+1

I own a 2000 LB75 and a 2008 Icon 5. The LB has a good electronics package. Granted, it's not earth-shattering, but it's high quality and professional sounding. The Icon's soapbars and 18v pre are outstanding, IMO. They easily compete with anything else out on the market. The electronics are whisper quiet, have plenty of headroom, and the mid-sweep makes it easy to dial-in for any room. I wouldn't even dream of swapping out either the pickups or the pre.

I have to wonder if the reason why the electronics get bashed so much is because Carvins don't have instantly recognizable sounds. It's not like a Ric or a Jazz or a Stingray that you hear and automatically say, "Hey, I know what that is!" However, my Carvins are worth their weight in gold* in how well they sit in a mix. It's a good feeling to play five notes during soundcheck and have the engineer to tell you that you can stop with a big smile across his face.

*perhaps that's not a good phrase as the LB is doesn't weigh much.

 

[johhn smith]

thanks dude that is way cool. i used to program lathes and mills to cut metal and, while i've seen cnc woodworking before, the thing that always strikes me is how fast the cutters move compared to metal. i've never tried a carvin, but they sure look nice. however, my feeling is, that i will never buy a bass that i haven't played first. i'm very picky ( i'm sure lots of people are ) and i've had plenty of experiences where what looks good on the wall or in a stand and should be good in the hand has turned out not to be.