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Why are Carvin Basses sooooo HEAVY?
- Thread starter Mike Sorr
- Start date
Body armor, duty belt, duty weapon, magazines, cuffs, radio, accessories....equals 20+ pounds. 10+ hours a day. 4 days a week. For 15+ years, all the while in steel toe boots. I can take any 'heavy' bass, chew it up and spit it out. 
But to be fair, my Carvins weigh less than the 2 Warwicks I've owned. Weigh less then my '81 Fender Jazz...or my Alembic SII and less than my '79 Les Paul.
But to be fair, my Carvins weigh less than the 2 Warwicks I've owned. Weigh less then my '81 Fender Jazz...or my Alembic SII and less than my '79 Les Paul.
actually, they don't.
have a look at their guitars in stock. Lots of heavy stuff.
Here's a one-piece swamp ash body (something which people would tend to think would be lighter) guitar with a weight I would normally associate with a particularly heavy mahogany les-paul or something:
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- Mar 9, 2001
- 963
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Accugroove Cabinets & MJC Ironworks Strings
My fretless Vanquish V59K weighs 8 pounds, 1 ounce. When I ordered it I told them I needed it to be under 9 lbs. I was ready to pay the extra $50 for the one piece swamp ash and my salesperson called me back to tell me the custom shop said they couldn't guarantee this and suggested I consider going with Empresswood, which I did. After receiving this I liked it so much that I ordered two more Vanquish models using Empresswood, a fretted twin to the V59K tuned E-C as the fretless and a V49K set up for R&B/Funk gigs. It took a while for the wood to come in and will still be a while before being shipped. My first Carvin purchased about 16 months ago is a SB5000 and weighs 10 pounds, 7 ounces and came to realize one cause of my lower back pain over this past year. A couple of days ago I ordered an AC40 and got it more tricked out with the woods and no worry about weight knowing the base weight of these.
Wally
Wally
Maybe they should use their race car affiliation for more than just color schemes. Isn't the goal there to make the car as light as possible?
that company has really gone down the tubes.. that fool jeff kiesel is ruining that business. he knows nothing about guitar or bass building .. he needs to stick to his racing.. the majority of there b and m stores closed.. they have this delusion that they are a premier company.. HA !! not so.. worst basses i have ever played in my life, my bc rich is more comfortable than playin a carvin..
I was struck by how heavy the JB5s in the basses ready section of the Carvin website. All were over ten pounds, a couple over eleven, and one over twelve! I honestly think that weight is one of the major factors that separates a small shop like Sadowsky from a mass producer, or even a mid size operation like Carvin. I think being super selective about wood weight means rejecting lots of wood that factories like Ernie Ball or Carvin use all of the time.
That sounds logical. Was there ever a time when EBMM Stingray basses weren't heavy?
And what's up with Carvin these days? Did they buy a huge lot of heavy wood lately or something? Maybe I got lucky, but my Carvins are all under 8.5lbs (4 bangers).
Maybe Carvin is focusing on the "I like heavy guitars" crowd that EBMM seems to cater to. lol
Stingrays have never been light. I do think they simply end up with heavy wood at times.
It appears the $3,000 JB was priced by the pound. Nice but wow that's heavy!
The bottom line is that in any large scale operation, there will be trade offs. If weight is crucial to you, you will have to pay a premium to guarantee a light weight bass.
- Mar 9, 2001
- 963
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Accugroove Cabinets & MJC Ironworks Strings
+1
Their bolt on bass bridges are terrible. They don't offer alternatives. Plus, with its 5 bolt import design, you can't get a replacement without significant modification, which I doubt is worth it at that point. I just don't want to spend the time and money waiting for a potential boat anchor. I like Carvin's business model and have enjoyed their products in the past. However, they have lost me as a bass customer. In the end they just can't build me what I want. With so many builders and quality production instruments I look elsewhere. I guess it is nice there are many options, right? Just don't understand the Carvin response of 'that's just how it is', well, maybe for them. Other manufacturers are delivering.
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I agree with you 100%!
Since Carvin won't guarantee on a set weight range prior to building, I think they should contact the buyer (via email) regarding the actual weight prior to shipping.
Depending on the weight, the buyer should have the option to agree or disagree to have the bass shipped.
If the buyer disagrees Carvin can post the bass for sale on their website.
That would save the buyer the hassle of shipping the bass back.
I think Carvin is a great company, but I think weight should be a higher priority than Kiesel options!
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I was surprised when I first started hearing about people wanting lighter guitars. All through the Seventies people wanted them as heavy as they could get. I had a maple Strat that was extra thick and the corner rounding was a smaller radius to leave as much wood there as possible. It was like wearing a cinderblock.
I guess fashions done change. And I suspect that the average age of players is increasing.
I guess fashions done change. And I suspect that the average age of players is increasing.
