Why do Carvins have poor resale value?

[buldog5151bass]

Silly example. Take a Porsche Speedster and an early 60s VW Karmann Ghia. Other than the gear ratios, they are almost an identical car (some Porsche owners use VW parts for repairs if necessary). Guess which one has an exponentially higher resale value?

 

[bucephylus]

Used instrument pricing is pretty straightforward supply and demand.

There are a VERY FEW brands which have sufficient demand for used examples so that the used instruments can command pricing around 2/3 of the sale price. The rest of them start at 50% or so and bargain from there. That is zero reflection on the instrument quality. It is simply a reflection of the types and population of buyers that make up the used instrument demand curve.

Carvin is a bit like Alembic, in that folks who might be interested in one are somewhat more likely to simply order the new one built to their specs. Alembic Series basses are extremely fine instruments; but resale is no where close to a reasonable fraction of the original sale price, simply because that kind of buyer is often inclined to just get the instrument built the way they want it. And, that weakens the demand curve for the used instruments. Doesn't mean anything at all about the quality of the used instruments.

Fenders, Ernie Balls, and the New York builders like Sadowsky and Fodera offer custom builds; but, they have also codified their build philosophy to standards such that many buyers are perfectly happy with the used examples as being perfectly great for their needs. And, as @buldog5151bass just pointed out, you have to factor collectors vs players into some of the brand demand curves. Trade in those used markets tends to be brisk, due to the higher fraction of buyers supporting a larger demand curve. And, BTW, the highly customized examples from those shops don't tend to support large demand curves either.

So, the moral of the story is that if you are buying an instrument without 99.5% certainty that you plan to keep it, then keep to the "standard" examples. Or be prepared to lose more value when you sell it (which is also not a sin).

 

[ThuzzleFump]

Carvins, like boutiques, are not common. Unlike boutiques, however, Carvins are not prestigious or desired. I think the exceptions are the newer JB and PB models.

Don't be bustin my Carvins. They are, as the kids say "the bomb."

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Don't be bustin my Carvins. They are, as the kids say "the bomb."

No hate on my end, Brother, I'm a USA Peavey fan!

 

[SirMjac28]

I think you are saying bass was a big disappointment, right?

Dr I'm still kicking myself for not buying that bass but at the time I had around 15 other basses.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Dr I'm still kicking myself for not buying that bass but at the time I had around 15 other basses.

Thanks for clarifying because I was unsure what you meant.

 

[Drummerboy2]

Yeah the electronics are garbage but the wood and the craftsmenship of the basses is amazing.. I have thought about getting a nice Carvin 5 string and putting EMG pickups and preamps in it.. as with any bass good electronics will bring out all the tone in even lower quality basses.

I did this exact same thing you mentioned about the EMG pickups and preamp. It made my cheap sounding Fender Jazz (made Mexico) bass sound better than more expensive basses. So much my brother tells all his bass players that his brother has a Fender Jazz bass that has killer tone that they have hear to believe.

 

[MEKer]

I think of Carvins as I think of U.S. Masters, even though Carvin at least can customize while USM does not (I've asked). Decent basses but no oomph in the general population so you know your re-sale will be a painful thing if/when you try to sell it. Ipso facto........no raving sales waves for either company.
Note: US Masters website altered some time ago as it seems they are now barely hanging on. But Carvin has shown staying power in the industry, for years and years, for some reason despite some perpetual griping bad press. (....I just shrugged my shoulders and got nuthin' left to say)

 

[Drummerboy2]

Don't be bustin my Carvins. They are, as the kids say "the bomb."

Carvin are really nice basses. They have their own feel and sound but compared to more expensive basses, they are right there.

I went into a Boutique Bass store that just specialized in upper end basses like MTD and many more that I can't remember how to spell. LOL! I was really impressed with the MTD 535 five string bolt on basses which was my Dream bass. But as I was playing it (it felt really nice and sound great too) I started thinking to myself that this fills very close to my Carvin Icon 5. So I came back about a week later with my Carvin Icon 5. Immediately the sales guy said ("Wow, Nice looking bass") which was has a Flamed Walnut cover over Alder with matching headstock and black hardware, when he got closer he saw it was a Carvin Icon 5 and was blown away by it. At that time the Carvin Icon 5's were just hitting the scene. He tried it out and really liked it and said he was really impressed with the playability of the bass.

When we went to try out some of the upper end bass amps he and I we were both shock at how good the Carvin Icon 5 sound with the amps, so we compared the Carvin to the MTD 535 which is an awesome bass. Well, after some playing, adjusting the tone, and comparing.... me and the sales guy both said that the Carvin was very close to the MTD 535 in playability if not right there and very close in sound ( I had DR Hi Beams on it). So I came away feeling very good about me buying the Carvin knowing I didn't have to sell the house to get my Dream bass as the MTD was my dream bass. I was really happy that it compared very well with one of the great basses out there. It's easy to say one bass is better than another and some go by $$$ that the more the better the bass. I was glad we got the chance to compare both the Carvin Icon 5 and the MTD 535 side by side on the same amp head, cab, and cords. The only difference was I think the MTD had it's own strings on it which sound great.

We also tried the Carvin Icon 5 compared to the MTD Kingston (Korean made at the time) the Carvin Icon ate it up, wasn't close at all. The Kingston didn't play as well as the Carvin and the sound wasn't as close as we thought it would be. The salesman said that he was really surprised after all he had heard about the Carvins before. He really liked the Carvin Icon 5 I brought in.

I had a Tobias Killer B for a while but it would only do jazz and certain other types of music due to it's tone but the neck on that bass was really nice and played like butter, so it was limited and I kept going back to the Fender Jazz that I had hot rodded. I eventually sold the Tobias Killer B.

This example at the Boutique bass store just showed me you don't have to spend 4-5k on a bass. Carvin has come a long way as I didn't like the tone of their basses before the Icon series. After a couple of years I had them make me another bass, it was the SB4000. Now this was a very nice sounding bass that was right there with some of the top basses on the market. I have been very happy with the newer Carvin basses. So the old opinions don't really apply anymore since they are a different bass now. There Pickups have come along way too which helps.

I have a Fender Jazz (Mexico) that I put EMG pickups and preamp in it which sounds great and plays well. I also have the Icon 5 and SB4000.

I just thought I would share a real life situation with the Carvin Icons.