Carvin BK5 Kit

Tons of features you can go fretted or fretless, electronics are switchable between active/passive on the fly, active has blend, vol, low, mid and high control, swamp ash or alder, s/s or h/s Pickup config with a coil tap on the humbucker. Maple neck, ebony fretboard, black, gold or chrome hardware. Whatever finish/color you choose, I've heard you can actully have them finish the body if you want. Looks like a jazz bass, similar bolt neck with option of strings through body. The neck is fairly thin and not as wide as most five strings, so the string spacing is fairly close.

I chose the 5 string, swamp ash (very light), h/s pickups, string through body, with chrome hardware. I stained the body a dark walnut and polyurethaned it and put tung oil on the neck.

Versatile! I can tweak just about any sound through this thing from a musicman humbucker growel to nice smooth bass. When I switch to passive and bypass the active eq and blend the pickups equal the tone is a little more aggressive or edgy with quite a bit of trebble and string noise. Right now it's running through a Carvin R600 III head into a Avatar 2x10 cab and I'm very pleased with the sound the only problem is deciding witch eq to tweak, the one on the bass, the amps semi parametric, or the amps graphical eq. My biggest problem is the 2x10 dont quite get down to the 31 Hz of the low B so it can sound a little weak, but that's not the basses fault. There is virtually no noise from this bass the electronics are extremly quiet if you shield it according to the instructions.

There is also a slight dead spot on the neck similar to a Fender Jazz. It's on the 1st string at the 7th fret. It's only that one note that has the dead spot and it's much less noticeable than on the Jazz bases I've played.

I give it a nine becauseof the dead spot and it is a little brighter than I'd like when running passive.

Well this is tough because it's up to the owner/builder to set the action and finish it so it's whatever you make of it. But the necks that Carvin send with the kits are very well put together and straight allowing for very low action. The wood for the body is also very nice solid quality wood.

I've had it for 7 months and don't feel the need for a backup. This bass is very durable and the hardware is top notch. The tuners and bridge on this bass are very solid and the electronics knobs have a solid feel to them. I put the final adjustment on the action two weeks after building it and it hasn't budged from there since.

Never dealt with them for support. But I would expect top notch service from my other dealing with them.

Given the price/performance of this bass I have to give it a ten. It plays like butter, sounds great, hardly ever needs adjusted, looks beautiful (kudos to myself =} ) and taught me a ton about setting up a bass. Before I had this bass I'd never touched a truss rod, or adjusted pickup or sting height. But now after waking through the instruction from Carvin (which were great) I feel very confident in adjusting it however I want. I would choose this bass over an American Fender Jazz any day. It play's virtually the same although I like the Carvin neck more, has more tonal versatility, and cost much less plus you get the honor of saying that you put it togeather yourself.

Purchased kit in 1999 or 2000. Fretless neck. Slim
humbucker in neck position, big alnico humbucker in
rear. Active electronics. Swamp ash body. Everything
else is standard on B5 kit.

Have since ordered a fretted neck.

I give the fretless neck sound a 9. Maybe a 7 for the
fretted neck.

Ok, considering i'm not a real bass player & the other bass
i own is a passive G&L 4 string, this bass is very versatile.
But again, i don't know what kind of bass sound i'm really
seeking -- i mostly record it direct. Played some intermittant
gigs where the perennial missing bass player was needed.

I really don't use the huge bridge alnico humbucker -- i
would go with the 2 slim humbuckers & put my $20 in my
pocket. It's pretty ugly with that brick back there.
I think have a phase problem with both pickups
dialed in. I have a masters in electrical eng (ok that
& $3 gets me some coffee at starpucks!) & i've went over
the schems several times & it 'looks' right. Since i don't
use the bridge pickup at all, i'm too lazy to take everything
apart & fix it. That should speak volumes about my attachment
to the bass side of the Force.

I suppose the cheap shot caveat is that i was so cheap
i bought a kit & cannot complain, right? So i'll take
that into consideration :->. I loved playing with legos
with my kids & this is just the grownup version. Every
bolt neck guitar or bass i've owned would up in pieces
at one time or another (yes, i was the kid that figured
the screws on any box was there for a reason & i always
took it apart) so i didn't think it was a problem. Why
not just cut to the chase & start with a box of parts..

I would give the fretless neck a 10. The action was
perfect. Went together with no tweaking. Body is really
a nice organic shape. I like natural guitars so i just
finished it with a few coats of deft from walmart. I
like the look, but i've been kidded about the 'home
depot' signature model. I really don't have time to
waste on paint jobs or tung oil when there is playing
to be done!

The fretted neck i give a 6. I had to shim it to get
the align with the body & so the strings wouldn't
slip off the edge. I cannot get the intonation perfect. Some
fretted notes sound off, but not all of them. The
action doesn't compare with the fretless neck.

Seems pretty durable. I would not hestitate to take
it as the only bass to a gig. The first battery
didn't last long & sounded really horrible when it
started to go - no graceful degradation.

Here's the rub. I know lots of people have good service
with carvin, so i'll take that into consideration. I had
to wait several weeks to get my bass because they couldn't
find the barrel of fretless necks or something. I called
back several times. They never called me or offered me
anything for my pain & suffering :-). I'm always impressed
when i don't have to complain & someone does the unexpected
to make it right. I would think a company like carvin lives
& dies by word of mouth & repeat business.

The phone 'dudes' sounded like they had just strapped
their surfboard to the roof of their car (you could
almost hear the water dripping from their hair.) "Hey,
like, dude. We have totally misplaced the fretless necks."
Took them 3+ months to find it. They were ok guys but never
really tried to understand my frustration at the lack of
an ETA after taking my money. Maybe that is CA culture.
I try not to be ethno-centric & we have come not to expect
any customer service in this country. We basically just
hope for no belligerence. So when you take this into consideration
carvin is probably up for the JW Handy or whatever award for
customer service for just being cordial on the phone & not
screaming at me when i called back the 4th or 5th time.

Own lots of stuff, but just 2 basses -- this one &
early 80's G&L 4 string.

Since i'm not a bass player, i'll be easy on this
guitar. But for <$500 you cannot get an american-milled
active bass. So that being said, it's a 9.

Made in USA. Swamp ash body active/passive preamp. Pickup balance low mid high knobs, volume. String thru body. Black chrome hardware. Super cool battery compartment.

I play a wide variety of styles and techniques, (two hand tap, slap, sliding harmonic, chord harmonics, etc...)

I use no effects at all typically. The sound is really mean and in your face-lot's of attitude. It's tight and punchy, even the B. It has a very dry warm woody sound, that can be dialed to just in to just about any tone to your desire.

There was only one flaw with the body. The ground hole wasn't drilled that runs from the shielding to the bridge. I fixed that myself.

The neck buzzes a TINY bit on the A at the 5th fret. I think it's my setup.

Other than those two MINOR things everything fit flawlessy. The instructions are great. It does require soldering, so if you aren't experienced find someone who is.

I have no worries gigging with this tone machine. I have giggied with it without a backup. And will do so in the future.

Great bass, great company. Will buy at carvin again. I highly recommend this company and product to anyone. Pro or beginner