Carvin LB75F fretless 5-string

Late 90's with one-piece maple neck-through and unusually figured koa body sides. Two pickups. I wish I knew if they were the J99 single coils or the stached humbuckings. I suspect the latter. Active bass, treble, and mid controls with center detents. Volume and pickup blend controls. String-through-body bridge. Tung oil finish.

Between the controls on the bass and on my amp, I can get just about any texture I want. I favor the bridge pickup soloed, but that's just me and I definitely use both pickups and all the controls to get what I'm looking for. I do not use flat wound strings - I tried them and I just couldn't get the sound I wanted. So if the string windings are going to mark up the fingerboard (and they are,) that's just what has to be. We'll just call it "character." Bottom line: The sound is all there, it's everything I'd hoped for. And at such a ridiculously low price!

I can't comment on the factory setup; I bought it used. This is a very well-crafted instrument, though. There are no flaws whatsoever in its construction. It feels very solid.

Very solid construction.

I've been playing guitar for about 35 years. I started playing bass five years ago because I couldn't find a bass player who'd learn my bass parts for the shear satisfaction of playing on my CD. Then I really got into it. And I just had to have a fretless. I spent the 70's listening to Weather Report. Must have seen them ten times. So, I know a lot more about guitars than basses. But I do know that I get the sound and playability I want from the Carvin at a fraction of the price of any other neck-through bass.

1992 LB 75 FRETLESS FIVE STRING TWO PICKUPS ACTIVE CONTROLLS EBONY FINGERBOARD INLAYED FRETLINES this is a good bass for fretless styles. it is fundametally different than fretted basses. you must have impeccablly precise finger technique. active bass treble. pickup blend, master volume. plenty of variety available. this thing has limitations(it doesn't have frets) no slapping or poping(some poping but it sounds a bit thuddy). is not "ideal" for all styles. however, i play all styles on it and i am quite happy with its performance. it excels in jazz, latin, soft, rock, fusion, country, blues and progressive rock. other things include tilt back head stock and lockind tuners. plenty good! oh ya..... indestructible case too.

smooth, round and clear. well balanced, a little extra bass helps with most styles. it has that soft fretless "growl". fretless players(myself included) would call it the "true" tone/sound. fretless instriments generally lack top end brightness but the ebony and maple neck help here. the bottom is not as "focused" as fretted basses. but its plenty big enough. if you have good technique and can use the onboard pots and an EQ you'll be fine.
in a word "pleasing"

cariv does a respectable job at the factory i had to raise the action a little because i play dynamically, but the thing still has tight and low action and playabillity. carin stuff is allways well consructed. finish is durable. this thing is anabsolute pleasure to play. playing fretless demands a ton of discipline so you can't say its effortless but its great for a fretless

i said i play all styles and heavy and hard are included. this bass stands up to it all! works good in all situations(live, studio, jamin, whatever). it don't go out of tune or out of adjustment. i allways like to have a backup bass with frets to cover all bases. this black beauty will endure! O.K. the truth: the battery goes dead once in a while. keep a spare.

carvin is fine to deal with. i doubt it will need repairs(unless i do something stupid! i had a problem under warranty with something else i bought from carvin and went the extra mile to make it right.

I OWN A LOT OF GEAR! and this bass is an excellent addition. i played around alot with this bass at the music store where i bought it and i recomend you do the same. you can allways get a lemon from any manufacturer. if it got stolen i'd be crushed. and i'd buy another used one eventually. it is my favorite bass and for 400. it is a steal. its not perfect, but its close.

Five-string fretless bass, made 1990(?) in USA. Fretless ebony fingerboard w/ white lines (24 of them!), 34" scale, no inlays, marker dots on side of neck. Unique body style, wide but thin neck, long pointy headstock w/ 5 tuners in a line. Neck-thru-body construction of unknown woods, presume maple neck and alder body wings. Painted white finish. Two Carvin pickups in standard "J-bass" configuration. Active electronics include bass and treble boost switches, pickup "pan" pot, bass/treble cut and boost tone knobs. Bridge is adjustable for intonation, height, side-to-side position. Price included wooden hard shell case.

Nice, "dark" natural unamplified tone with the classic fretless "growl" and lots of sustain. Not as bright as the fretted basses I've owned, which meant it didn't fit well with the prog rock I was trying to play, and forget about slapping.

The pickups were low output; moderately bright, but lacked low bass when tone controls set flat, IMHO a cardinal sin on a 5-string! Flexible tone controls almost made up for that. Some slight hiss from electronics, not usually noticeable in performance situations. Roundwound strings are a bad choice for this bass; it finally started sounding better with D'Addario "Groundwounds", just before I sold it.

In summary, it didn't sound *bad*, it just didn't sound *good*. It was a struggle to get a tone I was really happy with.

The bass was well constructed and nicely set up when I brought it home from Carvin's Hollywood, CA store. Some string buzz was easily fixed by raising action slightly. Minor low/dead spot in fingerboard around 7th-10th "fret" position is the only thing keeping this axe from a "10" rating. Case was also well made.

Very solidly built with durable finish. Truss rod needed no adjustment during the 9 years I owned this axe, though I did play with it just before selling the axe to see if I could alleviate the low spot.

The only dependability issue is the battery life, as changing batteries requires removing the cover over the electronics, and I managed to lose a screw the last time I did this! Despite this concern, the bass never failed me on the few occasions I performed with it.

I wouldn't play this bass without a backup, but only because I suck on fretless! I need the security of those little metal bars in the neck...

5 year warranty standard, which I never used (though I should have tried to have them deal with the low spot in the fingerboard!).

I've been playing bass for some 30 years now. My style is/was primarily classic rock and prog rock; when I bought this bass I was looking to explore jazz styles. At the time I also owned a Peavey Patriot 4-string, a Peavey TNT 130 combo bass amp, and a guitar or two. I recently bought a new Carvin LB75 -- fretted this time -- review forthcoming after I get some more time on it.

This was my first fretless bass. I learned a lot from this instrument, unfortunately I never put in the time needed to become comfortable performing on fretless.

I loved the solid construction, the feel of the neck, the versatile tone controls.

I hated the headstock design, mostly because the G string tuner was waaaay out at the end of my reach! I was never happy with the tone, specifically the weak low bass; I wish I had compared the sound of this bass to other (non-Carvin) fretlesses before buying it. The non-standard pickups couldn't be replaced without re-routing the body. I was annoyed by the low spot on the fingerboard.

And ultimately I determined that a low B string on a fretless doesn't work for me.

Had it been stolen while I owned it, I would not have bought another one just like it. Some day I will buy another fretless, and I may buy another Carvin fretless, now that their pickups have improved -- but it won't have a low B string!