Carvin AE185

Mine is one of the early AE185s made. I got it back in the 90s. I mine is bright white, Spruce top and a koa neck and ebony finger board. Carvin Humbuckers. Fishman piezo(which I had to replace after 10 years).
24 Frets, 25" scale.

Electric sound:
No noise from the humbuckers but a little to harsh. When split there is just a little buzz. Lots of good combos. I find engaging the phase switch makes it sound lo-fi.

Acoustic sound:
It's a nice sound but definitely doesn't sound like a big acoustic.
Blending the electric & piezo gives you great rhythm guitar sound.

The action was horrible when it arrived. Since this was the most expensive item I had ever bought at the time I took it to Roger Sadowsky's shop in NYC and they got the intonation to be as perfect as perfect can be, they reshaped the bridge bone where it almost looks like an custom Earvana nut. I think strings may eat the fret wire.

The koa neck feels outstanding and the smooth neck/heal transition is truly amazing.

I went for bright white. It's a beautiful guitar to look at.

The circuit board and/or the piezo died. I had to take it to a shop. I know the guy didn't enjoy working on it --it's a complex set-up and I'm not sure calling Carvin for help was a fun experience. :-) Carvin charged me for the replacement piezo.

I have gigged with no issues accept you don't to ding up an expensive guitar. I've played without a back-up because I live dangerously. This is a pretty delicate gutiar so if you treat it gently it should be fine.
But do expect circuit board issues.

I was shocked by their attitude. I guess cause I wasn't expecting them not to give a ****. I guess it also depends who answers the phone.
Basically, I think they know building a great custom guitar yourself will cost you a little more so they'll have business. They shouldn't take this for granted in this economy. IMHO, they should kiss their customer's asses. It all about the customer.

I've been playing about 21 years. This guitar is a fantastic rhythm guitar for singers. I wanted something light that I could play for 3 hours if need be. It's outstanding in that regard. Locking tuners are a must for me now. I also enjoy being able to play this thing unplugged to noodle around on the couch. I also love that IT'S SO LIGHT.

I greatly dislike the scale. I'm a Strat guy. 25.5" should be an option. Also, why have 24 frets on a hybrid??? My fingers are too fat to play way high on this. Its almost like mandolin frets up there.

I should note that you can rock out on this. It may not have the sustain and it's hard to bend on but it does sound like an electric, perhaps a little E335-esque.

Like Joe Walsh Says" I don't know anywhere you can order a Guitar the way you want it for a fair price and receive it in less than 7 weeks!I ordered my Carvin guitar after several weeks of research and listening to the demo cd.I ordered the AE185 with an umber stain on a flamed maple top with body binding, stainless medium jumbo frets,an ebony fretboard with Abalone dots and cream benzels with black & cream pickup covers!!I requested that the mahogany for the neck & body be the same tone as the umber stained top!Kudos, it looks killer!I also ordered the california carved top headstock which adds a modern look to this singlecut layout.Gold hardware adds a bit of class to this package and the gold carvin logo looks good on the headstock!

This is were the AE185 really shines.I have been playing 25+ years and am not easily impressed, there is no honeymoon period, the guitar either inspires me or "Not". Within the first hour , I can tell if I'm going to sell or keep a new guitar and I plan on keeping the AE185 for a very long time!I have been floored everytime I pick this guitar up.I have been running the guitar into a Carbon Copy pedal and then into a Fender G-Dec 30 and into an Avatar 2/12" "special" cabinet, the sounds are incredable.

The Carvin AE185 had absolutly no flaws in either the finish or setup and my playing has gone up another level because of the setup and action.

I have had 3 other Carvins over the last 10 years and have had "No" issues with any of them.

I read several negative reviews regarding the customer service staff.I had absolutly no problems and actually received the guitar 1& 1/2 weeks early!

8 years ago I ordered a "Custom" guitar from a well known builder in Louisiana.I paid almost the same price as the Carvin and the guitar had about 1/3 of the options.Carvin is truly amazing,outstanding quality and playability for an unheard of price.I will buy again!

all mentioned - the bridge is/was my only concern w/ this guitar. Time will tell.

my set up is pretty much stock except for stainless frets, different pups and dunlop strap locks

It is pretty good on both. I got their brightest pups (i forget the name) and they sound pretty good. The acoustic side isn;t that bad at all. Yeah yeah, it's not a full bodied sound - but 90% of the time when I hear acoustics live they sound like *** anyway. At least this way you are playing something comfy. I have a hard time playing acoustics. It's a circulatory issue. My hands go numb when I play an acoustic. They still go numb on this but it's more manageable. I also use this as a back-up for electric gigs.

my first carvin. i was impressed. plays very nice. feels very solid. neck is smoooooth

i will write back in a few years, but it feels solid

I gotta say I've been getting carvin catalogs since I was a kid and pretty much ignored them because buying a guitar you can't play first is like marring a chick you don;t know. (and my life NEVER works out like the movies!!) furthermore, waiting several months to realize if you like something is a drag as well. they should have tester models they ship to you to fidddle w/. I would have paid shipping to check one out. I only went w/ this gtr out of desperation - nothing quite like it on the market (well, there are a few but I hated ALL of them.).
their web site bugs me too. So I can;t play it before I buy it - but this guitar has been around for a long time. the fact they don't have pics of EVERY conceivable set up is COMPLETELY unacceptable. Even a flash thing where you can build/see your guitar. I got a black guitar w/ no fret markers and a black logo thinking it would look cool (c'mon, it's black). it doesn;t. now i'm stuck w/ it. . . and 10 days to see if you like something is WAY too short!!
Ok - now for my gripes w/ personnel. The guy who sold me the guitar was obnoxious, arrogant and pushy. I almost hung up right away. When I received the guitar the pup selector made LOUD pops. so I called and they said they would send me a new one (I would have to install myself - that pissed me off) but 2 e-mails later, it's been several weeks and I have not received the part. Every time I call they are out to lunch or busy. I am VERY disappointed in this.

I think you would really have to want a guitar to go through all this crap. Yeah they offer sorta-custom guitars at a reasonable price, but they are a hassle to get. I am really particular about my instruments. I mod almost everyone I get - I was hoping to really dig this experience so I could get more. I really had my eye on a bolt plus, but i'm skeptical now.

others say they have had a good experience w/ them. fwiw the guitar itself is nice. I have no issues w/ that, but call me old fashioned, I feel like I got screwed in all of this. I may not go back on principal. . . we'll see

Mine is flamed maple top, birdseye maple fretboard, mahogany back and sides with binding. Graphtech nut, Tusq saddle, ebony bridge. Love those Sperzels. Carvin c22 humbuckers, L R Baggs acoustic pick-up. Coil taps, phase switch, blend pot for elec/acoustic, tone and volume controls.

I've waited a year to write this review, so I would know the guitar. Acoustic. No as full sounding as a fullsized acoustic, but nice sounding once you've taken the time to experiment with it. I like to blend a little single coil into the acoustic. One great thing is the lack of feedback. Electric. Nice and bright. Low noise when in humbucker mode, bit noisey in single coil. Very reponsive pick-ups. Not a "metal" guitar, but covers most other types of music well to very well.

The action, as it should be with a true acoustic bridge, is of course higher than most electrics. I have no problem with this, as most astute purchasers I think would see this as a rhythm guitar. Anyone who buys an axe with a true acoustic bridge and acoustic style neck expecting a "shredders" action, hasn't really done their research, have they. The finish is faultless, this is a truly beautiful looking instrument. I always have people asking me about it after gigs.

Gigged with it for a year, still looks like new. No problems thus far.

Bought from the NZ agent, so haven't dealt with Carvin.

While there are better electrics, and better acoustics out there, this will do both jobs very well. It excels in some areas, and is adequate in others. When you take the price into account, I rate it highly. I would buy another one without hesitation.

made in USA, 24 frets, quilt maple top, 3 way toggle switch, dual to single coil switches, phase switch, piezo underneath saddle, active treble boost and cut for acoustic and electric aspects of this guitar, non-adjustable acoustic style bridge, Carvin M22 pickups, mahogany body and neck, neck-thru , sperzel locking tuning pegs, medium frets

The guitar sounds fine with a lot of distortion but then again that can be said about many guitars. The Carvin pickups sound very thin and tinny. The guitar has a lot of sound options but all of them are are too bright and thin and tinny when on a clean setting. I have a $350 Ibanez that sounds way fatter than this $1400 Carvin. I'd rather own a guitar that does a few things really well as opposed to many things half assed.

This guitar is a hybrid which means that it's essentially an electric guitar that can get acoustic sounds as well because of having a piezo underneath the bridge. There are a good number of hybrids on the market these days and to me this one ranks pretty low. I don't know what possessed Carvin to go with an acoustic style non-adjustable bridge on this guitar. The action is way high. Like that of most acoustics. The guitar ends up not being played all that much because my other guitars have adjustable bridges that I can adjust for ease of play. Combine the action with the fact that the guitar has a big, fat neck and it makes for an electric that certainly is not meant for rippin'.

I've had plenty of bad luck with my Carvin gear. I had a mini PA that had a power transformer go after only 2.5 years of very infrequent use. As for my AE185, it doesn't get used all that often and has had several problems. The battery compartment broke when i was changing a battery. The acoustic pickup didn't pick up the high E string for a while so that needed to be fixed. The guitar fell down from my guitar stand at one point and the neck got a very deep crack and needed to be fixed.

When the neck got a deep crack I called them asking them what to do and they told me to throw the guitar into the garbage. $1400 dollar guitar and they tell me to just throw it away and buy another one. Thanks idiots! Plus they never play ball with local repair personnel. They want all the repair work themselves. They expect you to eat shipping to and from CA. They do not send parts to local repair people for repairs. Mention Carvin to a local repair guy and watch them roll their eyes in disgust. When my Mini PA had a power transformer die after only 2.5 years of slight use they only offered a slight discount on a new one. Why would I want a new one when my old one had problems with only occasional use?

It has high action and a really fat neck. It has had a bunch of problems despite only being played once in a while. Miserable guitar. They say they're cheaper than other companies because they're factory direct but their prices are very high. I've had more fun playing a $400 Ibanez than this guitar. The Ibanez has great action, fatter pickups and a much, much faster neck. People create a custom guitar because they want something that's better than what's in their local music store. This guitar is far worse than what you find in the local store and it costs a lot more than most guitars (mine was$1400). I think that even if Carvin wanted to be in the local stores they wouldn't be welcome because of all the problems associated with their lousy products.

AE185. Not what I ordered.

Sounded nice after the chunk of yellow polishing compound fell out of the f-hole.

The guitar would not stay in tune whatsoever. Nice action. They should try a multiple compound radius neck like a Warmoth.

Sent it back for a refund. I'm sure they have some nice stuff but I wouldn't buy from them again.

Hippies

I order a Koa flame top (go to carvinmuseum.com, click on in-stock archive, do a search for a 185 Koa flame, then look at plain Koa. Quite a difference). I actually pick out the wood top that I like at the carvinmuseum.com. Flamed Koa "up and down flames" was written on the order sheet which is supposed to travel with the guitar during construction. What showed up was Figured Koa. The headstock was flamed Koa and the color didn't match the body. Finish was nice except for one flaw on the body. I was going to have them fix the headstock so the body would match, but than I played the guitar. It would not stay in tune. New strings, not in tune. It really reminded me of a 149.00 guitar. This was never going to be acceptable. Advice for Carvin 1) When you use a cardboard case for a bass guitar to ship a six string guitar, pack the empty 10 inches or so of the box with newspaper so the guitar case won't be smacked all over(my guitar case was actually bent when you would open the lid, it would pop over to one side). 2) Hire people that can read more that a three letter word (maybe from "KOA" to "FLAMED KOA". If you didn't have flamed Koa, you should have called me. You had my number. 3) The big picture - I can't believe that out of everyone that saw this guitar go out the door, no one noticed the headstock and the body didn't match and say "hey, that looks like crap". 4)Remove all polishing compound from the inside of your guitars before you ship them. 5) Fix the inherent bridge problem this model has(a higher quality bridge with an adjustable intonation).
6) A nice touch would be to counter sink the string Ferrules flush.

They did refund my money fairly quickly though.

Plenty of tone variation available. Using the "acoustic" pickup and combining with the humbuckers via the round selector you can get a wide range of tone before even adjusting the actual tone controls. Also split coil switches on both humbuckers.

For lighter rock, country, jazzy styles this is a great ax. I use it for praise and worship music and it never fails to amaze with its tonality.

Action is low, but I use a bit heavier strings to make the acoustic sounds more full, this holds it back some on the rock/electric side.

Been used live for 10 years. Always solid, never a problem.

Yes phone support was needed once for a minor issue I could not figure out. They were responsive,and I was able to repair it myself. ( battery plug was the issue)

PLaying 40+ yrs. Own Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Yamaha, Takamine. This is one of the most versatile guitars I have ever owned, and would be seriously missed if it was gone. My favorite feature is the acoustic fishman transducer, which on this thin body still gives a very strong acoutsic guitar sound thru the amp.. I use a Boss GT6 effects unit and set it up for acoustic sounds on two pedals, these add to the sweetness of this Carvin.

My third review for the same guitar, already in the database

I play in a band and the sound is good in some situations. In other situations it can't be heard. It depends on how loud the band is.

set-up was fine. Everything was fine but changed over time. The root cause of the problem is the tweed guitar case that came with the guitar, explained in next section.

Over time my neck warped into an "S" shape and I took it to Wilcutt's in Lexington. The base E string was buzzing real bad. This guitar is two octaves in the clear without bridge adjustment -- hence not a lot to work with.

Bob straightened it up by steaming the neck where it joins the body. He got it perfect. He also put in a bone saddle. This is the best my guitar has ever sounded.

I'm using 9 gage strings. He changed the strings over to something a little stiffer, but I'm still using 9 gage.

He told me my guitar case lacked neck support, and I needed to make adjustments. So I filled in the loose spots with foam rubber and pads.

I think it's a keeper. I still get some miscellaneous static sounds every once in a while from the jack connection.

The neck action is low and even. Carvin should sell a better case for this guitar.

My AE185 guitar has great features. Koa Neck, satin finish on back of the neck, twho humbuckers you can split or set out of phase, a piezo pickup under the bridge. The Sperzel locking tuners are fast when changing strings and helps to keep the guitar in tune.

I bought this when they first came out. At that time I was doing a lot of solo acoustic type gigs and rhthym guitar. Then is was really nice. No, it doesn't sound like a Taylor acoustic but is a pretty, warm tone. For soloing on the electric side, the humbuckers produce zero buzz. However, because it's a hollow body it has very little sustain. I think it a perfect rhythm guitar and it's so light you can play for hours without strain.

This guitars' biggest flaw is that normal strings eat the frets away. The fret wire is like play-doh. B String 2nd fret is totally worn, I can play D chord anymore for the intonation is off. I had it set up when I got it and when you spend a LOT of money on a guitar the fret wire should hold up better than my budget Ibanez.
Another problem I have is I'm not sure the battery powers anything anymore. The shielding is great but I may have some wire issues.
Also, I wish they'd make a 25.5" scale option on this model. This Les Paul scale doesn't do it for me.
The knobs, tuners, wood are seem top shelf.

Having battery issues. Frets are wearing away FAST.

If the frets held up and the battery compartment worked I would give this a high over-all mark. The fret thing is a big deal because the intonation is now off.
Everything else is pretty amazing.

I got it "painted black." There was a miss on the inside of the f-hole, but otherwise, the finish is flawless and beautifully black.

This is the tele semi-hollow body. String through body.
Locking tuners, which I am getting used to.

I got the full electrics set up - two humbuckers with coil taps and a phase switch. The peizo pick up in the bridge. A notched blending knob. All knobs are helpfully notched, so you aren't guessing where you are.

I love the sound this guitar makes. However, it is not a guitar that does everything. Don't dump your ES-335 or SG. While I am told it does not sound exactly like a Telecaster, that is the family where it lives. This means that all sounds are on the trebly side, even when you have dialed in the electric pick ups only and both are set to hum bucking.

However, it is a rich and varied treble voice, ideal for fitting into a band. The option of splitting the sound is wonderful. I am using a Fender Deluxe Reverb, and sent the electric out through a Boss Blues pedal and the acoustic out through a Boss Chorus, each to a different channel. I also sometimes send the acoustic side to my pa. The possibilities, while hardly endless, are extremely varied, and consistently delightful.

As someone told me, the challenge with this guitar is to avoid spending 100% of your time tweaking to get a 5% incremental change in your sound. I found my home setting - neck pick up set as hum bucker, bridge as single coil, with the blend halfway between the peizo and the other pickups. Kick in the phaser when I want a honky sort of sound that has a great rawness to it. Use the pedals when appropriate. This is a phenomenally versatile rhythm, second lead guitar.

I will rate it 9 only because I don't hear this as a real jazz box. It is just too bright. Trot out the 335 (or in my case, the Washburn HB30)

The action and the neck are dizzyingly delightful. I join others in relating that I am playing things inspired by the feel.

The locking tuners are strangely slippery. That is, I have to use the locks to pin down the string, being careful to just barely do so at first, then use the tuner keys to fine tune, then finally fully engage the locks. I still find the tuning wandering a bit. But I think it could be a matter of me learning how to use them well.

I will give this a nine, too, if only for degree of difficulty. Keep in mind it could say as much about my limitations as about the guitar.

I have had this only a month. My impression is that it will be reasonably durable.

No experience as yet.

I have been playing since my pre-teen years, so for four decades. This Carvin joins my 1965 Gibson Melody Maker with its two unique single coil pickups, and my Washburn HB 30 with its humbuckers to round out my family of electrics. While the Gibson has some historical interest, and both are workmanlike guitars, neither compares in quality with this Carvin AE185.

I am looking forward to more time playing with others, because that is when I expect it to shine. It is not the strongest choice for a singer-songwriter solo gig, and as I said before, I will break out the Washburn to accompany jazz or standards, but if the tunes rock or twang, this guitar will certainly be my choice.