Carvin AE185

Bought my AE185 slightly used 2 years ago. Blue quilted maple body, color matched reverse in-line headstock, abalone dot birdseye maple fretboard, picked up the case with it. Two coiltapped humbuckers with piezo, phase switch, twin outs for amp and PA (acoustic piezo).
Suh-weet looking axe. Not a mark on it.

I play mostly rock and blues. Run it through a Line 6 Flextone II XL right now. I'm trying to save up the small fortune for a Boogie Lonestar Special. The single coil sounds don't strike me as being quite as musical and full as my Mexican Fat Strat, but they have a tone. The humbuckers seem to get crunchy quicker than my Fat Strat, but hey, the Strat is probably a fairly low resistance set of pickups. Generally I'm running drive, distortion and delay on leads and trying to get it to sing. It will. I think part of my problem is my settings got knocked out of whack at a gig last month and I haven't had the time to dial everything back in yet. Back off the dimed volume and the crunch still cleans up. Kind of nice being able to mix the piezo into the tone. Haven't set up to run the piezo through our Mackie PA yet. Just blend and go. Are the pickups "all that"? No. Are they crap? No. actually, they are fairly decent. I have some scratchiness from a dirty volume pot. Yes, I've gotta clean up the pot. My bad for not knocking it down and dealing with it. The hollowbody allows more breathing to the sound which I really like. Definitely a different tone from a Casino or a 335, but probably because it doesn't have the cavity size they have to work with. Great sustain. I can hold a note a lot longer than my partner's USA tele will. I think I'll like it better with a better amp. That's my gameplan.

I gave this guitar a fairly good once over before buying it. Surprisingly, it looked pretty clean. Since then I've noticed something that bugs me. You have to pay attention to the bridge when changing strings. Make sure you tap it back into a completely upright position, because if you don't, you're intonation will get a little screwed up. It seems it wants to sag towards the the nut when I tighten the strings up. Does it bug me? Yeah, but now that I know, it isn't a problem. I stick the .010-.046 Elixers on and repeatedly tap during installation. Practice is ~20 miles away, and during the cold weather this thin still holds tone. My Strat is all over the place until it warms up. This one barely needs to be touched. Other than that, the birdseye maple fretboard seems a little sharp on the edges, but not really too bad. Could they have cleaned it up better? Yeah. Is it that bad? No. Frets are good, no buzz, action is fairly low. I might shave the bridge a little to lower it some more, but really it isn't necessary. Just my preference. Pretty well set up from the get-go.

I had a battery quit on me during a gig. Weirdest thing I ever experienced--I thought the jack was fried the way it was cutting out. I had a battery in my case, but didn't think that was the problem based on the way it was acting. Besides, I didn't think the passive humbuckers would go away if the battery died! You won't get squat out of this guitar without a good battery!! Carry spares, and make sure it's the first thing you swap out in an emergency! Since then I haven't played it live. But I've been practicing with my band more and more with it lately. It's kind of growing on me. I was thinking of selling it to help finance a new amp, but I think I'd miss it. Nope, I'm keepin' it. The strap buttons loosen up all the time. I have to tighten them every time I play. Need to address that as well, but hey, my Strat's buttons loosen up just as much. Good thing I carry a tool set in my gig bag. The bridge likes to fall out, but that's normal for a piezo bridge. Same thing happens with my Takamine A/E.

Never contacted Carvin other than to ask questions about what I had. Never had to deal with them on a guitar-threatening issue. The emailed questions I sent were answered in about three days. Not bad, but if I had a serious problem, maybe not good enough for a response.
I've got no opinion on this, just that Customer Service can make or break a music company. All manufacturers should keep that in mind.

I've been playing (again) for about 5 years after taking a 20 year break to raise children. I've got this guitar, a Mexican Fat Strat, a Yamaha 12 string acoustic with a transducer pickup, and a Takamine A/E. I'm moving back towards analog signal chain when my wife says I can afford it. Something about fixing the house and getting my kids through college seems to keep coming up as an obstacle. The one guitar I wish I had back is my old '63 Gibson SG, complete with the whammy bar. But the AE185 is actually far superior to that guitar.
I love the way it looks. It plays like butter. Plenty of tonal options. 40+ year old axes can't do that.

Left hand, plain white, black headstock, gold hardware, coil splits and phase, otherwise "standard". See carvin.com for stock and options.

It was actually really confusing when I first bought it. Too many knobs and switches, but once you learn what everything does it's fine. Won't play without a battery and a jack in the main outlet. There is a switch on that jack that turns on the preamp.

Note I am in Australia. The price quoted does not include shipping.

I bought the guitar on ebay very second hand just to see what carvins are like. I had intended to move it on and buy a DC127 or similar. Trouble is I seriously like it, so now I am probably going to keep it. It has a really punchy attack, plenty of sustain, lots of high frequency. It lacks harmonics, and other AE185 owners have suggested this to me. I prefer Fender sounds and don't like the typical Les Paul Std sound at all (LP with ebony fretboard I do like). The Carvin does a very good telecaster, plus offers humbucking so you can get a tele deluxe sound. The phase gives a punchy gritty funky sound. Add the accoustic pickup and as everyone else has said it's stupidly versatile. It is no use having 1000 sounds if they all suck. I REALLY like what it offers. I ahven't tried tons of distortion as I usually don't play that way, but the clean sounds are really good. 9 is only for the lack of bell like harmonics...

Bought very secondhand. Paint chips, fretwear and it's taking a while to deal with the shift to ultra high humidity so I have fret buzz. I am confident it will settle. Arguably the best finished and built guitar I have owned in 30 years of playing. Gold is starting to go off as it does. If you bought a new one and looked after it I am sure it'd last as well as any guitar. I have seen Gobsons that retail at 3 times the price of this that are much less well built. Of course IMO gibsons are the worst value for money guitars around so...

100% confident that it'd handle anything short of a Hendrix/Townsend incident.

They don't sell direct overseas and the dealer prices are too high. I have emailed them and got some info.

This is my first Carvin. I am prepared to believe they make the odd bad guitar and mess up customer service, but this instrument is wonderful and I will buy another, maybe several, on ebay etc. If I get a dud I'll just sell it on. In my opinion they are the best value guitars I have ever seen, and even more so secondhand. I think the extra you pay over say a japanese/mex fender, epiphone or no name korean is really well spent. They are unquestionably better than say an American std strat and signifigantly cheaper for a bolt/dc127 etc.

Before you order a custom new Carvin maybe dip your toe with a second hand one, that way you can move it on if you don't like it. Or just go for it. They will take returns and refund your money. I have read that if you talk to them (and be civil) they will extend the 10 day thing sometimes, and also negotiate addressing your issues.

I already gave this guitar a review two years ago,the description is there:

My AE-185 was custom made in 2005 in the San Diego custom shop.
I paid $1134.
24 frets, standard neck and body construction.
Spruce top, pearl white finish.
All electronics options included.
I opted for black Holdsworth pick-ups (the Janotti set-up).
Standard baggs ribbon under the saddle.
Gold hardware.
Stainless medium jumbo frets.
Tung oil finish on back of neck, abalone dot inlays on ebony fretboard.
Thinline body style (standard) with tortoise body binding.
Dunlop strap locks.

It suits my sound just fine. Think "telecaster +". Sweet tone, good sustain, and a decent amount of punch when the coil taps are set right and phase reverse is on. I didn't go with the standard pickups. I used the Holdsworths instead.

I've been playing in a band with a Marshall DSL 400 super lead valve amp. Nice combo. Puts out a nice vibe. Looks are pretty flashy too -- gold, pearl, and black on both amp and guitar.

I have a few extraneous static sounds on start-up, hence I rate it 9 for not being perfectly clean. It smooths out in a few seconds. I don't know if the amp is part of the problem.

Otherwise the guitar creates the sound I want - a telecaster that's suited for rock, country, blues, and jazz. Without the miscellaneous sounds I rate it a 9+. I got better cables and that helped soem.

Set-up was about perfect from the factory, but I was getting a very small amount of fret buzz on the base E string. Over time this got worse.

Recently (after 2 years of use)I took it to a local luthier (one of the best in our state). The frets were high where the neck joins the guitar. Carvin claims they stabalize the neck wood before putting it in a guitar.

The luthier fixed it up. The action is a little higher now but the sound got better. The luthier said the neck was squirrely to work with, but it's good now. Some of the Nashville artists let her do their work.

It's still easy to play, but not like when I first got it.

I can depend on it in a gig, but I've always had a few electronics annoyances. I don't know if the amp is part of the problem.

They helped back when I bought the guitar new.

I haven't made my final decision on whether this guitar is a keeper for life because of reliability issues. I really like the sound. It plays easy. It looks good.

Will it stay that way?

Transparent Flamed Maple top on mahogany, ebony fretboard with no inlays, black hardware, C-22 pickups, Active electronics with coil taps and phase reverse, locking tuners. It's got a boost/cut on both the pickups and the piezo and the standard dual-output which is very handy. This is thing went into the oven with tons of awesome ingredients and came out looking like a ferrari. The quality of the materials and components is exceptional.

I play everything from classical guitar to Helloween and this thing can do it all. The trick is you have to be a little adaptive and willing to get to know it. Honestly, when I first got this guitar, I thought maybe I'd shoulda spent the money elsewhere... I had a hard time finding its mojo. I have a Custom Strat, a Rickenbacker 360, a goldtop Les Paul, a hotrodded Tele and a Bluesbird and a few others... and I, like a lot of people, was expecting this guitar to fill their shoes. At first I was disappointed because it certainly didn't. And then I spent more time with it. With the exception of the bell-tone of a strat neck pickup, this guitar and these hands (now) can pretty much do anything I'd want to do on any of my other guitars. It's got loads of sustain, a very musical and expressive voice, and thanks to the blending pot, can produce tons of NEW tones!! The piezo alone is worth the money since you get a great acoustic sound (through an A/E amp or PA) and there's zero feedback.

This guitar was absolutely flawless. Of the 30+ guitars that I've owned in my time, this one was absolutely built the best. If you consider the selection of materials and components as ingredients in a recipe, regardless of the opinion of the final product (sound), the execution was superb.

The entire axe is premium quality, built very solid and roadworthy.

Never had to call 'em.

I've been playing for 17 years and I'm down to 13 guitars... I've gotten rid of over 20 guitars, some of which I regret. This guitar will never leave me. It's my do-everything guitar that fits right, hangs right, feels right, and sounds right. If this guitar had a magical tremolo that would enable it to maintain it's sustain, tuning (this guitar never goes out of tune!) and unique voicing, it would be perfect. If you consider what you're getting, the price is a pittance to pay. You can't touch this kind of craftsmanship for less than double the price elsewhere. I hope to God Carvin continues to do business without the expensive middle-man, since I'm buying all of my future guitars from them!!

Options custom......cedar top, birdseye maple fretboard, sunset burst, tortoise binding, tuxedo look (cream bezel, cream and black pickups), standard pups plus LR BAggs piezo, phase and coil taps, locking Sperzels,

gonna be a long time discovering all the sound possibilities..... acoustic sound is OK, electric is the better of the two (duh!).....cool sound when dual outputing (electric to amp, acoustic to PA)...some switch noise on the phase shift selector

no visible flaws, period.

some question about switches, have to cycle the phase switch some times, with crackle until cycled.....pickup toggle switch seems flimsy

no idea

owned gear for 35 years, serious player last five years....own Taylor and Goodall acoustics, Fender Strat HT, 1973 Hagstrom double F-hole semi hollow body. neck playability is excellent, the sunset burst color is darker than my mental image, but it's very good looking

2006 semi-hollowbody. Neck through construction. 24 medium jumbo frets. LR Baggs ribbon transducer along with a C22N humbucker in the neck position and a C22B humbucker in the bridge position. Active electronics with master volume, 3-way selector, seperate active tones, blend potentiometer and duel outputs. Sperzel locking tuners. Ebony TUSC acoustic bridge. Blue quilted AAAA maple with gloss finish. The guitar came with a tweed hard-shell case.

I play rock, blues, country, classical, praise & worship, and anything else that catches my ear. I am currently plugging directly into a Carvin AG100D with no other effects.

The sound is the best I have come across in some time, especially in this price range. The electric tone is warm and full. The acoustic side is actually very good - better than I expected it to be. The blend pot allows for mixing the electric and acoustic sounds, which is really cool!

The Guitar arrived with the setup & intonation dead on. From what I can see the construction is perfect. (Believe me, I went over it with a magnifying glass) The paint job is great but not perfect - I found a small blemish on the back, about the size of a small pea. It wasn't a big enough problem to send it back. For that small blemish I'll rate this section a 9.

The guitar has a very solid feel to it. The glossy finish seems like it could withstand heavy use. I don't gig anywhere so I can't say anything about that. I would be willing to leave this guitar sitting out of the case around my 4 year-old son. (That's a tougher scenario than you might think.) It's a hollow guitar, so I'll give it a 9 for this section.

I called Carvin's customer support when the guitar first arrived because I was having trouble getting sound out of the acoustic side (my fault, not the guitar's). The customer support guy was less than completely helpful. In fact, he actually gave me some incorrect information about the guitar. (He told me the blend pot would only work with two cables connected to the guitar, which isn't true at all).

I have called Carvin's customer support several times over the years and for the most part they are pretty good. I guess no company is perfect these days...

I have played guitar for over 30 years. In that time I have owned more guitars, amps, and effects than I care to admit. If this guitar was stolen I would hunt the thieves down like vermin, then I would either get this guitar back or buy another one. I didn't compare the guitar to any others because I live too far away from a Carvin store.

The bottom line is that the AE185 is a sweet guitar with tons of features and an incredibly versatile sound. The guitar is a super value for the money.

2005 hollowbody. 24 frets and a 3 way selector switch. Double Carvin C-22 humbuckers with active electronics, pretty sure its an all maple body with rosewood fingerboard (mother-of-pearl block inlays). Regular all black finish and SPERZEL LOCKING TUNERS, which were a big plus. Came with a nice Carvin hard-shell case. Would have been perfect if I had bought it new.

I play almost all rock of all different kinds with some Eric Clapton style blues-rock and the occasional harder songs and very little punk. I play straight through a Carvin SX-100 amp(man it is great) and sometimes with a Line6 distortion pedal. I was doubtful if a hollowbody could give me the kind of rock sound I wanted, though knowing Carvin I was sure it would have many other benefits, and the price was low so I could resell if not satisfied.

BUT IT BLEW MY MIND. This thing has this wonderful tough overdrive, slightly brassy on the low notes (which I love) but gritty hard and strong. Its extremely quiet and can really nail both rock lead and rythm riffs. It sounds really good on the lower frets. That said, it is also VERY versatile and can get some really sweet blues/Dire Straits type rock going on with a flip of a switch. Also a beautiful, full, acoustic sound.

Carvin is famous for its fit/finish but I found this guitar lacking. The construction was great, very solid and well intonated, but I thought that the black paint job left alot to be desired. Though solid, its not glossy, kinda dull, and seems to not really show what Carvin guitars can be. The neck inlays are sweet though, and all the hardware is top-notch.

Oh I am certain it can withstand hard live playing for a long time. Everything on it is very solid, and the strap-locks are great. Its very dependable. I gig with a back-up though, just in case. Finish is strong, if dull. I give it a 9 because hollow-bodies in general aren't your pure durability guitars. It probably wouldnt be able to take a heavy blow, but hey, who expects that?

I got it used.

I have been playing for about 3 years now, am gigging actively and love the improv solos I can get on this thing. I also own a Gibson SG for a little while (borrowed) and an Schecter Omen 6. If it were stolen, I would buy another, then steal the thief's car. I am planning on buying a new one from Carvin soon, with a cooler looking and more impressive finish (maybe red or sunburst), but everything else stays EXACTLY the same. I compared this guitar's sweet overdrive to a LP Special, and though the LP was great in its own way, I really liked the AE's better. The LP can't really get gritty, it's almost always pure without screwing with the amp too much. Plus this guitar is more versatile and has more features.

I have an AE 185 that I ordered back in 1996, made in the factory U.S.A. It has 24 frets, it's a semi hollow body (like Tele), 2 Carvin buckers (I had the "hot" pick up M22SD? installed at the bridge position), and it has the Piezo? under the saddle. Active electronics, never can remember what they all do just leave them all up. Has master volume, tone for both pick ups, and a knob for the Piezo accoustic pick up, really let's you dial in and mix the sounds. You have to order the case with it, it's a sturdy plywood job nicely lined inside, tweed outside.

This guitar has worked very well for me. I play rock, blues, country, and spent many years playing with a latin group that was into all sorts of eclectic sounds. I use the Carvin Bel Air 212 amplifier. The guitar is not prone to noise (unlike my MIM Strat). It has a bright sound, thin sometimes, but with the right effects you can dial in a whole lot of sounds. In the hands of a virtuoso (which I am not) I am sure it would be capable of a full range of sounds and work well with many styles-probably not METAL though. I always use regular slinkys classic nickel 46-10.

Carvin brags about their fit and finish in their ads, and I have to say for this guitar it has been true. It came set up perfectly, intonation, action, etc. However, there were small flaws finish wise-they left a piece of masking tape inside the body, slight overspray on the f hole binding, an almost imperceptible run of clear finish on the back of the neck near the nut. Other than that it is absolutely gorgeous. Carvin makes their guitars to your specs, and it is an absolute thrill to open the case for the first time and see your custom guitar! Ala Tom Petty "The waiting is, the hardest part" because it takes eight or ten weeks to be built.

I played in more honky tonks and absolute hole in the wall bars than I can remember, outdoor festivals, hundreds of rehearsals, trucked it around in the back of the equipment van, in the heat and the cold, rain or shine, and it has held up better than I could have dreamed of. Don't get me wrong, I take care of it-never let it get too much heat or cold and I watch the humidity-but I don't baby it and it has held up remarkably well. The gold hardware plating on the gnurled knobs has worn off, but what do you want after ten years? I am proud that I played enough to wear that plating away! The finish is holding up very well, I have knocked it up a bit but any finish flaws now are because of my carelesness, not from poor workmanship. I replaced the strap buttons with the locking type, the pick up selector switch wore out and I replaced it, the battery needs to be replaced several times a year depending on use. I gigged all the time without a back up and never had a problem. That is usually a matter of checking your axe out before the show-which all us players do right? By the way the neck is great with it's ebony fingerboard, great action and straight! I usually adjust it twice a year, in summer when the humidity increases, and again in the winter as it gets drier.

I have to agree with most of the reviews on Carvin customer service within these pages, some folks are helpful and some are not. Depends on who you talk to and how you talk to them. Have only dealt with them a few times and it was about amplifier questions not about the guitar.

I have been playing forty years! I have had Les Paul, Strat, etc. This is one of my favorite guitars. It is a very light guitar so I think that is why it sometimes sounds "thin", but I remember the Paul was so heavy it hurt my neck. My favorite feature is the through the body solid neck-probably why it doesn't warp or go out of tune. Sperzel tuners are cool too. I would most definitely replace it, of course it has great sentimental value now and you can't replace that. Death to tyrants and guitar thieves! Carvin sort of touts that this guitar goes from electric to acoustic sounding, and that is true, However, keep in mind that it sounds like an acoustic electric guitar i.e hollow body electric or Tele type sounds when you go to the acoustic pick up. It will not sound like a jumbo body steel string acoustic. If you are an intermediate or professional player this is a great guitar for the money and you can have it built and finished to your specs with a money back gaurantee.

This Guitar was made April 2005 in Carvins San Diego factory. It has a perfect KOA top and tung oiled neck. It has a master vol. and a tone control for each of the acoustic & elec. set-ups & a blend pot. It has active pickups & a ribbon transducer under the bridge. It came with sperzel locking tuners, which is a first for me, this is a super set-up. THe only drawback is a non-adjustable bridge due to the acoustic set-up BUT the intonation is dead-on. Guitar came with .010 Elixer strings & carvins tech guy said as long as I keep the same guage strings I should have no problem. It has 2 out puts 1 each for acoustic or elec. or they can be blended or isolated. It came with med. jumbo frets & they agreed w/ me in about 8 seconds.

This guy is now my main axe in my praise & worship team, & it does more than I could ask due to it's versatility. I am the only guitar in this group & our style runs from very acoustic ballads to heavy christion ROCK. I use a MESA Lone Star special on the elec. side & a Fender acoustasonic II on the acoustic side. I use several pedals. a Boss GE7 eq a Boss Phaser a Boss tremolo and Boss Chorus & Delay & a vol. pedal through the efx. loop. on the acoustic side I use a Boss AD 8 processor & I put a micro sw. on the vol. pedal to turn the acoustic side on & off. So now I can go from any mode to any mode instantly.This guitar is as quiet as they come in most venues, except in 1 of churches but that is due to the lighting. My Boss NS 1 Fixes it there. It has a bright sound when I eq it up but I can get an almost Les Paul sound from it. Keep in mind that the amp I use is a tough act to follow. It has great sustain plays as clean as you can get but is articulate as well with any amount of distortion.

The factory set up was perfect. it needed no adjustment whatsoever. the finish is bookmatched as good as any wood I have ever seen & I have had some expensive guitars. there are no flaws that I can find at all. The action is as low as you can go with no buzz (which is what I like) It might not be the fastest guitar, but I'm not good enough to make a judgement on "fast".

I have been playing out with this guitar since april & have had my Les Paul as my back-up till august. I started a Christian Rock Band with the intention of going all electric & using my Paul only. Well I been using this one & am glad of it. It is light as a feather but built real well. It looks like it will stand up to any use. I have been using it without back-up some time now. It has dunlop straplocks which came in the case, I installed them myself. The screws were long enough to secure a battleship to dock!!

I bought this from in stock & wanted the custom nameplate option. No Problemo. Shipping was quick & any questions I had were answered with respect & in a timely fashion. There is someone who knocked the serv. dept. & quite honestly I think that's B.S. in the few dealings that I have had with Carvin. I have not needed any repair just a few questions & am very happy with the way they handled al issues.

I love this guy. I would buy another if anything at all happened to it.I love everything about this guitar & find it hard to believe a lot more people don't have one. The only thing I wish it had was an adjustable bridge but the current set up works fine so it's just that I am used to having all my elec. guitars w/ an adjustable bridge.

Built in 2005 in Carvin's San Diego factory
Flamed Koa top, mahogany back and sides. Matching Koa overlay on the headstock. Ebody fretboard. Dual truss rod mahogany thru-body neck. Tung oil finish. Two standard Carvin active humbucking pickups and an acoustic transducer pickup in the bridge. 2 coil tap switches and a phase switch. Single volumn control, one tone control for the humbuckers, one tone control for the transducer, one pan control, with center detent, that allows mixing of electric and acoustic output. Dual outputs. Sperzel locking tuners.

The guitar is a semi-hollow body with an f-hole and it has a look that is somewhat similar to the '71 Fender Telecaster Thin-Line.

Functions as both an acoustic and an electric guitar and does a great of job of meeting the requirements of both.

Carvin is not a true custom shop because they don't offer their customer the ability to control every sinlge little thing. But they do offer a ton of options on each model. Carvin uses CNC equipment to carve their guitars. The tolerances are very tight and everything is finished off by hand. The customer has a choice of wood, color, finish, type and color of pickups, headstock design, inlays, and hardware. There are plenty of options to choose from so, in the end, the customer ends up with as close to a one-of-a-kind guitar as is possible without spending thousands of dollars.

I play in a classic rock band that covers music from the 50's into the 80's. This includes an occasional country song.

This guitar has extraordinary flexibility. Played as an electric there is a full range of sounds due to the fact that the coil taps allow you to play with either humbuckers or single coil pickups active. The fact that there are two coil tap switches means you can mix the humbucker and signal coil output (neck-single coil, bridge-humbucker or reverse). The pickups are very high quality and have good output. It appears that you can get or get close to any sound you want.

Played as an acoustic the AE185 sounds as good as any electric acoustic I've ever heard. There is no onboard EQ so I suggest getting a good EQ unit. It will just make something that sounds good to begin with sound better.

To get the best sounds possible, use a good guitar amplifier for the electric sounds and a PA or good acoustic guitar amp for the acoustic sounds.

Using the mix pot to blend the electric and acoustic sounds gives this guitar the ability to create sounds no other guitar can match.

One note of caution; this guitar has two output jacks. The main jack carries both signals?the electric and acoustic to an amp. The acoustic jack carries just the acoustic signal to a PA or acoustic amp (this is the preferred hookup and allows for the best sound both ways). When it's being used it shuts off the acoustic output through the main jack. Because it's necessary to use two amplification devices to get the best sounds there is a distinct possibility of a ground loop which will cause a buzz in the guitar amp and a hum in the PA. I use a passive direct box with a ground lift switch between the guitar and the PA?this remvoes the ground from the signal and solves the problem.

This guitar plays like a dream. First it has a Carvin neck. And everything everyone has ever said about Carvin necks is true. They are the best I've ever seen. The medium jumbo frets may take some getting used to if you are used to using a "death grip" on your guitar in order to push the strings down to the fretboard. This is a very high quality instrument and takes a light touch.

The humbuckers won't make this guitar sound like a Les Paul and the coil taps won't make it sound like a Strat. In fact this guitar doesn't sound EXACTLY like any othe guitar. You can come close to other sounds and you can make your owns sounds. All I can say is this is one sweet sounding guitar. Great tone and super playability. What more could one ask?

What can I say. The bookmatched flamed Koa top is nothing short of spetacular. The tung oil finish has a great feel and doesn't show fingerprints.

I've looked everywhere and can't find a single cosmetic flaw. This is an exceptionally well made instrument. I also can't say enough about the set-up. It's perfect! I imagine that has something to do with the fact that the guitar is set-up at the factory by the same people, all the time. Other manufacturers pull the guitars off the line and then send them to the dealer where they are supposed to be set-up before they are sold. For that reason, set-up quality is often very uneven.

I've had the guitar for a week and a half. I don't abuse my guitars so I have never had a problem with durability. I play a lot and gig a lot and I don't see that I'm going to have anything to worry about. I can't imagine that something this well made isn't going to hold up.

One thing I have observed is that the hardware is top notch. Carvin doesn't put cheap stuff on it's guitars. Everything about this instrument says "quality".

I've done two gigs with this thing now and I wouldn't hesitate to use it without a back-up?in fact I have.

I bought the guitar out of stock instead of making a custom order. Carvin was going through a computer upgrade at the time and that caused some snafus. But the customer service rep I talked to was always pleasant and cooperative. I talked with their guitar tech twice. He's a guy who is actually out on the shop floor making guitars. So he knows what's going on. He's not a suit in an office somewhere.

I've been playing professionally for 38 years. I own an American Fender Strat, a limited edition Takamine acoustic/electric, a Guild D-25 acousic guitar, a Guild F-412 12 string acoustic guitar, a Fender Precision Bass and a Vega 5-string banjo. I play through a Fender Hot Rod DeVille amp and the acoustic sounds go through a Yamaha PA. I also use a Digitech multi-effects pedal for electric and an Alesis effects pedal for acoustic. I have an Alesis rack effects unit that I use with the Yamaha PA.

I was reluctant to order this guitar. I've never ordered a guitar and never thought I would because a good one is unique. Each one sounds and feels just a little different?even the same model. And the neck can vary significantly from guitar to guitar. But after a year of research I finally decided to take the plunge. Now I wish I hadn't waited.

Quite simply, I am crazy about the way this guitar plays and sounds. For me that's the beginning and the end.

While I was researching I looked at the Shecter version of an electric/acoustic. There was no comparison. The Shecter electric has a great sound but the acoustic side did not measure up to what I wanted.

In my opinion Carvin guitars represent the best value around. They make honest-to-goodness professional instruments at a fraction of the cost of the big guys like Fender and Gibson. If I had been looking for just an electric I would have considered the AE185. If I had only wanted an acoustic I would have stayed with my Takamine.

For years I've played everthing the music stores have in stock?just like everyone else does. And I saw a lot of stuff I thought I would like to have. I always went home and picked up my Strat and wondered why in the world I would have considered anything else. This is the first guitar I've played that I liked better than my Strat.