Carvin Bolt Kit

Finish: Tung oiled neck, water-based laquer brushed on body (self-applied) then level sanded
Strat type, w/tummy tuck and forearm cut, though less deeply done than on the Strat
Bridge: hardtail narrow spaced Strat-type string-thru body
Carvin tuners
Neck: All maple, 25.5", ~1-11/16" wide at nut, 22 jumbo frets w/good height for bending.
Bought kit 2004, assembled 2006, played 6 months now.
Controls: 5-way, w/additional bridge switch for '7 sounds'. Vol. and Tone pots: 500 ohm
Pickups: S/S/S Carvin AP11, passive
Wood: All maple neck, swamp ash body
I rate as 8 as this goes beyond the usual Strat; all parts are competent and well executed, though not revolutionary

Suits my rock/folk/blues styles well (60's-70's-80's). (Hendrix, Eagles, Pretenders, etc)
Mainly played through a 60's Fender Vibrolux Reverb, w/reverb on and with some preamp saturation.
It is quiet except at the highest volumes, which I avoid due to neighbors, and that noise could be the cable anyway as the guitar is shielded.
The sounds are the big surprise. Due to the 500k pots it can be brighter than my Strat (Tele territory?), but roll the pots down and it can duplicate many Strat sounds, and roll down more and you can get somewhat dark. The voume knob full up pushes the amp harder than my Strat for a bit more edge and bite, but roll it off and it is cleans up well. Combining the neck and bridge pickup is fun and is my favorite selection (a full thicker sound).
I give this a rating of 9. More more variety than I initially expected or encountered. It has made me a believer in using the tone and volume controls, which wer pretty much useless on other guitars. Here they are part of the tone arsenal, not tone suckers. Certainly it can not do everything, but does much more than I had expected so is not a copy guitar -- it is it's own animal.

I'm very pleased at the way the kit came. The amount of adjustment to set action, intonation, etc, was well within my ability and really was all I had to do in that respect. Assembly took little time. 99% of the time was consumed on finish. Since the swamp ash has open pores, and since I had read it is hard to finish with tung oil, I elected to used a water-based lacquer over a wood pore filler. Keeping the finish level, thin, and not sanding through the layers was a big task, and I, in the end, had to settle for less than factory-perfect results, given my less than state-of-the-art work area. Nevertheless, I am happy with the results, or overlook the blems, which would come with age anyway! Tung oil on the neck, by contrast, was a piece of cake and I took my time and followed the clear instructions.
Rating: 9 as the finish was my deal....If you choose alder, you can simplify your life -- a lot.

I would use this guitar in a live setting (assuming I was invited!) I might want to change out to strap locks just for the extra security

Well, Carvin did not call me and it languished for a while-- until I bugged them only to find out it had been ready some time already. They were cool about it and by way of apology gave me a case for free, so I can't complain.
All the parts were per my instructions. No mistakes

Hm... playing far too long for the level I'm at, or maybe not playing near enough for all the years I've owned guitars (since 1975)!
No regrets on this guitar; more versitile and fun to play than I expected. Besides the great sounds, the neck is really nice, and has good width (not too narrow like many Strats) and string bending, pull-offs, etc, are a pleasure. It's almost a shock to go back to the Strat as this neck has totally spoiled me.
I wanted a kit guitar to improve my luthier skills and knowlege of what goes on 'under the hood'. The ideas was to do further modifications including series/parallel. I'm pleased enough that I don't feel the need for more changes, though I am curious if I could squeeze more happy surprises out of this guitar -- and I think I could.

Hard to rate this since obviously you choose the features you get at Carvin and as for other stuff like finish that is up to you. This one specifically has three single coils and a fixed bridge though you can get a bridge humbucker and a tremolo.

Holy crap dude, this thing is awesome. I have been playing off and on for about 10 years now. My first guitar was a Fender Standard Tele made in Mexico and my second was a Fender Stratocaster Deluxe Hum - Hum. I replaced the pickups in both of those guitars with USA pickups from Fender and EMG respecitively, and originally I assumed I would replace the pickups in this one when I got it put together. I was wrong. This guitar's pickups are great. I have never played a guitar that is more versatile [and I will admit I certainly haven't played a lot of high end guitars] this thing can go from hard rock to Jazz with just the twist of the volume and tone knobs. Seriously, I love this guitar. I ended up spraying mine with a nitrocellulose paint job in surf green and really it is my only regret about this project. If I had it to do all over again I would just have rubbed some tung oil on the body like I did with the neck, that was really easy and worked very well. In any case, get the Carvin bolt kit, it is a sweet guitar that is affordable and has a lot of good sounds.

The setup is of course up to you as is the finish. As for things like the frets they are installed nice.

Hopefully I sprayed enough nitrocellulose lacquer on this thing that it will last a while but if not I will just make it look like a relic or else I will re-spray it.

Sent them an email once when I was finishing it and they responded promptly so I guess they deserve a 10.

If you want a quality guitar for under $500 get this and finish it with tung oil, it is so easy to put together and you won't believe how good it sounds considering you built it yourself. My brother played it and liked it more then his USA made G&L Legacy. Trust me, it really can stand toe to toe with the best out there. In the interest of full disclosure I have to admit I was actually skeptical when I ordered it, I really just wanted to see what finishing a guitar myself was like. I mean Carvin's add's remind me of Amway for some reason, but I ordered it anyway. I am happy I did. If you are looking for a quality axe you should too.

The standard features you get with the Bolt Kit are quite impressive. I purchased mine with significant upgrades. I added a Swamp Ash Body, C22B Humbucker in the bridge position, Birds Eye Maple fret board, Black Chrome Hardware, Sperzel Locking Tuners, and a White Pearloid Multi-Layered Pickguard. The guitar comes standard with a switch to allow between single coil and humbucker modes on the bridge pickup, as well as a standard "strat" style 5-way pickup selector switch, and one volume and one tone pot.

Building the guitar was a simple as Carvin says it is. I did a Tung Oil finish on the body and the back of the neck. The key is to be patient and apply at least 6 coats of Tung Oil to the body and no more than three coats to the back of the neck. This will take approximately 6 - 7 days. You can only apply one coat of Tung Oil per day. You need to do very light sanding between the last 3 coats on the body and after the first coat on the neck. Once the finish is complete the assembly is very easy. It takes less than an hour to assemble. The guitar was actually quite playable before I even took it to my local music store for a professional set up.

The guitar is capable of covering many styles....Rock, Blues, Country Twang to Jazz. The AP-11 single coils are slightly hotter than standard Strat pickups and also appear to be much quieter. The C22B Humbucker reminds me of a Gibson PAF. Very warm and yet can scream at higher distortion/verdrive settings. It cleans up nicely when you roll back the volume pot.

The guitar was a kit. The only issue I had was the pickups came wired out of phase but my local technician was able to correct the wiring. Other than this one isse there were no flaws.

This is a top notch professional guitar. I would play this guitar in a live setting without hesitation. The playability is very good. I have no complaints at all. The overal quality of this guitar is much greater than the price paid.

I have no isses with Carvin and I have purchased other products from them as well. I find them well informed about their products and quitehelpful.

Awesome guitar. I plan on buying another one to build. For the money I paid compared to the many other guitars I own it is the best guitar I have ever owned.

This guitar was assembled by its original owner and I had bought it from him off of Ebay. It has a walnut body instead of the usual alder. Fixed bridge. It came with Rio Grandes in the neck and middle positions and an Evolution in the bridge. I replaced the Evolution with a Duncan Alnico pro 2 and wired it for series/parallel/split. The rest is your standard bolt kit. With the 3 pickups and the 3 options at the bridge, this thing is very versitile. Has a wide/thin neck, similar to the Ibanez wizard.

I play mostly rock to hard rock and this thing works great for that style. I tried many different Duncans in the bridge before I settles on the AP2. The guitar sounds great. It seems to accentuate the lower midrange. Sometimes I wish it had more upper midrange but I'm just being extremely picky when I say that. I like to play old stuff like Aerosmith and Rush. It can do the 70's sounds great with the vintage pickups I have in it. I'm sure it could do modern too when loaded with the right pickups.

The guy who assembled it did a great job. I've had the guitar apart many times, had the neck off it many times and it goes together nice and tight. Adjusted the truss rod once 2 years ago. Stays in tune great. Very solid and giggable feeling. I don't baby it.

Very solid. Some people complain about the quality of the switches and pots. I have replaced all of mine. It doesn;t cost that much if you do it yourself.

Haven't used them but I've heard good and bad.

Been playing for 30 years. I have had Explorers, flying vees, sg's, Strats, Schecters, a Martin solidbody electric (rare) and various others I can't remember. No Les Pauls, sorry, they never felt comfortable to me. This is the one I've liked the most and its the only electric I own anymore. I keep going into music stores and trying all kinds of Fenders and everything else out there. I'm sure I could find something that sounds better for about $3000 but I have yet to find something that I can play better. The necks on these things just blow Fender and Gibson to hell!

Finish was done by me, so N/A on that. Strat body style, slightly scaled down. Hardtail bridge. Carvin standard tuners. Beefy neck, but shaped for shredding...very friendly to the hand. Built it in 1997. 22 frets. Volume, tone, 5-way selector, and toggle switch for bridge pickup always on (yields 7 different pickup configurations). Originally bought it with HSS configuration, but preferred SSS configuration. Alder w/ maple neck & ebony fretboard. I've toyed with the idea of making the toggle switch into a series switch for the bridge and middle pickups, but haven't tried this yet.

Great sounding guitar. I play through a Marshall JCM800 or a Peavey Classic 50, depending on my mood, and I boost the gain with a TS9. I originally got the guitar with the C22T in the bridge. Sounded kinda blah with that particular bridge PU, so I later bought a 3-single-coil PU pickguard and stuck one of the AP11 single-coils in the bridge and the bridge pickup sound improved dramatically. I also tried one of their M22SD's in the bridge, but it was too "metal" for my taste and the guitar lost too much of its shimmer. The three AP11's are by far the best-sounding "stock" configuration for this guitar, IMO. It's like a strat on steroids...it retains much of the strat character, except it has BIG BALLS. Roll off the tone knob slightly, and you can get a nice EVH scream out of it, even though it's a single-coil in the bridge. It leaves me asking the question "Who needs humbuckes?" Very versatile guitar, although I'd recommend a bridge 'bucker for brootal distortion if that's your bag...otherwise I highly recommend the 3-single PU version, even if you're not a single-coil fan. It has a little of the single-coil buzz, but nowhere near as much as a Strat's. I play old-school heavy guitar rock, and it's perfect for that. I also got the hardtail version and this thing SUSTAINS like no other strat-style guitar I've ever played.

Guitar plays great. I bought the guitar in 1997 when they first came out, so it's got the older shredder-style neck. Factory setup is kinda N/A because I had to build the thing, but once I got it set up it played great. One beef, though...the "D" string slot in the nut was cut too deep and sometimes I get a bad open D buzz. This is the second Carvin guitar I've owned and this is also the second time I've had this problem. Get it right, Carvin! I did the tung oil finish, and if I can do it, anyone can. I am no woodworker. Neck fits perfectly in the neck pocket. I have yet to see another bolt-on that fits that well.

I've dropped this thing on concrete by accident, and while it scuffed the finish (easily fixed...it's tung oil) it didn't even go out of tune. By far, the most solid guitar I've owned. Holds a tune for weeks. I've had it for nine years and played numerous gigs with it and it has never let me down.

Carvin customer support is kinda weak. I've emailed them several times asking various questions and never ever got a response.

Overall a huge, huge bang for your buck. While based on the strat design, this guitar is its own animal. It will do the strat thing, but don't expect to get the exact same tone, because it's a much beefier sounding guitar than a strat, even with the three single-coils. I've been playing for 25 years, and it's easily the best strat-style guitar I've owned. I might prefer if it had a full-size body (it's slightly scaled down from a strat), but other than that it's superb. If I had the $$$, I'd buy a second one just to have one to grab if I break a string at a gig.

I built this in the Spring of 2005. It has a humbucker with coil tap in bridge position and two single coils. Hardtail bridge, no whammy bar. Got the cheaper form fitted case with it for half price. Pretty much the same features as a fat strat, plus the coil tap. As electric guitars go, you can't get much more versatile than this.

Sound is awesome. I use it with various distortion pedal and through a Roland Micro-Cube (best investment I ever made) and a Fender tube amp. I really like these pickups and don't find them a lot different from Fenders. I think its great for blues, rock, rockabilly etc...Same things that a USA Strat would be good for.

You can build this guitar. It was really almost too easy. I found myself wishing for more of a challenge when I was done. I did the tung oil finish and I highly recommend you do too. Action and setup were great. This is the best playing guitar I have ever owned, including pre-CBS Fenders. One thing to keep in mind though. Be sure this is what you want before you buy, because regardless of how good it comes out, the resale value (for instance on ebay) is very poor.

It is very solid and will last a very long time.

It took a really long time to get this, like about 6 weeks! And they charged my credit card as soon as I ordered which I thought was kind of dink. They were nice, just slow.

Fun to do, almost too easy and you will have an excellent guitar if you do your part. No resale value. I recommend that you buy this kit.

2004 Carvin Bolt Kit Made in MY SHED, USA, parts, made in USA

construction/scale bolt-on neck, 25 1/2" scale
body Alder
neck Hardrock Maple, graphite reinforced
neck width 1.69" wide @ nut, 2.22" wide @ 22nd fret
fingerboard ebony - 12" radius
inlays standard dot
hardware Chrome
bridge FT6 feed through body fixed
frets 22 medium jumbo .103" wide X .048" tall
pickups 2 - Ap11 single coil 1- Bridge C22 Humbucker
electronics master volume and tone, 5 way selector + mini switch
tuners- I added Schaller non-locking tuners
color black stain, clear gloss fast drying urethane
guitar dimensions 38.75" long, 12.5" wide body, 1.75" thick body
weight 7.25 lbs

Inculded truss wrench, strings (9-42), and 2 picks

Play mostly Clasic Rock, Rock, Blues, and Alternative. Suits some of my styles, mainly Classic running distortion. Pickups don't sound like strat, louder and more defined. Guitar is NOT noisy at all, I also soldered (tacked) control cavity copper foil shielding together in 5 places. Pick ups are bright and clear. A fair variety between the Hum and singles. I'll probably change pickups, as I always change them on any guitar I own. I felt the Hum lacked "punch".

I set it up and did finish work (DON'T TRY ANY FINISH EXCEPT TUNG OIL!), so depending on your set up skill level, the guitar will play accordingly. Carvin does do a "pre-setup" that could be close. I had to raise bridge saddles on mine to eliminate fret buzz, and a slight truss rod tweak. Wood quality was excellent, controls good, neck was EXCELLENT. Action was low, as I set it up, the laser straight neck made low action possible.

One note: DO NOT attempt a non TUNG OIL FINISH unless you're an auto painter, or have equal experience. My embassing story took 4 tries, and a half baked job, complete with runs, sags, and orange peal is the result. Does not "hurt" anything except my pride.

Very well built- would gig, if I played live.

Called them a few times, better them some large companies, try actually TALKING to Fender or Gibson. Kit, so parts only warranty.

I've played for 2 years, I run this thru a Fender Bules Jr, with a SansAmp GT2, sounds good with stock pickups, but I'll change the Bridge at least. More precise than a Fender strat, fret work EXCELLENT, the neck is my favorite part, plays great, pups most least fav part. Great price/preformance value here. Best under $500.00 guitar that I can think of, period. If you're a little handy, and have the time, buy it and build it. Just use the TUNG Oil finish method, otherwise, you may be sorry.

This is a follow up to a previous submission. I've replaced the Carvin pickups (C22B in bridge and TBH60s in the neck and middle) with a set of Lace Hot Gold sensors (6k, 6k, and 13k). I use a 250k volume pot and no tone controls. I've also installed a mini-switch allowing me to select the bridge and middle pickups in series and the brdige and neck pickups in series.

The tone is a LOT more vintage than before. The Carvin pickups were great for very fat overdriven tones, but didn't really do the trick for bluesier, classic rock sounds. The Lace sensors are great in that capacity. You will find that the tone is much brighter than the one provided by the Carvin pickups, but there's not much loss in bass, if any. Thus, you will probably lower the treble control on your amp and/or pedal(s). The series wiring option allows me to get heavier tones (more mids) when needed. I recommend this modification to you bolt owners.

Alder body, maple neck, ebony fretboard, standard tuners, graphite/teflon nut, white pearl pickguard, twin-blade humbuckers (single-coil size) in neck and middle positions, C22B full-size humbucker in bridge position, hardtail bridge, custom wiring (installed 2 mini-switches to have neck and middle pickups in series and/or out-of-phase with each other). The "10" rating is given becuase this guitar has all the features that suit my needs.

I play jazz-rock/fusion and blues. This guitar seems very well suited to these styles. I can get VERY heavy sounds as well as more elegant clean tones.

The twinblade humbuckers sound true to Carvin's description of them, meaning they offer nice and crisp clean tones, albeit with more mids than your typical single-coil pickup. This makes for a "fuller" sound that still retains some of the crispness of single-coils. With heaps of overdrive, these pickups offer powerful and crisp sounds that one wouldn't easily produce with standard single coils.

The neck and middle pickups wired in series provides a very rich and powerful sound with very littel treble - great for situations when the guitar is the dominant instrument and you don't want the screach of the brdige humbucker to cut your audience's heads off. These same two pickups in series but out-of-phase produce a hollow/piercing yet powerful sound (Brian May used this sound for the first solo in Bohemian Rhapsody).

Selecting the bridge and middle pickups together automatically shuts off one of the bridge humbucker's coils, making for great "quack." The bridge humbucker, when selected alone, offers great saturated sounds that have more pronounced highs than my Les Paul (of course, this could be attributable to many different factors).

So far, I've played this guitar through a Tech 21 Trademark 10 practice amp and through my live rig (Vintage Rat into a Fender all-tube Concert II head driving 2 celestion-loaded 2x12 cabs) at high volume. Sounds good in both setups.

The action and finish are largely determined by the customer since it's a kit guitar. The instructions are very easy to follow. If you take your time following the wood finishing instructions, you can get a very elegant looking guitar.

The fit is the only area in which I have a complaint. All components fit perfectly together (including the fret work, which is done at the factory), except for the neck joint. This may sound like a big deal, but in my case it really wasn't. Essentially, the neck seems to be ever so slightly misaligned relative to the body, although it has no impact on the sound nor on the playability fo the guitar. I could always put a tiny shim in the neck pocket, but I wouldn't want to alter the guitar's sound.

Carvin should be regarded as one of the most csutomer-friendly guitar companies out there.

I've been playing for over 14 years. I've owned Ibanez "super strat" guitars, Fender American strats, a Gibson Les Paul Standard, a Godin Acousticaster, and a Yamaha electro-classical. This guitar is unique and can clearly "hold its own" in the company of my other guitars. If it were lsot or stolen, I'd get another one for sure! The aspect I probably love the most about it right now is that I put it together myself and it plays very well. Gotta be proud of myself.

2004 Bolt Kit
Alder body
Maple fingerboard
2 AP11 single coil in neck and middle
1 C22B humbucker in bridge
Gold hardware
Sperzel tuners
Wilkinson bridge

Carvin does offer many features on their kits that are not listed on their site. So if you don't see something listed, call them they may be able to accomodate you. Just for the variety of features offered, I'll give them a high mark

These pickups are utter crap. Very easily the WORST SOUNDING pickups I have ever used. And believe me that is saying something because I'm generally not that fussy. The C22B especially, is essentially garbage. The sound is extremely thin, no balls at all. The single coils are also very thin.

The neck is awesome. Its the best thing about the guitar. Its a very fast neck. The rest of the guitar, well.... lets just say I bought the kit to get some experience in building guitars. So in that case I suppose I got my moneys worth because I'm getting a lot of experience and practice trying to set up this thing properly. However I never expected to have this many problems with it. The neck joint seemed a little loose, tuners rattling, strings buzzing, action REALLY high, bridge saddles needing major adjustment,etc etc etc etc . Again its a good learning experience, but don't think for a minute you're just going to slap this thing together and be ready to play. It will need A LOT of adjustments.

As durable as any other guitar I've owned I suppose. It hasn't fallen apart yet.

The WORST. First off it took 12 WEEKS FOR A FREAKING BOLT KIT. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Their site says 2 to 4 weeks for kits. I called them every week after week 4 and was always told "uh......it will be shipped next week" TWELVE WEEKS LATER IT FINALLY ARRIVES. Oh correction there were a couple times where the rep said "Uh....I don't know, the guy in charge of that is not here right now. We'll have to call you back next week, and let you know whats happening" What a JOKE!!! The service reps are basically useless. Waiting 12 weeks for a freaking bolt KIT. If I could give less than 1 I would. The worst company I've ever had to deal with, BY FAR. And what really pisses me off was that about 6 weeks after I ordered the kit they cut prices for the kits by 50$ or so. When I called to complain that since I've been waiting 12 weeks for it I should get a 50$ refund. They never did get back to me about that complaint.

Been playing 14 years. Own 5 other guitars. The only thing I love about this guitar is the neck.

I just can not get a decent sound out of this guitar regardless of how much adjusting I do. I've tried different amps, different setups, I've tried everything. It just sounds so freaking thin.

I am learning a lot about setting up and repairing guitars from this though, so I suppose that is the one bright side of this whole ordeal. Because of the absolute piss poor customer service I've received at Carvin, I will never use them again. I intend on building more guitars in the future and will definately go elsewhere for the parts, without question. I will never shop at Carvin again, ever

2004. Hard tail with black matte finish. Had the neck tung oiled also. Had all humbuckers installed (2 minis and the standard bridge bucker. It also has a coil splitter switch on the bridge bucker. The usual features for a strat style axe. Purchased with case.

Its hard to talk about guitar tone in absence of incudinng you whole tone chain in the discussion. I'm running this guitar into a Fender Deville with the usual suspects for distortion (Rat, Drivetrain, ettc.) This guitar has great tone and sustain. It almost plays itself. I have a Paul, but was looking to get a less bassy/muddy sound, yet I'm not into single coils per se. This guitar equipped with humbuckers fits the bill. I offed a deluxe strat to get this, though the Strat was twice as much money. Why? I didn't like how the tremolo bridge killed the sustain. This guitar gives me alot of warmth, but more note separation and punch than the Paul. But, as always - there is a compromise - you don't get quite the fat notes on the low strings as the Paul. Not bad, just different. The best way to describe this is a middle ground tone between a Strat and a Paul with it being a bit closer to the Paul tonal spectrum. I think it cuts thhrough the mix a little better than the Paul. I'm very happy with this guitar - it truly is a great value.

Like I said, with the sustain and resonance of this guitar, you barely have to apply picking pressure to the strings. Liewise, the fretting hand gets a break as well. A blast to play and not too heavy. As far as the neck feel - on the thinner side of the spectrum - BUT - recently they thickened the wood a touch on the neck, so its easier to play than earlier versions (one of which I had, but got rid of because neck was to thin!!). I'd still like the neck a touch thicker, but this is not a major issue. Frework? Outstanding - very clean - no fret buzzes - read other reviews on this topic - no one doubts Carvin's ability on neck and fretwork.

Can't say - too soon. My last Carvin guitar held up. What goes wrong with guitars anyway if you don't drop them?

Good - responsive to questions

See Sound Quality/Fit and Finish. I would buy this guitar again if losst/stolen. For cover band stuff, its now my number one!

Mine is a 2003 model Bolt Kit.
New compound neck radius.
Two AP11s in the neck and middle and the M22SD in the bridge.
Alder Body.
Fixed Bridge.
Sperzel Locking Tuners.
Black Hardware.

The AP11s are like standard strat pickups on speed. The neck has a very jazzy sound when the amp is dialed clean. It also has a great blues tone when you add some grit and distortion. The M22SD in the bridge is Carvin's pickup with the highest output. It is great for a hard rock tone and it absolutley shreds. I am playing through a Carvin MTS tube amp (Yea, I'm a Carvinite) and I can get some very nice, useful tones from this kit.

The finish is up to you.

I first chose to do the tung oil finish. I rushed through the process and a few months later I wasn't very proud of the results. Some words of advice, TAKE YOUR TIME WITH THE FINISH. Right now I am in the process of staining it with red analine dye. I am then going to use some Nitrocellulose lacquer to make a nice, durable finish.

The guitar was a snap to set up. The neck and saddles needed almost no adjustment. All the components went together smoothly. You can be brain-dead and still have a playable guitar.

The reliability depends on the finish you put on it. The tung oil doesn't protect from scratches or dents well so I would suggest a more durable finish.

The hardware is top notch. Everything seems sturdy. I would gig without a backup.

All of my experiences with Carvin were excellent. The salesmen were very helpful and patient when it came to picking out all the options. I called a few weeks later in need of some extra screws and a few days later I found some spares in my mailbox, no questions asked!

I have been playing for about 5 years. I've owned and played many guitars but this is by far my favorite. Building these kits give you a wonderful sense of pride and accomplishment. Not only that, but they are tough and they sound great. I have no complaints at all. Good job Carvin!

I built one of these with a Ash body, and twinblade humbucker neck pickup, and a full sized (C22B) humbucker at the bridge.

Let me say that there are several things good about the features on this kit, and Carvin guitars in general. Most notably, that they have hardtails as the default bridge type (I'm not a fan of guitars with trems). Also, the ebony fretboard is a major plus (Ebony is many times more expensive than rosewood or maple, which is why you rarely see it on factory guitars), IMHO ebony is one of the very best fingerboard woods.

I have always felt that the second tone knob on a strat was excessive, and it's good to find a company that does something else with that spot on the pickguard (In this case, a coil tap).

With the tappable bridge humbucker, neck humbucker, and 5 way switch, you can get any sound you would reasonably expect from a strat/superstrat type guitar.

This guitar gets a great "in between" , "quack" type strat sound. It has a very lively tone, and is very strat like (of all the strats I have had, it sounds the most like a '62 reissue) when using the middle single coil.

When using the bridge humbucker, the standard humbucking tones are there, and this guitar sounds quite good. The

In retrospect, I would not have added the twinblade humbucker in the neck, not that it sounds bad, just that I haven't ended up using the neck pickup soloed much. Also, the lack of a neck coilsplitter eliminates the mid/neck single coil combo, which might be useful. Of course, this is no fault of carvin, as the guitar comes with a single in the neck by default!

I'm using it with a Peavey Prowler, and through a Sans Amp GK into a bass AMP!

Since this is a kit, a lot of this section doesn't apply.

I will say that for their part, Carvin did a great job. All the components are well made.

This seems like a fairly sturdy guitar, as are most bolt on neck strat types. The headstock is a tilt back, which I feel are a little more fragile than the standard Fender shape. I doubt I will ever break it though, and if I do, replacements are available from Carvin.

The hardware is quite good!

I finished this guitar with a light nitro finish. The body doesn't have that much finish on it at all. I doubt the finish is durable, but this is no fault of Carvins!

The strap buttons that were provided with the guitar I didn't even bother to put in. The were the standard cheap kind that I always replace with strap locks.

I would never gig without a backup, but this guitar is as dependable as the get.

When I ordered this guitar, I used the internet form, and ordered an extra twinblade pickup (for another guitar). When it arrived, it had the extra twinblade installed in the middle position (I had selected a twinblade in the neck with the guitar as a $10 option). This wasn't what I wanted, and I was missing the middle pickup, which provides many useful sounds.

I called up carvin, and after a bit of confusion about which department would address this issue (I was ping ponged between sales and service a few times each), I eventually got a helpful guy who listened, and shipped out the missing single coil at no charge. I got it a few days later, no problem.

I think the problem was they were being TOO helpful by installing the extra pickup for me!

In addition, I have bought from Carvin before, and they were very helpful. They seem pretty good to deal with.

I have been playing for 21 years. I have owned over 100 guitars and basses (not at one time!). I can honestly say that this guitar is one of the best I have ever had. If it was lost or stolen, I would order another without hesitation.

A couple of points/observations:

1) If you are even the least bit capable with the assembly and set up of this guitar, you will get a finished product equal to guitars 2 and 3 times the cost IMHO. It just walks all over guitars in the $350-$400 price range. Also, unless I am mistaken, the neck and body (and probably the pickups) are made in the USA.

2) If you finish a Ash body, grain filler might be a good idea. I didn't use it, and I had to work extra. I used nitrocellous finish from Home Depot ( a gallon for $13 or so), and brushed it on. In retrospect, a spray finish might have been easier, or even the ultra easy tung oil. I think one of the advantages of doing it yourself is that you can avoid thick finishes that may hurt the guitars sound.

3) This guitar is easy to assemble. Seriously. Not hard at all.
You can do it. I did break out the soldering iron instead of using the wirenut they provided, and I recommend you do as well.

4) As someone else mentioned (either here or on Carvin's discussion board) the copper shielding foil is very sharp. Be careful, or it will cut you!

This is a Strat-style kit. It comes in a box with everything needed to assemble the guitar except for sandpaper, tung oil (or whatever you decide to use to finish the wood), and basic hand tools.

The body for this kit was Swamp Ash (a $30 upgrade from the standard Alder). The neck is Maple.

The pickups are Carvin...I opted for the two single coils for the neck and middle with a humbucker in the bridge position.

The finish is up to the builder. I chose to stain the body and the headstock with a dark red stain, then applied several coats of Tung Oil.

Bridge is fixed (Tremolo is an option), with each string full adjustable for height and intonation.

Tuners are standard Carvin (Sperzel optional).

The neck is VERY thin, with wide frets.

I purchased the optional case. The case has the "Carvin" logo, but appears to be built by SKB. The case was only $44.00 when purchased with the guitar kit.

With this combination of pickups, it is a very versatile guitar. I play everything from very clean jazz/country to old Van Halen. This guitar does well on the full range...much better than my other guitar (a '66 Jazzmaster).

This pickup combination also includes a coil splitter switch for the Humbucker.

I have a Behringer 2X12 Combo amp with a Digitech RP300A effects box. I leave the amp set very clean and use the box to control all the effects.

This guitar sounds good and lively even when it isn't plugged in. The sustain is much better than I expected and the sound quality and versatility vastly exceeded my expectations.

I've heard others gripe about Carvin pickups, but I think these sound terrific.

Not really applicable since I did all of this work. It was very enjoyable to do the finish work and set up the guitar myself. The intonation was only off a little and was easy to correct.

I lowered the strings nearly down to the fingerboard and raised the pickups to within about 1/8" or so of the strings. There's no significant buzzing (with 9-42 Elixers), and the neck is extremely fast and the intonation is spot-on.

The only problems I had with the build were self-inflicted. My decision to stain the body and the headstock before the Tung Oil added a couple of days to the build process. I discovered that wood finishing is not as easy as it looks, but you can always break out the sandpaper and start over (as I did, twice).

Most of the hardware seems to be of high quality. I'm not too sure about the electronics...the switchgear seems a bit suspect and the volume/tone pots don't have very good modulation...they behave more like switches than pots.

If I were gigging, I'd not be afraid to go without a backup.

Not applicable. The ordering process was painless.

I've been playing for over 25 years. I primarly play acoustic (I have a Taylor 414CE and a 710CE). My only other electric is a '66 Fender Jazzmaster. It's a very nice vintage guitar, but the electronics don't really produce the sounds I wanted. I'll use this guitar just for fun and some recording work.

I enjoyed building this guitar very much...I feel like I have a better understanding of how solid-body guitars actually work and I understand how to set one up.

I expected this guitar to sound decent and be serviceable, kind of like a Squier or Japanese Strat. However, it's much more than that. It plays and sounds as good as any electric I've ever played.

If it were stolen, I'd definitely build another one. I may build another one anyway!

If you like to build things, I highly recommend it. If you take your time and do it right, you'll end up with a GREAT guitar for well under $500.

2001 USA 22 medium frets on ebony (nice!) fretboard, great maple neck (same dimensions as Ibanez Wizard), abalone dot inlays (look like little planets, ash body (originally stained walnut, then blue bursted the whole thing), red tortoise pickguard with three twinblade humbuckers, vol., tone, coil tap for bridge ( switched to Fender single coils on black pearloid, will be going to L-280s on black abalone), gold hardware, Sperzels (they don't really lock), Wilkinson tremelo (better than vintage or Floyd Rose type), straplocks (nice), case (nice) & tools.

I have a Pignose G40V w/ 1x12 (using 10 w/split), crate MX120, Carvin SX300 full stack. Heavy acid blues/metal/rock. The original twinblades were OK, but not as good a range as I wanted and had a drainpipe sound I could not stand (cheaper humbuckers do), switched to fender singles but then too glassy and bell like (told it was not the swamp ash, but still suspect it), going to Bill Lawrence L-280 set. I'll see. I've always been able to rock out with it, the neck is fast. I think the sound I want for this guitar will come with the L-280s. The sustain is great and the whammy is the best. It does go out of tune with the Sperzels as much as any other tuning machines.

Action fantastic. Everything went together well except one trem post had to be glued in because the hole was a little big and it wouldn't stick. One Sperzel mounting peg broke and had to be glued in the hole. Ash looked good, but walnut (alcohol and powder) was a mistake because it didn't variate like real walnut or walnut stain on pine. After 6 mos. I blue bursted it (I loved the ones in the catalog), came out OK, but shouldn't have done the neck (now I have to wax it every time I play). I'm only rating the action.

It has and will withstand live playing without backup (with Fender super bullet 250s 10-46), hardware and straplocks will last. If I can, I do like to bring more guitars for a wider variety of sound.

They originally didn't send the gold pickguard screws, so I used brass from the hardware store until the requested screws came in a week and a half. Supportive with all questions and purchases.

I've been playing 28yrs. Have got 10 other guitars of all types. I had heard Carvin is great quality and price, and they are compared to the other out of whack American greed companies. I wanted a reverse headstock and all the fancy stuff for my dream guitar, but really all of them are. I built a Saga kit from ebay for $91 total added Ping Tuners instead for $22 and have a convincing Stratocaster. I wish I would have known, but did not have a computer and ebay back then. I would not get out what I put in the Carvin if sold. I would track down and kill anyone who stole it, but wouldn't replace it. I've got others. I would consider one of their factory built thru neck other models with Wilkinson.

2003 Carvin Bolt Kit, American Made Parts. I upgraded to sperzel locking tuners, black hardware, red tortoise shell pickguard, and went
with the HSS pickup configuration. The body is Alder, Maple neck/Ebony
fingerboard.

I play mostly blues and classic/modern rock. The Carvin is very versatile and I am pleased with the overall sound quality of this instrument. I am currently playing thru my 4x10 Fender Deville. I am not big on effects. The clean tone of this guitar is outstanding. The controls are responsive, although I have noticed the single coils seem
to lose a little brightness at lower volume levels. The guitar is noticeably quieter than my strat.

The guitar went together VERY easily. I opted for the tung oil finish and it turned out really nice. I did have one complaint... The headstock came drilled for standard tuners,not sperzels. I called Carvin and they told me to ship the neck back and they would send me another one. I decided it was more trouble than it was worth. I redrilled the neck and filled the original holes. Looks fine, the action is great. Carvin makes great necks. Overall workmanship great.

I have had the Bolt since Jan. 2003. No problems with anything on the guitar. It still looks new except for the scratches on the pickguard. The tung oil finish is holdind up better than I expected. I dont really play out any more, but this guitar is more than adequate to gig
with without a backup. The guitar is rock solid, stays in tune, and has fairly quiet electronics.

Carvin has a good reputation as far as I know. They are going to lose
a couple of points for the tuner hole issue. They could have offered to pay for shipping, but didn't. They were however, very helpful during the ordering process.

I have been playing 25 years and have had 7 or 8 electrics. Gibsons,Charvels,Takamines,B.C. richs, Fenders. The Carvin holds it's own. My other primary guitar is a Mexican Strat I hot rodded with all american hardware and a set of Texas Specials. The carvin has a faster
neck and really sounds better, especially when playing clean. If it were stolen I would consider buying a new one. These kits are a great
value. You would have a hard time finding anything close for $400...

Custom order for ebony fretboard, black chrome hardware, including locking Sperzel tuners, black pearliod scratchplate and bridge humbucker (holdsworth model).
Finished in Tung oil, as recommended, and it's still in really good form almost exactly a year after I put it together. Only thing I have issue with is the Wilkinson trem arm, which is held in by a grub screw and eventually "unwinds" out of the arm socket. It also gets loose pretty quickly, which I can't remember happening in the Patrick Eggle I owned a few years ago with the same model bridge. I would get standard chrome hardware next time round.

Currently goes through a POD and a Crate 2 by 12 combo (looking to try a Carvin Legacy half-stack soon...). Holdsworth pickup sounds great for me (I don't sound like Holdsworth, I just like that tasty mid with bite), very responsive and doesn't crush the tone of the guitar. Good variety of the usual superstrat tones, with the added joy of a coil-tap. Good versatile axe.

I put it together and set it up, but Carvin made the job super-easy. This guitar goes together like a dream. The wood was plain grained bit looked cool when I got the tung oil on. A couple of drippy bits, my bad (couldn't be bothered to wet'n dry them off... wanted to get this baby together and PLAY!). Been playing, custom rodding and setting up guitars for 20-odd years, so I have a pretty good set up
regarding pick ups and string action. Best action of ANY guitar I have ever owned, including my old Les Paul, which was very sweet to play.

Never gigged this guitar, but it's built like a Strat (ie. brick s**thouse), and I reckon it would last the pace of some intensive live work. The black chrome will wear off eventually, but that's black chrome...
If I knew my srings were fresh, I'd definitely gig this axe with no back-up (I play 10's and pick heavy).

Carvin are great to deal with, no hassle, no fuss and the stuff arrives in short order. Multo happy to deal with them again in the future...

Been playing for 20-odd years, owned Fender Strats (5 or 6) Ibanez (5) Charvel (2) Yamaha (1) PRS (1) Pattrick Eggle (1) Gibson Les Paul (1)
Washburn (1) Aria (2) Blah, blah blah. Have 2 Strats (one with hot rails) and the Carvin at the moment. Ya can't play 12 guitars! I would replace this guitar if it went missing. As soon as I put it together, it was one of the most comfortable necks I had ever played. Great tone, great playability, and I wish I had a single-coil version! Only gripe is the black-chrome finish, but I play the damn thing, it isn't an ornament... overall, great guitar, and I put her together!

I bought this a little over a year ago direct from Carvin, made in 2002. It is an alder body, maple neck with EBONY fretboard. Carvin doesn't even offer rosewood, so some of you reviewers really need to get your facts straight. This is the cream of the crop as far as fingerboards go. Standard Carvin tuners, very nice. I got it with a black pearl pickgaurd, which isn't as nice as some of the Fender one's I've seen, but that may just be the only thing that Fender can make better these days. Pickups are two twinblade humbuckers and a C22 bridge humbucker. The C22 is the only thing I'm taking a point off for, although this is probably personal preference. More on that later.

Anyone who dislikes these twinblade pickups has got to be deaf. Sound is bell-clear and balanced in the neck and middle, with the neck being exceptionally beefy clean. Together they quack just like any guitar of this type, but this sound is a little more refined on this guitar, usefull even for jazz. Single notes have almost a piano-like attack-ther're that clear. Turn up the gain and they deliver. Definately a lot of output, but there is quite a difference between the two even through a Marshall stack which usually can make any pickup sound the same. The sound is actually somewhere between that of a single coil and a humbucker. I can cop a lot of Fenderish tones, and I can do it under any conditions without worrying about hum. My only gripe is the bridge humbucker. Some others might like this, but it's just not to my taste. If I had it to do over I'd either get three twinblades or the M22sd(super ditortion). The whole point, for me, in having a humbucker at the bridge was more gain than the other pickups. I like making my Fender Champ sound like a 60's Marshall! This pickup, however, isn't very satisfying until the gain is WAY up, and even then my SG sounds way thicker at the bridge. I've played a guitar with the M22 and thre just isn't any comparison. I'm pretty sure this would sound good in a good country picker's hands, though. I'm not taking off any points, though, because like I said this is just my opinion, and otherwise this is a superior sounding instrument.

I set this guitar up, not Carvin. If you expect to buy a kit and have the action and intonation right on as soon as it's strung up, you don't understand guitars. After I gave it a good set up, and after a couple months of settling in, this is a very fine playing instrument. Yes, the neck moved after the initial setup, but ALL NECKS DO. Period. After the second month I had it, the action has never changed again in over a year. Every hole was drilled right on, frets were as close to perfect as anything has a right to be,and speeking of frets, these are much bigger(and more playable)than Fender. The tilted headstock makes a big difference, too.

A few gripes. The twinblades bobbins stick out on either side, so if you play hard, the high E can actually get caught on your pickups. Because of the way they're made, this exerts some pressure between the bobbins and the baseplate, which can be enough to break the connection to the coil wires. This actually happened to me twice, on both pickups, within two weeks of each other, causing my pickups to go completely DEAD. Got new ones under warranty without any hassles. The solution is to file down the edge of the bobbin on the treble side until it's even with the tape over the coils. After doing this, this has been my main gigging guitar with NO problems. These guitars are actually almost indesructible otherwise. I stopped bringing a backup a while ago.

No problems with their service except that if something does break, you have to cover the cost of shipping it back in order to get replacements under their warranty. THIS IS NOT SMART. It could really suck if it happened to be a big, heavy item. Their warranty is rock solid, though.

If you know a little about guitars or have access to a good luthier, by all means go for it. This one will never be parted from me. Sounds great through my Bassman, Champ, Marshall, Music Man, and Carvin amps. Will probably do it again.

kit, standard strat w/ bridge humbucker

sounds like a strat, good tones all the way, neck humbucker is not especially crunchy, but very detailed and crisp.

I built it, I set it up. Strung with 11's, good action. I know what I like, and the Carvin neck is a bit on the thin side, but good technique can deal with anything.

Tone pot stopped working after one week. Pickguard was prewired at the factory, so it it their flaw...
otherwise, seems reasonably sturdy. I got it to be a cheap backup to my PRS, so I'm not really that concerned.

In my long career as a musician, I have dealt with carvin on a few occasions. They seem to have bored, rude, and whiny people running their phones. The actual tech guys are cool though.

For 375, it's a fantastic guitar. ridiculuously easy to build. So easy that I was actually disappointed. Anyway, I enjoy playing it a lot. Took it to my last gig as a backup, decided to start with it and never put it down.
As all experienced pros know, the player makes the guitar, not the other way around. A very different guitar than my PRS, certainly a lot cheaper. Just as usable, just as effective, just effective for different things.
If you want a strat and aren't worried about fancy tops or colors, I say go for it. It does what I tell it to.

I bought this kit for myself about two years ago. It was "made" in my basement from good ol' USA based Carvin parts. The features are pretty much up to you, but Carvin certainly offers a pretty wide selection. The thing I've always lovee about Carvins is the neck, and this beauty is no exception. I also have an American Standard Strat - a very nice guitar that I bought over 10 years ago for about twice as much money - and I will hold this Carvin up against the Strat any time in just about any category... The one drawback is that unless you are a pro painter, you're stuck with a wood finish - personally, I like the way the swamp ash wood looks a LOT, so I'm not complaining. I would also add that I would've liked to see a P-90 pickup option. Not a complaint, just a suggestion for Carvin. Some earlier posts weren't happy with what they got (probably the main reason I posted) - I couldn't be happier...

I play mainly blues, rockabily, 70s Rock, and country through Marshall tubes with minimal effects. This guitar has a very bright sound - twangy when it needs to be, but pretty full in the neck position. It cuts through the mix nicely.

Putting this together myself made me pretty nervous, but I figured there were enough people out there that went for it that were as klutzy as me, so I gave it a shot. After I got it together I took it to a guitar store to have someone with a little more experience set it up. Best $35 I've ever spent. The tech who did the work was just gushing over the guitar when I went to pick it up. That was about two years ago, and it's been a phenominal guitar ever since. The neck really does it for me... Again, if there are unsatisfied customers out there, try to get it tweeked a little by your local luthier - that may be all it needs.

So far (two years) it's held up very well. Seems like it should last long enough for me to go from rock-n-roll to rock-n-chair.

I've bought a few things from Carvin over the years, and my experience with the people at Carvin has been excellent. There was a problem with the kit when I received it. One phone call and a couple of days later, and the problem was gone. What else can you ask for?

I've been playing longer than I care to admit - mostly for fun, but I've played out enough to know what I like, and I really like this guitar. Absolutely NOT a "cheapo beater". Extremely good tone, and a wonderfully playable neck - at about 1/10th the cost of a premium guitar. Restores my faith in mankind!

I purchased from Carvin an unfinished Alder body, hardtail bridge, standard tuners, two mini-toggle switches and a gibson style 3-way, volume and tone pots, a tone capacitor, an output jack, string ferrules, and two string trees. For the money, they had really cheap parts, and I just wanted to build a beater guitar using some spare humbuckers and a neck I had laying around. I also had Warmoth make me a pickguard for it.

Well, it's a cheapy beater guitar. The Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge spot really drives my Marshall JCM 800 head for a very full sound at low volumes. I can't say how much Carvin's parts have to do with this, so no opinion here. The tone pot is useless due to the bad sound of the capacitor, though.

I agree wholeheartedly with Gary H's review on Nov. 7th, 2002. These parts are seconds, no question.

The guitar body stopped just short of having a huge knot in the upper horn. It wasn't not easy to see until I started the finishing process, but the wood grain is all kinds of UGLY. I finished it with Minwax ebony stain and several coats of high-gloss tung oil.

The bridge and tuners have rough edges most of the way around. One of the tuners is really difficult to turn - I feel like I'm going to break it when tuning.

The volume AND tone pots are scratchy right out of the box and intermittently cut out on me. No matter how hard I tighten down the knob on the volume pot, it seems to fall off eventually.

One of the mini-toggles fell apart when I was bolting it to the pickguard.

Installing the output jack, I couldn't plug in a cable without chiseling extra wood out of the machine routed hole in the body.

The tone capacitor rolls off all kinds of extra frequencies, just doesn't sound good at all. I'm not sure what value they include with their kits, but I'd recommend anything else.

Overall, the quality of these parts is way below par. I didn't return anything because this guitar is a beater like I said before, just a sponge to sop up alot of spare parts I had laying around.

This guitar sits out in the living room. I play it when I have a free five minutes and want to strum a few chords. I used it for two gigs, a brief side project some friends of mine and I put together. I strung it up with 12's and tuned it differently and it did okay, but I was nervous about it falling apart or cutting out.

No direct contact - I ordered online and they shipped it to me, end of story.

Around the same time, I ordered and assembled a Warmoth Jazzmaster. I guess that's my basis of comparison. I've never had a problem with the pots or hardware I got from Warmoth, and everything fit together as it was supposed to (even with me doing all the aligning and drilling myself). The Carvin parts are no comparison. They're crap.

Overall: "1- What a hunk of junk!"

Save your money and buy a Carvin kit. It is an excellent guitar and blows away any Fender or equivalent higher priced piece of garbage. You can't touch a quality guitar like this for under $900. I got the Florida SwamAsh wood for the body. Try buying that at a guitar store. The guitar is so light compared to Basswood and Alder. Very sweet on tone. Recommend Carvin very highly. In fact, it's my second Carvin guitar.

Bright Sounding with Swampash body.

Difficult to polyurethane and tint with a smooth high gloss unless done professionally.

Hardware pretty well made. No complaints. Can't touch it for the money.

Never had to use them.

Owned other Carvin and Gibson and Kramer.

just finished my 2002 bolt kit.
I ordered it with the alder body,maple neck,ebony finger board,
gold hardware,red tortise pickguard,and 3 twin blade hummers.
Let say that Carvin necks are AWESOME!!!The only thing that I can be slightly critical about are the tuners,A little to much slack in them for my tastes...oh well should ordered the locking tuners.

the sound you say? well lets just say that Fender has the right to be jealous....the bolt out shines a strat by a mile,so many pickup combinations.Very good clean sounds,but if you crank the gain it will
scream.Also very good harmonics.

absolutley no flaws,the finish I did myself,which came out pretty nice seeing as how this was the first time I had ever stained any type of wood,gave it 3 coats of Minwax "cherry" polyurathane.
the neck was easy to do 4 coats of tung oil,steel wool it between coats then finish with a good coat of old english lemon oil.....do as Carvin says take you time...........be patient because at this point you will be wanting to get together and jammin on it.

I dont play professionally,but if I did I would use my 97 gold Wolfgang as my main axe,and the carvin bolt for a backup.

only talked to them to make the order.

The way I see it why big $$ for a "name brand" strat.
The Carvin will play circles around any strat that I have ever played.
The only strat you will get for the cost of the Carvin is the one from across the border....and thank you no I will pass on that one.
These are 100% made in the USA.

I ordered the Bolt kit with the strat body, Wilkinson tremelo and Sperzel tuners. The pickups are a Carvin M22 on the bridge, a Twin Blade humbucker in the center and a AP-11 at the neck. The guitar is made of Alder wood. I put 4 coats of tung oil on with a brush and the final 2 coats with a rag. Next, I ragged on a light coat of satin polyurethane. The guitar works and looks great. I couldn't be happier.

The sound is awesome. I play rock, blues, praise and worship, heavy metal-you name it and because of the pickups that I chose this guitar can do it all. The AP-11 in the neck is warm and the M22 has a nice heavy crunch to it, particularly when you activate all 3 pickups with the switch. Twin Humbucker is a nice comprimise between the two. I would say that its sound actually has some of the best qualities of a telecaster and strat.

The kit fits together great and I was able to get the action incredibly low. The rosewood finger board is actually beautiful. I was not expecting to be so impressed with the neck and have gotten several compliments on it. It is a very fast neck and feels good. I wish that they had the option of no fret markers.

I have only had this for a week now but it seems very durable.

Among my many guitars I have a Fender Strat, a '71 Les Paul Standard and a great Jackson DK-II. This guitar is now my favorite. I love it and would recommend it to anyone. I've seen comparisons to the Fender Strat but this is a totally different guitar. It feels different and sounds different. Plus-it's just better.

I purchased a bolt kit - alder body, maple neck with ebony fingerboard, 3 single coils, hardtail, black hardware, pearloid pickguard, and finished it as they recommend with tung oil.

it is as good as any strat type guitar I've played. The pickups are bright without being thin and give a wide range of harmonic content. The center pickup is reverse wound so it is hum free in positions 2&5 and when you add in the bridge to get all 3 pickups. The pickups alone are as quiet as any single coils I've encountered.

all of the parts fit together perfectly and all of the holes were pre-drilled. It couldn't be easier to put together

the finish... well, that is up to you.

it seems made for hard use

unknown

I've played over 35 years and have owned dozens of guitars including pre CBS teles and strats. This ranks with the best of them at being a good sounding, good playing, sturdy guitar... nothing fancy but it does the job.

2002 model Bolt kit with the following options: LEFT HANDED, white pearloid pickguard, twin blade mini-humbuckers H-H-H, sperzel locking tuners, swamp ash body. The rest of the features have already been listed before. There are plenty of features available for this kit. I especially like the fact that they will sell it in Lefty.

It seems to sound as expected. I will probably either add taps for the neck and middle, or swap them out for single coils. Carvin pickups are always lame, and these are no exception. The neck is excellent, as all carvin necks are. Fast and slim. I have used it with my Boogie subway rocket reverb and my 66 Ampeg reverberocket II, and it seems to prefer the boogie, which usually works better with hum's anyway. The pickups have too much midrange, even for humbuckers, so the neck and middle don't sound too well. The bridge sounds pretty good though.

Here is where my complaints lie. I suspect that Carvin is shipping out their "blemished" and "second" parts in these kits. The swamp ash body that I paid an extra $30 for had flaws in the grain as well as a chip in the neck socket. I successfully sanded the chip down to an almost unnoticeable state, but didn't notice the flaws until after I had applied the first coat of tung oil (when it was too late to return it.) Here is another major complaint: The instructions never mention the fact that Swamp ash is far too porous to take a tung oil finish easily. If I would have known this I would not have paid the extra $30 for it. My main purpose in writing this is to warn any potential buyers to this fact. If you get the swamp ash you will either need to be a pro at woodworking or take it to a pro to get a good finish. It requires wood filling to look really good. Mine is acceptable, but the denser (and cheaper) alder would have looked better and would have been easier to finish. It took me a week and about a dozen coats of tung oil to get a decent finish. Also, the sockets for the string routing holes were a pain in the ass for me, as well as the previous posters. I ended up putting a small dent in the back of the body on the first one. My advice here is to find a drift pin or blunt punch or metal rod that will fit inside the sockets and hit it with a hammer to drive them in.

The sperzels that I got in were dirty and greasy, which is another reason I think they are sending seconds out in these kits.

The pickguard was already wired when I got it, but someone must not have taught the idiot that wired this how to wire a left-handed guitar. When a lefty is wired, the pots have to be wired up backwards, or else the volume and tone knobs work in the wrong direction. This one was wired backwards, and after I spent an hour or so rewiring it, I discovered that the volume pot was bad. This is yet ANOTHER reason I think they are shipping reject parts in these kits. So I spent another hour on it, and by this time the wiring cavity is no longer well organized and neat. Also the copper shielding foil they sent was cut for a right handed cavity, so it didn't fit just right. The nut is very crappy looking and too tall; I hope is isn't like this on their production models. The bridge was intonated for a right-handed guitar, so I get to spend my free time tonight re-intonating it...

These questions are all dependent on your building ability. The parts that were correct seem sturdy enough.

I have been trying to reach them to send me a replacement volume pot, but they aren't very accessible. I am getting no answer in the cust service dept. I ended up using my own, which doesn't quite match their knob...

I've been playing about 8 years. I own a bunch of strat-types, but this is the first kit I've purchased. If you're looking to save money, do yourself a favor and spend the extra $$$ and get a finished instrument. This thing is only suited for someone who wants a project, and has a lot of patience. If you do buy one, don't get swamp ash unless you are prepared to deal with it. If you're a lefty, DO NOT BUY THIS!! It will be more headache than it is worth!

I purchased the kit in September 2002 and recieved it three weeks later. It was made in California. I orderd the alder body with twin blade humbucker and two single coil in the middle and neck position. It has a maple neck and ebony fingerboard. I ordered the stop tailpiece with Carvin tuners all chrome with a red pick guard. I also ordered the tweed case. All parts came as ordered and the quality of the work seems very good. Thumbs Up.

The sound is really very good. The single coils sound fantastic with the humbucker being slightly muddy for heavy distortion. I really love the single coils with a clean sound. The electronics are surprisingly quiet, I was very careful in my shielding process. The pickups are very loud and bright and the five way switch gives you a good variety of sounds.Another thumbs up for the sound. Very impressive Carvin!

The factory setup was amazingly close after I assembled the guitar. Intonation took about three minutes to correct, and the neck itself nearly had perfect forward bow. Getting a 1/16" action was a piece of cake. I never would have thunk it! All pre-drilled holes were dead on accurate and my alder body had nice grain and the tung oil procedure recomended by Carvin looks very nice. Only one problem occured. There was no pre-drilled hole from the jack cavity to the main electronics cavity, so I had to drill it myself, no biggie. All manufacturer work was top shelf quality and the hardware was of excellent quality. But I expect this from Carvin.

Strap buttons are a bit small looking so I purchased a set of locking strap buttons myself and installed them instead. The finish will not last. This guitar needs lots of TLC especially the neck finish. (tung oil) It will ding very easily, but it looks really nice.

I called them once to ask a question about the truss rod adjustment and got a quick response from some dude. So, it's okay, I guess. The one time I needed them they delivered. so I'll give a 10

I have been playing 17 years and own two Gibson LP's (custom and studio)a Crate Vintage Tube 50 combo amp, Peavy Max 100 digi processor, various DOD pedals, and last and certainly least, a Peavy Classic Chorus 130 combo amp. Overall it's a fantastic deal . This is a very good quality axe that I will put up against nearly any other. Especially any Fender. Quality controll at Carvin seems to be a top priority if my order is the norm. I am totally impressed. Since I have one I probobly won't buy another one, but I may, you never know. I never intended to get this one, it just happened. If you want to save about 50% on a high quality stratoid type guitar buy the Bolt Kit.

I bought the basic fixed-bridge Bolt kit with no extras/options at the Carvin outlet store in Santa Ana, CA. They were having a sale on the Bolt kits ($30 off).

Basic kit includes:
Two-piece unfinished alder body
25.5 scale unfinished maple neck with ebony fretboard
Carvin non-locking tuners
Strat-style stainless steel fixed bridge
Pickguard assembly with 3 AP11 single coil PU's
Hardware and instructions
Set of 9 guage strings (!)

I love the sound of this guitar. The materials are of very high quality and this is reflected in the Bolt's excellent tone. I have already written a review for the Carvin AP11 pickups. I feel that these are truly some of the best strat-type pickups available and are unbeatable for their price. I like strats to have a bright tone and the Bolt is right up my alley in this respect. I agree with previous posters who recommend changing the pots to 250k if you feel that the Bolt's tone is too bright. Also, the ebony neck and stainless steel bridge will certainly contribute to this guitar's bright tone. Its just a matter of taste. The 2 extra pickup combinations (activated via the small toggle switch near the tone control) allow for a total of 7 pickup combinations.

I don't think that Carvin could have made it any easier for someone to build a guitar. Everything was measured and drilled precisely. The pickups and electronics came pre-assembled and wired (no soldering required). The neck was flawless and the frets did not require leveling. I would have prefered a fatter neck with a slightly rounder radious, but that's just my personal preference. The instructions were comprehensive and easy to follow. The only thing that I had some trouble with was applying the copper shielding to the pickup cavity. This is difficult with any guitar. I followed Carvin's advice and applied a tung oil finish. As long as you follow the finishing instructions and take your time, it is quite easy to get a great looking finish. Also, one advantage of a tung oil finish is that it is very thin and, therefore, allows the wood to "breathe". The result is better tone. Repairing scratches and small dings is also easy. My rating is for the pre-assembled kit.

Being a strat clone, this guitar can take a beating. Everything is of high quality. Don't worry about a backup.

I've never had to deal with customer support.

Check out Tom Wheeler's review of the Bolt kit in Guitar Player (I don't remember which issue). I agree with his review almost completely. For $300, I got a guitar that sounds and plays as well as any guitar that I own. This is truly a complement because I own a number of more expensive guitars (Gibsons, G&L, Rickenbacker, Parker, etc.). The Bolt is truly superior in every way to the 3 American Standard Strats that I have owned. I am in no way affiliated with Carvin, I just really like the Bolt kit.

2002 Bolt Kit, Strat Body type, Maple Neck with Ebony Fret board, 22 Frets, Alder Body, H with coil splitter/S/S, Thru the body tail piece, sperzel tuners, 1-Vol, 1-Tone, 5 way blade switch, Carvin Pickups and the neck is 25 1/2" scale. I got the optional usable features. All the hardware is black.

The sound is very good Position 1 with the C22 humbucker, I think sounds better than the JB in my USA Hamer Custom, Position 2 and 4 are very straty. I play in a Contemp. Church band and also occasionally play in local Rock bands. Overall the sound is very good, quite suprised.

This is where it is feast or famine. You have to set the guitar up yourself since you built it. All the pieces were predrilled and went together extremely well. I decided to paint it instead of following the tung oil suggestion...BIG MISTAKE...it totally looks like a VERY unprofessional job, wich it was...I'm not overly concerned because I am a function over looks type of player. BUT...the neck has been nothing but problems, I have to adjust the relief about every week to other week, I have to constantly adjust the intonation and the strap locks were on the verge of being wheels off, one slightly wrong move and the strap would come off the guitar, the buttons are way too small. One other thing...the neck is just slightly to wide and thin for my taste...its a shredder type of neck with a little more meat.

Everything on it is built to last. Strap buttons sucked. If the neck wasnt a problem it would be a solid 9 but this particular neck just cant decide to be still.

I called three times, the guy that took my order was very helpful even when I called back for an update. The other guy didnt give a rat's orafice.

If you like 1 11/16th necks and strat sounds its a very servicable guitar and plays like a $800-$1000 guitar. I consider the neck problem to be and exception and not the rule but you know what I'm basing this rating on my guitar, crappy neck and all. I have been playing for 25 years and have played/owned 76' Les Paul, 97 Hamer custom Archtop, various Strats, 64'/73' Mustang, Ernie Ball Silhouette, Wolfgang (regardless of being a Peavey one of the best tone/playability guitars no matter what the price), 61' Duo-Sonic, Hamer Chaparrel, Charvel, Washburn (very good guitars), Warrior for a shot while, blah blah blah. If it were lost or stolen I would only feel bad being out the cash...It you want to get the experience and build a guitar this is your deal, if you want an excellent guitar built to last at an exceptional price buy a used Ernie Ball Silhouette. What a mistake.

Being reviewed is my new Bolt Kit from Carvin. Received it the second week of June after 8 weeks of painful waiting (I understand the maple fretboard is a special item not in stock). I ordered:
Swamp Ash strat type body
Black pearloid pickguard
Black hardware
Maple fingerboard
Twinblade Humbucker in bridge position, AP11s in middle and neck pos.
Sperzel locking tuners
Strap locks

Everything else was standard. When I first opened the box I couldn't believe the quality of the kit materials, especially the wood. I ordered the Swamp Ash because the grain pattern is more condusive to a natural finish, and that's what I wanted. I couldn't have picked a better piece of wood myself. Since I customized it myself, I got everything I wanted. But the quality of the features blew me away.

I play blues and rock. This guitar suits my style well. I play it through a Peavey Classic 30. The AP11s pickups are fairly warm and bluesy. The Twinblade is pretty punchy and twangy, almost Tele-like in its bridge position sound. Although the guitar is a strat type body, it has a sound a little different than the strats I've played and the strat that I owned. It has a couple close strat-type sounds, but it really is its own animal. Positions 2 and 4 are not as quacky as I remember my Fender being, but I think the Carvin has a richer smoother sound to it. This is a high quality instrument that has a high quality sound, but it has its own sound for the most part. I've heard a lot of people say that Carvins tend toward the bright and trebly end of the spectrum, but I wouldn't say that this one is overly bright. This guitar has the only tone control that has ever done anything of value for me, so I see the guitar has having some bright bite when I want it with the ability to mellow it out when necessary. The Bolt comes standard with a mini switch that turns on the bridge pickup. When on this allows the bridge and neck pickup configuration in the first position and all three pickups in the second position. While this theoretically gives more versatility to tonal possibilities, the differences are so slight to my ear (and with my equipment) that I rarely use the neck and brige pickups together and I never use all three. A more discriminating ear may disagree and find some value here. I didn't buy it to copy the sound of another guitar/player, so I'm completly thrilled with the quality of tones I can milk from this guitar.

I had to finish and assemble the guitar myself, but everything lined up exactly. And I mean EXACTLY. The neck fit into the pocket perfectly. Every pickguard screw lined up perfectly. The only problem I had was hammering the through-the-body string eyes into the back of the guitar. I used a rubber mallet and I still dinged my finish. I tung oiled the neck 6 times. I just slathered as much on as I could, waited 10 minutes to wipe off the excess, then let it dry for 6 hours, then did it all again. Easy. The body finish was a lot more work, but not hard. I've never done anything like this before and the details (and my excitement) challenged my patience, but it really was pretty simple. I sanded the body down, sprayed on a wood sealer, let it dry, lightly sanded it again, rubbed black pigment into and across the grain, let it dry, sanded the pigment off just enough to leave black in the grain and lacquered it with three cans of Deft lacquer in aeresol cans. I sanded between every three or four thin coats. It turned out awesome. I can't believe I actually made it look that good. It is not just "good for a homemade guitar," it looks like first class quality.

I had to adjust the intonation. They gave good instructions and it wasn't far off. The action was about perfect for me--fairly low (mine was a little more than the claimed 1/16 of an inch) and no buzzing--but it took me a while to get used to the neck. It seemed wide and flat to me, compared to the guitars I've been used to (epi lp and a kramer striker)--almost like I was playing a 1x4. They say that it is supposed to be a fast neck, but I can't comment on that because I'm not a fast player. I did get used to it and it is comfortable for me now. I've never had a maple fingerboard before either, so that might be part of the initial weirdness. I'll ding Carvin a point for the action being higher than advertised.

I didn't find any obvious shortcuts that Carvin might have taken that will end up being the weak link of the guitar. I think this guitar can be a workhorse for someone on the road, although I don't use it that way. The kit comes with two wirenuts so that no soldering is necessary, but if I were going to depend on it I would go ahead and solder the wires to the pots. Just like the gold wore off my Epi LP hardware, I would expect the black hardware to wear a bit with time, but I have no indication that it has started already (only been playing it for a month now).

I called several times to check on the status of my order. I was originally told to check the status in about 2 weeks, since orders like mine take about three weeks. My wait was almost triple that. They were friendly when I called though. I ordered an extra pickup, and that got left out of my order. I got so carried away with my kit that I forgot that I ordered it, but when I remembered and called they sent it right out. One thing that irked me was that they charged my credit card right away and had my money for over 8 weeks before I even got to look at my guitar to see if I liked the quality of it. Maybe they make all their money on the interest from other people's money. I don't know. They sure don't overcharge for their guitars though. I ordered a cataloge from them online and it took over six weeks to get here.

I'd definately buy another kit. It was a lot of fun to make and I'm amazed at the final product--the quality of the materials as well as the finish (if I don't say so myself). I've been playing guitar for over 25 years. I'm a "value shopper," so I look for the best quality I can find at an affordable price without respect for brand names. If you gotta have a Fender or Fender strat tone, don't buy this guitar. But I honestly can't imagine being able to get a comparable Fender for twice the amount of money. This is a great quality instrument. I also like the fact that buying this guitar isn't putting money into some multimillion dollar promotional campaign to make some Freddy Van Weenie rich. Instead Carvin can make their profit and send me an awesome guitar at a very fair price.

This review is for my Carvin Bolt Kit guitar (i.e. you must finish the thing and put it together). I bought this guitar as a cheap secondary guitar and as introduction to out-of-the-ordinary guitars (i.e. Ibanez, Fender, Jackson, etc.). Do not let the price fool you - this thing plays like a dream! I chose the alder body, Sperzel locking tuners, humbucking pickup in the bridge position, and Dunlop strap locks. You can choose any options you want - as long as they are available on the factory Bolt Kit. I also bought the Vintage Tweed Case (I'm not too please with the case. It looks sharp, but it appears to be put together cheaply). I decided to give the guitar the factory recommended Tung Oil finish. Simple, fast, effective. The only bad feature would have to be the "fretboard inlays that aren't." The position markers are painted onto the fretboard - bummer.

I play this guitar through my Marshall TSL 602 combo amp using minimal effects (wah, compressor, chorus). Very bluesy tone - you can squeeze some very thick, creamy tones out of these single coils! The clean tones from this guitar are awesome! I rarely use the amps dirty channel with this guitar. I usually opt for a more straight rock sound, but this guitar makes clean and spanky too much fun! I must admit that I'm not a bit fan of Carvin's C22 humbucker pickup (it sounds a bit too brittle).

The finish is up to you - mine turned out fine. Very little sanding is required on the neck or body before you apply the tung oil finish (if you choose that route). However, even if you decide to paint the body I recommend tung oil on the neck. All I can say is "WOW!" The neck feels fantastic - very smooth and sexy. Playability is where this thing shines! I'm not a fan of neck heels, and this guitar has it's share of heel. But the action and shape of the neck makes up for the heel. If you have any experience in setting up guitars, then tweaking this axe to your liking takes very little time.

I've only had it for a few weeks, but it appears to be made of quality components.

They were helpful when I called to change my order - my only experience

Excellent, I've not been able to put the thing down. I've been playing for almost 15 years and this is the best playing guitar that I've ever played. I would like to have real inlays and a better quality case - but for the price I have no regrets. Besides, it was fun.

2001 Lefty Bolt Kit. Solid alder body, maple neck with maple fingerboard (black dots and 15" radius), Carvin twin-blade humbuckers (s/s/s), 5-way switch, one-volume, one-tone, bridge pick-up permanent on-switch, gold hardware, fixed FT6 bridge with strings through the body, white pearloid pickguard, sperzel locking tuners. Tweed case $50 extra.

Great set up and options.

Once assembled, I can't believe how good this guitar sounds. The twin blade humbucker in the bridge actually sounds BETTER than the Carvin C22 humbucker (go to their web page and have a listen in the multimedia room). I've never played a Lefty Fender that resonates like this guitar does. As for the neck twinblade, in retrospect I wish I had gotten their AP11 pickup. The neck twinblade sounds good, but is missing that single coil sweetness. If I had kept the neck and the middle pickups as regular single coils with the twin blade on the bridge it would be a 10. If you are looking to buy this guitar, I would say upgrading to swamp ash isn't necessary, the alder provides a really nice tone.

The routing for the body was perfect and the neck was absolutely perfect out of the box. The neck fit great in the pocket with no problems. The maple fingerboard (Note: I did not get the birdseye, but simply the regular maple fingerboard) was absolutely beautiful.

The alder body was very smooth. So smooth I lightly sanded it with 400 and immediately went to 600 grit sandpaper and 0000 steel wool. The grain of the body was beautiful and took a red stain I bought perfectly. I lacquered it with a brush and screwed up. No problem: stripped it and re-stained it, followed by 5 coats of high gloss tung oil. If you use stain and tung oil, you will be shocked how good this guitar looks. Don't try lacquer unless you've done it before!!

After the stain and oil final coats dried on the neck and body, I built this guitar, adjusted the truss rod, tuned it, intonated it and set it up in less than an hour and a half. I was able to get the action to 1/16" at the 22nd fret with no audible buzzing. And no shims for the neck!!

Guitar is solid. Bridge, pickguard, neck plate, tuning key, and strap holes were well drilled. Since I tung oiled it, I plan to take it apart every year or so and re-apply a coat of tung oil.

Between the time you order the guitar and it gets shipped, they don't have a clue where it is. After the kit was two weeks late, I called Wednesday and they couldn't give me a ship date, I called Friday and it had shipped Thursday. They get an A for effort, as the salesmen tried to be very helpful. However, they couldn't give me an answer. They called me at home even. Be warned: Your kit will most likely be late. However, when you get it, you will forgive them.

I lost the screws to the pickguard when building it. I called and they sent out screws free of charge, although it was my fault. They, however, sent out only one screw!! I called back and they sent out the rest, priority mail!!

Bottum line, they stand behind their product and are good to deal with. However, they need to improve their order tracking process and communication between the departments. 10 for friendliness and responsiveness, 2 for ability to track orders. So overall:

I've been playing 16 years. I own a Charvel/Jackson Model 3 guitar, Carvin DC400 (this guitar made me a Carvin junkie), Carvin TL60, MTS3212 Amp etc., Crate 70 watt tube driver, Ibanez acoustic.

I would buy this guitar again. In fact, I may buy another!! If you are a lefty and want a strat this is the way to go. You won't find a lefty Fender at any price that will play like this!! I never did find a lefty Fender at any music store that was significantly better than my Hondo. No joke.

2000 model GK1 hardtail with alder body, maple/ebony neck, S/S/S pickup arrangement, and all black hardware. This is your basic Strat copy, albeit with a nicely slimmed body and rounded heel. There is only one tone knob, but there is a phase toggle for the bridge pickup.

Once properly adjusted, the guitar is quite resonant. The AP11 pickups offer a wide variety of tones and provide ample bass, mids, and treble - definitely on the "fatter" side of the Strat spectrum. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say that you'll sound like SRV or Jimi as soon as you strap this guitar on. You'll have to tweak it and adjust your playing style to get the best blues tones or rock tones, depending on your preference. The pickups are very sensitive to height adjustment, just like most single coils.

Some players have found the AP11s to be exceptionally bright. I don't find this to be true, but then I have a darker-sounding amp. If it's too bright for you, then change the pots to 250k units. WRT noise, there isn't much hum going on. Use the copper shielding and you'll be fine. If you're ultra sensitive, then buy some noise-free pickups. :-)

In my opinion, this guitar could cover blues to hard rock, and probably some jazz with a single-coil vibe.

This is a kit, so action is largely the buyer's responsibility. This is only my second guitar, the first being a Peavey Strat copy. I didn't have any trouble achieving better action with this guitar than the Peavey had. I think I could probably do better still. Fortunately, it's easy to adjust if you take the time.

I found the bridge saddles to be *way* too low as adjusted at the factory. Anyone else with this experience?

The neck is quite "fast." This is good thing. However, I would personally prefer a compound radius to the flat 16", but that is a minor quibble.

The body/neck joint for my kit wasn't as tight as some have reported. I could have returned the pieces for exchange, but I chose to fix it myself by brushing on a little epoxy and then filing it back. The neck now goes in with a satisfying "pop" but doesn't place undue stress on the treble side of the cavity. Finish thickness does make a difference.

I chose to french polish my instrument as practice for future projects. After some light sanding, I began finishing with Behlen Qualasole and no grain filler. I should have filled the grain, even though alder is a close-pore wood. The end grain especially will stain if the finish has any color at all. I ended up stripping the Qualasole off with acetone and starting over with pure shellac. The end grain still looks a bit splotchy, but I can live with it. If you want a defect-free hard finish, I suggest having Carvin or Guitar ReRanch lacquer your instrument for you. Qualasole works just fine for the maple neck, however.

The scratchplate assembly just barely fits around the bridge plate but can always be cut down if need be.

I suppose this guitar will stand up as well as any other strat. The neck is thin but is reinforced with graphite/epoxy rods. This is a musical instrument for heaven's sake. Don't go bashing it on stage to find out if it will break. It will. Buy some straplocks if you don't ever want it to come off the strap.

The parts are all high-quality stuff. The black finish on mine will chip/wear off if abused but not from normal use.

The guy I ordered from (Damon?) was a little curt. He also sent the wrong pickguard (black rather than red tortoise). I chose to live with it, but again I'm sure they would have exchanged it without a problem.

I don't expect much in the way of warranty support. They would probably replace the neck if it cracked.

There is a lot of user choice here. I think the instrument is a great value for someone who wants a hand in how their instrument turns out but doesn't want to build from "scratch." On a cost basis, Carvin's products beat Warmoth's hands down. If cost is not an issue, then I'd recommend buying the Warmoth stuff instead. You have more options that way (i.e. fingerboard radius, fretwire, etc.) Resale value is nill in either case.

The real question for many will be whether this guitar is a better value than a Mexi-strat. I think so, unless you are going for a strictly "vintage" feel. This instrument will cover a lot of sonic territory.

I hate single coil hum. The AP11s, properly shielded, really aren't that bad. I will definitely keep them around. However, I plan to try some of Bill Lawrence's L280s in the near future.

This is a great "experimental" guitar!

2001 USA made. 22 fret - Strat shape, solid Mahogany body, maple neck with birdseye maple fingerboard. I ordered mine with the S/S/H Carvin p'up config. I finished the guitar myself (it IS a kit) with Tung Oil on the body and neck - looks gorgeous. Check out my little page to see before and after shots of the kit http://beckdi.tripod.com

I ordered the FT6 fixed bridge, locking tuners and coil splitter for the humbucker. The neck is awesome, almost plays itself...I'd heard great things about Carvin necks for years - now I know that it's true. It is so easy to play. 25 1/2" scale. I also picked up the HC12 tweed case.

I play mostly blues, classic rock, pop and jazz. I'm not into metal anymore so I wasn't considering that sound when I bought, although I'm sure you could get plenty of metal tone from the C22 humbucker. I run it through a Carvin BelAir 50-watt tube-combo. The amp itself is designed to provide a vintage blues sound (which I think it does really well, it's an incredible amp - the clean channel is superior to any amp in its pricerange) and it just sings with the Bolt. The singlecoils will, of course, give you a little hum when you aren't playing, but they all will. I'm very pleased with the wide range of tones I can achieve with this guitar. Jazzy, bluesy, rock, heavy distortion - they all sound awesome!

This is really not something that you can rate Carvin on as much as the others since I put it together myself, but they did manufacture the parts and I have to say that everything fit together perfectly and I can't find much wrong with the way it came in. The only little nitpicky thing I can think of is that the pickup poles were in slightly wacky heights and the pickups themselves were not set to height levels that I was satisfied with. No big deal, took all of 2 minutes to adjust.

The hardware all seems very good quality, the finish (which is mine, not theirs) should hold up, but I'm sure I'll have to reapply some Tung Oil occasionally - that's natural for that type of finish. I could always apply a lacquer to seal it. Everything feels very solid.

They are pretty good with Customer Support, I originally got the HC11 SKB plastic case and returned it for the wooden tweed-covered case. It's a much higher quality case and only cost $15 more - I was just being cheap to have not ordered it in the first place. They sent me a new case before I shipped the old one back so I could have a case for it at all times. No problem.

I've been playing for about 9 years, spent most of my time with a cheapo Ibanez. I also have a Takamine acoustic and a Carvin BelAir 212 tube amp. If it were stolen or lost, I would get another one in a heart beat, same options. It is supremely playable, has a wide variety of tones available, it is inexpensive yet feels and sounds better than Fenders costing twice as much. If you are looking for a Strat type guitar with better feel and playability and similar tone, get it. You can even buy one that they put together for you for cheaper than a Fender. If you don't like it, send it back for a full refund.

april 2001, 22 frets, solid alder body w/ hard maple neck, volume tone and toggle for bridge, sperzel tuners, ebony fretboard, 3 single coils, strings through body bridge(very solid)
10 for features since I picked them

I'm don't have Eric Johnson's ears, but I think this guitar sounds like a very high quality strat. It's only noisy if you don't shield it properly. The thing I like most about this guitar is that she plays like a Jackson or Ibanez, but sounds almost identical to a stratocaster...Fantastic!!!

As mentioned before, in my opinion it plays like a shredder. Wich is great for me. You can sound like Stevie Vaughan, but shred like Steve Vai. I can't possibly fathom a more playable guitar.

I just received this kit less than a month ago, but she'll probably hold up considering I don't gig out. In fact, even if I did, I can't see anything breaking. I am however prone to dropping my toys.(Thank You straplocks) Don't see her breaking within the next 50 years unless a stray bus smacks her.....knock on wood.

N/A

This is my fourth guitar; the first being a peavy stratoid, the second an Ibanez rg 470, the third an Ibanez S470Qs, and finally, the blackocaster. I would definately purchase a kit once again if for some reason a knucklehead stole mine, but not before I removed his fingers. Although the whole idea sounds somewhat difficult, finishing and assembling this kit is cake. The body felt almost like glass when I received it and by the way, tung oil works wonders. If you llke the sound of a strat, but don't want to shell out 800 or so, buy this axe. I have yet to play a fender that's as half as great as this carvin bolt.

2001 Bolt Kit. An unfinished solid alder strat-style body with H-H-H routing. Pre-assembled pickguard with 3 Carvin AP11 single-coil pickups. An unfinished Carvin maple neck (25 1/2") with ebony fretboard. Neck is fairly wide with a very flat radius (15" I believe) and medium frets. Excellent fretwork on it. Carvin FT6 fixed bridge, Sperzel locking tuners. Excellent parts value for the money.

Very easy to put together. Requires sanding (not much), and finishing of your choice. I did the suggested tung oil thing and it came out pretty good. I did not sand enough between coats, so the finish ended up looking a little "rough" under very close inspection. I'm going to sand it down and put a couple more coats of tung oil on at some point, but for now it looks just fine.

After finishing, it's just a matter of screwing the bridge, pickguard, jack, and neck on, and affixing the tuners to the headstock. This is all extremely easy; no special mechanical aptitude required at all. My bolt actually had pretty playable action and intonation right after screwing it together and stringing it up. I made a few small adjustments to the truss rod and saddles, and it was ready to go.

Sounds great. Stratty tone, with legit strat quack in the "in-between" positions (2 and 4 on the 5 way switch). Has a small switch which turns the bridge PU on in the 1 and 2 positions, giving you a couple extra sounds. Very resonant, sustain-laden guitar unplugged, makes for an equally good plugged in tone. Uses 500k pots, so somewhat more trebly than an equivalent 250k Strat-style guitar. Some people don't like Carvin's pickups, but they sound (to me) as good as any stock single-coil I've heard. Seems like most people end up switching out the PUs in their guitars, but I feel need to do that with these at all.

Fit and finish depends on me, as does action to the extent to which it depends on setup. Overall, this is a very high quality guitar, for cheap ($350 shipped, I believe). The quality of the wood used is excellent, as is the shaping and routing of it. Fretwork is flawless, as noted. The fixed bridge is a nice, solid, well-finished hunk of metal. The locking sperzels have been great to me; first guitar I have owned with them -- talk about a quick string change. This guitar will stay in tune as well as anything out there (fixed bridge, extremely solid carbon-reinforced neck, graphite nut, locking tuners).

Should hold up great. Strats are pretty tough, and this is as tough as any Fender I've seen.

No idea. I'm not even sure if the Bolt Kit has a warranty, since it's a kit. I have heard varying things about Carvin's customer service, from bad to passable to great. Not much to go wrong with this thing, though. I've heard about noisy and malfunctioning switches on these guitars, but haven't experienced that myself. It's possible that Carvin heard these complaints and improved the switch; in any case it seems solid enough.

Really an all-around great guitar, at an equally great price. Don't be put off by the need to assemble this thing yourself. That's an easy, enjoyable job. The worst part is waiting for the tung oil to dry when you'd like to be playing it already. I haven't got mine set up *exactly* how I'd like it in terms of action, but that's because I am basically learning guitar set-up as I go. Otherwise, it really plays great, and sounds just as good.

I ordered the kit in the middle of November, 2000. I recieved in in the middle of December, 2000. I ordered the fixed bridge kit with a mahogany body, maple fretboard, Sperzel locking tuners, and tortoise shell pickguard. I chose the SSH pickup config with a C22T in the bridge and the standard AP11's for the middle and neck pickups. It has one volume control, one tone control, a 5-way pickup switch, a switch to split the bridge humbucker to single coil, and another switch to turn the bridge pickup on in any position. I got Dunlop Straplocks also. The guitar is a strat-type guitar when assembled. The neck is a flat, wide neck which is absolutely great for soloing. I give it a 10 because I chose all the features that I wanted on it. They are running a special for half-off all options, so I loaded up on quite a few of them for only a little more than the standard kit price.

I play in my church band every Sunday. We play all different kinds of music from regular church worship music to comtemporary christian to bluesy-rock type, and including some heavier stuff. I've gotten them to do remakes of a couple of blues songs that I like. When I'm at home I like to play lots of blues and blues-rock.
I have two other Carvin's, a DC135T, and a DC135. My reviews of them are here in Harmony Central also. This kit guitar sounds just as good as them if not better. It has a mellower sound probably due to the bolt on neck, mahogany body, and maple fretboard (My other Carvins have ebony fetboards and neck-through body design). I was wanting something mellower than my others and achieved it with this one. The shielding keeps the single coils pretty quiet, and of course the humbucker is silent unless I use the coil splitter, and even then it's not noisy...just a slight hum to it.
At church I run my guitar through a Digitech RP7 into their power amps. I haven't found a patch yet that I use that doesn't sound great with this guitar. I usually just use the neck pickup for my playing becuase the bridge pickups on my other two are a little too bright for me. I really noticed the difference of the mahogany body with the humbucker. It is still bright as expected, but now there is a real mellow sweetness to the pickup that I don't hear in the other two guitars. It really sounds good. A couple of other musicians at church also commented on how much warmer this guitar sounds than my other ones.
At home I run my guitars straight into my Carvin Bel-Air 212 amp. Sometimes I use the RP7 in the effects loop to add some chorus or another effect. This guitar really shines when connected to this amp. I has a really big sound with lots of bass response and nice highs.
Whether I'm playing at home or at church I can get multiple varieties of sounds since I have a total of 11 different combinations with the 5-way selector, coil splitter, and bridge pickup on switch. No matter which selection I am on, I can tell that it is a mellower sound than my other Carvins. It really responds to my pick attack well. If I pick it soft it can sound just as smooth and creamy as any guitar I've played. If I pick it hard, the spanky sound of the maple fretboard really shines through nicely. I didn't realize that this was going to be such a versatile guitar.
I don't really want to say that it sounds like this or that guitar, because I really haven't heard a guitar with the complex sounds this one has, so it's hard to catagorize it as Strat-like, or Les Paul-like. I just know that it really sounds great to me and anyone else who has heard it. Clean sounds are crystal clear, and put in some overdrive and it can sing or scream with the best of them. I haven't noticed any of the pickups getting muddy, but I don't use it to play any death metal or the like. For the music styles I like it is great. I had also bought an extra white pearl pickgaurd planning to get some different pickups to put in it...maybe some Texas Specials, Fralins, Kinmans, or something...and I still may at some point, but not for a while. And if I do I'll certainly keep this pickuard assembly intact with everything on it to put it back in if I want. These Carvin pickups are really nice sounding, but I'll give it a 9 for sound because they haven't completely taken the idea of putting something else in this guitar, but they do sound great.

Well, most of this catagory has to do with my own ability to finish and assemble the guitar. I followed the instructions and put a tung oil finish on the body and neck. It was really easy to do, but it just takes some patience for the oil to dry. I think that the hardest part of doing the finish was trying to mask off the fretboard to keep the oil from getting on it or the frets. Unfortunately some got on it anyways. No big deal, I just used my #0000 steel wool and took it off of the frets and fretboard. All it took was a little elbow grease. The body came out great. It's a one piece body which looks just beautiful. I didn't know that mahogany had that much grain texture until I got this. It really came out looking nice. The neck came out silky smooth when I was done. I put four coats of tung oil on each as per the instructions. Doing it was really easy and ended up with a nice smooth satin finish.
When I was assembling the guitar, it was really simple. I think that it took me about 1-1/2 hours to do the whole assembly after I got the finish on the body and neck done. I could have rushed it, but didn't want to take a chance of screwing something up. Every hole lined up perfectly and the pieces went together really nice. The fit of the neck to the body was satisfyingly tight. It wasn't overly tight, but I can't fit a business card inbetween the seam, so it's really close. Much better than any Fender I've seen.
It took me about 25 minutes to string it and adjust the action and intonation. I was prepared to take longer, but the intonation was suprisingly close from the factory. I only had to adjust the intonation on two of the saddles, and even then they were just slightly sharp on my tuner. The only real trick was getting the height adjusted on the saddles. After I got that done, I set the intonation, and tightened the truss rod about 1/4 turn total. Now the action is great. I swear that it plays better than my other two Carvins also. I thought that wasn't possible because they play great. I actually have had to get used to this action because it is so low. Because of the fised bridge and the Sperzels, it stays in tune just great. I can bend notes all day long and not worry about it getting out of tune. My other Carvins have Sperzels also, and I am hooked on them. I don't think that I would buy another guitar without at least putting them on it.
I use Carvin 10-46 strings on all my electrics. They work great. I haven't broken a string since I started using theirs. Not really any fret rattle anywhere on the fretboard, and certainly none heard from my amp. I could raise the action a bit, but it's set where I like it. The frets were nice and level, and smooth. No edges sticking out. I have compared this to the necks of my other guitars, and it's just as good. I haven't played a better neck on any other brand of guitar.
I give the guitar a 10 in this catagory because everything went together much easier than I had anticipated. The finish turned out great, and putting it together and setting it up was simple. It only took me 3 days to put it together from start to finish. Most of that time was drying time for the tung oil.

Since I am the one that put this guitar together, I have a pretty good idea how well it was made. Quality materials were used in this guitar and I use it at least twice a week live playing. I haven't had any problem with my other Carvins after having one of them for a year and a half, and the other for going on a year. I don't expect any problems out of this guitar either. It actually feels more solid than my other two.
The Dunlop straplocks are very sturdy and haven't even thought of coming loose on my other Carvins, so I don't expect it here either. The rest of the hardware seems solid enough. I don't jump around and jerk and try to snap something on my guitars like an idiot, so I don't see why this stuff won't last a long time. The finish I'm not so sure about since I'm not real familiar with tung oil finishes. I've heard that every couple of years I may have to put another coat on, and I plan on wiping it down with lemon oil every 2 or 3 months, so I don't see a real problem. Even if I do have to put another coat on in a couple of years, it's easy to do.
I can and do depend on this guitar, just like my others. I only take one guitar when I play at church, and haven't had any problems in over a year of doing so. I don't forsee any problems with this guitar, but you never know. If I ever start a band and start giggin I would take another guitar just in case a broke a string or something. Overall a rock solid guitar that I have total faith in to not break down on me.

Sean McAnally is the person that I buy all my stuff from at Carvin. When I was getting ready to order this kit I told him the type of sound that I wanted, and he steered me to the mahogany body. I'm sure glad he did, because not only did it make for a beautiful guitar, but a great sounding one also. He answered all my silly questions, and still does whenever I have one. He is always very helpful, and nice when answering questions. I even changed a couple of things on my order a couple of days after it was ordered and he was extremely nice about changing the order.
I don't even know if there is a warranty since it is a kit, but if I have any problems, I'm sure that Sean and the guys at Carvin will take care of it and help me out. Their customer service is great.

I have been playing for over 3 years now. I also own two Carvin DC135's (one tremolo, one hard-tail), my Digitech RP7, a Carvin Bel-Air 212 (great amp!!), and a cheap acoustic.
For the last year and a half I had been wondering if anything out there could play as good as my DC135's without breaking my wallet. I have done plenty of searching over that time and played a lot of instruments. Many of them way out of my price range. I didn't find anything until I bought this kit and put it together. It plays great, sounds great, and look great. I paid about $750 each for my DC135's and a little over $400 for this kit. If I could change one thing about the kit it would be to get a koa body. I would like to get another kit with a koa body because I've heard so many good things about the tone of koa bodied guitars.
I honestly don't believe that I could get a better guitar for under $1000. I am not even concerned about resale value...I built this guitar and am proud of it. I would never let it go. If it was stolen I would definitely order another one just like it to replace it. If you have been thinking about getting one of these Carvin kits....do it. I was a bit apprehensive at first, thinking that I would mess something up, but it's really easy to build, and plays and sounds great. E-mail me if you have any questions.

2000 Bolt Kit. USA made, alder body, maple neck and fretboard, 21 frets, S/S/S AP11 pickup config with a 5-way selector and and an on/off switch for the bridge pickup. Finished in tung oil with a string-thru-body hardtail. Quality hardware and a nice wide/thin neck. Strangely, the maple fretboard is an upcharge of $20 over the standard ebony board (a more expensive wood that's harder to work with. Go figure). What you see is what you get.

I use my Bolt when I feel like switching from my usual technical progressive style to play straight-up rock, blues, or jazz dabblings. I prefer to use it through a Bel Air 212 combo because they are such a good match. I was surprised by just how quiet this guitar is, even in single-coil modes. Almost no 60-cycle hum.
When I finished assembling the guitar, I was blown away by how loud the guitar was unplugged and how much it resonated in my hands. I knew it would be a killer. The pickups are great - they have all the chimey bell and quack tones while not sounding exactly like a strat. The sustain was also surprising. I can sustain notes infinetely at low volumes with just a little bit of gain (anyone who says that bolt on necks don't sustain as well as neck-thrus need to play this). Using the neck pickup and flipping the toggle switch to engage the bridge humbucker is pure heaven--SRV and Hendrix would be proud. This guitar sounds fantastic, there is nothing I can find not to like about it. I can even do double-stop bends all day long and not even knock it out of tune with the standard tuners.

All the parts arrived perfectly cut and routed, except they forgot to drill pilot holes for the tuner screws on the back of the neck. Simple enough, I drilled them myself. The quality of the woods were flawless. The neck pocket was so tight, after I finished the neck I had to sand the finish where it contacted the body just to get it to fit! The best fitting neck pocket I've ever seen. The overall craftmanship was amazing. Sorry Fender, but even your American-made models don't even come close.

This guitar is as durable as you can expect any quality guitar to be. The oil finish I completed myself, so any durablity flaws there can be traced to myself. All of the hardware is solid and dependable. I would use it without a backup.

Excellent. Talking to these guys on a regular basis and have not been disappointed yet.

Unbelievable value. I have been playing for almost 8 years and own a bunch of other equipment from various manufacturers. There is nothing to hate about this axe, and it stomps the American made Fenders in quality (and tone, for that matter). Buy one!!

This is really just the a review of a Carvin neck I mounted on a Mexican Fender Strat. The neck is maple with ebony board and has 1&11/16 nut spacing and the usual Carvin profile ( similar to an Ibanez RG 550 with a little more meat)and a 15" radius. I also had it finished with a tung oil finish. It is to me, the most comfortable neck I have ever played.

The sound of my Mexi-Strat has been greatly improved by this neck. I really don't know why as I usually like the sound of rosewood boards more than ebony but it has added definition without adding undue treble.

I had my repair man install the neck and in doing so he of course dressed the frets so I cannot comment on how it showed up but right now the action is at 1/64" on the high E and 1/32" on the Low E and there is no buzzing and seeminly endless sustain.

I have other Carvin guitars and their frets seem to last a long time and the are quite tall so they can handle multiple dressings.

Carvin has many good people in sales as well as some uninformed fools who would tell you mahogany is brighter than ash. If you get a moron hang up and call back later.

I have a Gibson L-5, 347, Ibanez Pat Metheny, Heritage 575, Golden Eagle, Anderson Hollow Classic, Godin LGX-SA, and a Carvin TL60. Obviously these are all good guitars but the Mexican Fender loaded with EMG SA-SA-85, graphite saddles, and this neck is actually better in playability to all of them and sounds as good as any of them as well.

This is a follow-up response to a previous posting that I made. The guitar is a Carvin Bolt w/ walnut body, hss, and fixed bridge. After setting the guitar up as well as would be allowed, I found that the G string rattled and buzzed incessantly regardless of the neck relief and the height of the saddle. When I say regardless of saddle height, I mean that I had it cranked up till the screws were about to fall out. After many nights of annoying action height and string chatter, I sent the neck back to carvin. After a week and a half slipped by, I called to check on trhe status of the neck and the returns/repairs guy told me that the frets were slightly unlevel so he had the frets leveled and polished. I got it back a few days ago and reassembled it, restrung it, and set her up. I can't believe how much tone and sustain I was losing before I had this neck repaired. I put in 2 Rio Grande Tallboys along with Torres Engineering's Volume Kit and a Dimarzio Evolution. This guitar is awesome now. I'm playing through a Mesaboogie DC3 now and I am truly happy-again. You WILL have to take time to get used to this neck. Trust me. Once you do, you won't want to play another guitar because it allows for such accurate fretting, bending, and frethand vibrattos. I also LOVE it for chording. If not for this neck inclusion, I'd have assigned them a 9.

90% of their CS people left me with the impression that they couln't have cared less and I was bothering them! I was the one shit out of a guitar for over 2 weeks. They acted like I was interrupting their lunch. I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the lot of them. I appreciated the way they let me pay for the shipping. See, guys, chivalry isn't dead. They treat youu like the only guitarrist on the planet before you buy, but once you commit, they treat you like the turd that always resurfaces.
If anyone wants to know anything about these wonderful guitars, just email me and we'll "chew the electronic fat".

Overall, this is the greatest guitar that I have ever played. There isn't another like it anywhere around here which adds to the lore of it all. I love it when people ask me "what the hell is that thing??". It's just a goddamned shame the way lousy customer service can filter one's view of a company.

I ordered this guitar kit a month ago, which makes it a 2k model. I chose a walnut body(beautiful)for this in lieu of the standard alder piece. I selected the M22SD humbucker, white pickguard, standard keys(excellent), fixed bridge, and black hardware.

After assembled I plugged the unfinished Carvin-stratoid into my Mesa/Boogie Mk IV halfstack. I've been playing for 13 years and I play everything from Journey to Dream Theater including Texas/Delta blues and some classical. I was TRULY shocked by the sound and amount of sustain this guitar can summon. I mean I only paid $420 for it, but I wasn't expecting it to sound this cool. I've got a Dimarzio Evolution and a pair of Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues waiting for her, but I may wait a little longer before I put them in. I've been accused of being a pessimistic hard-ass by my friends because I expect perfection(I call it being realistic)so I'll tell you the 2 things that I feel were a bit under par. First of all, I didn't much care for the action of the pots. I found them unresponsive until at either extreme position. They had a smooth action, however. Secondly, I wasn't happy with the 5-way switch, so out it came and in went a fender unit. In the realm of things not a big issue-especially considering the fact that my friend's thousand dollar PRS responded in a similar fashion. Tis guitar has it's OWN sound. You can't say it's just like this or it's just like that; It's just cool. I give this a 7 because of the aforementioned gripes(though the frosted wheat side of me wants to give this thing an 8 or a 9!).

The first thing that I noticed right after I opened the box was the stunning piece of wood laying before me. I've been restoring antique furniture for 9 years, so I feel qualified to make these remarks, and I can say to you that this wood is not cheap garbage. The grain is complex and the color is rich and even-and I haven't even applied the finish yet! All of the routing was flawless, every hole where it should be, and all parts accounted for in their entirety. Look people, something has to be said about the neck. The ebony is beautiful, the maple is slightly better than great(fantastic?), the fretwork is neat and even, if not a bit on the sharp side(not a big deal), and when fitted to the body, it forms a tighter seal than Al Gore's lips on Clinton's ass(Pretty damned tight!)! I highly recommend using Tung oil. Not only does it provide a great moisture barrier, but it deepens the color and richness of the woods natural attributes. Also, it is easy to repair if you are scratch-prone(as I am); All you have to do is apply the Tung oil to the scratch, let it dry, then lightly buff with 0000 steel wool! I recommend using Goddard's Furniture spray to condition the wood every few months to keep that sexy, smooth feel and deep luster!
I bought this guitar as a project and because I don't like lugging my American Strat around without a backup. Now the Strat is the Carvin's backup. If you are even remotely interested in trying this out, do it and do it without hesitation.

Well, I haven't had her long enough to state whether or not she's rugged, but in my opinion this kit is nicer than ANY guitar that I've owned costing up to and over $1000. The best feeling is when you jam with your friends and they have that "I wasted my money on a name brand" look on their faces. You have to admire that!

I only dealt with them(Damon)once upon ordering. Very helpful!

I live in New Orleans and I've been gigging for 4 years and here, people know the blues and metal, so you'd better have your shit straight. I've played LP's, Srats, and Ibanez's in New Orleans blues clubs for years, but since I got this thing, I can't tell you how many times I've been approached after a set and asked where I got this guitar from and how much it costs. I swear sometimes I just wanted to tell them that it was given to me as a gift and I hadn't a clue because this thing is my secret weapon.

Bought it in 1999. The Carvin catalog and their website pretty much describe the basic features of the kit. It's basically a strat-oid guitar in peices, i.e. neck, body, tuners, pickgaurd, etc. All wood components are machine sanded but not finished. The body is Alder and the neck was maple with an ebony fingerboard. The pickguard comes pre-wired with your requested configuration of pickups. I wanted a super-strat style guitar, so I ordered a bridge humbucker and two single coils in a white tort. shell pickguard. In this configuration there is one volumne and one tome control, standard strat-style 5 position pickup selector switch and a mini-switch that is a coil tap for the humbucker. I also ordered an additional mini-switch and wired it to switch the bridge pickup in when the standard five-way switch is in any of the front three positions. This is the standard wiring for the three single coil pickguard. I also ordered a hard-tail rather than the wiggle-tail and upgraded to Sperzel locking tuners. I stained the body with an oil stain and finished the body and neck with tung oil. The results were great and required no special wood finishing skill or tools. The assembly was easy since Carvin's directions were so clear.

Ths guitar is a real tone-monster! I play mostly blues and blues-rock with some country and pop thrown in and it really covers all of the bases. I've heard complaints about Carvin pickups, but these are excellent. They seem to have more punch than the EMG's on my Ame-Std Strat and may be somewhat brighter. All of the different tone combinations are really cool. I use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and/or Blues Junior with a Tube Screamer. Clean is punchy and harmonically complex. I especially like the neck pickup (personal taste). When slightly overdriven all of the clean tone remains and harmonic complexity is enhanced. With the drive on the tub-screamer pegged, well does "Carlos Santana" ring a bell. The body and neck are really live and respond well to string vibrations, further enhancing the sound. The pickups can be a bit noisy, picking up electrical interference set up by flouresent lights and such. But I think that a lot of that will be eliminated when I install some additional shielding. Since the pickguard dimesions are standardardized and the body is routed to fit humbuckers in all three positions, other pickups could be used as well. I don't think that I'll change just now though. This guitar is strat-like in sound, but does not sound just like a strat (whatever that is supposed to mean). If you want that strat sound, save a LOT more money and buy the real thing. If you want a great sounding electric guitar for a lot less, then this is your axe.

Well since its a kit most of the action, fit, and finish should be my responsibility right? Well certainly the finish since I did that myself. But the action, fit, and finish of a kit is only as good as the component parts and these components are excellent. Everything fit together very easily and with no fudging whatsoever required on my part. The neck/body joint was satsifyingly tight. All of the screw holes lined up. The neck and fret-work are as good as I've seen on guitars costing three times as much. The setup was really easy to get right since the directions were so good. The resulting action is low with no buzzouts on bends and such.

I have not had the guitar even a year yet, so I'm extrapolating when I say that it is a rugged beast that will work great in live situations. The tung oil finish in particular is very nice to have, since it is very forgiving and can easily and beautifully be "brought back" simply by applying a fresh coat.

Calling to buy the kit was a pleasure because the guy I talked to (Carl I think his name was) seemed really excited about the product and like a good salesperson made me feel even more excited about buying it. :) Regretably, this does not always happen. I did have to call to ask a setup question and was put in contact with a real person pretty quickly. However in this case I got the feeling that this person felt I was bothering them with my question. :(

I have been playing on and off for 25 years. I have had Gibsons, Fenders, Ibenezes, Epiphones, etc. I still have an Ame Std Strat with EMGs that is a great guitar. I play the Carvin because it is so rock solid and great sounding, but also because I built it myself. If it were stolen, I would definitely buy another Carvin kit. If I ever got another kit from Carvin, I would hope to have other wood choices for the Body. I suspect that they keep the best stuff for the pre-assembled and custom shop guitars.

I HOPE U PRINT THIS AS I HAVE A GRIPE WITH CARVIN!!!! EVERYONE CAN READ ABOUT THE SPECS IN OTHER REVS BECAUSE THEY ARE WELL COVERED.

THE GUITAR IS GREAT ,,BUT MY BITCH WITH CARVIN CONCERNS A PREVIOUSLY ORDERED NECK.

NO COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE BOLT[HARDTAIL]

COOL AS CAN BE BUT I NEVER GIG W/O BK/UP

!@$#@%&^*%^^$$$$%&&*$%$^&*@!!##SENT THEM THE NECK,,CONTACTED THEM E-M AND PHONE.NECK WAS INSTALLED BY LUTHIER, HE HAD TO MAXX THE TRUSS ROD AND THERE JUST TOO MUCH RELIEF.SENT BACK WITH CARVIN PROMISE OF NEW NECK,THEY JUST SHIPPED IT BACK SAYING "THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE NECK!RITE!AND MAHDONNA IS A VIRGIN!

AFTER 30+ YRS I CAN SPOT A BAD NECK.I SUPPOSE MY GUITAR TECH AND THE LUTHIER THAT INSTALLED IT ARE !@#@$ING STUPID & BLIND JUST LIKE ME! WHAT REALLLLLY PISSES ME IS NOT THE FACT OF A BAD NECK, BUT SENDING THE SAME ONE BACK, STATING THERE IS NOTHING WRONG!!!! SO PISS DOWN MY BACK & TELL ME IT'S RAINING!!!! I DON'T THINK SO!

The Carvin Bolt kit is a strat clone which is idential to their bolt, save the buyer assembles and finishs the guitar. Mine is a 1999 model. I have owned it about 6 months now, as I wanted to spend some time with it before I wrote up a review. It can be ordered with some variations of body woods, pickups, fretboard woods and fret sizes. I chose a mahog body, ebony fretbaord (maple neck), hardtail and 3 single coils (A11's) and chrome hardwear. I ordered the torty pickguard as well. The Carvin set up for the 3 singles has a master volume and tone, a standard 5-way and a switch so the bridge pu can be turned on at any time (allowing neck-bridge and all 3 pu's on combos). Mine came with a one piece mahog body. Carvin uses a 3 humbucker route (Fender a "swimming pool" route) so there is more wood inthe body than in many Fenders. The tuners are Carvin standard, but Shallers are also avaible. The neck profile is flat (14" radis) and thin, with tall medium fretwire. I bought the kit as I was going to build a hybred and this was the best deal I could find on quality parts.

I play largely blues (Delta clean), with infrequent treks into rock and high gain. This guitar fits that style well. The fret is great for virbrato and bending. The neck is fast and great. I would like a little thicker profile but this is not bad. The guitar has some of the standard single coil hum, but as it sheilded it is not bad. The Carvin singles are a little more mellow, but a little brighter than the traditional strat to my ears. This is likely to be due in part to the mahog body I chose and the 500K pots Carvin uses. The tone control takes care of this treble well however and I have not found it a problem. The neck or neck-bridge gives a nice jazzy feel. The middle is the standard middle and the bridge (remember it is a hardtail) has a real country (twangy) tone. The in between have the strat quack tone. The Carvin A11's should fit anywhere a 3 single tone is desired. As I am primarily a humbucker player, I set up a pickguard with a Gibson Classic 57 in the neck and 57 plus in the bridge. I used the 500K stacked pots, and 3-way (LP style) switch and a standard 11 hole Strat pickguard from Warmoth as well. Wiring is Stew-Mac (.05 Cap) and Radio Shack). The body had to have a couple of spots touched up with a dremel to drop in Fender's traditional 2 bucker strat configuration. Also one hole in the 11 hole pickguard is 2 inches difference in position between the 11 hole Strat and 11 hole Carvin pickguard. But, as it is under the pickguard (either one when you switch as they are identical in shape) it cannot be seen. The dual bucker tone in sweet. Thinks a smokey blues (BB King like) tone. Plus, with a swich of the pickguards I now can move between 3 singles a dual bucker whenever I desire. People have been very surprised by the tone of this thing.

Well, as the factory sends this to you in pieces in a box it is not set up from the facotry. The pieces are all exceptionally easy to fit together and it is a matter of using a screwdriver, allen wrench and truss rod wrench to have it set up. The pievces fit excetionally well, except for the body neck joint on mine. Others have nto had any complains so it may just have been my version. There was/is about a 1/32 gap from the lower edge of the neck inthe neck-bdoy pocket. Otherwise every other joint was perfect. Finish is supplied by the buyer. I finished mine using a tung oil and tinted wax mixture, and very fine sanding. It has as semi-gloss finish and is very attractive. It was easy to do and only takes patience to let things cure.

I do not gig at this time but I will use it if I do. I play 3-4 hours a day on average and it has help up well. The 5 way is a bit scratchy though and has had to be adjusted or cleaned a couple of times. The chrome hardwear seems to be holding up fine so far. The finish is great for me as I like natural styled finishes and it shows few finger prints or dings. The strap buttons were smaller than I like so I put Shaller locking buttons on it. I use it as my number one as yet. I have owned Fenders, Gibsons and many other makes but this thing plays great, holds up as well and sounds exceptionally good. I don't go anywhere without a backup. But, this guitar gives me not reason to assume it would be less relaible than any other guitar I have owned.

When I have talked to the company they have generally been very good. However, on at least one occation I have was told differing stories about options. I never contacted Carvin about the neck pocket gap as it was my only guitar at the time I was finishing it (too much wheeling and dealing going on at my house!) and I did not want to be guitar free for a week or 2.

I have been playing over 25 years now. Most of that time acoustic. I moved to electrics about 2-3 years ago or so. I have experimented with Gibson, Fender, Samick and other electirics over the years and specially during the last few years. This thing is as sound as any of the other manufactures and as reliable. Not only would I replace it if it were lost, I am considering getting a second kit to keep one set up with 3 singles and the other with the dual buckers. I found nothing like it for the price and I looked hard. Worth it if you can handel the taller fretwire (I love it) flatter radis neck (great for bends, OK for rhythms) and thin necks (this is OK for me).

Strat copy, 22 frets, 25 1/2 inch scale, maple neck, alder body, hardtail bridge, string-through-body, 2 AP11 single coils/1 C22T humbucker, 1 volume/1 tone, white 3-layer pickguard, ebony fretboard, 5-way switch (replaced with 3 on/off switches), coil tap switch (removed), neck finished with 3 coats of tung oil, body finished with 2 coats minwax "honey maple" stain and 2 coats of clear shellac

neck and middle pickups warm and round, bridge pickup sounds weak, especially high-E string, wish i had 3 single coils, might replace humbucker with seymour duncan JB...

guitar ordered as a kit, all holes pre-drilled, pickguard and electronics pre-assembled. just had to connect output wires to string ground and output jack with wire nuts (i ended up soldering them). 5-way switch was noisy and sound would cut out in middle position. Replaced with 3 on/off switches. high-E slot in nut was cut too low, but doesn't buzz. Am getting used to low action and high frets, can't press too hard on lower frets. Neck is a little thin for me, but i'm used to playing an acoustic. Not bad above 9th fret, but lower than than and my hand starts to cramp after a while.

have not played live yet. seems to be holding up alright. Good first instrument.

Customer service was good, shipping took longer than expected, but hey, i ordered it the week before Christmas and didn't receive it til middle of january.

Not bad for my first kit guitar. Skip the C22 option and save $20. Aside from the malfunctioning switch and the thin neck, I'd have no problem buying another one.

This guitar came in a box. Features 22 fret 25 1/2 inch scale ebony board with medium jumbo frets(tall and thin) s/s/h pickups. Alder body(2-piece laminated quarter sown wood) and a hard tail bridge. The pickups are carvin ap-11 single coiles and a carvin c-22 humbucker. The neck and body were not finished.

I am very pleased with what I got for $350.00. Once put together this guitar sounded VERY GOOD! with one exception. The c-22 humbucker had a nice warm sweet tone, BUT NO BALLS! It has been replaced with a Duncan JB modle and now I have an AX thats hard to put down! The ap-11 single coils are perfect for me. They sound very good on this alder body. Good bass and not too bright. Not vintage,but not Texas specials either. Kind of in between. There a little weak(for me) with the gain turned up but thats what the JB is for! Just right clean. I Jam with a friend of mine who uses a Les Paul and a George Benson Ibanez and this guitar(with the JB) can HOLD ITS OWN very well. I play it through a 1x12 60watt tube amp only using chorus,delay,(analog!) compressor and cry baby! can you say GOOD TONE!

I did the finish four coats tung oil neck and body. It turned out o.k! The body was sanded until it felt like glass. The neck is one of the best I've ever played. Flat and FAST. This is made for lead guitar! BUT!!! maybe not as good for jazz chords. The action can be set low due to the great fret work done on this neck.

ALL the hardware on this guitar is GOOD QUALITY! The wood is NOT CHEAP WOOD(I showed it to a carpenter friend of mine with over 20 years of wood working experience and he was impressed) LETS JAM!!!

I've talked to four different people at Carvin only one was a total A**HOLE!

I've played rock,blues,classical and jazz for 20 years on 32 different guitars! This guitar has a unique feel about it. Does not feel like a Fender or Gibson. For the price I give it a 10!!and I would replace it if lost or stolen with the same thing(except I would get 3 ap-11's and not the c-22 option) This kit came with 009-042 guage strings. I used 10-46. Nine guage strings can make almost any guitar sound thin and tinny especially guitars with single coils! The best 350.00 I've ever spent on an AX!!!! That is what the final rating is based upon. GOOD TONE! GREAT PLAYABILITY!(for me more important than tone or looks) DECENT LOOKS! FOR 350.00!

This is standard bolt kit model with the hard-tail bridge. Basic made in the USA Carvin. It's got the three single coils, master volume, master tone, and mini-switch for 7 pickup variations. 22 fret neck, medium jumbo frets, 15 inch radius and I had them cut the nut for heavier strings than the supplied 9-42 slackers. I generally use .010-.050 strings. The body is the standard alder strat shape, although shaped slightly different. I followed the directions on finishing with tung oil and it looks very nice. The finish has a soft, smooth feel, especially when comparing to my Am. Std Strat with a gloss finish. The guitar is also lighter than my Strat. I decided to wait until I had 20-25 gigs with this guitar before I made this submission, which was good because I've learned a few things after playing it in the real world. In the next few sections comes the nit-picks. It gets a 8 rating because I knew exactly the features I was getting.

I play in a Country band in Texas, doing about 100 dates a year. Doing this in Texas you better be able to play a little of everything-honky tonk, blues, rock, old & new country. A strat style guitar fits perfectly. I played an Am. Std. Strat for 6 years doing this. I wanted a hard-tail guitar and the price was certainly right on this Carvin. I currently use a Boss compressor, Ibanez analog delay going into a Blues Jr. A/B'ing the Carvin with my Fender Strat showed the pickups on the Carvin to be hotter and voiced a little darker, not quite as bright. I can actually use the bridge pickup without sounding too harsh. I can get all the twang I need from this guitar. Still get the 60 cycle hum in pos. 1-3-5. About the same as my Fender. The mini-switch will give you 2 additional combinations: the 2 outside pickups; and all 3 together. I hardly ever use these, they sound a little thin, maybe I'm just not used to this sound. The pots are smooth, however they react differently. Not much of a change until you turn them way down. Overall a good sound. Another reason for this guitar was to dedicate my Fender Strat for slide. Heavy strings, open tuning, high action. So the Carvin is my #1 stage guitar with the Fender for slide work.

First the good stuff. Since this is a kit I did all the setup myself. This guitar went together perfectly. Every screw hole lined up. The neck pocket couldn't be tighter. The pickups barely needed height adjustments. Even the bridge saddles were close. Now the not so good stuff. The five way switch is history. In positions 1 and 5 it would occasionaly short out and go dead. Not good on stage. The saddle adjustment screws have really sharp edges. The fret ends are not as smooth as they should be. On the 10th fret, on the treble side, the fret is slightly tall. Gets a buzz right there, the only place on the entire neck. Other than that, the guitar plays great. The jump to the flatter neck was no trouble at all. (I've always played Fenders) The rest of the hardware is perfect.

As stated I play live with this guitar 2-3 times a week. It seems like it will hold up fine. As bulletproof as my Fender? Only a few years in smoke filled clubs will tell that. It will be interesting to see the tung oil finish after many nights of gigging. I play this guitar without a real backup. My Fender is always there, but it's tuned to open-G and has extremely heavy strings for slide work.

I never really dealt with anyone at Carvin. Just ordered the thing right from the catalog. They were prompt however and didn't seem to mind cutting the nut for heavier strings. So I guess that's thumbs up.

I've been playing for 30 years. Also play the Am. Std. Strat mentioned above. Have an 70's model Telecaster, cheap one. Various acoustic guitars. When I decided to get another guitar I looked at Fenders, of course. At that time the only hard tail they offered was the Robert Cray model. They have since come out a couple more hard tail models. If stolen I would probably get another, especially for the price. Even with the nit picks I had with mine, it's still the best deal around for the money. Hey, it looks cool, sounds good (get a tube amp, you'll sound better)& plays good. That's not a bad thing.

I bought the kit with sperzels and a humbucker. I own a Strat with 3 single coils that I am probably going to lose to one of my kids - so I made the Carvin for me. I was really impressed with the fit and finish. I stained it translucent blue about five times - sanding in between - and then sanded a good bit of it off. It looks like a very old, comfortable pair of jeans. That was my goal and it turned out okay. I tung oiled the body four coats - but it didn't have enough gloss or durability - so out came the polyurethane. I put 6 coats of poly on it and it has the finish I wanted over about 80% of the body. I wanted to have the last coat put on by a pro - but I couldn't find a pro who would touch it (we're goint to jabe to fill up the hole - sir it's a solid block of wood we don't need to mask..., well, we are going to have to do something about the hole...). Bought their case and that was a mistake. More on that later,.

I don't play it much outside my house. I live in a wheelchair and pretty much stay to one floor. Using their controls - I can dupe my strat, but the humbucker really fills the sound up. I have a G & L Tele that has all the twang I need and this guitar can't match that. A lot of you readers have forgotten more about how sound sounds than I will ever know. Its okay without an amp, which I consider a good sign, its harmonics are outstanding, and the sustain is exceptional. Of course - I am a bolt on neck guy.

I was amazed - and very happy that there is no buzz, intonation was good enough I didn't have to adjust it, and the action is very nice. I need to get used to the wide frets. It occurs to me that its easy to adapt while soloing - but a real stretch on chords. I guess its just different than my fender (and fender style) necks.

I think it will be very diurable. My finish is sokid. I am not afraid to dig in but I know my limitations (my wife constantly reminds me). The construction and design of the guitar I think are really nice. When you build it check every screw; I found a couple in the pickguard/electronics were visibly loose.

I was disappointed with their response when I bought their case. It doesn't fit properly. When I talked to Sean he basically said that that's the way they are and you can jam your guitar in there and make it fit and that he had returned one that he had. Hey! I've been through this drill before - broken hinges in the back guaranteed. Why the hell did he sekk it too me if he knew that "thats the way they are"? He told me to go to a local shop and buy one. I wish he told me that when I ordered it. Its a pain in the ass for me to ship it out.

I've been playing for 35 years. I have four children who all play. I have a US made strat, a G & L asap classic (tele), a madeira 6-string (what can O say - I love it and have had it for 26 years. I have an Alvarez 12 string and an Ovation (I was curious - will never make that mistake again - their technology sounded so cool). In my basement I have a piano and a 5-piece set of drums. I bought this one for me and hope to buy one again - but want to explore what else is out there.