Carvin Bolt-T Kit

If I could give Carvin a negative number for customer support, I would. Absolutely awful. As others have posted about the Carvin kits, they sometimes forget to drill the holes and do the wood working that you are paying them to do. What makes this situation comical is that with your kit you'll get a sheet that has check marks next to the stages of construction, stating that each stage of construction had been properly completed and checked. Well, unfortunately my kit was missing about half the necessary drill holes to complete construction.

So, I wasn't too angry when I noticed that I had just shelled out $500 for an incomplete kit. I figured everyone makes mistakes and Carvin would take care of it, because after all, I was their paying customer. WRONG!!! I sent them an e-mail as soon as I noticed I didn't get what I had paid for. Two weeks go by, and nothing. I sent them another one. Two more weeks go by, and again nothing. My e-mails were not even angry. I simply asked what could be done so that I could complete the assembly of my kit.

So after a month of being ignored, I did get angry. I was finally able to call them, and speak to someone directly. Their response was basically tough sh!t, go out and spend more money on drill bits, and do the job that you paid us to do. I have never dealt with customer service that has shown such a lack of concern for their customer.

So, to end it all, I've filed a dispute with American Express for services not rendered. I'll get my money back, and Carvin will get back a partially completed guitar that they can do nothing with. There is some satisfaction with that.

Mine are four years apart (I have 2 of them). They're both standard bolt-t kits, nothing special except that I have many years experience in setup and maintainance with electric guitars, and my friend who did the finish on my older bolt-t is a cabinet maker and master carpenter, so the piano black is immaculate (or was, before I mutilated it!).
The older one has 3 TB60H pickups. What the mini-toggle does is, blend in the bridge pickup with the center and neck pickup selectons on the 5-way switch, as well as the one between those 2, for a total of 10 pickup combinations. the only thing I'd like different on that is, a phase switch for the middle pickup, so I could get some of those hard-to-obtain Burns and Jaguar-type tones. The newer one I ordered with the matte-black finish on the body, and the 2 AP11 pickups iin the neck & middle, with a TBH60 in the bridge. Both have the Wilkinson bridge and the Sperzel tuners, and stay in tune immaculately, no matter how hard I slam the whammy. I read another review about how someone didn't like the pickups, and hated the neck. You're nuts. If you can't stand these fine guitars, buy a *** imporrt "strat", and quit whining.

I play these guitars through a Carvin 112 Nomad, a Peavey Bandit 112, and a Yamaha DG Stomp. The PA systems vary. I have used them in a variety of situations, from a jazz big band (no joke!) to a small blues band, and from a rockin' roots/country/swamp/funk outfit to a straight-ahead jazz quintet. All the tones are superlative, no joke! If a person has a Bolt-T set up as well as they would expect a Fender or Gibson to be, look out: these little babies just plain Hum! the distortions, both tube & solid-state, are studio quality, with or without fx. The "strat" tones work well, despite what some "fender purists" might say. I've owned "legit Strats" as well, and would take a Carvin over a Fender for any given nanosecond! The frets are awesome; I have the regular ones on the older one and the stainless steel ones on the newer one, and dig all of the above. The factory fretjobs are tres cool to say the least. Kudos!

Since the kits were assembled by me, I can only judge this category according to the quality of the individual components I received, and how well they fitted upon assembly. Not only do I have no complaints, but sincerely wish all the guitars I play in music retail stores were of the quality of these kits...!!!

There's no such thing as a backup-less guitar for a live situation, especially because all us slashers break strings and need something to fill our hands while the issue gets resolved. However, I must comment that the instruments I own need next to no maintainance, and are easily serviced by myself. I can deal with broken strings, as long as I have both guitars with me... don't all of us need to get each other's back from time to time? I Love These *** Guitars!!!

I have no cognition of a warranty on a product I assemble myself, and hold myself liable for anything I do to my axes. If I screw up, woops! wrong planet!
Carvin has been very good to me over the course of 2 amps and both of these guitars. In the future, I will continue to purchase Carvin products, to the best of my current knowledge!

My other guitars are a 1990 Washburn HB-35, and a Fender Stratacoustic. I especially love my old Washburn.
I have been playing guitar since before dirt was invented. When I was a kid, if I wanted sawdust to glue together for particleboard to build a guitar from, I had to chew the trees myself, as well as the horses' hooves for the glue...???!!!
If I could begin to compare these guitars to others, I might own the others, too. The pickups are powerful and punchy, yet have a nicely atmospheric character: I suppose, if a person were to run one of these through enough little geek-boxes, the signal would be compromised. But, ya know what? I don't really give a rat's ass, because I don't do that. If ya take any given guitar & run it through a bunch of signal-killing junk, you'll kill the tone. I suspect that's the case with the reviews I've read about these Carvins, that pan them: I'd love to hear if the "Sacred Cows" would hold up to one of these babies through the same trial-by-death. If someone were to attempt theft of either (or both) of these axes, Mercy! I'd get life on death row if I got caught! These little babies rule, that's why I put 'em in my personal Seraglio, and woe Be unto the idiot...???!!!

This Guitar has some good features only because I personally ordered the custom features. It could of had more options. Compared to their actually custom guitar orders it had barely and options available. Plus I would have liked a humbucker in the neck position and perhaps a coil splitter or phase switch.

Good sound. Never really heard to many guitars before. But it barely hums at all except very little on my bridge humbucker. Not sure what the 2-way switch does but whatever it does when i switch it it eliminates the hum for a crystal clear sound!

I made it myself and i did an ok job. It's the first tiem i've ever painted, laqured and tung oiled anything. It looks great but when u look close up i got steel wool caught in the paint. Probably because i didnt clean the steel wool from inside the body cavity and when i spray painted it it blew the steel wool onto the clean laqured surface.

it should withstand anything i can do to it

Ok customer support but when i went to order, the website broke. And a week after I ordered my guitar I got one of the employees e-mails. it was a letter from one of the carvin managers to one of the carvin employees. It was funny reading it, in fact i still have it. The customer support wasnt the best.

Good guitar, playes good and i had a good expeience. I'll probably order a neck-through body guitar from them some day.

Bought in November 2003. Alder body, maple neck with ebony fretboard. Ordered with 2 single coils and 1 humbucker. With wilkinson tremolo. Has one volume, one tone control and a toggle switch which splits the humbucker's coils (neat feature). Spertzel locking tuners. I was looking for a less expensive strat style guitar that was reliable, as a backup for my deluxe Strat.

When I bought this I had read a lot of reviews and thought I was getting an improved version of a Fender strat. I do still have the humbucker in the bridge. It isn't great, but it does seem to blend with single coils well when tapped, and sounds pretty punchy under distortion. The single coil ap11's are the worst pickups I have EVER heard. They are hot ceramic magnet pickups, which have absolutely NO character at all. They have WAY too much bass for a single coil, which I guess is why Carvin has that quote from guitar magazine saying they "produce warm and jazzy lows" in all their ads. No matter how you adjust the height, they remain characterless and much too bassy. Honestly I can't think of ANYTHING these would be suited for. Maybe if you wanted a single coil that was hotter than crap and toneless??? I'm guessing they were trying to balance the output of their hot humbucker and since they have only one tone control, could not wire authentic sounding single coils to the 500k pot that has to go with the already high frequency deficient humbucker they put in. Anyway, I replaced the single coils after a few months and put in a 300k pot from TORRES ENGINEERING in to balance things out. Now I can get a very good vintage single coil tone out of it. As is, however, I would say that the overall tonal capabilities of this thing are pathetic.

Here is where I almost developed an aneurism before I finally had a working guitar. The first body they sent had a very large crack in the wood right above the lower strap button. (large enough to easily fit the edge of a credit card in and about an inch or more long). After that the new body they sent did not have the holes for the tremolo spring claw drilled, (which requires a long shaft drill bit if you have never fooled with this before). I was told by Carvin that I should drill it myself because they sometimes miss a hole or two and don't like to have them sent back for something like this. So I payed 15 dollars for a drill bit and finished their job for them. After assembly and setup there was a lot of string buzz on the high G B and E strings when played open. The nut the factory had installed was cut WAY too low and they sent me a couple of spare nuts, neither of which matched the shape or string spacing of each other, or the one that came on the neck. I had a local tech fix one properly (another 50 dollars) and to my dismay, while it played much better, the high strings still buzzed VERY loudly open. (I will give Carvin credit for a good fret job, there was no string buzz with the strings fretted.) I called Carvin again and was told that sometimes they need a string tree to keep the high strings from buzzing. Now, if you know anything about Carvin's advertising, this is one of their selling points for this guitar. "The tilt back head stock eliminates the need for a string tree." I finally decided that since this neck offered no advantages over a stock fender neck and was not comfortable to play, being too wide and having a slightly larger string spacing than normal, that I would replace it with a fender replacement neck made by Mighty Mite. This was the best improvement yet and ALMOST eliminated the string buzz, although I added one fender american series string tree anyway. The guitar stays in tune fairly well.

Wood and hardware seems fairly durable and solid.

Was given the run around so many times it is laughable. They were fairly quick with a reply, but "sometimes out products don't work the way they are supposed to, you should add a string tree", and "You should drill it yourself, it is fairly common for a few drill holes to be missing" were not the replies I was looking for.

Don't let the base price listed on the website fool you. After I applied finish, had the nut replaced, fixed the electronics, bought a drill bit, and payed shipping, I ended up sinking way over 590.00 in this money pit. I would not buy from Carvin again based on the multiple problems I encountered on this go around. Even after all the work and upgrades, I really don't think this is comparable to a mid level Fender Strat, and it is nowhere near their American Series Strats. The Paul Reed Smith Santana se eg with two single coils and a humbucker is also a great deal for 499.00 and you won't have to sink another 2-3 hundred dollars into fixing it up.

This is a follow-up to review #2 above. 2001 Bolt-T kit refinished and remodeled USA. Ash body done with American Walnut oil wipe and 3 coat gloss laquer over. Volume, Master Tone, Blend, 3- way switch (JH '68 wiring w/ vol. mod.), S/S/ReverseS Bill Lawrence L-280 balanced set in black, reverse headstock, gold hardware, Sperzels and straplocks, med.jumbo frets on ebony/maple and abalone dots, abalone pickguard from WD, 250K audio taper pots w/black strat knobs. All ratings for are for modified guitar.

The moment I plugged in, it was true Jimi tone on my Carvin SX300 full stack set on near max gain "Marshall" settings. No effects. Then to clean w/chorus, and the blues channel, no effects. The "Grail" is there for me. The pickups are noiseless, articulate, and clean. With the blend (& tone control & 3-way)there are 300 tones, from glassy to almost humbucker. Smooth tones are so nice, rich and full. I stay away from the glassy, bell like tones it is capable of, like any good strat. The balance between pickups is right on, so I don't get apparent volume changes with the switch. I find that it sounds at its best on my tube amps (1-3-12AX7, 2-6L6, & 1-4-ECC83, 2-EL34) Fuzz, wahwah, stereo echo/chorus, flange and Roctron VertigoVibe give me "channels" and all the psychedelic sounds. The SX300 has a lot of them built in and sounds most like my 6L6 amp, but noisy on highest gain. Sounds great on other solid states as well, incl. Pignose, Crate, Peavey TNT and Gorilla.

I re-adjusted everything as is necessary periodically with any guitar. The recommended stain was alcohol base and it ruined the original, was painted over, painstakenly stripped, and oil finish wiped on. The grains came out and look beautiful. I had to fill the pickguard screwholes w/toothpicks and redrill to properly align the WD pickguard. Action is fast, low, and easy. I set it at 1/8" to give that smooth Wilkinson more range. Looks like a $2,000+ guitar, if you could even get one like it.

The Carvin hardware is top of the line, and everything is solid and dependable. No backup is necessary, but I like to have a dual humbucker guitar around for metal chunk--either my EMG-ZW (combat)strat I did, or my Les Paul w/ Les Trem (heavy in weight, too, but you can't beat mahogany).

They have always been helpfull and friendly. No warrantee, but with this project and others, and books, and websites, I have learned to do most everything.

30 yrs. Guits mentioned above plus unbelievable JT134, JT270F, Custom "SpacecasterHH", RG270DX, '72 strat repro I did, Amps described above, bass, keyboard, mics, acoustic. If I had it to do over, I would have gone Bolt-T kit, white pearloid, SSH, black hardware, tweed strap, and case, tung oil. But I was out for that authentic Jimi sound with a righty for a whitey, and finally achieved it. This guitar is even better.

Kit made in 2001. It has the 22 medium jumbo frets, Ebony fretboard, Sperzel locking tuners, Single/Single/Hummer pickups, Mahogany body done in Tobacco Sunburst(Carvin did it for me), Dunlop strap locks, 5 way stitch and coil splitter for Hummer, Hard shell cast, Hardtail through body bridge, and White Pearloid pickguard.

I jam with a guy who has a collection of Fender strat's from 55' to the late 60's and my kit, for less than 500.00, out does them all in tone and volume. He's played my kit and said if I ever wanted to sell it he would buy it. I have a S/S/H configuation in the pickups and don't use the Hummer much, but I'm looking for more AP11 singles to put in my Fender and Fender copy I made. I have bought some Duncan's and none so far sound as well as the Carvin singles.

The action sets up easy to any height I want and no buzzing. Have it set now at 1/16th or so and feels good. I have had it lower and no buzzing but I like to grab into the string and get some bite for bends. I had Carvin finish the body for me so I would have to mess with it and had it painted a Tobacco Sunburst(Mahogany body and only cost me 40.00 more) it's beautiful. The neck fits like a glove and the neck plays like a dream, fast and easy.

The Kits Carvin sells go together easy, did for me, half hour and I was done and playing. All the hardware is good from pots to the Sperzels. I take care of what I have so I've never dropped it or any guitar I have, but the friend who want to help me put it together dropped the neck and did ding the button just a bit put that's all. I would never go to any gig without a back up, no matter what kind of guitar I owned.

Have heard horror stories about Carvin's support, and I've run into some small problems like ordering something and they get it wrong, but so far they have taken care of it or it was so small that it didn't matter.

Have been playing for 32 years off and on, and own Fender and the Fender copy I made and this Carvin kit. I like the way a Fender sounds and this kit does the job I think just as well as a 1000+ Fender does. If it was lost or stolen I would go and order another kit with the same options. I love the feel, the site, the sound and the get a real American guitar for so little and for those reasons, I bought this.

2001. Made in CA, USA. 22 med frets. Maple neck w/ ebony fretboard and abalone dots, solid swamp ash body, strat style, Wilkinson tremelo, Sperzel "locking" tuners, graphite nut, 25 1/2" scale. Ordered w/ 3 twinblade humbuckers w/ coil tap for bridge PU, tortoise shell pickguard, tap switch, vol, tone, 5 way selector lever. Carvin hardshell case. Wanted coil taps for all 3 PUs but they couldn't do that. Straplocks. Gold hardware. Reverse headstock.

Carvin, Crate, and Pignose tube amp. Great sustain. The 3 twinblades sounded like they were coming out of a drainpipe and single coil when tapped at bridge was weak. I changed to standard strat PUs, then it sounded too tinny and bell like. I've got real Bill Lawrence 3 L-280s on order. The neck is faster than strat but does have a slight ripple on the bottom side, but no problem yet. Sperzels, one peg broke off and had to glue in. They are just quick string change tuners and DO NOT LOCK as you would think. They are bulky and closer together, so a little harder to tune. I've got the screws tight as usual to help keep it in tune. They say to wrap a half turn, but 1 1/2 is better. So I don't really like the tuners, especially w/ the reverse headstock. The neck with its dual graphite rods still has a little ripple, the ash seems to have a tinnier resonance. I've rocked out a lot on this guitar, but still haven't got the sound I want yet.

It needed a lot of sanding, fit was OK. Ash looked OK but not really that much better than standard alder. Originally used walnut alcohol stain and a lot of lacquer, then when I switched PUs and Pickguard (to black pearl), I did a blueburst which looks nice. I've got an expensive black abalne pickguard coming, which I'll put the L-280s in. Action is great. Electronics were done well, but the twinblades just didn't have good range, and the drainpipe cheap humbucker sound. Stock strat PUs are too tinny and bell like. I would recommend the 2 AP 11 and C 22 combo instead.

Everything is durable and you could gig without a backup.

They couldn't do all the options I wanted in the kit, and it was sent withoiut the gold screws for the pickguard. They sent them out later. No warrantee with kit. OK to deal with.

I've been playing 28 yrs. Heavy acid rock/blues/metal. Lots of gear and guitars. Just did a Saga kit (added Schaller locking tuners) and it is a much better value than the Carvin kit. I wish I would have known. The Carvin is better by a little, and a better value than Fender. If it were stolen, I have enough other guitars, but once I get the custom pickguard and Lawrences in---then I'd kill to get it back.

Made in 2002. Alder body, maple fretboard, Sperzel tuners, black perloid pickguard, duncan full shred humbucker & 2 Carvin ap11's. Guitar is painted Inca Silver. I would describe the neck as similar to a normal strat contour but with a much flatter fingerboard. All the typical strat features with the exception that instead of the second tone control there is a tap switch for the humbucker.

Love the sound of the duncan pup in this guitar. Lots of midrange freq and growl, really good for hard rock. The ap11's get minimal use and produce the normal single coil noise. I like Lace sensor pups better. I use it with a Marshall Valvestate, which sounds good as long as you don't push it too hard.

I finished it and put it together and it has fantastic playability. I learned alot about adjusting and setting up a guitar by building this thing.

The one negative issue I have in this area is the fretboard shrinking and the fret ends protruding behond the sides. Carvin offered to fix it but I like playing it so much that I don't want to send it away for a couple weeks.

So far so good after 9 months. It never leaves my little basement studio environment though.

I have had only good experiences when dealing with Carvin. Both James and Sean are great to deal with.

Been playing for 16 years. I also own a Carvin DC127, a U.S.A. strat, a Carvin B4 bass, Valvestate amp. If it were stolen I'd be really bummed. You put alot of yourself into this kind of project. I would definitely get another. I actually got to like the headstock after a while too.

This is a fairly standard kit with the Wilkenson tremelo. The only option selected was the Spertzel locking tuners. Alder Strat-style body, maple neck, ebony fingerboard, medium jumbo frets, pearl dots, white pickguard with 3 stock AP11 single coil pickups. I bought it used and assembled. I'm not certain how old it is, I'd say less than 5 years anyway, maybe less than 2. It has the suggested tongue oil finish that I am going to remove and refinish a bit 'sexier'. Parts made in USA. All quality stuff. I got in 9/02.

In over 25 years of playing, this is my first single coil. I've always wanted to explore 'quack and twang' but I've never really played a Fender I liked, so I've always been a humbucker dude. This axe has killer 'quack and twang' with the stock pickups. Other pickups are optional which are humbuckers, but that was not what I was going for this time around. Very nice bell, chimey like sounds. I had some cyber guitar buds who were curious about the kit, so they wanted a report right away. I made this quick demo song the same night I got the guitar, http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=199193&T=2156 I list what I'm using it with. I don't play live, only record, so I laid down a basic rhythm track and recorded 3 leads with 3 different amp models via my Johnson J-station. The factory #83 setting on the J-statiion and this guitar are killer! That's the 'Blackface' stuff on the song. It's everything I wanted in the sound department.

Well, this was a kit and used at that, but it still has THE BEST action of ANY guitar I've ever owned!! The best playing axe I've ever had, totally love it and every player who's been over and played it loved it. This guitar, in kit form, can easily compare to other factory guitars costing 3 or more times as much. If you're looking for the best 'Stratlike' guitar for the $400 (or less used) range, this is it.

The chrome Wilkey bridge and Spertzel tuning keys are not really polished chrome, but more of a brushed steel. However, the jack plate is bright chrome, so they don't really match that well. I'd order black if I was ordering it. The Spertzels don't keep it in tune the way I thought they would. I've owned locking tremelos going back to about '85 or so and they performed much better than these locking keys. I play Super Slinkys, which are 9's, with 2 springs on the bridge. Maybe I need to increase my spring tension. The selector switch is 'iffy' in the top position. I've heard this was a problem a while ago at Carvin and they have since changed suppliers/switches whatever. This must be one of the older ones.

I didn't deal with them for this guitar, but my other Carvin, which I'll type a review about in a minute. I purchased a custome DC150 from them and had to deal with customer service and repair. Great guys, great company.

I really like the guitar alot. I'm looking forward to refinishing it. Tongue oil is suggested by Carvin because it's quite easy and has a minimal expense for a DIYer, but I don't think it offers very good protection for minor impacts or sweat. The neck is oiled too and I'll leave that, in fact clean it up a bit and put another coat on. The back of the neck, don't tongue oil the fretboard! I've never played a faster, smoother neck. If were stolen, I'd get another with out a doubt. I also have a Carvin DC150 which I'll review as soon as I'm done here, a Kramer Baretta, a Washburn D-28, and a Dean Edge bass.

I bought it used, but it looks brand new, so I am going to call it a 2002 model.
Alder body, maple neck with ebony fretboard, standard CArvin stuff, Sperzel locking tuners, frets appear to be jumbo/mediums, 25.5" neck scale, 22 frets, bolt on neck, passive single coil AP11 pickups with a switch so the bridge pickup can be on constantly no matter the pickup selector.
Body and neck Tung-oil finish about 4 or 5 coats.

Sound? David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) type of sound, very woody and transparent with tons of sustain. Very rich with excellent overtones. For overdrive, a pedal works best because the output of the pickups is low.
For overall sound a coil tapped humbucker in the bridge might work best, but as for as the bell-like tone this guitar gets it in buckets, plus sustain, which is important to me...
I think most of the sustain comes from the tight neck and bridge combo. The neck is tight by virtue of the double truss rod and the ebony fret board, so there is not sustatin killing slop in the neck and the small Wilkinson bridge with the springs helps out on the sustain too.

Since this was originally a kit someone else built the set-up was not right. Probably why is was sold. Nut and bridge were too high and three strings did not inonate right. Brought the nut height on first fret down to 15 thou and the 17th fret string distance down to 62.5 thou. plust intonation and no fret buzz...ahhh, perfect.
This guitar is really very light even with the alder wood...I have not weighed it yet but I suspect it is under 7 lbs.
Typical Carvin quality of parts...excellent.

I own another Carvin...everything is solid on the guitar...if you feel you need a backup when you gig, other than extra strings...i would get a better built instrument...

Had not had much customer support needs, but when I have called Carvin they have always been excellent

I paid $250 for an excellent guitar, so value is way up there....
To do better than Carvin you need to get into the PRS realm of things, $1,500++., otherwise your on your own..... Fender and Gibson are too inconsistent quality wise and stability of the instrument.

Since I play about 3 times a week the thing I like the most is that it stay in tune so well and it always plays and feels consitent day in and day out. MAy not be the best tone, or the best finish or the best wood....It is like buying a Toyota automobile...it will get you there and back for the next ten years in comfort and style