Carvin Bolt-T Kit

Made in Traverse City, MI 11/2000.

Swamp ash strat body, maple neck, ebony board, 22 frets, 16" radius.

Stock S/S/S in black pearloid pick guard, hardtail bridge, black hardware.

Swamp ash body, pearloid pickguard and black hardware added $50 to bring the grand total to a measly $400. Cheap at twice the price.

I wanted to get into a bit of guitar work, and after refinishing my Gibson L-6, I decided to build a Fender style rig. I looked at Stewart MacDonald (a great outfit, BTW) and found that Carvin was much less expensive while giving me some options StewMac couldn't (like ebony fretboard, angled headstock to eliminate string trees, etc) so I dove in.

I was a bit disappointed when the body arrived because it has, well - how do I put this, a ****** uneven grain to the wood. Looks like a poor second body. My complaints were laid to rest after I stained it, as the gradients popped out and created a real one-of-a-kind design on the body. True, it isn't "beautiful" like pictures of other 'bookmatched' flames, but it has it's own character. And if it does look like a little like the Ugly Duckling, I could care less, because it plays like the wind.

I was playing Gibson style guitars (24 3/4" scale, 12" radius necks) and this one took a while to get used to, but now I love chording with this guitar, and the flat neck with the tung oil is baby's butt smooth.

As I HATE single coils, it's probably not fair to malign the stock pickups too much, but I will say that whoever claimed that out-of-phase middle pickups cause hum cancellation should be tarred and feathered in the town square. What a load of hokum - they have hum in 2 phases, not just one!!

One point in their favor is the on-off switch which replaces the redundant tone control. With the 5-way set to the neck position (my personal fav) and the switch engaged, you get a 'middle position tele" sound... nice on a strat.

I replaced the stock strap buttons with Gripper Strap Buttons from StewMac (best buttons on Earth) and it hasn't dropped yet.

Many people who have crossed my path have had the exact same reaction to this ax. It begins with surprise/incredulity, which gives way to skepticism, and resolves in awe once they play it... except for those who ***** about everything. You know who you are!

Best bolt-on I've played. Period

The sound? Bright Bright Bright!! If you don't like brittle bright sounds, do what every two-headed goat figured out years ago, and replace the 500K pots with 250K.

Through a Marshall JTM 30 combo, I'm able to push the clean to a smooth crunch, and the dirty channel into metal territory. It positively SINGS through the new Class-A tube amps flooding the market recently.

The fact that the entire pickguard came fully assembled was a nice plus for those who fear soldering, and guaranteed the guitar would work on the first assembly, but as anyone ambitious enough to build a guitar would probably replace the pickups anyway, this is rather a moot point.

I was able to get the action incredibly low, and now that I'm playing with 11 gauge strings, I can get some meaty tones on a super fast neck.

No amount of adjustment would satisfy me on the stock pickups unless they are adjusted out of the guitar, but that's just me.

My favorite thing about the body is the universal rout for 3 'buckers. Although I only have single coils in it, the routing underneath gives this guitar a surprisingly loud unamplified sound. I often find myself picking this up instead of my acoustic to play on the couch. Great resonance, and miles of sustain. Want more sustain, just add tubes!!

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING fit exactly to specification - neck to pocket, pickguard to holes, everything. As has been stated before, your time is consumed almost exclusively by the finish.

My Red Oak stain is really wonderful, and the tung oil just added a golden touch to the red so that it really reacts to different light levels. My chief complaint about nitrocelluose finishes is that they always seem cold to the touch under my forearm. This tung oiled guitar always feels warm. comforting. durable. beautiful.

Dependable? Aye.

Long lasting hardware? Check, especially the tuners, and the never snagging graphite nut.

The finish is tung oil, so it lasts as long as you keep up with somewhat annual reapplication.

Strap buttons suck. Get Gripper Strap Buttons. You'll thank me.

As my 11 gauge strings rarely ever break, I am totally confident to gig with this ax sans backup.

Customer support was fast, friendly, and most of all patient.

As they got EVERYTHING right the first time, I only contacted them once to order, and they answered every tedious question I had with knowledge and professionalism. A+

I've been playing 20 years and have owned many guitars including a Heritage Les Paul (sigh...I miss you), mexi-strats, my Gibson L-6, and a bunch of acoustics. This is better than ANY other strat/tele that I've ever come across, and it's uniqueness only adds to my love of it.

I wish I had asked if I could have a mahogany body when I called, as I think that would've been beautiful, but all things equal, I have not a single regret about my Carvin Bolt kit. It is entering its 10th year of existence and still plays brand new.

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

I've slowly put this guitar together over a 3 year period, replacing parts on my Ibanez 540-S Sabre until it was gone. I have the swamp ash body, Wilkinson tremolo, Sperzel locking tuners, 2 Lace Sensor single-coil picks and a Seymour Duncan "Holdsworth" humbucker at the bridge with a coil-splitter. The neck has a great feel, solid and not too thin. The body has a nice singing sustain and the top-end cuts through any mix.

I play everything from progressive nu-metal to jazz. This guitar gives me that great clean strat spank that I used to get with my "58 strat and with the humbucker, I can get a full singing tone with distortion that cuts through the mix. I used to use an Ibanez 540-Sabre but I missed the sound I had when I had one of the old Ibanez Allan Holdsworth guitars. Live, I run through an old Rocktron ProGap which I can't part with, Rocktron Intellifex, Digitech DSP 128, ADA power amp and 2 Marshall 1936 2x12 cabs. For recording, I use a Johnson J-Station. Haven't found a sound I can't get out of this guitar.

I put the thing together myself over time by slowly replacing the parts on my Sabre until I finally replaced the body with the carvin body.

This guitar is built to last. Even if it was damaged or broken in some way, because it's a bolt-on, I would just replace the part that was broken and slap it back together.

Great fast shipping. They have a great customer support network in place and they even faxed me a schematic for the pick-up selector when I pointed out that the one they sent me was different then what was on their website.

I've been playing 25 years. This guitar combines all the features I've loved about other guitars I've owned. It can do the strat thing, get heavy but still not get lost in the mix, sustain forever, stay in tune without a Floyd Rose and it's light on the shoulders. Carvin let's you build a custom guitar the way recording artists do. If I were in a touring band, I would buy another one in case I broke a string on stage. It's the only guitar I will ever need!

2002 Model Bolt-T kit, made in USA of course. 22 frets, I got mine w/alder body after reading Steve Brewer's review (thanks, Steve, I had just enough time to change the order before it was shipped, plus I saved $30.00!). 5-way switch, S/S/H pickups, maple neck w/ebony fretboard (sweet!), I tung oiled the finish, Wilkinson trem, locking tuners,hard shell case.

This guitar has the best sound of any guitar I've owned, in fact I sold my old Charvel to get it. With the humbucker, I can get good pinch harmonics, and the single coils also sound great in every position, producing Strat-like tones and even some creamy sounds I haven't heard out of many guitars in this price range. I honestly haven't gotten a sound I dislike out of this guitar yet. The only reason I gave it a nine was because this site warns that glowing reviews won't be accepted.

This thing went together like I hoped it would - easily. There weren't any flaws in the wood, and I only had to sand it lightly before finishing it with tung oil. All the hardware I ordered was there and the pickguard came assembled. The thing that sucked was waiting for the oil to dry, and I actually rushed the staining job because I was eager to put the thing together and play it. Still came out looking and smelling nice somehow.

Like any nice guitar I will baby it, so it should last a long time. Everything is solid and dependable, would gig without a backup.

Great CS. When I called to change things (black pickguard to red, swamp ash to alder) they were polite and helpful. Haven't had a need to repair, probably won't have to the way I will treat her. No warranty that I know of.

Playing for 5 years, bought this guitar after reading the reviews here. Totally worth it, it's a fully pro guitar for a low price. My jamming buddy is probably gonna spring for one after seeing and playing mine. Great guitar, check it out before buying some overpriced piece of junk at a music store!

I will receive a Carvin Bolt-T tomorrow, according to the UPS tracking system and cannot yet comment on most of the items herein. However, I wanted to share some initial observations regarding Carvin and my choice of features - predominately the swamp ash body - with anyone who is considering purchasing one of these instruments, as I've already made a few mistakes. I'll update this comment in a month or so. First, Carvin's web site does not advise the purchaser that kits have to be built at the factory. I've been waiting roughly six weeks for mine to arrive. I called the company several times and they indicated that there was a backlog post XMas, so perhaps my waiting period is not the norm; HOWEVER, the web site should include this information (that's the beauty of such sites - you can update them instantaneously). As it was, I opted for fast shipping (3 days) at double the standard shipping cost. That's a stupid waste of money if the kit requires building and is backlogged.

Take this for what it's worth: BEFORE choosing a body wood type, determine what kind of finish you will ultimately apply. I intended to use oil (Tung or Danish) since it looks great on Carvin's website, folks on this site and GP/Gig Reviews used it with good results, is inexpensive, and can be applied by hand. After purchasing the supplies, I decided to research the best way to apply oil finishes, only to discover that: 1) ash is an open-pored wood and needs to be grain-filled and sealed before finishing in order to get a smooth result, Carvin doesn't tung oil swamp ash bodies because they got "splotchy" results (according to my phone call), and articles in Fine Woodworking and web newsgroups indicate that "tung oil is not a very durable finish, and will probably wear thru on the body just below the strings, where your palm or fingers will be coming in contact with it". Regardless of the accuracy of the above, upon hearing my dilemma, the guy I spoke with at Carvin provided the advice to "just experiment"... I'm now considering having the body finished by a professional, but after all this, I'll probably try my hand at applying a spray can nitro-cellulose lacquer. More on my results after I finish, shoot the guitar, or send it to a pro.

So far, I'm unimpressed. Carvin was unsympathetic to my suggestions that they provide customers with a Bolt leadtime order status on the web. After complaining about the unadvertized backlog and my paying for express shipping, I expected them to send it faster (next day maybe) once it was "built"; however, it appears that I am getting what I paid for - just 6 weeks later than anticipated. Secondly, with all of the literature and comments regarding tung oil finishes, I believe Carvin is negligent in not advising customers who order the swamp ash body that oil is not an appropriate finish. I guess I should have deduced that earlier when I was looking at the custom shop colors and ash was not included with the alder, mahogany, walnut, maple, and koa bodies. Perhaps I'm just not very preceptive...

I beleive I bought this guitar in 2000. The body is standard alder. Tuners are standard Carvin, which are as good as any high priced non-locking tuners. All controls are standard except for the coil splitter and humbucker, if that didn't come standard: I can't remember. Pickups are hum, single single. Got mine without a trem. I didn't order any accesories. I did order the lefty option and a perloid pickguard, which was beautiful. The rating for accesories here is sort of "N/A" since I specified what they were when ordering: In reality this is a custom guitar, with a standard pricetag.

This guitar sounds pretty darn good. I like a heavy sustain/metal sound, and this guitar fufills that order. I am not all that experienced with various guitars but I can tell you that with my amp, it sounds better than an epiphone Les Paul Standard, which was also played through this amp. By the way, my amp is a Peavey Revolution 112, see my review of it. The Les Paul lacked the highs that this guitar had, and not quite the output. This guitar had a brillliant sound, perfectly suited for leads. And by turning town the tone control, you can get a warmer, more contemporary mellow distortion. The humbucker is blistering, perfectly suited for leads, and I didn't even order the optional SD Humbucker. I'll bet that M.F is bad to the bone!
As for the clean tones, They are very, very good. The single coils are very quiet. They are not genuinely twangy, a minus if that's what you want, but you can get SOME twang. Not much experience with clean tones, so my opinion may not matter that much.

My guitar from the factory was perfectly machined. I understand that Carvin uses CNC machines extensively in their manufacturing process, with manned Q.C. at the end, and it shows. Everything fits perfectly, especially the neck. And the neck itself is great. Perfectly straight, as they have designed them to be. Neck relief adjusts well and predictably.
The fretwire was perfect as well. Perfect saddle. A+

Will it last? Sure it will, If you put this kit together properly. It's a big piece of wood, pretty much. Don't bang it around!

Well, I dealt with the company when I was ordering it, since they are a factory direct company. The salesperson was friendly. I have never had to make a warranty claim.

I have been playing for about 9 years, but there are many who are much better guitarists who have been playing for half the time. I love the overall quality of materials used, and the sound of the pickups, the humbucker, especially. I looked at other guitars, but they seemed cheap(quality-wise) for the price. Carvin guitars seemed much better, especially afer I read some of their reviews. If I had to do it over again(if I had the money, in other words) I would buy a Carvin already finished, assembled and set-up. It would make the guitar a just a little more playable. I probably wouldn't seriously consider another brand for two reasons; the price and the incredible neck that Carvin puts on its Guitars. Please e-amil me if you want to know more.

This is a 2001 Bolt-T kit with a Wilkie Trem, Swamp ash body, H/S/S with a coil tap.The hummer is a M22SD, Carvin's hottest. The single coils are AP11's. Gold hardware, Sperzels, graphite nut, ebony board on maple, white pearloid guard, and my own poor, yellow tinted gloss nitrocell finishing job with materials from GuitarRe-ranch. I replaced the black plastic knobs with gold metal ones. Including case and finishing supplies, it was about $550. I put the finish on too thin and not so carefully, because I was in a rush, but it will do.

I like it. It sounds very Fender on the twang side. The swamp ash has a nice snap to it with my thin finish. The neck pickup is set low to give me a rounder tone to contrast with the hotter bridge PU. The neck and middle are very Telecaster sounding, but the bridge leans toward metal and hard rock. Very the sounds are best for country, Byrds, Beatles and REM, while the bridge will do hard rock to metal. The tap thins things out and cuts a little output, but the tone is still a good lead tone. I picked the pup combo so this would be a versitile axe. I play through a 30 watt Legend combo with a tube pre stage but solid state power stage, solid wood cabinet. 12" Celestion. Amp was bought used in 1984 for $135. I play blues and rock of all types. I use 10's. This guitar with the pickup selection offers a lot of variety.

A very nice kit. High quality components and nice two piece swamp ash body. Neck is wider and flatter than classic guitar models. Fretwork was excellent. Neck pocket was perfect and the parts needed no sanding. Everything fit perfectly. My lame finishing job was the only problem, but if I had more time, it would have been perfect. The Wilkinson is a quality tremolo unit, but they should figure out how to move the saddles backward for intonation adjustment in a way other than sliding them with your hand. You can move them forward with the screw, but not backward. Anyway, no rattles. My set up is low and perfect. No buzzes. Intonation is perfect despite above mentioned issue.

I doubt this guitar will break, but I would recommend soldiering the wires instead of relying on the screw caps as they suggest in the directions. I have not heard of any problems with the screw caps, but they seem like an iffy way to keep the wires together. This guitar will last with the usual maintenance.

High marks. I emailed to make sure I got their hottest humbucker in it and Marco responded the next day. I own one other Carvin and they have always shown this level of service.

Been playing for about 20 years. I have a 79 hardtail strat, a 97 Les Paul Standard, a Carvin SC90, a Rick 4001 bass, a Hohner Steinberger copy, with a Heritage 575 being built. I'd get another one if this one was stolen or lost so I could put a better finish on it. I bought it because I wanted to put together the kit and have a quality instrument when I was done. For $550 in parts, it is a good deal for a new guitar.

I ordered mine standard stock with Sperzels, white pearloid guard, Wilkinson whammy, and the hardshell ABS case. Can't complain about features, after all, it is a kit. The quality of the features it came with is great.

I was looking for the traditional flexibility that came with owning a Strat, mostly to record country crossover, blues, blues/rock and modern rock through a POD. The variety and quality of tones you can pull out of this ax is admirable. I have been extremely pleased with the tone and quiet traits of the pickups.

Everything they shipped fit like a glove. I didn't expect the action to be perfect, as again, get real, it is a kit. I still have a little tweaking to do to eliminate A/D fret buzz, but am confident in what I have experienced to this point it is easily remedied. I really enjoyed having the ability to choose my own finish and have been thrilled with the results of the staining job I gave it (ordered through Stew-Mac.) Superb neck.

It seems very solid, although the body dings easily as any body without a heavy urethane coating will. The Sperzels are the bomb - why did I wait so long to try them?! The Wilkinson seems rock solid and stays in tune, but to be honest, I usually play without using the whammy bar. I can't blame Carvin for the ding-ability of body, so once again, high marks.

n/a

While I have played guitar for 30 years, I am primarily a bassist, so don't let the numbers fool you! I do not consider myself to be a "guitar player," but I can play well enough to record sessions on my own time. I bought this as a badly needed addition to my acoustic and Les Paul Standard. As a songwriter and recording musician, I know what quality gear and tone is and this kit is really good stuff. I would cry if this guitar was stolen, collect the insurance money, and immediately order another. I would also hope the culprit gets run over by a freight train. What do I love about this ax? The neck, the tone, flexibility, Sperzels, the Wilkinson, the hardware, the shielding, pickguard, it's general feel, the price (!!!), the ability to finish it how I want and it only took me a long weekend to assemble. By the way, this kit is a breeze to work on. Solderless connections, good instructions, and the only waiting you have is in between coats of what every you finish it with. Things I don't like... the fretboard is a bit narrow for my Bassist fingers, the case is mediocre. That's it folks. I won't insult this guitar by saying it is a great buy, but I will say it is a great guitar that happens to be at a VERY reasonable price.

2001 kit from the Carvin Shop in California. 22 medium jumbo frets, hard-rock maple neck with ebony 15" fret board; graphite nut; tilt back head stock w/sperzel locking tuners. S/S/H configuration AP11 single coils, C22T humbucker. Swamp Ash body; Wilkinson tremolo; w/fitted hard shell case. Coil splitter for humbucker. I added the Schaller strap locks and Carvin deluxe strap. I give it a 10 because it was exactly what I wanted.

I can only give a first impression on this as I just completed the assembly last night. WOW! I really love it. I had read some good stuff (and bad) on the AP11 and found them to be relatively quite considering they are single coils with good tone. The review of the C22 were not that great but I really like it. I mainly play at my church and when not playing there I like blues. I tend towards more clean sound and not high gain so this suits me perfect. I did notice though, as stated in other review that the C22 is somewhat quiet for a humbucker but it wasn't too bad. Overall I was very impressed with the sound that came out of this instrument.

Since I did all this myself I can only complain about myself. One thing that was really nice was the Wilkinson bridge saddles were perfectly intonated once the guitar was strung. That was impressive. The direction for the Tung Oil finish are complete and easy to follow with nice results. All the pieces fit together nicely. The neck pocket was a good fit; a small gap but less than 1/32" so I wont complain too much. Sustain is good none the less. I give it a 10 because I will keep tweaking it until it is perfect.

I can't really comment on this since I haven't had it very long. The Sperzels are solid, the woods seem to be very solid and quality. The electrical connections appeared to be very sound. Just going on the reputation of the components and the quality of the wood I would say this thing will last as long as I want it to.

I wasn't too impressed with customer support. I had called to ask if the "always on switch" and the coil splitter were both standard or if I had to specify that. He said they were standard, however, when I got it all that was on it was the coil splitter. It wasn't that big of a deal and I figured if I found I wanted that I could add it later. Other than that I haven't really had to deal with them.

I've been playing about 5 years. I mainly play acoustic but have been picking up the electric more and more. I have a Martin SPD-16r acoustic and a MIM Fender Tele. I play through an old Fender Deluxe tube amp. This has a great sound with a lot of tonal variations even with out the "always on switch". The neck fits me great and it stays in tune well even after hitting the tremelo pretty hard. I compared it to other guitars but just on features and components and nothing came close for the price I paid. I chose this for the price of getting every single component I wanted. Similar priced guitars didn't have all the features I wanted and guitars that had all the features cost twice as much. I'm not too much of a sound critic so to me it sound absolutely wonderful. It was money well spent. I would advise anybody who is remotely interested in building their own guitar to give the a shot.

Got this with the swamp ash body, Wilkinson whammy, Sperzel locking tuners, straplocks (still waiting for these!!!), s/s/h with Holdsworth humbucker with coil splitter and "all on" switch, tortoise-shell pickguard, deluxe gig bag and padded Carvin strap.Also had jumbo frets installed on the ebony board.

This axe is extremely versatile and of high quality.Very easy to put together, finish, and set-up. Used 6 coats of tung oil, rubbing with 000 steel wool between coats; did good sanding job with fine, then the finest grade paper I could find.AP-11's sound great; nice and dark in position 1 (I'm a jazzer....read my Ibanez GB-10 review); plenty of "strat" quack in positions 2 and 4. Since the Holdsworth is fairly low output, had to raise the humbucker closer to strings than the AP-11's. Have grown to love that hummer...blends well with the AP's and when I kick in the coil splitter, I get a bit more "cut-thru" or bite to the sound. It has taken me a few months of consistent use to get to the point where I can write this review; as I initially wasn't crazy about the humbucker. I play a lot of general business, some classic rock, and a bit of jazz. I use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (love this amp!), Carvin AG-100D (Great amp!), and a Polytone Mini-brute (like the Carvin better!!). This axe is well shielded so makes little if any noise (less than my friend's Tele). Wilkinson whammy o.k. (I'm not a dive bomber), and works well with the Sperzels and graphite nut. Love the feel of the ebony board. Just to give you an idea of how much I love this axe...I use my GB-10 only for jazz gigs! The swamp ash body is beautiful and very resonant. From my research, it is supposed to be the most resonant tone wood for solid-body guitars. Quality of materials is unbeatable for the money (think this was about $550 with case...which is a great gig bag!). Dislikes...none!!

Everything fit together perfectly without alteration. Keep in mind..I'm a klutz as far as woodworking goes. Definately the best $500 I ever spent. I love this axe, and it looks great with the red tortoise-shell deluxe pickguard. Decided to play it safe and ordered the chrome hardware (read reviews about black wearing off; gold on my Ibanez and any other axe I've owned isn't durable).5 position switch is sturdy (bet they upgraded as I read some bad reviews about this).

Please...buy this axe. You won't be disappointed. Swamp ash definately worth the money, and have grown to love jumbo frets...have on all my axes as adds sustain. Sure wish I had my strap locks!!

Sales people very helpful...ask for Sean. I'm gonna have to call and either get a $10 refund or push for those strap locks. Standard pins are o.k.

I've been playing professionally for 27 years. Own an Ibanez GB-10, Alvarez Tenor Banjo for dixieland gigs, Larrivee D-7 1976...incredible axe; can't find it on their website, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Carvin AG-100D, and Polytone Mini Brute amps, Ibanez Tube Screamer and Zoom Pedal. If stolen would definately re-order (but probably without whammy as I don't use it much). Am considering installing a Fishman power bridge to get acoustic quitar sounds. With that installed, don't think this axe could be beaten at all. Love it.
Every bit of it!

Read the catalog for the features and options.

The sound? I like it. For the most part, it works for me. It's got some quack and twang. The tone seems to be on the bright side. I like the way it balances out the sound when I'm playing thru mid-range heavy amps. However at high gain settings, it can get piercing and it can get noisey. (Note:I play thru a 5150:) I get this strange "howling" feedback sound when I crank up the volume. It seems to be coming from the tremelo springs. It feels weird when it happens because the whole guitar starts to resonate heavily in my hands. Anyone else out there experience this? Please let me know especially if you know how to remedy the problem. Also, I'm wondering why 500ohm pots were used for the single coil pickups. Dislikes? Well, it sorta bugged me that the nut seemed to have been cut for a 9 set but that was my fault for not specifying.

A guitar playing, guitar repairing friend of mine played my guitar and said that it resonated well. There seemed to be a lot of string vibration transfer between the body and neck. And I did notice the exceptionally tight neck/body fit as I was putting the guitar together.

I love the Wilkinson Tremelo. I was surprised to how well the guitar stayed in tune. I'm sure the locking tuners helped.

I have had it about 6 months now. Made in USA. I play 3 to 6 hours a day (mainly blues). I ordered mine with a mahog. body, torty pickguard and 3 singles. The 22 fret maple neck with ebony board. Standard 5 way switch with master tone and vol with switch for bridge pu. Carvin A11 pickups. Hardtail with chrome hardware. The featers of the unit are similar to a traditional strat but I like the switch for the bridge pu, and the master tone covering the bridge pu. I also order hardware for Gibson, Warmoth and Stew Mac and built a 2 bucker LP wired pickguard for the guitar.

I love the 2 bucker tone, and the 3 singles are very good as well. I thend towards humbuckers, but hte Carvin singles were much better than anticipated. Nice tone in this guitar. From a Jazzy tone to country twang. The hartail has a tele like quality in the bridge postion. Nice. I play a POD and Blues JR. Sometimes use Dano Daddy-O or Fab Tone. Nice tone in most settings ...anywhere a single coil would fit it does. There is the standard single coil hum ... not bad.

I understand it is an assemble at home unit. But, the body neck pocket fit were off slightly, body pocket is about 1/64" too large. Everything else looked nice, (1 piece body!) and was well done. I used Tung Oil and Wax on the body, and tung oil and lemon oil on the neck.
Action was was very good, with fretwire being very nice (a little taller than Fender which I like).
Carvin pickguard material was exceptional!
When dropping in a Warmoth 11 hole Strat guard, one screw hole is in a different place (but as the guards are the same shape it is not noticable). To get the traditional 2 bucker strat guard to fit a slight bit of wood needed to be removed from the body in a couple of places.
Plays excellent.

Hum ... I don't play out. The neck is thin ... very thin. As such it seems to need adusting more often than my other guitars (relief). When there is a majfor temp-mosture change it needs and adjustment. Everyhting else has been good.

Carvin special ordered the body material and kept me up to date on a back order. I could have order other fret board wood (maple), neck materials, body materials, and fret wire (jumbo). They were easy to deal with and prompt on e-mail while I was pricing this guitar. Great value.

I have been playing about 20 years. I have owned a few guitars over the years. Best $380 guiar I have encountered new. If the neck pocket had been a better fit it would have been perfect. Love it. It is now my number one. Not only if it were stolen, but as I like it so much I will likely order another one to keep in the 3 single mode (my number one is dual bucker mode).

This is a standard Bolt-t kit with: (3)Single coil AP-11 pickups, Wilkinson trem. Volume, Tone and Bridge on switch. Interestingly, Carvin is using 500 ohm linear taper pot for volume, and 500 ohm audio taper pot for tone. (Usually Strat type guitars are 250 audio taper pots)

I play just about all styles of music except, but primarily country-blues-older 70's guitar rock stuff. This guitar is incredible. The pickups in this puppy put the pickups in my Tex-Mex Strat to shame. Much brighter and alive, yet still can get nice and swampy when the need arises. The bridge pickup took some tweaking to get it set so it wasn't TOO bright, but other wise, I'm amazed

The Carvin neck has taken a bit to get used to. It is a narrow, wide neck, and I have pretty small hands. Once I adjusted...the neck is very nice. I think that I would have preferred a little narrower neck, but I am not going to complain. This is the fastest neck on any guitar that I own. Fit and Finish-this is a kit, and much has depended on my ability to finish the body. I give myself a 6 (with 11 intentions). Everything went together flawlessly, with the exception of one of the tuner screws breaking. (Carvin replaced the screw, as well as the neck that the screw broke in...INCREDIBLE customer service)

Since I am a hobbyist, not a professional, I can only give a slanted opinion here. I would use this as one of two guitars If I were playing live. I can't get the Gibson dual-humbucker sounds out of it, but for any Strat type of stuff, this guitar is perfect.

Carvin has been exceptional--see the story about the neck and broken tuner screw above. I didn't expect them to replace the neck for free(I broke the damned thing--and scarred the neck trying to remove it). But they did.

I've been playing guitar for 30 years. Currently I own 5 acoustic and 4 electric guitars. If any of the guitars I own and love (8 of the 9) were stolen, I would replace it with exactly the same thing. I bought the Carvin as my first attempt to build my own guitar from a kit. Since then I built a Warmoth guitar from parts, and it is also a beauty. I had no way to compare Carvin with anything else out there, so it was a bit of a crap shoot. To be blunt, I feel that I got significantly more than I expected for the dollars spent. If anyone out there is thinking of purchasing one of the Carvin kits, do it.

This is an update for my previous posting.. the Bolt-T kit that I put together that was shipped with the wrong-way Sperzels, which required me to drill an extra alignment hole in order to get the high 'e' Sperzel mounted, then finding out that the Sperzels were geared for a standard headstock, and tuned backwards on my reverse headstock... that Bolt-T.... remember ???????? :-)
Anyways, I called on a Weds and spoke to Sean McAnally, my original salesman. I've dealt with him twice now, and he's very customer focused... super guy. He works on commission, and I can tell you he's a great guy to deal with. (subtle influencing mode off)
So, Sean was horrified when I explained my problem... he literally apologized for like 10 minutes or something. He wanted to set up a three-way call on the spot with the head of the guitar assembly dept, but the guy was out to lunch. He took down the info, and then had the problem investigated. I got the impression that Carvin took this poroblem very seriously. He called me on Friday, and priority mailed a replacement set of Sperzels to me, which I received yesterday, along with a brief handwritten note of apology.
He had originally wanted to replace the entire neck, but I had done some custom lettering on the headstock, so I didn't want to have to recreate that. Plus, I was looking at the nut again,(I had originally thought that the 'g' and 'b' strings were filed down really low) and it's actually not cut low on both sides, it's very even on the headstock side. I guess the guy got a little uneven when he was filing, and wore down one side a little bit. This doesn't really affect anything immediately, it just means that the nut might wear down a little quicker on those two strings, but a nut replacements only around $30, and I've never had to replace one yet. I'm not worried about it, so I didn't even mention the nut to Sean, as it's actually not as bad as I had originally thought.
So in conclusion, this apparently was just a qc error on someones part, which the company never caught, but once notified of the problem, they took immediate steps to resolve it in the manner that I had requested. I'm satisfied with their efforts, and can really recommend Carvin as a good company to deal with.
Oh, And I get to keep the original set of Sperzels too :-) I might use them on my next Bolt.

I won't go into the standard features of the kit, I just want to mention that the maple neck(ebony FB) and the alder body were of good quality, very light and resonant, with good grain. The options I got were reverse headstock, Sperzels, Wilkenson trem, humbucker in the bridge, and a turtloid pickguard. I also ordered a HC11 case (ABS plastic), so the total for everything was around $540.
I finished the body in 6 coats of Minwax Tung Oil (sanding between coats with #0000 steel wool), and 9 'coats' of Minwax Gloss 'Wipe On Poly' as a protectant clearcoat (sanding between coats with #000 steel wool). After drying, I final sanded (wet sanded) the body with 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grits sandpaper (in that order). I then put a good coat of Migulars Gold car polish on it and hand buffed it for additional protection and gloss. The end finish on the body is very smooth, and has good feel to it. The tung oiled alder looks fantastic, and the clear coat (while not quite as good as a production finish when viewed upclose under good light) is reasonably glossy. From a short distance, it looks 'store bought'.
I finished the neck in 4 coats of tung oil. I sanded with #0000 steel wool, and then later on, with 1000 grit wet sand paper. (silky smooth! :-)
I replaced the C22T humbucker with a Dimarzio 'Tone Zone', and cut the pickguard to accept a neck humbucker, this I filled with a Dimarzio 'Air Norton'. I left the AP11 in the center position. I wired the supplied switch as a split for both humbuckers, enabling them both to be used in single coil mode (both of which sound pretty decent, I must add... far better than I had expected)
I had the nut cut for a .10 - .46 string set.

I'm pleased to report that this kit really delivers soundwise... I did juice it up with two additional humbuckers but I kept one AP11, and the end result is that it can really rock, while still sounding very much like a 'Strat', when I want it to. It sounds very fat and resonant.. you can feel the neck and body vobrate in your hand when you pluck the strings. The Tone Zone sounds great, and the Air Norton had a killer distorted bluesy tone... with even more edge on in single coil mode. It has good sustain, and can be either bright or slightly dark sounding, depending on what combination you're using. The AP11 is very quiet, as are the humbuckers in single coil mode (another suprise)
I'm using it with a Peavey Classic 30 amp and various Zoom and Danelectro effects.

I did the finish myself, as described above.
The bridge came correctly intonated from the factory, and I followed the instructions concerning overall setup... it actually was very easy. I did manually adjusted the height screws a bit on the trem a bit just to fine-tune the action, but it was very good right from the start. Great neck... It easily compares with the Carvin TL60 that I bought new earlier this year.
The kit overall was very good quality, but was not perfect... I had ordered the reverse headstock option, and the nut was cut accordingly. But whoever did the neck didn't consider that 'reverse headstock' also meant that the Sperzels also go on 'backwards', which means that the peg alignment holes have to be on the opposite side of the main post hole (as compared to a standard neck) This meant that I had to drill a new peg alignment hole for the high e string before I could mount the Sperzel. And concerning the Sperzels, the set sent to me was geared for a standard neck... they still work ok, but they need to be tightened counter-clock wise, instead of clock-wise. This is annoying, but I can live with it, assuming no other Sperzels are available (I plan to contact Carvin later today and tell them about the neck, and see what they say)
The nut also was cut inconsistantly... the g and b strings were cut much deeper than the other strings, which I had thought might cause me some set-up problems, but so far it hasn't.
The fingerboard, and the overall countours of the neck are itself are perfect, with Carvin' usual high quality...I dunno what happened to the other items I mentioned... maybe someone new?
The overall rating for the kit is very good but I have to drag it down some due to the Sperzel hole and the nut.

Dunno. It seems very solid, with quality made parts. I think it will last.

I'll tell you after I speak to Sean later on today..... :-)

Been playing for a while, stopped, then began again in earnest last year. I've owned two Strats, and this thing is much better than either of them. I've also played a lot of them in stores, looking for a good one that I really liked, before deciding to try a Carvin Bolt kit. Just in the short time I've had it, I'd say it plays better and sounds better than 80% of the various Strats I've tried... the only exceptions I could think of were Fender custom shop models, and those weren't perfect either. This is a great kit, and overall, it is a tremendous value for the money. The finished guitar isn't exactly like a Strat mind you, (the 15" radius on the neck means that the feel is different than most Strats), but it has a lot of the Strat sound to it, and it very well made, with quality componants.

Bought the kit and was amazed with the quality of all the components. I got the fixed bridge, perloid pickguard, bridge humbucker, and sperzel tuners. I sanded it up and put it together, just to check the fit of the parts. I ended up playing that way for a few days, it was that much fun. I just recently finished it and am very impressed by the results. Play's great and sounds great. The project was pretty easy and very, very fun. I'm gonna make another one for a friend. I'll give it an 7 because it's a great guitar, but I like to reserve 8,9, and 10 for truly exceptional guitars (like I'd give a Tom Anderson an 8, maybe a 9).

I did a thorough comparison to my Strat with Antiquities and it faired very well. It's bridge humbucker is not that impressive, but I'm not big on bridge pickup tones in general. Remember, 6 is a good rating from me! I'd give my Wolfgang a 3, my Strat a 7, my Les Paul and Tele (stock pickups) a 5, and my PRS an 8.

I set the guitar up myself (of course, I built it) and was easily able to get a great action with near zero buzz. The playablity is simple marvelous and I can't emphasize that the neck and body joint was rediculously tight! Great fit! I give this the highes possible marks for the ABILITY to be setup correctly.

Well, that's really up to the job I did building it, but I'd say that all the components are high quality and I expect them to be very reliable. I'm gonna gig with it tonight, although I always bring at least two guitars in case I break a string, but I would trust it for a gig on it's own.

They were cool, sent it out fast. Can't complain.

This is a great guitar and a very fun project. The would grain of the alder body is not that great, but I finished it with a stain anyway because I wanted to learn how. I tell you that this guitar could hold it's own against some of those $1000 to $1500 guitars out there. I give it a 7, because...well, it isn't the greatest guitar in the world (when I find that guitar I'll give it a 10) but it's far above the pack in terms of playablity and overall quality. In terms of quality to price ratio, it could possibly get a 10. People give out these 10's way too easliy on the review database.