Carvin Bolt-T

** Please ignore incomplete posting below - my spaz **

Your basic (and I do mean basic) US-made Strat clone, a 2000 model. Maple neck w/ tung oil finish, ebony fingerboard w/ mother-of-pearl dot inlays, no binding on the fingerboard, 22 frets, 25-1/2" scale, Carvin sealed tuners, 2-piece alder body w/ transparent satin finish, white pearloid pickguard, Gotoh Wilkinson tremelo, 3 Carvin single-coils with 11 adjustable pole pieces each, one volume knob, one tone knob, 5-way pickup switch, *plus* toggle switch for bridge pickup so you can have neck/bridge or neck/middle/bridge all active at once.

Carvin's pricing no longer includes cases, but they had a "half off" sale on cases at the time. The salesman threw in a truss rod tool and a strap.

It's a Strat clone. Unfortunately I don't have a real Strat to compare it to. The pickups don't seem as bright as the Strats I've heard in person, otherwise it's a reasonable facsimile, lots of twang and quack. The single coils make the obligatory buzzing sounds in the presence of AC magnetic fields, but the middle pickup is reverse wound/reverse polarity so positions 2 and 4 are noiseless. The ability to select the neck and bridge P/Us together adds a neat Tele-like sound to the Strat repertoire. I don't use the tone control much because I like bright sounds with this axe. Turning down the volume cuts some of the highs; I may add a bypass cap.

I aim for all the classic Strat rock sounds from the '60s and '70s, using a hot-rodded Carvin X-60A combo tube amp. The Bolt gets pretty close, but it ain't quite the real thing.

This Bolt is reasonably well made, but has a couple of minor imperfections. As with the other Carvins I have owned, the strings don't quite line up with the pickups. There are some minor cosmetic flaws in the body wood stock, but nothing you'll see from more than 5 feet away. The fingerboard didn't appear to have been oiled or otherwise treated in any way, and when I got around to oiling it recently, the rag came away with a dark color, suggesting that the ebony had been dyed black. The volume and tone pots weren't screwed down all that tightly, and came loose within a couple of weeks (easily fixed, but annoying).

Aside from these minor complaints, the workmanship is pretty good. The frets appear to be evenly dressed and the ends filed, the nut is reasonably well set up, there are no buzzes or rattles, and the finish looks excellent.

The setup appears to have been a rush job. The string heights were uneven when I bought it. I can't comment on the intonation because I changed the strings from the factory .009s to my preferred .010s as soon as I could. The pickup pole pieces weren't balanced to my liking. Again, these complaints are minor, and nothing I can't take care of myself.

This is a well built, solid guitar. I have some minor doubts about the quality of the controls but it's nothing a can of contact cleaner can't fix. Tuners and tremelo are solid. The body finish seems durable. I know I'm going to have to re-oil the neck, but that's part of the game with a tung oil finish. The pickguard hides minor scratches nicely. I'd have no qualms about gigging without a backup.

The jury's still out on this, as I've rarely needed much support from Carvin. I have had some dealings with them, and they were both pleasant to talk to and prompt to ship needed parts.

I've been hacking away on guitar and bass for over 30 years. I own other Carvin gear, and a couple low-buck Ibanez and Peavey axes from the '80s.

I had been thinking about a better Strat clone than my old Ibanez RS440, and walked into the Carvin store to discover they were having an in-store sale on Bolts! I figured even if the stock pickups sucked, I could always get a set of Bill Lawrence or Kinman P/Us, and still have a solid US-made guitar for less than a comparable US Fender.

What do I like about it? The natural alder body and pearloid pickguard, the classic Strat configuration and (approximation of) sound, the value for the buck.

What would I change? The pickups, although the stockers aren't terrible. The Gotoh Wilkinson trem is a minor nuisance at string change time, as the springs tend to fall out.

It isn't perfect, but it's pretty good as Strat clones go, and it was a hell of a deal at the price.

Your basic (and I do mean basic) US-made Strat clone, a 2000 model. Maple neck w/ tung oil finish, ebony fingerboard, 22 frets, 25-1/2" scale, Carvin sealed tuners, 2-piece alder body w/ transparent satin finish, white pearloid pickguard, Gotoh Wilkinson tremelo, 3 Carvin single-coils with 11 adjustable pole pieces each, one volume knob, one tone knob, 5-way pickup switch, *plus* toggle switch for bridge pickup so you can have neck/bridge or neck/middle/bridge all active at once. Carvin's pricing no longer includes cases, but they had a "half off" sale on cases at the time. The salesman threw in a truss rod tool and a strap.

It's a Strat clone. Unfortunately I don't have a real Strat to compare it to. The pickups don't seem as bright as the Strats I've heard in person, otherwise it's a reasonable facsimile, lots of twang and quack. The single coils make the obligatory buzzing sounds in the presence of AC magnetic fields, but the middle pickup is reverse wound/reverse polarity so positions 2 and 4 are noiseless. The ability to select the neck and bridge P/Us together adds a neat Tele-like sound to the Strat repertoire. I don't use the tone control much because I like bright sounds with this axe. Turning down the volume cuts some of the highs; I may add a bypass cap.

I aim for all the classic Strat rock sounds from the '60s and '70s, using a hot-rodded Carvin X-60A combo tube amp. The Bolt gets pretty close, but it ain't quite the real thing.

This Bolt is reasonably well made, but has a couple of minor imperfections. As with the other Carvins I have owned, the strings don't quite line up with the pickups. There are some minor cosmetic flaws in the body wood stock, but nothing you'll see from more than 5 feet away. The fingerboard didn't appear to have been oiled or otherwise treated in any way, and when I got around to oiling it recently, the rag came away with a dark color, suggesting that the ebony had been dyed black. The volume and tone pots weren't screwed down all that tightly, and came loose within a couple of weeks (easily fixed, but annoying).

Aside from these minor complaints, the workmanship is pretty good. The frets appear to be evenly dressed, the nut is reasonably well set up, there are no buzzes or rattles, and the finish looks excellent.

The setup appears to have been a rush job. The string heights were uneven when I bought it. I can't comment on the intonation because I changed the strings from the factory .009s to my preferred .010s as soon as I could. The pickup pole pieces weren't balanced to my liking. Again, these complaints are minor, and nothing I can't take care of myself.

This is a well built, solid guitar. I have some minor doubts about the quality of the controls but it's nothing a can of contact cleaner can't fix. Tuners and tremelo are solid. The body finish seems durable. I know I'm going to have to re-oil the neck, but that's part of the game with a tung oil finish. The pickguard hides minor scratches nicely. I'd have no qualms about gigging without a backup.

The jury's still out on this, as I've rarely needed much support from Carvin. I have had some dealings with them, and they were both pleasant to talk to and prompt to ship needed parts.

I've been hacking away on guitar for over 30 years. I own other Carvin gear, and a couple low-buck Ibanez and Peavey axes from the '80s.

I had been thinking about a better Strat clone than my old Ibanez RS440, and walked into the Carvin store

strat "copy"
maple neck/finger board.alder body
3 ap-11 ,coil tap switch.1 vol 1 tone knob
wilkinson trem
other specs,go to Carvin.com

I have had the bolt for about 5 months now,and after tweaking it Im still not happy with this gtr:(
First and formost the carvin ap-11 pickups plain suck IMHO
Bridge p.u. way bright,thin,while the other positions were adaquate they were thin on strat quack,and had very little definition.
Since then I have tried Dimarzios(thats another story)
I found the VVblues the most Fenderlike out of their line.Had a hs-3 and a solo,both didnt help give this guitar any tone.
The carvins body/neck,is thiner than any Fender amer. strat Ive had my hands on.I feel this is a detrimental to the carvins acoustic as well as electric tone.(no mass no tone in most cases :( It give the bolt a very bright snappy acoustic tone,..not the GOOD tone ala maple tele..but the annoying bright snappyness,am I making sense,I hope so
I have doubts about the qualtity of carvins tone vol pots,I cant prove anything though,till I swap diff electronics
My last ditch effort(literally) is to put dmarzios VV in the neck and mid,that might fix some of the weakest unbell like tones Ive ever heard on a strat.
If the body was approx a 1/2 inch wider,better electronics,pickups this would be a fine strat.

On the positive side,the action,fit finish is superb.
Intonation,fret work is excellent.(thank god)
translucent deepurple paint is firstrate.

I think the guitar will hold up as well as any other strat.

no complaints

be playing a while,teach gig for a living(till I get a real job;)
GTRs Carvin tl-60,fender strats,numerous classical steel gtr so after buying the bolt I was disapponited.
currently invested $200 to make this carvin kick,still no happy,no fussing around next time Ill just get a american Fender strat with all the goodies.
My only likes about this Bolt is the intonation(near perfect, which is better that anystrat Ive played)and the build quality is high.
Tone Is a real letdown on this Bolt-T
Look to see this GTR forsale

you put whatever the hell you want on it. mine has: sperzel locking tuners, wilkinson trem., pickups- s/s/h w/a splitter (ap11 single coils & c22 humbucker, 22 frets, solid top, volume & tone, alder body, maple neck w/ebony fingerboard, strat body style, medium jumbo frets.

great sound (comparable with my gibson), i use a peavey amp and distortion and crybaby, no noise problems, bright sound just like strat, can make any sound you want (as long as you have the ability0

well i shouldn't answer this catagory because i bought all the parts and finished it myself. but i can say that the finishing instructions that came with the guitar were excellent.

excellent in this catagory! i would have a backup just incase, because, amything can happen.

the company was great, i got just what i wanted. infact, recently i lost the screw that holds the tremelo arm in, and i e-mailed the company, and there sending me a new one!

great guitar! i saved a bunch of money (about $200) by buying the kit rather than having the guitar made, the only thing that would have been affected was the looks, but it's still great.

Follow up to 4/10/00 follow up- even snail mailed a letter directly to the company president back in June- STILL no response.

Just a note: Although I absolutely love the guitar I recently bought (see my reviews below) I'm disappointed with Carvin as a company. I originally wanted a swamp ash body and was told it was unavailable. After settling on an alder body and sending it back for sonic problems, I had a mahogany bodied Bolt built. At that time I was told still no swamp ash.
Lo and behold, 2 days past my 10 day trial period (six weeks after my second order), I get catalog in the mail and whaddya know- swamp ash now available!!
I'm still wondering when they were putting their print catalog together six weeks ago, why the salesperson AND tech support (the ones who bulid the guitars) either didn't know or didn't think to ask me to wait a few more weeks so I could get exactly what I wanted.
I waited 15 weeks in total, and now I kind of feel like I've made a compromise. And I can't return it out of principal because it's now past the 10 day trial period. Even if they said they'd take the guitar back, I've waited so long up to this point that I can't afford to send back the guitar I already have and wait yet another 6-8 weeks.
I e-mailed the company about this, and after a week and a half, I'm still waiting for a response. The day I got the mahogany axe, I even wrote to them to ask how to become an endorser and haven't heard back regarding that e-mail either. I'm glad that they employ Internet technology so that they can provide quick responses to customer inquiries. ;-)
I'm very surprised, especially given the great service I'd received up to this point.
So, knock the ol' CS score down a few pegs. Still can't beat the quality tho'.

This is a follow up to my review 2/9/2000. Received this new guitar 3/21/2000. Only difference: Mahogany body. There was a high resonant overtone with the first guitar, and I chose mahogany because it wasn't as bright (hence maybe the tone would go away). Some other players alerted me to other potential reasons for overtones, none of which is a problem with this rebuild totally from scratch.

Just as I had expected, they sent me an absolute winner! The frets are a little thinner/smaller than the last guitar, which suits me fine since I'm heavy handed. The mahogany body makes for a heavier guitar with a smoother, more sustained sound. I don't think I've ever been this happy with a guitar purchase. From the bang for the buck to the quality of the goods to the high level of customer service, these guys are tops. Thanks also to the fellow guitarists that wrote to me about solving the overtone problem.

Bolt on 22 fret neck, strat-style body with traditional sunburst, S/S/H pickup config, coil tap for humbucker, Sperzel locking tuners, Wilkinson trem. Came with molded hardshell case and a tool kit.

This guitar really sounds great. I have found it useful for my main playing style: hard rock/pop. It also has an awsome blues sound. I have found that the humbucking sound is a little muddy though. I plug into a vox wha and Marshall JCM200 DSL 100/4x12 Celestion Vintage 30 rig. I also run an effects loop of trem/pitch shifter/chorus/phaser. In any effect combo, the guitar shines! The "in-between" sounds are really great for funk or open string-voiced chords. The Carvin pickups sound as good if not better than Fender stocks!

This guitar came factory fresh and in perfect tune! From Cally to Baltimore with no action/neck problems either. Speaking of action...WOW! PERFECT is the word! No buzz anywhere! The only flaw was a miniscule scratch on the upper horn near the strap peg. I didn't want to send it back for re'finishing cause' it is now my main guitar.

I got the guitar on a Friday and had 3 gigs for that weekend. I used the Carvin for all 3! I would never play a gig without a backup guitar but I think the BOLT is reliable (no broken strings...). The finish is thin but I don't find that a concern. I have used it exclusively for the past month and 12 gigs. My Fender Floyd Rose has become the backup!

Carvin is a joy to deal with on the phone. I called many times as I was very eager to get the guitar. My technical questions were answered by knowlegable sales agents! It arrived 2 weeks early too(compared to the shipping notice).

In my 15 years of playing I have gone through many guitars. The Carvin is a joy and measures up to anything I have ever owned (including PRS, Gibson, Fender, Ibanez). The playability is fantastic and the sounds are varied and useful. I would like the trem to be a bit tighter but I will add another spring myself. I'd say the guitar is the lightest I've played ( a nice feature for those, like myself, that play out 2-3 times a week for 3 hours each). I would reccomend the BOLT-T to anyone in the market for a Strat-style guitar.

1999-2000 made in San Diego CA; 22 med jumbo frets on a maple fingerboard; Tung oil finish on neck; Wilkinson trem; jet black w/ white pearloid pickguard and black chrome hardware; Alder body; Sperzel locking tuners; S/S/S w/switch for more sounds. Gotta rate a 10 for features since you pick em yourself.

I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between this guitar and a Strat in a blind test. Output seems a little hotter. Blues to Classic Rock to Metal, its covered pretty well. I have perfect pitch, and although the guitar came from the factory dead on intonation wise, there was an overtone that made the guitar sound out of tune to my ears. See Customer Service for the resolution...

I looked at over a dozen Strats in the $700-900 category at different stores, and NONE came close to the overall quality of this instrument. A-hole tight neck pocket, cleanest fret work I've ever seen. Only visual flaw was a very small scratch from whomever adjusted the intonation and a screw missing from the pickguard. Neck is a little wider than I'm used to, but within the first 20 minutes I was settled in. A tung oiled neck is unbelieveably smooth, and your hands don't get caught up on the neck if you perspire.

If the quality is any indicator, YES.

Bob @ Carvin probably thinks of me as 'the thing that wouldn't go away' ;-). He was very cool about my concerns, even though I had trouble articulating what the problem was. He referred me to the Service Dept (Albert?) and the guy helped me figure out that this specific instrument had a resonant frequency that was causing the overtone. We talked about every detail and we settled on a different wood for the body (Mahogany). Not only are they rebuiling me a brand new guitar, Bob even gave me a break on the more expensive wood.
There isn't a mark high enough for these two gentlmen's level of CS. It's almost unheard of these days.
I will be getting the new ax in mid-march, and having played friend's Carvins before deciding to purchase from them, I'm confident the thing will be amazing. I'll keep you posted....

I've been playing since I was 5 (35 yrs) and the only guitars I've seen that are better right out of the box are a handful of custom made guitars. Bang for the buck is big, especially if you don't get wrapped up in asthetic extras. I've owned Carvin amps in the past without a single problem. I only wish they had an East Coast store. (Can I be an endorser?).
I've been wanting a Strat for the longest time, but after the shoddy stuff I saw, I don't think I'll ever look in envy at another Fender again. The closest I came to a Carvin was A Fender Natural Ash American Standard, and only because sonically, it crushed all other Strats. The workmanship was still marginal compared to the Bolt- aka the 'low-end' Carvin!

This is a Carvin strat copy with a S/S/H configuration and a Wilkinson Tremelo. It comes standard with a alder body and maple neck with ebony fretboard. I also upgraded to the Sperzel locking tuners, pearloid pickguard, gold hardware, and the M22SD humbucker with a coil splitter. The thin tung oiled neck is probably this guitars best feature. It's very comparable to an Ibanez or Jackson style neck and it's the best feeling guitar I've ever picked up. Since Carvin lets you customize almost every feature I'll have to give them a 10 in this category.

The guitar sounds like a strat. The SD humbucker in the bridge position really sounds great for any type of hard rock/metal. This is a high gain pickup so the clean sounds are not that great. The coil splitting really doesn't make too much of a difference in this department either because it basically just cuts down the volume and adds a little noise. The neck position does a nice job of pulling off that Hendrix/SRV bluesy tone that only a strat can produce. I'm playing this through a Mesa/Boogie DC-3 combo and a Boss ME-5 that I basically only use for Chorus and Delay. Overall the sound of the guitar is really versital with this setup going from clean blues to scrotching metal although I might try a different bridge pickup later on down the road.

The guitar was setup fine from the shop but I did have to change the strings to 10s because the 9s just had a little more slack than I used to. The finish was outstanding, a nice Blueburst with a matching headstock. The only really flaw I could notice was the ebony on the fretboard had a few brown streaks although you really can't notice unless you look closely. I'm not sure that's even a flaw but I've never noticed that on any other ebony woods. The action is alright but there is a little fret buzz especially on the lower strings. I like low action so I have learned to live with a litte buzz.

I don't anticipate any problems with reliability. I don't play live anywhere at the moment so I don't think it's gonna get much wear here in my spare room.

NA

I've been playing for over 10 years now and this is overall the best guitar I have owned. I have had a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe and a Charvel 250. I tryed out various Fender, ESP, Ibanez, and G&L models before I decided on this one. You can't beat this guitar for the price. Fender wishes they made anything this good for under $1000. There are better guitars out there but I don't think anything comes close to Carvin's quality until you hit the $1500-$2000+ range.