Carvin Bolt

2009 Carvin Bolt T, made in San Diego California. Features include Swamp Ash body, Maple neck, Ebony fingerboard, 2 AP11 single coil pickups in the neck and middle position, C22 humbucker pickup in the bridge w/ coil tap toggle switch, 1V/1T and 5 way selector, Wilkinson tremolo, Sperzel locking tuners, gold hardware, and white pearloid pickguard.

The sound of this guitar is bright, maybe a little too bright at times, as a result it's not as versatile as I was hoping for, but I can't fault Carvin for that, I ordered the guitar to come with single coils, swamp ash, and ebony, all of which contribute to a brighter sounding guitar. I'm also not familiar with single coils and playing through a Line 6 Spider3, the guitar sounds awesome on some settings but bad on others. With that said, the AP11 single coils are EXTREMELY quiet, no humming at all. I particularly love the sound of it with a my Crybaby wah.

I was hoping for a sound a little warmer, like Clapton's Strat sound, but it's not.

I'll give this a 10, because I bought it to get sounds that I can't get out of my Les Paul or Charvel So-Cal, and for the most part it does that great.

I wasn't that happy with the bridge setup, felt a little to low, but it was a simple fix, that is a totally subjective thing though. It was exactly the way they described it, very low action, and not fret buzz... So I won't fault them for my taste.

Craftsmanship of the build is 2nd to none when compared to other guitars of this price and maybe a little more. The Blueburst finish is completely flawless, the neck is taking some getting used to, the ebony board feels foreign to me, and the compound radius neck of the Charvel is IT for me, but it's definitely playable, and I've been playing it a lot. The hardware, pickguard, back plate, tremolo, controls, neck joint, all that stuff is A++.

I haven't owned it for more than a week, BUT there is nothing about this guitar that gives me the impression it won't last, and nothing I've heard about Carvin suggests it won't last.

Have heard horror stories about Carvin, but I haven't had an issue... Of course I haven't called them with a complaint yet.

I'll give this guitar and overall rating of 10.

I've been playing for almost 25 years, and this Carvin Bolt is without a doubt one of the top 5 guitars I've played. I've posted my Edwards Les Paul (which I wrote a review about late last year) on ebay to possibly buy another Carvin (maybe a CS or CT) with more familiar components (mahogany boy, maple top and neck/fingerboard, and flatter fingerboard radius), or another Charvel (wrote a review for a So-Cal last month). I like the tonal qualities of the Les Paul design, and look, but after playing the Charvel I need a flatter fingerboard lol

I use to live about 30 minutes away from the Carvin factory. I would check their showroom from time to time to see if they had anything that I was interested in. One weekend I stumbled across a beautiful cherry red bolt model. It had an alder body, maple neck with an ebony fretboard, single,single,humbucker pickup combination and a white pickguard. I had been thinking of buying an american standard strat.

I play jazz, blues, classic rock and metal. if you invest in a carvin and you play heavier stuff you'll have to change the pickups the c22's are weak. They remind me of the Gibson reissue pickups that come standard in an sg. For softer stuff like classic rock, jazz and blues the bolt is every bit as good as a fender. You can copy any strat sound you wish if you have the right set up.

Carvin's rapid play neck is great plus if you order custom you can choose the fret size that you like. Ihave never had any problems with the guitar coming out of tune or buzzing. I had bought a Gibson sg standard about 12 years ago and I had so many problems with it coming out of tune but not carvin. The standard tung oil finish on the back of the neck is second to none.

I have traveled cross country with this guitar form California to Tennessee to be exact. I was on a bus for 3 days and when I got home the guitar was still in tune.

This is my third Carvin and they have always been good to me. If you have a problem with your instrument they will be glad to fix it.

I have been playing on and off for 12 years. I am a tone freak so if something isn't wirth buying beleive me I'd let you know. In my opinion Carvin is hard to beat and I think that alot of players have passed up Carvins and bought something for the same price that wasn't near the quality.

This is a 2008 bolt made in the USA. It is their strat model with a swamp ash body C22B humbucker and 2 AP 11 singlecoils. The finish is transparent blue with a white pearloid pick guard and it is beautiful. One tone and one volume and a coil tap switch for the humbucker. The neck is maple with a birdseye maple fret board with abalone dot inlays. No trem just a fixed bridge and sprezel locking tuners it comes with a skb case but of course you have to pay for it. They won't ship is without a case. It is a 25 1/2 inch scale with a 12 inch radius fretboard which very comfortable.

I use it for jazz, country, rock, and blues. This thing can cover just about everything. I play it through a Kustom Quad 65 dfx and also a Marsall mg100dfx combo. My pedals are boss distortions and delay, crybaby wah wah, danelectro chorus, and ernie ball volume. The single coils are pretty quite but not nearly as bad as some fenders I have played. It has the strat sound I have been looking for that bright bell like tone. The C22B humbucker doesn't have the same crunch as my EMG 81 but thats an active pickup. Although I love metal I don't play a lot of it any more. Carvin offers a M22 pickup which is their high out put pickup. If your a metal head you might want to try it out. The only issue is that the single coils seem to be weak causing me to crank my amp up in order to be heard at all on stage.

I had heard stories of carvins being in tune out of the box unfortunately mine was the exception. But then again it rode in the back of a UPS truck from california to south texas through many climate changes. I had to adjust the intonation on both E strings but the rest were fine. The action was incredible and it is easy to play. I raised the single coils and lowered the humbucker to balance the volume between them. Finish is perfect I could not find any flaws in workmanship. The frets could be rounded on the edges but that could be said for many guitars. Everything looks great on this thing.

I never gig without a backup no guitarist should no matter how confident you are in your instrument. But I haven't had to use my backup yet. I haven't had it all that long but this thing is built like a tank and I look foward to playing it for years. A 5 only because I haven't had it that long.

Carvin has the worst customer service. I called for a simple question and I spent 30 mins on the phone getting the run around and called back 4 times. At one point the operator hung up on me; I kept getting past around which I found to be very rude. I sent them a email about a week ago and have not gotten a respose. Its a shame that with such a great product they have such poor customer service. I mean we are the reason they are in business. I tell every one how great the guitar is and not to call them if you want to order do it online. Just to give you an idea of good customer service. I email Marshall one day and was called back the next day. Now thats how you take care of customers!

I have been playing for 14 years and I play everything from classical to metal. I own a epiphone les paul, and Ibanez hollow body and an S series. I have played just about any guitar you can name and this is one of the most comfortable guitars so far. I was about to spend $1000 on a fender american standard strat and remembered carvin. I am so glad I went with carvin I got more guitar for less money. Since they have a custom shop I was able to get everything I wanted on it. I would have had to spent twice as much on a fender to get what got with carvin. This is my first carvin but won't me my last I'll just make sure to bypass their customer service and order online.

2006 carvin bolt. alder body, maple neck, ebony board. bolt on neck of course.

it sounds really good. very resonant body. the stock pickups are under rated. the ebony board does make it sound a bit shrill and thin at times, but you need to know how to eq that out. if i bought it again i would get a maple board.

the fret job is OK, there are two or three high frets. the finish is really nice, although it came with a little bit of some sort of compound under the clear coat, which can be seen in sunlight.

no problems other than the scratchy pot that came with the guitar.

oh no...oh no. their customer service is the absolute worst in the industry. my order was delayed three weeks from the post date on the card. i called and called and emailed and emailed. they kept brushing me off and well, basically lied to me over and over again..."dude can i call you back right away", "i will email you tomorrow", "it will ship on the 11th". give me a break. if there is a delay, tell me the truth, dont lie to me. that is so disrespectful! it is for this reason that i will never buy anything from them ever again.

the guitar is pretty nice, at least as nice as an american strat. but their customer service has scared me away for good.

This is a 2004 Carvin Bolt in Pearl Blue, SSH pickups configuration(AP11, and C22B), no trem bar, Alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Tuners are standard(I wish I'd gotten the locking tuners). Made in San Diego, CA USA!

Since purchasing this guitar, I had a need to replace the single coils with noiseless pickups, not for sound reasons, but because of the dimmer packs in the lighting system at my church causing a bad buzz. I liked the AP11s, but had to switch to some Bill Lawrence L-200 pickups. They are noiseless, and sound wonderful. They are quite inexpensive and very fine people to deal with.

http://www.billlawrence.com

I play at a church and this guitar is perfect. I play through a Fender Blues Junior, with a Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde and a Boss DD-20. It is really a great sound. By using the 2 channels on the J&H, the pickup selector, and volume knob, I can get a wide variety of sounds from clean sparkle to high gain leads. Really great, I am very pleased!

I love the way it looks and plays. It is the perfect guitar for me, I have never been so comfortable playing a guitar. It came out of the box needing some minor adjustments to the bridge, but what guitar wouldn't after a cross country ride on the brown UPS truck? Simply wonderful, I would buy another in a heartbeat!

The finish was perfect, the pups adjusted well, and everything was great inside and outside of the pickguard.

It will withstand years of use, and it has so far. The hardware is great, although I will replace the tuner with some sperzel locking tuners some day. The strap buttons are solid.

I can depend on this guitar, I play at church all the time without a backup.

I had a problem with the guitar staying in tune when it first arrived, but I think it was due to the Elixir strings slipping, not sure. I'm not a fan of the Elixir brand, so Carvin sent me a new set of strings at no cost to me. Problem was solved.

This is just a great guitar for the price. I got all the features of an American strat for half the price. What more can you ask for? I would buy another if this guitar were stolen. I've been playing for close to 20 years, and have never been more happy with a guitar.

I have no complaints. I'm looking forward to a longlasting friendship with this guitar.

Carvin is always very loaded with a ton of optional features that you can select from. My strat style Bolt had three single-coil sized rail pickups, locking tuners, stainless steel frets, a fixed bridge, switch that turns on the bridge pickup, and a woody-looking natural gloss finish. I may be forgetting something...

This is where I'm disappointed. I've had this guitar for six months now and played it loud, soft, with solid state amps, and with tube amps. The overall sound is OK when you play at low volume and just plain mediocre when you turn it up. This bolt has a very thin/dark tone to it that is very sterile and unexciting. Part of this seems related to the pickups- the rails pickups are mediocre. I've always wanted to try rails, but they simple lack good tone- very mushy, lifeless, and no bite at all. And the strat-quack in positions 2 and 4 are just OK, not great. The neck position actually sounds decent but the lead bridge tones are thin and weak. But I get the feeling that even if I changed pickups, the guitar would sound weak- while the lightness of the weight feels good, it seems to contribute the thinness of the sound.

The neck feels great, the fretwork looks quite excellent, and the set-up is above average. Unfortunately, I'm going to give a lower score than I would have because of some odd flaw that makes the strings produce unwanted ringing at the headstock. I especially notice this when I do any palm muting without overdrive from the amp. This is very disappointing. Carvin prides itself on not requiring a string tree on the headstock in order to improve sustain. But the only solution the Carvin customer service guy could give was to put a string tree on there to eliminate the ringing!!!! He could give me no answer to why the guitar was making this sound. How bogus. My guess is bad neck fit. Not sure.

So far the Bolt has been pretty reliable. No major problems. It appears to be built to last.

I mentioned the problem I had above with the ringing noise at the headstock. I was shocked that the Customer Support was uanable to give me a better answer. They were courteous, but not very knowlegeable. Part of this mess is my own fault: I should have played the guitar more frequently in the first week to discover this flaw and sent the guitar back during the return period. Since I'm past the period, I'm stuck with the thing now and I'm sick of calling Carvin back and forth. I guess these are the downfalls for buying a guitar through the mail/online.

I've played for 17 years- mostly classic and hard rock, bluesy rock, and now alot of contemporary worship music at church. I was very much looking forward to this guitar and had always heard alot of good things about Carvin. And the price was unbelievable compared to other similar guitars. This isn't a horrible guitar. It's got some good features- esp. the neck, frets, and playability. But the tone and responsiveness is not what I was expecting- dry, thin, no bite, very little strat cluck. Partly the fault of the pickups but the guitar itself just feels a little too light and unsubstantial. And the mysterious ringing noise at the headstock... Kind of disappointing. Overall, this guitar might wind up my backup to my Fender Tele that I've had for 10+ years. If I had it to do again, I'd get an American Fender Strat. I played one the other day and it sounded like I was hoping this Carvin Bolt would. I guess you live and learn...

I had a Carvin bolt with an alder body, ebony fretboard, Wilkinson tremolo, and Fender Lace Sensor Pickups. With the exception of the stock pickups, everything about the Carvin bolt is of superior quality to ANY other bolt-on guitar made (Fender, PRS, Music Man, Quicksilver, Pearlcaster, Melancon, G&L, etc). As long as you're willing to replace the stock pickups with some lace sensors or Seymour Duncans, you absolutely can't go wrong with this guitar.

It was the most versatile guitar I've ever owned, and I used it for about 90% of my recording work. I had two Fender Lace Sensor blues in the neck and middle positions and a gold in the neck position. The guitar could scream better than any Les Paul or PRS or twang better than any telecaster. I think that the angled neck, ebony fretboard, tight neck joint, and thick tone block on the tremolo all contribute to the superiority of this guitar. Try finding a Fender with a tighter neck joint and more dense tone block.

The action on the guitar is second to none. Carvin diamond grinds their fretboards so that they are the most accurate and consistent on the market, even more so than Warmoth. Also, Carvin inserts two graphite rods beside the trust rod, which keeps the neck perfectly straight and prevents twisting. Mine also came shielded. The Carvin bolt is of higher quality in comparison with an American Fender Strat than the American Strat is in comparison with a Mexican Strat.

I keep using the past-tense to refer to the instrument because it unfortunately fell from a couch and cracked in half. No instrument could have withstood that fall, though, and as I've said, the neck is the most reliable on the market because of its precision grinding and graphite support rods. I discovered first hand how durable the paint on the guitar is when I tried to strip it to repair the body - I couldn't get the paint off at all, not even with chemical strippers or a spinning wire brush on a drill!

I've had no contact with the customer support.

The bottom line is that as long as you are willing to replace the stock pickups with something a little more higher grade, you can't go wrong with the Carvin bolt. It features a titled headstock, a graphite re-enforced neck, an ebony fretboard, no skunk stripe on the neck, a four-bolt neck plate, a giant tone block on the tremolo, a 10 way toggle switch option, locking tuners, and a shielded pickguard. Where else are you going to find all of those options at such a great price? If you pass up this guitar just because it doesn't have the right decal on the headstock, you're not a musician -- you're at best a collector and at worst a petty, superficial, narrow-minded tool who's just going to sound like the one-thousand generic Joe Blows on the gig scene who all play the same name-brand instrument through the same solid state name-brand amp with the same predictable name-brand pedal and the same gauged strings (9s or 10s) and the same picks that they grabbed near the cash register at their local outlet of the same name-brand corporate guitar superstore. Do you really want to be Joe Blow number one-thousand and one?

2004 made in USA, 22 medium humbo frets, tobacco sunburst on Flamed Maple top, phase switch on bridge humbucker, 2 twinblade humbuckers and one bridge humbucker, birdseye maple fingerboard with black dots, maple neck and alder body, strat style body with wilkinson trem and schaller locking tunners

I play rock and blues and a mix between the two. This guitar is perfect for it. I use a Marshall AVT50 and Small Clone Chorus Pedal, and an Ibanez Tube Screamer, and I get the best sounds for rock and blues ever. My brother plays lots of metal and he likes using this guitar alot too. I like everything about this guitar because with carvin you customize the guitar to your liking.

The action was a bit bad, but that was probally because of the shipping process but I could fix it and now the action is perfect.

I have had this guitar for about a year and it shows no signs of slowing down. I always gig with a backup just incase but this guitar never goes out of tune and I have no fear of it breaking.

Besides using their website I haven't had to contact them.

I have been playing for about 7 years now and this guitar I think will be with me till the day I die. If it were lost or stolen I would try my best to find it, but then buy a new one. I liked it a lot better than the Fender's in the price range because this guitar was customized to my likings.

2004, Ebony Fret Board, Alder body, fixed bridge. Two single coils and humbucker on the bridge.

Here is an example of a company who has the goods to make a fantastic guitar, but fall way short on the design. I've always been impressed with Carvin's precision fret work and overall quality - no problem there. I think there are a few areas that Carvin could improve, and they'd be selling twice as many guitars: (1) add more wood to the neck back, or at least an option for a more rounded neck back profile, (2) lose the shark fin shaped headstock, and (3) add more wood to the guitar body for more warmth to the tone.

Graphite rods in the neck do not make up for the fact that there is not enough wood on the body to create a really warm tone - the tone is a bit too thin and no amount of EQing can hide this. Moreover, it would help keep the guitar more stable instead of flopping around when you're picking and strumming. Also, the graphite rods limits the range of the truss rod. It's very important to make your last adjustment to the rod is a tightening move, else the neck becomes unstable. Carvins do , however, have alot of sustain - no problem there.

The neck back profile is too thin and flat causing big time hand fatique for anyone with larger hands. Also, the fretboard edges are too sharp - need to round these off for more comfort. Carvin could take a cue from Fender in that regard and I don;t think they'd be violatinng any patents. Also, the shark fin shaped headstock has to go - pretty ugly. Hey - how about radius options as well instead of the tandard 15" radius? Comon guys - think out of the box a little here!!

Having said this, Carvin does have some good ideas - the tilted headstock does have better string tension. Neck through body helps as well.

Overall - Carvin could take some small steps to vastly improve their guitars that already have a high level of workmanship.

Not withstanding the above problems, what Carvin builds - they do a fine job in terms of the workmanship. It's the design that is subpar.

Carvin is great at supporting the products they sell. But, try to make some design/marekting suggestions, and they'll shut you down quick. I've had discussions about the above issues (see Sound Quality section) and have emailed suggestions and their response is thanks for your input. I don't think they particularly care for unsolicited advice. The net here is that I've tried Carvin's twice and each time sold the guitars because of playability issues (too thin neck) and tone warmth was a bit lacking. However, I still regarded the guitars was having quality construction.

See above catagories.

IT HAS MAPLE NECK,SWAMP ASH BODY,SPERZEL TUNERS.CLASSIC WHITE GOLD HARDWARE,WILKERSON TREM,22 FRETS,S/S/H,STRAT BODY,CARVIN PICKUPS,ELECTRONICS ARE PASSIVE,IT HAS A COIL TAP FOR THE BRIDGE HUMBUCKER.

THE GUITAR IS GREAT BUT I DONT LIKE THE CARVIN PICKUPS THE HUMBUCKER SOUNDS TO THIN AND I DONT LIKE SPLIT HUMBUCKERS EITHER HAVE A SINGLE COIL ARE HUMBUCKER CHOOSE ONE.THE SINGLE COILS ARE AP 11S I THINK I CAN LIVE WITH THEM.BUT I CHANGE THE SINGLE COILS TO TEXAS SPECIAL AND THE HUMBUCKER TO A DUNCAN DISTORTION.THE GUITAR ITSELF WAS BUILT BETTER ARE AS GOOD AS ANY USA FENDER.HALF THE PRICE.IT SOUNDS GOOD NOW.

ACTION WAS WONDERFUL VERY FAST PLAYING GUITAR.LOW LIKE I LIKE IT.PICKUPS SUCK.HARDWARE WAS SUPREME THE GUITAR IS VERY NICE.BUILT BETTER THEN MY FENDER.EVERYTHING WAS PUT TOGETHER VERY WELL.THIS IS A GREAT GUITAR.SOMETHING TO WATCH THEY SAY THIER PICKUPS ARE REGULAR SIZE THEY ARE NOT.I DONT KNOW WHAT THE STANDARDS ARE BUT WHEN I CHANGE PICKUPS I HAD TO DO A LITTLE ROUTING ON THE PICKGUARD AND GUITAR ITSELF.

WITH PROPER CARE IT LAST AS LONG AS YOU.EVERYTHING ON THIS GUITAR IS BUILT TO LAST ALONG TIME.DONT BE WORRIED THIS GUITAR IS BUILT AS WELL ARE BETTER AS A FENDER ARE GL.YOU CAN DEPEND ON IT

WONDERFUL HELPFUL COMPANY I DONT HOW LONG THE WARRANTY IS I FORGOT IVE HAD THE GUITAR 6 OR 7 YRS.I OWN ONE OF THIER AMPS THE BELAIR 212 AND THEY ARE VERY HELPFUL GOOD PLACE TO BUY TUBES TO RETUBE MY WHOLE AMP FOR 80 BUCKS.VERY FRIENDLY.THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE WITH THEM THEY CALL THEM SELF A CUSTOM GUITAR COMPANY THEY ARE IF YOU STICK TO WHAT THEY OFFER.I ORDER THE PICKUPS S/S/H WITHOUT A COIL SPLIT I HATE SPLIT HUMBUCKERS BUT THEY DIDNT PAY ATTENTION TO ME AND SENT ME THE SPLIT.MY SISTER GAVE ME 2 GRAND TO BUY A GUITAR I CALLED CARVIN AND WAS GOING TO ORDER A CTM6 ARE CM6 ARE WHATEVER THEY CALL IT WITH MAHOGANY NECK BODY AND FLAME MAPLE TOP FLOYD ROSE SO FAR THEY WERE EXCITED I WAS EXCITED UNTIL I ASK THEM NOT TO PUT PICKUPS IN IT AND ROUT IT OUT TO FIT REGULAR PICKUPS IN IT I WAS GOING TO PUT GOLDEN FIFTY HUMBUCKERS IN IT . THEY SAID NO I WAS GOING TO PAY BIG BUCKS BUT THEY REFUSE THEY SAID THEIR PICKUPS ARE NORMAL.BUT I HAD TO ROUT THEIR STRAT TO GET THE DUNCAN TO FIT AND TEXAS SPECIAL.THIS PISS ME OFF IF IAM PAYING THE BILL WERE GOING TO DANCE MY SONG.I GUESS CARVIN LIKE OUR GOVERMENT HAVE A DICTIONARY DIFFERENT THEN OURS YOU KNOW LIKE THE WORD FREE ON TV ARE ON THE NET THAT DICTIONARY CARVIN LOOK UP THE WORD CUSTOM DONT THAT MEAN THE WAY I WANT IT.SO I WENT AND GOT ME A VINTAGE GIBSON ES-335 THANK SIS FOR THE GIFT.BUT IF YOU PLAY IN CARVINS BALL PARK THEY DO MAKE A VERY NICE GUITAR AND IT IS BUILT IN THE USA BY AMERICANS THATS DIFFERENT AINT IT WE STILL CAN MAKE SOMETHING HERE. CARVINS COOL BUT JESUS STILL RULZ. I HOPE YOU AND JESUS GET THINGS WORK OUT HE LOVES YA BYE NOW UNTIL THE NEXT TIME IVE PLAYED A LOT OF AMPS LOTS OF GUITARS IN MY 25 TO 39 YRS

VERY GOOD GUITAR.I BEEN PLAYING 25 TO 30 YRS I OWN A ZION WITH SA/SA/81 EMGS.GL-500 ES-335 CARVIN BOLT.SILVERFACE TWIN,PEAVEY DELTA BLUES 210 COOL LITTLE AMP I USE A OLD CS-505 IBANEZ CHORUS BOSS DELAY AND BARBER DIRECT DRIVE.A CARVIN BELAIR 212 OYEA MY MARSHALL 800 HUNDRED HEAD AND 412 CAB A BUNCH OF STUFF IVE COLLECTED OVER THE YRS. I PLAY CHRISTAIN METAL BLUES SOUTHERN ROCK AMD MY MAIN THING 20 YRS WORSHIP. I WOULD THIS GUITAR OVER FENDER IT JUST BUILT AS GOOD ARE BETTER THEN FENDERS USA STUFF I THINK BETTER AND HALF THE PRICE. AND THEY ARE STILL HERE IN THE USA PUTTING AMERICANS TO WORK AS FAR AS I KNOW.. BE COOL AND JESUS RULZ