Carvin CT6M

2005 Carved Top model. Quilted maple top. Natural body binding. Mahogany neck and mahogany body. Ebony fretboard. Abalone Block inlays. Stainless Steel frets. 12-inch radius. Sperzel locking tuners. String-thru body with Tune-O-Matic bridge. C22B and C22N pickups. Black chrome hardware. Antique Brown finish.

In general, I like the sound of the CT6M. It???s a wonderful instrument, and it???s the nicest of the three Carvins I have owned. But, as many others have noted, the pickups just don???t cut it. I???ve owned he guitar for year and a half, so I???ve given the stock pickups a more than fair chance to win me over. Well, they haven???t. There???s just something lacking. They do tend to be thin sounding and bright, and not in a good way. I???m going to be swapping out the stock pickups in favor of a matched set of Seymour Duncan ???59s.

My CT6M was in excellent condition when I received it. I bought it off of Carvin???s In Stock web page. The action and intonation were near perfect out of the case. The quilted maple top and finish are just stunning, as are the Abalone Block inlays. The guitar was, and still is, very comfortable and playable. Carvin really excels in this category.

I have started to run into volume/tone pot issues. Scratchiness and flat out volume loss. The electronics are mediocre. The pickup switch is flimsy and quality of the volume/tone pots is suspect. When swap out the stock pickups, I will be replacing these parts as well.

I haven???t had to deal with them.

Carvin makes great guitars. Their pickups aren???t for everyone, but that???s why there are replacement pickup companies -- right? Swap out the pickups and the basic electronics, and the CT series guitars from Carvin are just great, great instruments. And the amount of money you save and you have a quality guitar for -- quite often -- half the price of some other pricier builders. Don???t shy away from Carvin???s guitars because you don???t like their pickups. How many other stock pickups are swapped out by players who buy guitars from other manufacturers? Plenty.

Typical features for this model listed below. Mine was deep triple stained sunsetburst on flame maple. Typical features between a Les Paul and PRS, with the exception of the un-spectacular pickups that come with the Carvin.

I mainly play rock, and asked the salesperson at the time of my order what they recommended. The rep stated the stock C22B's were the best thing going, with the right amount of punch and warmness. I'm here to say that they are the furthest thing from warm and punchy as you can get. I may have replaced them with a Dimarzio Tone Zone if I decided to keep it. Harmonics that usually leap off of my Ernie Ball Axis, just die on the Carvin. Cleans are decent on the neck, but I rarely use the neck pu, so I have'nt spent much time on them.

VERY disappointing. This was my first Carvin, and also my last. Out of the box the guitar was not in tune, and the B string was so loose it was laying on the frets and was stuck to the magnets on the pickups. The sunsetburst finish looked really amazing on their site, but in person I was dissapointed. Apparently, the triple step process fills in the figuring, so the flame isn't 3-dimensional like other finishes I've seen before. Basically, it looks the same from every angle. I can say that the top was figured nicely. After a thorough inspection, I noticed some spots of orange peel that wasn't properly buffed out of the clear, and a spot where it looks like they nearly buffed through the finish near the edge by the horn. The neck was tung oiled, and felt nice. The shape of the neck is not good nor bad...just kinda ordinary. On the back, the neck joint had some glue that wasn't cleaned up, and was very visible under the clear. I also noticed a crack in the finish by the stap lock in the top horn.I tried to lower the action, since it came out of the box a little high for my taste, and could not get rid of some serious fret buzz. I took it to my local luthier, and he noticed right away that the 3rd, 4th and 17th frets needed to be filed down considerably to get them in line. The 12th fret also had a sharp edge that looks like it had not been touched at all. For a $1500 guitar this was unacceptable to me.

Can't tell, and didn't own the guitar long enough to rate this fairly

This is the deal breaker. I had really liked the idea of dealing directly with the manufacturer, and after reading their forums, it seemed like they had a lot of hardcore fans that had high praises for their customer service. When I called to order the guitar, the phone rep seemed totally aloof, unhelpful, and provided one word answers to most of my questions. Any question I had outside of the generic info their site listed, forced him to put me on hold for minutes at a time while he apparently asked someone that knew the answer. After placing the order, I was given a date 2 months away. At the end of 2 months, I called to check it's status, and was told the guitar didn't meet their QC and was sent back to be re-finished. The rep stated they thought it would take another 2 weeks to ship. After 2 more weeks, and hearing nothing, I called back...AGAIN...and was told that the guitar was sent back for refinishing...again. I told the rep that I was told the guitar was already sent back the first time to be refinished, and the rep stated he had no furhter information. So...1 month later the guitar finally shipped, with not a single heads-up or apology from Carvin. When I called back to voice my concerns over the quality issues I noticed, the agent (who sounded totally disinterested) stated I could send it back, and wait another month to get it back. So...to get a guitar built right from Carvin, I would have had to waited close to 6 months? I don't think so.

I've been playing for 22 years. I really wanted this guitar to be what Carvin claimed it was. I was fully open to the Carvin experience, and was fully prepared to spend $1500.00 for a guitar that I knew wouldn't be worth half of that once I received it. I've owned every guitar under the sun, and I'm not overly critical with my gear. My opinion is that as you spend more for gear, you should expect more from it. I think that if Carvin's sales/ service people would have been better, I would have kept the guitar after having them try to fix all the issues mine had. I still own a Jackson Soloist, Erie Ball Axis, and a Warmoth custom strat, and those guitars have NONE of the QC issues mine had. Your milage may vary, but my next purchase will be with someone else.

CT6M quilted maple top, natural binding, sperzal tuners, mahogany neck and body, dual humbuckers, abalone block inlays, dragon burst special finish exra$$$$

I play mostly southern gospel (kinda country sounding) but also play praise and worship and Christian rock. The sound was very good and very warm and full. It had great classic rock tones, good country, Very good blues.

Here we go, The was great a little stiff but very playable. I usually play with 9's on an American Deluxe Strat so that was some of it. As I said the pickups were very good. The finish on the other hand. I payed extra for a special finish. The color was awsome but the blue specs in the natural binding the air bubbles or crack what ever it was and the scratches under the clear coat were un acceptable. Sent it back for a rebuild 5 weeks later got my new on still blue specks in the finish and this time a dent on the lower horn. So no more rebuilds for me give me my $1750 BACK

I would say as far as durability it would have lasted very good. Seemed pretty solid.

Well, With the first guitar it was OK but when I was waiting on my 2nd they lost about 10 points in this category. First they promised next day air shipping becuase I had payed for it with the first guitar IT SHIPPED GROUND. When I called I spoke to someone else and they said it was never recorded in the computer so they could do nothing about it. This was the Manager also, So I wait another week to get to WV and then more flaws. So I called and the manager said that these are the flaws that people look over. This told me that flaws are acceptable to them these days. They made me pay for shipping back another $40 so in all I lost like $125 in shipping on 2 guitars that were flawed. SO CHECK YOUR GUITAR WELL BEFORE YOUR 10 DAYS ARE UP.

I have been playing for about 15 years I own American Deluxe Start and Tele, Carvin AC375, Just ordered a USA Dean hardtail, Fender Cyber Twin head and others. My final thoughts are as follows. I have ordered 3 other guitars from Carvin and they were perfect and own probably $20,000 in pro audio from them. They have always been great until now. I sent a letter back with the guitar voicing my opinion but it probably got trashed before anyone important read it. As far as I concerned that was my last new Carvin EVER I can get guitars with less flaws on E-Bay.

2006 CT6M - Quilted Maple top, trans blue stain finish on top, clear finish over mahagony back, C22B and C22J pickups with Coil Tap, Ebony fingerboard with stainless med jumbo frets, tune-o-matic bridge with string through body. sperzel locking tuners.

I usually play through a peavey 5150 head and a 4X12 cabinet. I also use the GNX4 for a number of things. My style is hard rock. I have found this guitar to be incredibly versatile. I think it would be an excellent choice for any style of music you want to play. Crank up the overdrive on your amp and this thing screams. Turn it down some and you get a huge array of wonderful tones. I love the C22B and C22J pickups. They really compliment each other nicely. The coil tap is a great feature that I am now starting to appreciate. The tone control works great. You can change the sound dramatically just by turning the knob.

Everything about the way this guitar was built, finished, and setup is second to none. The maple top is one of the finest I have ever seen. The finish is absolutely flawless in every way. The guitar arrived from Carvin setup perfectly. It equals or surpasses any custom or botique guitar you could have built anywhere.

I have only had the guitar a short time but the build quality is very obvious. It seems very clear that barring any abuse this guitar should last along time.

The only dealing I have had so far with Carvin was calling to order the guitar. When I called the sales person was friendly and helpful. We went through the options and I placed the order. He gave me a estimate when it would be done and wound up being within a couple of days of the eventual finish date.

I have been playing guitar about 20 years. I have owned a variety of different guitars over the years from Fender, Ernie Ball, Kramer, Ibanez, Steinberger etc. This by far the finest guitar I have ever owned. The workmanship that went into it is outstanding. The resulting sound it creates is amazing. It is wonderful to play and to hear. The value that Carvin provides with this guitar is outstanding. It is actually a much better instrument then other similar style guitars costing more then twice as much. If it were lost or stolen I would call Carvin immediately to have them start building another one.

All the features have been covered, this is not a complex instrument. Set neck; carve top, 1 Tone (with coil split), 1 Volume control, String through set bridge. My particular guitar is a 5A quilt top w/ triple black clear stain and a tung oil finish on the neck. The hardware is the black chrome and I ordered the standard C22 pups (I have a ton of extra pups at home PRS, DiMarz, Duncans if I need to change).

I haven't left a guitar stock since I was very young; I am always looking for a particular sound of my own. I have to say that after a couple of months with this guitar (in stock config) I am amazed at the wonderful variety of tone that can easily be achieved! Everything from very subtle almost acoustic tones to serious metal screaming. The harmonic qualities of this instrument are remarkable. As for my amplification path: For gigs I play through a Genz-Benz El Diablo Head and a modified Mesa large Recto 4 X 12 cab with Vintage 30's and super 90s mixed in. For smaller gigs and practice I use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a Carvin Nomad, both with extensive circuit mods. Effects: Rocktron Tsunami Analog chorus, Line 6 DL4 delay, Vintage MXR phase 90 (had it for 30 years), Ernie Ball volume pedal, Dunlop Cry Baby (Faesel Chip) and Furman clean power source.

I've heard and read all the stories about the guitars being in tune and set up when they got to their new homes and I must admit I was skeptical. we the big day came , I took it out of the case and ...It truly was damn near in tune, I am amazed. The setup wasn't quite to my liking but a 1/4 turn on the truss rod resolved that issue.
The finish is spectacular! On the day I received it, after only playing it fot about 25 minutes I injured my left hand with a knife (nothing to do with the guitar), sustaining a nasty gash. So after 9 or so weeks of waiting I couldn't actually play it for another 2 weeks. This gave me plenty of time to go over it with "a fine toothed comb" as it were. I have owned countless numbers of guitars over the years and this is one of the finest, if not the finest finish job I have ever seen. PRS, Fender, Schecter Custom, G&L, and my other handmade customs (and especially Gibson) don't do a better job. It is virtually flawless. Kudos Carvin Custom shop finish folks!

I have only owned it for a few months, but I don't see how a mahogany and maple guitar with a finish of this quality could not hold up at least as good as others.

This where we come to some bumps in the road. I was not impressed by the qualty of the people I initially dealt with. The salesman I ordered the guitar from rushed me through the order. This was the first time I have ever ordered an insturment over the phone, and he intensified my anxiety over the process. Here I was placing an order for the flagship model in their inventory (a fair sized chunk of dough to most of us) and he really made me feel like I was taking too much of his time when I asked questions and then My credit card was charged with the wrong amount ...twice! I have owned Carvin PA and amp gear in the past (ordered the same way) but I never had this kind of treatment before.

I finally got a hold of the customer service and quality manager, Marco, and everything was very smooth from that point on.

I have been playing guitar for 40 years now. My preferred styles are Melodic Hard Rock and some Prog, but I do play everything any chance I get. I currently own several Customs made for me by a local luthier with selected Warmoth bodies and exotic necks and a 1984 Japanese Strat that I've had for close to 20 years. (And of course my CT6) I have owned PRS, countless Gibson's and Fender's, Ibanez (vintage and modern) Schecter Customs, etc etc. I left the realm of name brand guitar makers behind years ago when I became completely disgusted with their absurd prices and complete lack of quality. I never did buy a name anyway; I always fell in love with that particular guitar. This Carvin is what I think to be the beginning of a new love affair (at least with this particular instrument). A great, world class guitar.

2005 San Diego Shop
Deep Sunset Burst over Quilted Maple
Gold Hardware
Cream Pickups and Bezels
Tung Oil Neck
Mother of Pearl inlays
Stainless Steel Frets
Dunlop Strap Locks
Sperzel Locking Tuners
Tune-O-Matic fixed bridge

I can't believe I opened the box and it was in tune! Pickups are clean and noise free. Can play everything from Jazz to Hard Rock. Action was low and the stainless frets are very smooth. Played through a Fender Super Reverb '65 RI.

Action and intonation were perfect. Neck relief needed no adjustment. Small spot on side that missed buffing. Dull, about the size of a pencil eraser. Carvin would have re-buffed it for me, but at my request, Carvin sent some of their buffing compound and I rubbed it out with no problem.

One Sperzel tuner had a nick in it like from a screwdriver. Again, new tuner sent, no questions asked.

The tweed case was a different story. The storage compartment was completely busted loose. This came from the guitar shifting in the case during shipping. I heard this same complaint from other owners. Again, replaced quickly, and I suggested they somehow pack the guitar in the case so it can't shift.

I do play live anymore, but the instrument is as well made as any I I have not played live since my high school days, so no comment there.

My room for playig is humidity controlled. I have about 15 guitars. This is one of my top players if not THE top.

Photos here: http://gwfweb.com/guitars/pages/carvin.htm

Always handled any issue I had. Like everyone, they sometimes make mistakes, but I have NEVER had a problem getting a solution.

If I had it stolen, I would immediatly order another! This is my 4th Carvin.

decent features, but very little information available regarding these features.the sales personnel were vaguely knowledgable, unable to answer most questions.
made in usa, quilted maple top, 2 hummies, alder body that feels like plywood, actually a decent price compared to the competition.

the sound can be hit or miss, the pups make a lot of noise when not playing, and this is through 3 different amps, 1 tube, 2 ss, the solution being never stop playing.scratchy volume controls which is the worst of all control problems.thin sound for a solid body, it may be hollowed out to save money in building, and foam sprayed inside to try and fill the void.chinese finish, poor clear, needed polishing which made it look better.

action was high, 3 strings needed adjustment at the saddles, both for height and intonation.internal soldering looks hand-made, as in poor soldering, cold solder joints, sloppy.one small cut in the finish near the bridge, which amazingly slipped through, but then maybe by offering factory direct, qc is not a part of the process.3 frets on top of neck needed dressing, as they were sharp enough to cut skin, but a quick inspection found these before any damage was done.the scratchy volume control really bugs me.

the top strap button was loose, minor tightening, but then with no qc these small things will happen. i would not trust this guitar as the only guitar at a gig, definitely bring a backyp.the clear finish around the body edges was buffed vry thin, even though the top clear was somewhat spotty and needed buffing, as if someone tried to polish the guitar after the hardware was attached, and couldn't get to the top. with no qc, these sort of things will slip through.

when calling and asking about the options, 2 sales persons werw vague, kept putting me onn hold to go ask someone else questions, but yet when the people were on the ohne, nothing but laughter was heard in the background. obviously knowledge of the product line is not required to answer the phone in the sales department. i still have 3 days left, and at this moment, i am thinking return for a full refund, and i only lose the shipping money.

my fenders have all had problems, as well as bcrich and ibanez, and i was pointed towards carvin as bang for your buck. still did not get a clear reply to my questions about frets, pups, neck options, and whether the body was solid or hollowed out and filled with something like foam. but finally handling a carvin personally, i can see whay some people might like them, as they give you a product cheaper than the competition as long as you can live with the quality falws. but then qc must have been eliminated to streamline this direct sales process. that scratchy volume control still bugs me. i would have liked to get better prebuy information, but then for the money, you cannot expect carvin to care. if i return this guitar, which it is 90% sure right now, i won't replace it with another carvin, but try and find a high-end guitar for a good price, a jackson, ibanez or even a prs if i could get one for less than my mortgage. i can see that carvin is trying to go head to head with prs and they may do so one day, but not now, too many qc issues, sloppy wiring, poor quality controls, no qc, finish flaws, and sales personnel that must not be on commission otherwise they might stop laughing long enough to try and find the answer to buyer's questions.
if you're lokking at carvin, be ready to compromise!

This is a 2005 Model with marbled maple top which I purchased used from EBAY. It has the standard two humbucker, single volume and tone controls with a single coil tap on the tone. The combination is very flexible, yet easy to use. I also have a Gibson Blues Hawk with Vari-tone that has more "options" but fewer useful tones.

The sound out of the box was really (surprisingly) great. I have 8 Carvin guitars and I've changed pickups on 6 of them so I bought the guitar expecting to modify it to my taste but it actually sounded so good, so rich that I played it as is for quite a while before trying any changes. The bridge pickup in over-drive humbucker mode (my standbye) was really extremely good. The neck pickup was a touch muddy when driven too hard and the single coil tones were very good but not amazing and since this is otherwise an amazing guitar I decided it deserved even better. I put vintage Bill (and Becky) Lawrence 350's on it which cleaned up the neck and improved the single coil tone while leaving a very high quality bridge driven tone in place. With the pickup upgrade it is defintely a 10. With the stock pickups I'll be hard nosed and give it an 8.

I bought the guitar used off EBAY but it showed up like a custom finished guitar - WOW! I also have 4 Gibsons and 2 Fenders and the fit, finish and build quality on this is so much, much better. I don't have a PRS for comparison but I don't know how the build could be much better. The oiled neck (not varnished) is a dream, and the quilted maple top is almost too beautiful to play.

Hey it's a guitar not a space ship. What's to go wrong? It sure seems well built but I won't use it to paddle a canoe over rapids, either.

I've bought stuff from Carvin before without any problems, but I've never needed them for support (considering the 8 Carvin guitars and 7 Carvin Amps I have that probably means something).

I currently have ~25 guitars, including 4 Gibson's (2 Les Pauls, ES135, Blueshawk), 2 Fenders - tele and strat and a bunch of others and this is the highest quality, most luxerious (sorry about my spelling) guitar I own. At the price it is an incredible bargain. I'm engineer during the day so I value function, playability and tone (all of which this guitar has in abundance) but is also so beautifully crafted. I gatta say I'm really impressed.

This guitar was ordered with standard flame top, stainless steel medium frets and non-inlayed ebony neck. The finish, as seems standard on all carvin guitars with polyurethane clear coat was rather thick, but well applied and buffed. Passive C22N/B pickups with coil tap push-pull. Neck comparable to mid-90s les paul studio, but with early PRS-style small neck heel. Being a repeat customer, case and shipping were free with purchase.

I have several guitars, each of which serves a very specific role so versatility isn't that important to me. That said, there are a wide array of tones to be found between the coil tap and the very useful tone control on this guitar- each flavored very much by the heavy mahogany body (8-9lbs) and maple cap. Though constructed very similarly to my PRS 22 Custom 10 top, this guitar has a decidedly darker unplugged tone to it with less "ring".

Plugged in, the relatively bright C22 pickups provide for an almost scoopy tone alongside the dark mahogany body. Though some might call the clean tone a bit "sterile" it is very passable when the guitar is adjusted properly. It is in moderately high-gain circumstances where this guitar really shines. With a fairly narrow dynamic range but with good separation and harmonic depth, this guitar is very well suited to Satriani-like tones.

This is where I must commend the luthiers at carvin for a job well done. The standard flame top was of surprising depth and regularity as one would expect from PRS private reserve. The frets are really the stars of the show, however. Even and smooth, they're perfectly well seated and of uniform height. The polished stainless steel makes bending almost too easy, so I had to learn to be much more meticulous with my intonation.

The neck is a slightly thicker "C" shape than their standard neck-thru guitars, but it suits this guitar perfectly. A compromise between the standard carvin shape and mid-90s les paul studio contours, the neck is suitable to marathon gigs as well as Gambale-inspired sweeps and Vai-sized slides.

This guitar is as solidly built as any and would be my first choice if I had to bring only one guitar to a gig. I always replace the strap buttons with dimarzio cliploks, incidentally.

Ordering the guitar was easy, if a bit rushed. My salesperson was very helpful and evidently managed to make note of some quirks I requested (string gauge, nut height, electronics) that I might have expected to have been glossed over in the final manufacture. On the whole Carvin has been a pleasure to deal with since I bought my first power amp eight years ago.

I've been playing for about ten years now and I must say that this is one of the best playing instruments I've ever experienced. I own an Ibanez Jem, Parker Fly, LP Studio and a PRS Custom 22 "10". Of all these the CT6M suits my style the best and is the guitar I reach for the most often. I had intended to send this one back to carvin since I bought the PRS while it was being made, but when I finally put it to the test, I found it to have a very different character and a remarkable playability not found in my other guitars. Of course the others are all set-up and intonated as perfectly as possible, but the confluence of factors, namely the ebony fretboard, stainless steel frets and the tune-o-matic bridge make for a very unique experience which suits me very well.

I expected to change pickups to duncan jb's as soon as I bought it but when I plugged into my daul rec half stack and t.c. G force I was amazed at the sound quality of the stock pickups..no joke. Cleans are really sweet and distortion has balls to the walls..I haven't noticed any noise at all clean as a whistle. I think sounds are limitless and I play everything from metal to funk. No dislikes here

Flawless I did not notice any funny business... And I worked for a major acoustic guitar company in el cajon for years....awsome job carvin very under rated

It feels solid as a rock, and I also own les pauls and two prs custom 22's..I do not forsee any problems.. But always have a back up just in case cause "s" happens..you never know

I live in san diego so I was a walk in customer... I had NO problems what so ever.. They helped me out to there full extent and even mixed the custom paint I asked for... Don't say I said so

Been playing 12 years and have a lot of gear from fender to washburn and everything in between...as far as amps go I own mesa recto, mark 4,fender bassman, 70's peavey 4-10 combo..and a marshall plexi.. It would never get stolen cause if it did I would hunt that person down till I found it...lol...na I would definetly buy another one good bye prs hello carvin...