Carvin CT6M

I recently purchased the first production (prototype) CT6M that the Carvin company made. It was made in San Diego in May 2004 where I purchased it from the sales room. This particular instrument is slightly different than the regular production guitars in that the headstock name is raised instead of inlaid and the back of the guitar is a matching color to the top as opposed to the clear laquer over mahogany.It has a mahogany neck and body with a AAAA Carved Flamed maple top done in triple step blue.The flamed maple top is standard on this model.The body resembles a PRS guitar.It has two Carvin C22B pickups which are their traditional style hunbucker pickups. Each passive pickup has 24 adjustable screws which allows for very accurate adjustment and no dead spots when bending notes.It also has a coil splitter push- pull knob which provides a single coil mode as well. It has a string through construction with a tunomatic style bridge.On this guitar all hardware is chrome plated, The tuners are Sperzel locking ones. Mine has the standard medium style frets in the 15" radius ebony fretboard. It is a 25" scale neck which required a one time adjustment to the truss bar as it developed a slight back bow when changing climate from Cal. to Phoenix-easily done. The action at the last fret is 4/64" as guaranteed by Carvin. I was given a $100.00 discount and an accessory package consisting of a stand,chord,and neck strap and a case (I payed $20.00 for a tweed case upgrade). The guitar case came with a truss rod key, a key for the case and some picks. Normally the case is not included nor the accesories.Since I bought it in person, I was given some very generous bonuses by the fiendly staff at Carvin headquarters.

I play lots of blues and Contemporary Christian music and am presently learning Travis/Chet Atkins style playing. I really love the tone of this guitar. I can achieve most tones from this one instrument from Tele style twang, strat style quack to Gibson tones.I can get BB's blues tones to Santana's singing tones.It's all there! Clean tones have an airy feel to them and with the right echo, it pulls off Chet Atkins stuff quite convinceably.It drives a Boss 50 pedal wonderfully.The neck facilitates quick playing. I use Fender Tube amps such as a silver faced Deluxe Reverb and a silver faced Princeton reverb.It sounds good on every amp I have played it through. The single coil tone from the coil splitter is very full sounding-not at all thin or harsh.The humbucking tone is different than a '57 PAF Gibson but equally as pretty sounding. Basically a full range of tonal output.

This guitar was set up by the head tech at the Factory and was his "baby". It was the favorite of all the office folk and for good reason. It is a total pleasure to play. Great,low action, pickups set to Carvin specs.Again, I did have to readjust the trussrod about a month after I bought it since the neck had no relief. It is fine now. The flamed top is absolutely gorgeous with the bookmatching just about perfect. Of course, the light hitting it from different angles does at times make it appear the top isn't matched, but by changing the angle, everything lines up again. This seems to be normal in most high quality flamed tops I've seen. So far I have found no flaws in the finish or workmanship. The only thing I don't care for is the toggle switch which has some play in it before it makes the switch between pickups. I would prefer a tighter feel. This is a top of the line guitar all the way.

This is a totally dependable, gig worthy guitar. Carvin makes very good quality stuff, I don't bring a back-up for my 1.5 hour long church gigs, but when playing a normal 4 hour gig I always bring a back-up just in case of broken strings and other unforeseen circumstances.

Carvin is known for its Customer service. I have returned 2 guitars over the years for various minor reasons within the 10 day trial period with no problems. Their guitars have a 5 year warranty, and according to folks at their website, Carvin.com, they usually do their best to keep the customer satisfied. I always get a feeling like all the folks working in the various departments want to be as helpful as possible. For example, I once sripped some small screw slots when assembling a bolt kit from them. They quickly sent me more and a few more thrown in to boot. As the saying goes, attention to details separate the great from the near great!

I have been playing guitar since 1969. I own an American Standard Tele, JD Japanese Tele, G&L ASAT Special Tribute, Ibanez Artcore AM73T,Carvin Bolt,Carvin DC150. In the past I have owned a Japanese Strat,Foto Flamed Tele,Gibson 125T,'64 Fender Jaguar,'65 Gretsch Clipper,Gibson SG with P90's, and a Les Paul faded top. The only question I had before purchasing was to ask my wife for permission to get it, which she granted!I would replace it if stolen, probably with a quilt top this time as they also look great. I love the looks, playability, sound and uniqueness of owning the first made CT6M.I had compared it to the PRS ten tops I've seen around and on all counts, it compares totally favorably. The difference is only in cost, not quality.I would encourage those folks out there who aren't familiar with Carvin products to visit their web site-Carvin.com, and check out their instock guitars, the discussion forum where you can see the pictures of these incredible guitars and then take a chance and order a very affordable custom made guitar- you can't lose with Carvin.I don't work for Carvin. I just think you get the most "bang for the buck" with them.This guitar proves it.

This is the new Carvin California Carved Top model CT6M. It's basically a knockoff of a PRS Custom 22, but I think it has a lot of extra features that make it better than anything PRS is making today. It has a 1 piece mahogany body with a AAAAA quilted maple top, tung oiled mahogany set neck, and ebony fretboard. The first thing I like about this guitar over PRS is the small neck heel. It's much smaller than the heel on any post-1995 22 fret PRS. I ordered this guitar with the string through bridge/tunomatic, abalone block inlays (free upgrade), and jumbo frets. All three of those options are also not available from PRS. Having owned a pre-95 PRS, and played many more, I can certainly say this guitar is better.

The guitar sounds great and resonates really well. The ebony fretboard adds a little brightness that you don't have with a typical PRS. The guitar is wired with a 3 way toggle and a coil splitter push/pull knob on the tone control so you can get plenty of tonal versatilty, from LP to Strat to Tele, this thing comes pretty close to all of them. I was never a big fan of the PRS 5 way rotary switch so this setup works for me. My only realy complaint is the pickups. It comes with Classic (vintage) style pickups that are a little weak/tiny sounding, that I will almost certainly replace anyway so it's no biggee.

The setup was excellent, right out of the case. All I had to do was tune up and I was ready to jam. The finish on this guitar is outstanding. It's a triple step stained dark blue that really brings out the quilted maple. I can't find any flaws in the finish whatsoever. The action is low and it's really easy to play.

I don't anticipate any problems with this guitar. I've owned 3 Carvins in the past and never had any problems.

I originally ordered a DC400 from Carvin but decided the active electronics weren't for me. I used the 10 day return policy and ordered this guitar in it's place. I never had any problems with the whole experience.

I've been playing guitar on and off for 14 years. I also have a Heritage Class of 59 (Les Paul), Warmoth Strat, a custom built Randy Rhoades Polka Dot Flying V, an Ovation acoustic and a Crafter 12 string. I play this guitar through my various amps, a Line 6 Flextone Plus, a Carvin Vintage 16, a Crate Stealth amp and Line 6 Guitar Port. I'd certainly buy another one if this was ever lost or stolen. For the money, I'd say this is one of the best deals going for an American Made guitar and much cheaper that the inferior PRS alternative.