[ppxstnr]

Whats the general opinion of Carvers. The reviews Ive read have been good. I'd like the opinion of someone who has an expensive Brand such as a PRS Fender or gibson.

[scotty_b]

Hi
Do you mean Carvin or Carver - they are two different brands.
I am guessing you mean Carver by the body of your message, but I will say that I had a terrible experience with Carvin and would never deal with them again. The matter was finally resolved when I threatened legal action against the Australian supplier.
Carver guitars are no better or worse than many of the cheap brands available. They are probably made in the same place as many of the competiting brands.
I have used a Carver guitar at workshops, where I have been demonstrating the Axon midi interface. The Australian importer of that particular midi unit also imports Carver, and they set the midi pickup on one for me to use.
There is a big difference between the Carver and the other electrics I play (Fender and Ibanez.) For the price they are OK, but as I said, no better or worse than most of the guitars in a similar price range. Greg Bennett guitars seem to be about the best of the cheapies I have seen.

[Andy S]

If you mean Carvin, I have two friends , one with an electric, the other an acoustic made by Carvin.

The only issue was shipping. The electric plays great and has a variety of tones. His choice of colors , well , let's say that....it was his choice!! HA! He likes it. I don't recall him saying anything about shipping issues. Or any issues for that matter. he loves it.

The acoustic, from my understanding, is made for Carvin but under their supervision and specs. It is probably one of the nicest playing and sounding acoustic/electrics I have played. He got the second from the top model (sorry, failing memory can't recall the model number)

He had problems with them shipping the wrong one the first time, then a delay that they said was gonna be a week, but turned out to be just two days. Then they made it up by sending him several wall hangers, a few sets of strings and a strap. He is happy with the "apology" and loves the guitar.

I would not have any issue buying a guitar from them, just from these guys experiences. I am sure that you can hear all sorts of stories, both good and bad. Check Harmony-Central.com for reviews. Seems folks there will give you a lot of info, both good and bad.

Hope it helps.

[allthumbs]

People either love or hate Carvins. There is no middle ground. They have a huge range of colours, many so bizarre that some forums have most hideous Carvin of the year contests. Their shipping is a circus. Wrong parts, wrong guitars but, the great thing is that they go way overboard to make it right. Your pretty much guaranteed to get lots of free stuff as an apology. Having said all that. Carvins are an excellent bang for the buck and people who own them really love them. High end Carvins can stand up to any other guitar in that price range. Order a custom and they can make your dream guitar from the ground up. A friend of mine got tired of his 11 Pound Les Paul so he speced out what he wanted and ended up with a 8 pound custom that has all the tone of an lp with none of the drawbacks.

[ppxstnr]

Thanks all, yeah I believe I ment Carvin. Thanks for the info. I want a custom guitar, any other recommendations, beside a Carvin? Electric, solid body.

[Ultimate Garage Band]

You can't beat a Carvin for a 'custom' electric. Understand it's only as custom as the options Carvin offers, but within those parameters it's still possible for them to produce over 1,000,000 unique models. As nice as this feature is, it's also the very factor that doesn't give Carvin a strong identity. With so many options on so many models there's not really a 'stock' Carvin. Yeah, they have base models but few actually buy them, most spend a little here and a little there to get more of what they want.

When I wanted a custom I shopped around. I was curious about Carvin but, like you, living in the South didn't see ANY. So I joined their bbs and asked questions. I ordered. I love my Carvin and now own 3. I've since left the Carvin bbs and I would suggest instead you joining and checking out the Carvin Museum bbs. It's not run by Carvin but rather Carvin fans. The Carvin bbs turned into a facist forum that if ANYONE ever said ANYTHING negative about the product, the thread was killed. If ANYONE ever said ANYTHING that had NOTHING to do with a Carvin (such as 'hey all, I'm a dad!') it was killed. The company let one idiot in charge drive 100's away from their own site. Pitiful. It used to be a good place.