Carvin reviews

[Socalbill]

I don't know if anybody has mentioned it in this thread, but Carvin does have stores. Being in Southern California, we have a store in Santa Ana, a town south of LA. I've been in many times, I've played their nylon string, the semi hollow and a few others. They make pretty cool stuff. I have a Carvin vocal PA and I've purchased many a guitar part from them. Nice people. If you are dying for a Carvin, come on out and you can sleep on my couch.
Socalbill

[millman]

Carvin makes some very good products. I live in San Diego and their headquarters is about 30 miles from me. I go there once every couple of months to sample whats available and whats new. There's also a store in Hollywood, and Sacramento in addition to Santa Ana and San Diego. If you are in the area it would be interest to check them out. The prices can't be beat nor the quality.

[cstewart]

I will start off saying that I have pretty messed up hands because of some RSI. So I am a little finicy about the size of the neck on a guitar. Now, I am sure whether you are a straight ahead product guy or if service matters to you. Some people don't care...I personally care a lot. I don't have a lot of expierence with guitar manufacturers but my expierence with Carvin is pretty horrible. Only once has a sales person been as rude to me as theirs.
To give you an idea, they say that there 10" radius neck "is like a strat" and their 14" radius neck "is like a classical guitar". When I said I need numbers if I am gonna buy a $1000+ guitar sight unseen they they say that ALL of their necks are 3/4" deep and 1 11/16 wide at the nut, for all 3 of sizes, 10,12 and 14" radius. I asked how that worked since a stanard nylon string accoustic (which they said there 14" was "like") has a fret board around 2.25" wide (though I have played some as narrow as 1.9") and a strat was much closer to 1.5" (maybe a tad more)... the response I got when I asked for more numbers (like circumference etc) was...
"The center of the neck does not change, but the edges do. I gave you the center measurement and the width. If you need the specific measurements there is enough information there to get the rest of the numbers. I do not have the circumference measurements of each neck. Sorry. "
That is the complete email response. So I suppose maybe I am just really slow but I don't see that it is possible to have a 10" radius neck like a "strat" and a 14" radius neck like a "classical" and have them have the exact same diameter, width and depth. Nor will I ever understand since they told me in the next e-mail "I've answered this question as much as you need, if you have anything else you want to know please let me know. Otherwise if the answer isn't sufficent you may take your business elsewhere."
So I will and if it is too much work for them to offer diagrams showing the shape, measurements ect of their necks, especially when you have to buy sight unseen I can't imagine that Carvin will have the longevity of some of the "name brand" guitars...

On guitars, radius describes the curvature of the fretboard between the E strings, not the thickness of the neck. In geometry, radius is the measurement from the center of a circle to the outside of the circle.

A 10'' radius fretboard describes a curvature that, if it could continue to form a complete circle would measure 10'' from the center to the edge, or 20'' edge to edge. a 10" radius (like most Fender models) are generally considered best for playing chords.

14'' inch radius would form a larger circle, thus the fretboard is flatter. 14" radius fretboards are generally considered best for soloing.

Some manufactures (Jackson, and Fender strarting in 2011, to name a few) offer a compound radius. Compound radius is typically a 10'' radius at the nut and 14" (or more) at the 22nd (or 24th) fret.

So, to simplify it, if you are a rythym player go with the 10". If you are a shredder, 14" would be better suited to your playing style.

Carvin guitars are high end instruments, comparable to guitars costing much, much more. They always rate very high in every category, by customers, as well as journalist/proffesionals. I have owned one (DC135) and have yet to find a better guitar for the money.

Carvin also offers a 10 day in home trial on every instrument they sell. Don't like it, return it for a refund. I assume returned guitars get sent to their stores or sold in the "guitars ready to ship" section of their website.