@ardgedee Carvin really is good stuff. I check Reverb often, just because I like looking. I got their catalog a couple times back in the ‘80s but not being able to actually try things in person was a big negative.
Frank Zappa and Steve Vai endorsed their amps and Allan Holdsworth had a signature model. They were all close enough to visit the factory.
Carvin #61-SGB Natural 1960s
@jive_t I'm pretty sure that if I had been able to order a Carvin bass back in the 80s I would have spec'd something unpleasant to look at and borderline unplayable.
These days I appreciate the fact that Carvin/Kiesel guitars have really terrible resale value* so it's easy to get something very good for relatively trivial prices. Last spring someone was trying to sell a Brian Bromberg sig 5-string fretless for around $800, it probably cost the original owner over $3k new (or equivalent, adjusted for inflation). I'm pretty sure the seller could have been talked down but it was absolutely beautiful and I regret I wasn't in the market for it.
*(Most custom guitars have terrible resale value on the "Your dream guitar is nobody else's dream guitar" principle, but afaict Carvin/Kiesel tends to take more of a hit than most reputable custom builders.)
These days I appreciate the fact that Carvin/Kiesel guitars have really terrible resale value* so it's easy to get something very good for relatively trivial prices. Last spring someone was trying to sell a Brian Bromberg sig 5-string fretless for around $800, it probably cost the original owner over $3k new (or equivalent, adjusted for inflation). I'm pretty sure the seller could have been talked down but it was absolutely beautiful and I regret I wasn't in the market for it.
*(Most custom guitars have terrible resale value on the "Your dream guitar is nobody else's dream guitar" principle, but afaict Carvin/Kiesel tends to take more of a hit than most reputable custom builders.)
Carvin had some pretty cool unusual designs, there’s a bass in our local Craigslist that I’ve been eying but still more than I want to spend (being a cheapskate).
Being a teenager in the rust belt in the 80s meant I had only known Carvin as the exotic hair metal guitars I only saw advertised in the back of guitar magazines. Turns out they actually did make good, serious stuff all along. I've been low-key coveting a Kiesel headless bass but they discontinued the body style I wanted. (Well, not discontinued; they made it multiscale-only, and I want a fretless; a multiscale fretless requires more ambition than I have.)