Carvin Guitars and Basses
Carvin makes professional-grade instruments from high-quality materials. Although the company specializes in hand-crafted, custom guitars, and basses, they also make models in a wide variety of different shapes, colors, and build materials.
What types of guitars and basses does Carvin make?If you can imagine a type of guitar or bass, Carvin makes it. The company is known for its custom creations. They come in many styles with an array of different electronics options. Carvin makes acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars as well as carved tops, headless, and multi-scale guitars. Carvin makes six, seven, and eight-string electrics as well as twelve-string acoustics. Because they are hand-made in a custom shop, they come in a variety of colors and finishes, too, including an assortment of standard and exotic woods. They also offer single-coil guitars and guitars with humbuckers, and the bass guitars come in four, five and six-string configurations. Solid electrics are available as well as semi-hollow bodies. And the electrics come with bolt-on necks or neck-through-body builds.
What kind of pickups does Carvin use?Carvin models are made with pickups designed and created in the company's custom shop. They are made under the Kiesel brand name. Most pickup models come in black, white, or cream. They also have standard, passive pickups for basses and guitars with any string number. Their A-series pickups are active and use 9-volt batteries for power. These active humbuckers provide the definition of every string, especially when the gain is turned all the way up. Classic-series humbuckers emulate the tones of famous, vintage models while M-series humbuckers provide a rich, warm tone. Their single-coil models provide a bit of twang and clean sounds.
Where does the company make their products?Carvin products are made in the United States. They are hand-crafted in the company's own shop, which is located in Escondido, CA. The shop is both a factory and a showroom as customers can visit to check out the manufacturing process. While there, they can browse through an inventory of finished products to try out as well.
Does Carvin still make instruments?The company still makes them, but they now do so under a different name. In the beginning, the corporation was founded by two brothers, Mark and Jeff Kiesel, with Mark leading the instrument division for decades. Eventually, they split the company into two different brands. The division that builds the instruments is called Kiesel while Carvin focuses on amplifiers and other sound equipment.