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Kept getting Carvin catalogues in the mail for years and finally thought, oh, what the boo-boo, go to their custom guitar builder website and design a hot one. 'Have a kind of acquistion syndrome-lite and a custom guitar was sounding tasty...and Carvin allegedly makes some pretty hot stuff.

Thought was kind of a "Carvin-rite," 3+3 headstock, Carvin-Strat body flipped, 2HBs with coil splitters and an acoustic Wilkinson Tremolo bridge. 5-piece maple/walnut through-body neck, ebony fretboard, Swamp Ash body with Flame Koa top cap. Metaphorical dream guitar.

A freaking 6-string supermodel-centerfold-gymnast.

So, 'did the point-click e-pages layout on Carvin Guitar-Builder and then e-wrote them about some other options not on the one-from-column A, one-from-column B, C, D, E...menu.

Here are the options Carvin said they said they WILL NOT BUILD INTO A "CUSTOM" GUITAR:

.011 strings with wound 3rd (they only offer 9s and 10s)
low, narrow frets a la Mosrite
Carvin-Strat-ish body flipped over with longer horn on bottom a la Mo
NO neck shape/depth options
less wood cut out of both horns so they would be less deathmetal-pointy
less wood cut out of the 3+3 headstock so it had more mass and looked less anemic
wood not routed out of center pup position because it was to have 2 HBs and a piezo in the bridge, no center

Pretty basic stuff, huh?

CARVIN SAID NO! TO "ALL OF THE ABOVE."

"Custom" guitars, huh? Say what?

"Recipe Guitars," 'will give them that. Custom...like no way.

Thoughts or experiences with or on Carvin?

I got a Carvin about ten years ago. I wanted regular style tuners but they would only use locking style.Nothing against locking tuners but at the time I wanted the other style.I guess if they don't use the parts you get what they use and if it's not programed into there machines your out of luck. Like you said "CUSTOM " guitar??

They definitely have limitations to the options available... That said, I ordered a walnut neck for a thru-body I was building, with ebony fretboard, abalone inserts, and the low, wide frets. This neck plays very slick, and stays in adjustment at least as well as my Hagstroms. Yes, they have limited variations, but I must say, the finished product has a lot to be said for it...

Carvin's not really a custom shop, but they do offer a lot of options. They have been known to do non-cataloged finishes on special order, but they're generally different combinations of colors they already offer. For example, I have a DC145 in custom-ordered yellow-to-green burst over quilted maple--they already offered the yellow, and the green--I just asked them to combine them in a burst. They call such things "Option 50", meaning it's a non-standard option--there's usually an upcharge--and it voids the 10-day return policy. They're more likely to allow special-order options if a) they resemble things they've already done, b) you call with credit card in hand ready to buy, and c) you order at a not-too-busy time of year--you probably would have a hard time getting your Option 50 right before the holidays. Stands to reason--if someone were to order, say, a green-to-purple burst and then decided to return it, Carvin would have a tough time reselling it. They will, however, honor the warranty on Option 50 guitars--they're just not returnable because the customer didn't like the option. I've got four Carvins, and within the parameters of what they offer, I've had no problems. What they won't do is things like custom shapes, although they used to offer a reverse-body option on their DC neck-through series. It didn't look at all like a Mosrite; more like an upside-down Strat. It was only listed for about a year--I remember seeing it in the catalog and thinking it was pretty ugly! (And I think Mosrites are great-looking!) They do offer what they call "low wide" frets, but they're more like vintage Fender frets--definitely not "speed frets". If you're looking for a Mosrite-style guitar with a little bit bigger neck, I'd recommend a Hallmark--I've got a 60 Custom and it's a very cool guitar.