Carvin Bolt Kit Review
November 2001

In the summer of 2001, I ordered a Bolt Guitar Kit from Carvin Guitars, San Diego-based guitar, bass, and pro audio manufacturer.  With a state-of-the-art automated factory and low distribution costs, Carvin is able to sell high quality musical equipment for significantly less than comparable models from Fender, Gibson, and Paul Reed Smith.

In this article, I will illustrate the building process of the Carvin Bolt Kit from a novice woodworker's perspective, then provide a review of the finished instrument.  My hope is that people reading this article will be able to avoid some of the mistakes I made in building my instrument and see what the process is like if they wish to build their own Carvin Bolt guitar.

At the time of this writing, the GK1 Bolt Kit retails for $339.99 and includes an unfinished alder body, maple neck with pre-fretted ebony fretboard, pre-wired pickguard (white) with three Carvin AP-11 single coil pickups, an FT6 fixed bridge, tuning machines, strings, and all hardware necessary to assemble the guitar.  Many options are customizable, including the hardware, which ships as chrome by default.  Carvin requires the purchase of a hardshell case for shipment of the Bolt Kit, but the cases are inexpensive and of quality workmanship.  I ordered my kit with a swamp ash body, rather than the standard alder, and chose a nice tweed case, bringing my total cost to just over $430.  It is very easy to build a personalized instrument with this kit; a friend purchased the same kit with an alder body, but chose black hardware, a black pearlized pickguard and a humbucker in the bridge position.  Both kits, as they arrived from Carvin, are pictured below.

The picture above shows my kit with all the components as shipped.  The picture below shows my friend's kit.  The components are in the case compartment to the left of the neck.  Notice the differences in the aggressiveness of the wood grain between the swamp ash body (top) and the alder body (below.)  Also, notice that the stock Carvin pickups come with eleven fully adjustable pole pieces.  Not only does this design allow easy modification to individual string volume, it also ensures that the pickup's signal remains strong even when the strings are bent a half step or more.

(Photograph © 2001 by Brad Lenhart.  Used with permission.)

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