Carvin DC135 EXC Blueburst, HSS, DiMarzio upgrade, HSC - $25 discount for local pickup

I present for your consideration, a Carvin DC135 solidbody guitar with the bridge upgraded to a DiMarzio X2N, with a coil tap to expand your tonal range. It plays superbly and screams ! It comes with a non-original, brand-new, black tolex-over-wood rectangular hardshell case.

The through-body neck is constructed of maple. The body is alder, contributing to the light weight ( 7.25 lbs. ). Neck material is hard maple, and fretboard is ebony with dot inlays. It has locking Sperzel tuners and the hardware is gold.

I should tell you that the blue is a bit cooler, moving slightly toward teal. But my camera adds a wamer color cast ( toward the red part of the spectrum ) that I had a difficult time changing in Photoshop. Of all the photos, the close-ups of the body in the first two pics, are closest to the real thing.

Neck: The neck is true and frets are in very good shape, with no grooves or uneven wear between frets and has had an expert fret dressing in the time I've owned it.

The 24-fret ebony fingerboard has a 25" scale and is adorned with dot inlays. The neck is hard maple, neck-through-body and reinforced with two carbon-fiber stiffening rods. It's been setup with a comfortable medium-low action and strung with 009s.

Controls: Volume and Tone knobs, 5-way pickup selector switch, 1 coil-tap mini-switch.

Overall, this guitar looks superb. It has been well taken care of, kept safely in a non-smoking, pet- and child-free home studio, and never gigged.

I've owned this instrument for a number of years, and love how it plays and sounds. I'd really like to hang onto this guitar, but recent medical and truck expenses necessitate letting it go.

Flaws:
Overall, it's in excellent shape. There are a couple of miniscule minor dings that keep it from being described as flawless. These are minute and I was not able to capture them in the photos. I really had to look for them using my StewMac magnifying goggles; otherwise they're not easily seen unless your face is 6" from the body.

For full disclosure though, here they are:
Edge of headstock - a tiny finish ding, with no penetration of finish or wood.

Top -  These are listed only because I saw them with the magnifier goggles.
Not easily seen unless you look for them - and in the right ( wrong ) light.
A very small finish dimple on the edge of the body in close proximity to the 5-way switch, visible only up close; no intrusion beyond the top coat.
Another very small top-coat ding on the top between the bass side of the bridge and the tummy cut.
Lots of pick-swirl marks where you'd expect to see them - extensive but very light. You might be able to buff a bit of this out with a soft cloth and a buffing compound such as Meguiars # 7.

A number of very light / shallow, barely perceptible scratches on the top. Again, cannot be detected unless you're really close and tilt the guitar under a light. Meguiars and some elbow grease would work here also - if you wanted to bother.

Modifications:
The Carvin bridge pickup has been upgraded to a high-output Dimarzio X2N double-blade pickup. It roars and screams ! And yet, in single-coil mode, it shimmers nicely in clean mode.

Backing off the volume knob tames the gain quite a bit if you just need some crunch. The blades ensure consistent volume between picked and bent notes. It reads 14.92 K on my meter.

There was no need to replace the Carvin single-coils. They are clear and crystalline and simply beautiful in clean mode. My luthier is what I call a "Strat-oholic", owning many versions of the iconic instrument. Although a total Fender fanatic, he actually prefers the sound of Carvin's single-coils to their Fender counterparts. These yield 4.07 K ( neck ) and 4.06 K ( middle ) on the meter.

I could not locate the original truss rod cover. A black non-original cover has taken its place. It's not quite as long as the original, but does mostly cover the cavity.

The only other modification was that my luthier satinized the neck to remove the sticky glossiness and now it feels much better with a matte texture - at least for those of us who don't like glossy necks.

Local Pickup:
If you're in the Chicago area. I'd much, much, MUCH prefer a local pickup - saves you bucks as there's no shipping fee, and it saves me from packing. If you can do a local pickup, I'll show my appreciation by knocking $ 25 off the selling price.

Shipping:
The quoted shipping price is my "Chicago-to-California price". I just sold two tube amps and a solidbody electric guitar on Reverb, and woefully under-estimated shipping costs for heavy and / or large-sized packages. The quoted price is more in line with what I've already paid to ship such items to destinations of such distances ( 1,700+ miles ). ***
If you're closer to Chicago than 1.7K miles, you'll be paying less; perhaps much less. If the actual shipping cost is less than the quoted price in this item description, I will immediately refund the difference to you via PayPal. If I under-estimate the shipping fee, I'll absorb the extra cost.

Calculating a shipping cost must include these factors: Weight + Package dimensions + Distance to destination + Item's value for insurance. ***
Since it's much too large and heavy for the USPS' "flat rate" boxes, the distance will be the variable here. The closer it is to the Chicagoland area, the less the charge to the buyer. With the packaging and layers of protection, and with the item fully insured and with signature confirmation, it should be between $ 65 - 80 depending on destination. ( Continental US only ).

*** Here's a real-world application that knocked me on my butt:

[Carvin Solidbody guitar ( 7.5 lbs ) + hardshell case ( 10 lbs ) + box and packing ( 6 lbs ) = 23 lbs.] + [ Package dimensions: 44" x 19" x 8" ] + [Distance to destination ( Chicago to Hollywood, CA: 1747 miles] + [Insurance] = EIGHTY FOUR dollars for Priority Mail !

I want the next owner to enjoy this guitar as much as I have. To that end, it will be packed securely, fully insured and shipped via USPS Priority Mail with signature confirmation for protection of both buyer and seller.

Why USPS ? I use USPS because I've had a guitar AND a vintage amp trashed by UPS and a computer destroyed by FedEx. USPS simply takes better care of delicate, expensive gear.

In hundreds of transactions on Ebay, I've never had an item damaged by USPS.

Also because USPS has an authentic insurance policy which actually reimburses you in case of shipping damage, with none of the stalling, evading and nickel-and-diming I've encountered with other carriers.
If you have questions, please send 'em over. Thanks for looking !
Updates:
I've gotten several similar questions from users on the same topics: action and the bridge pickup.

Bridge pickup first: the DiMarzio X2N is HEAVY, not in terms of weight but in the output you hear. It is intended for medium-to-very high-gain.
As mentioned, when volume is rolled back or you've switched your amp to the clean channel, it cleans up well. Output is 15.16 K. If I can clear my schedule, I hope to record and post some sound samples. At that point, only your ears can determine if this is the sound for you.

Here's what my luthier told me after installing it - "you might actually want to roll the volume down just a bit; this is a monster". And this, coming from a guy hailing from the big-hair 80s. If *he* finds it intense, I believe it should be intense enough for anybody. And I'm with my luthier - I love to crank and wail - and it WAS intense when the volume knob was dimed.

Action:
Here is the current action measured from the top face of the fretboard to the bottom edge of the string:

High E at 1st fret: less than 1/16", or 6-7 mm. (hard to tell with those little marks)                            
High E at 12th fret: a hair higher than 1/16", or 8 mm.

Low E at 1st fret:   1/16", or 8 mm.                                    
Low E at 12th fret: 1/8", or 10-11 mm.

Following is my response to a recent viewer's inquiry. I've actually *raised* the action just a little for selling purposes; before, it was *insanely* low. The truss rod and bridge saddles are fully functional so players knowledgeable in setups can adjust to their own liking...that's why these components are adjustable. If you've never adjusted a truss rod before, or are nervous doing it, or - worse, have never done it and are overconfident - take it to a skilled guitar tech to do it. Anyway, here's what I said:

Your answer about buzzing is difficult to answer because much is dependent upon the particular player, their action/string gauge preferences and their string attack. I've had serious instances of repetitive-motion injury. For that reason, I use 009 strings, set to an action my first luthier once described as "insanely" low, with a very light, delicate right-hand attack. If someone who is heavy-handed with the pick plays my guitar - OR ANY GUITAR WITH LIGHT ACTION, not just this one - it may well buzz. It is simple physics. For the most part, I adjust my own action now, and it's the way it works for me. A lot of players may probably want it just a bit higher, or perhaps put 010s on there.

It's difficult to fully describe how a guitar plays. That being said, I try to give you as many details as possible. Carvins are renowned for their stable, low-action necks. I'm not sure of the year it was built, but I've owned this instrument for over ten years. Any "squirreliness" that might have been present in the neck wood, would have long since worked itself out. And I haven't noticed any such changes since I first acquired it. The truss rod works perfectly, and between it and the bridge saddles, one can adjust the action just the way they prefer it - or if they don't, have a local luthier do it.
Thanks again for your interest, and if you have questions, send 'em over !