Carvin Bolt HSS Floyd Rose - Custom Shop Strat Killer - Made in USA - Sunburst - Free Pro Setup

Carvin Bolt (Kiesel Delos) HSS Floyd Rose - Custom Shop Strat Style Guitar - Sunburst
Weighs 8.2 lbs

Free Pro Setup - $125 value.
See below for details.

Available Cases:

• Gig bag, $49
• Aftermarket hard shell case, $129
• Carvin molded hard shell case, $179
• Carvin deluxe hard shell case, black. Made in USA by G&G, $199 (shown)
• Carvin deluxe hard shell case, tweed. Made in USA by G&G, $239
• This guitar will ship without a case or bag, unless you add one to your order

Made in USA Custom Shop Quality: Carvin is the old name for Kiesel Guitars. Founded in 1946, they are a contemporary of Fender, and they've been making high-quality Made in USA guitars for almost 80 years. Kiesel is still located in Escondido, San Diego County, California. Our shop is about 20 minutes from the Kiesel and old Carvin factories. We've been to them many times, and have been working on Carvins for years. We love Carvins for their excellent build quality and top quality woods, electronics and hardware. We buy them whenever we can and love to turn on our customers on to them.

This is a $2500 guitar: Carvin introduced the Bolt in 1997. It took the best features of many of its guitars and put them into one.  The Bolt used the same high-quality materials and were made in the same factory by the same skilled craftsmen as Carvin's top-of-the-line models.  Standard features included an alder body, a bolt-on, 25.5" scale, 22-fret, maple neck, six on a side headstock with locking tuners, maple or ebony fingerboard and a white multi-layer pickguard.  Electronics consisted of three pickups with master volume and tone controls, a 5-way switch and a mini-toggle to provide a total of seven pickup configurations. You can order a guitar like this from Kiesel. It's called the Delos. With similar specs as this one, it would cost around $2500. Which is actually very reasonable for a made to order USA built guitar.

Strat Killer: If you love Strats (and who doesn't) you might give the Bolt a try. It's basically a Made in USA Custom Shop Strat with a lot of upgrades. If you were to order a guitar like this from Fender, you'd be looking at $4000 to $5000, if they would build it for you. Not sure if they can do some of this work.

• Familiar Strat shape with slightly larger cutaways for easier reach of the higher frets
• Made in USA to the highest quality standards
• Made to order in small numbers in a custom shop facility
• Tilt back headstock (7-deg), so no string tree is required - better tuning stability
• D shaped neck profile, which a lot of people love
• Ebony or maple fingerboards - regarded by many professionals as the best materials for a fingerboard
• Professional quality hardware for years of trouble free performance
• Flat 12" and 14" fingerboard radii - allows lower action without fretting out on bends
• Most have special pickup and switching options for more tonal possibilities
• Individually tailored to the owner's preferences - so each one is a little different

Floyd Rose Origins and First Prototypes (1976–1977): We love Carvin Bolts and sell a lot of them. But this is the first one we've seen with a Floyd Rose. If you use your whammy bar a lot, you'll love the Floyd. In the mid-1970s, guitarist Floyd Rose was frustrated that his Fender Stratocaster would constantly go out of tune whenever he used the vibrato arm to emulate Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore. Rose discovered that the strings sliding through the nut were the primary cause of the strings going out of tune. In 1976, he used his skills as a jeweler to hand-craft a locking nut to clamped the strings in place. By 1977, he developed the first true "double-locking" system, which locked strings at both the nut and the bridge. 

The Eddie Van Halen Connection (1979–1982): The system's explosion in popularity is largely credited to Eddie Van Halen. Eddie began using early non-fine-tuner versions of the Floyd Rose on his "Frankenstrat" around 1979. Eddie provided feedback that shaped the modern design. He requested fine tuners on the bridge because once the nut was locked, tuning was impossible without tools. Eddie suggested moving these fine tuners further back to keep them away from the player's hand, leading to the famous "whale tail" bridge shape.

Benefits of the Floyd Rose:

• Unmatched Tuning Stability: Because the strings are locked at two points, they cannot slip. This allows for extreme "dive bombs" where strings go completely slack, yet return perfectly to pitch.
• Greater Range of Motion: Recessed models allow you to both "dive" (lower pitch) and "pull up" (raise pitch) significantly further than standard vintage-style bridges.
• Long-Term Reliability: Once properly set up, a high-quality Floyd Rose can stay in tune for weeks or even months of regular playing.
• Fine-Tuning Control: The bridge features small "fine tuner" knobs that allow for precise pitch adjustments after the nut is locked down

Fretboard: This guitar has an birdseye maple fretboard with a 12" radius. The flat radius allows you to set your action lower without fretting out on string bends.

Tuners: Has a nice set of Carvin locking tuners. These are premium locking tuners.

Pickups: Carvin C22 (22 pole) bridge humbucker and two Strat style single coil pickups. The pickups sound fantastic!

Coil split: This guitar, like most Carvin Bolts, includes a mini-toggle. On this guitar it's used to split the humbucker.

Pickup combinations: With the five-way switch plus mini-toggle gives you seven different pickup possibilities.

Standard settings:

• 1. Neck single coil
• 2. Neck and middle single coils
• 3. Middle single coil
• 4. Middle single coil and bridge humbucker
• 5. Bridge humbucker

With bridge pickup split:

• 6. Middle and bridge single coils
• 7. Bridge single coil

Luthier's Assessment and Measurements:

• Serial No. 118252
• Weight: 8.2 lbs
• Nut width: 1.70"
• Neck width at 12th fret: 2.07”
• Neck thickness 1st fret: 0.77”
• Neck thickness 12th fret: 0.89”
• Action at high e: 0.050"
• Action at low E: 0.060"
• Truss rod: Turns smoothly
• Neck pickup DCR: 6.0k Ohms
• Middle pickup DCR: 5.6k Ohms
• Bridge pickup DCR: 7.4k Ohms humbucker, 3.8k single coil mode
• Frets condition: Excellent 9.5/10
• Cosmetic condition: Excellent
• Functional condition: Excellent
• Playability: Excellent
• Sound: Excellent

Features/specs: 


• Brand: Carvin
• Model: Bolt HSS Floyd Rose
• Country of origin: USA
• Body type: Solid body
• Body shape: S-style
• Body contours: Belly cut, forearm contour
• Body wood: Alder
• Body finish: Gloss with clear coat
• Body color: Sunburst
• Headstock: Six-in-line, 7-degree tilt
• Neck wood: One-piece maple
• Neck finish: Satin
• Scale length: 25.5"
• Fretboard wood: Birdseye maple
• Fretboard radius: 12"
• Neck profile: D shape
• Nut material: Graphite
• No. of frets: 22
• Fret size: Medium jumbo
• Fret material: Nickel
• Tuners: Carvin locking
• Bridge: Floyd Rose Tremolo
• Neck pickup: Alnico Strat style single coil
• Middle pickup: Alnico Strat style single coil
• Bridge pickup: Carvin C22 (22 pole) humbucker
• Controls: Volume, tone, tone
• Pickup switch: Five-way blade
• Other switch: Mini-toggle to split the bridge humbucker
• Hardware: Gold
  

About Del Mar Lutherie: We’re a small shop in San Diego County, California. We build electric guitars, hand-wired tube amps, and do mods and setups.  We also buy and sell vintage and used gear.  Our owner is a guitar enthusiast, wood worker and professional engineer by training. We welcome clients by appointment.  We’re less than 15 miles from the old Carvin factory in San Diego, and about 20 miles from the current Kiesel factory in Escondido. We are huge fans of the build quality and value of the old Carvin electric guitars, which were made in San Diego County in the 1980's, 1990's and 2000's.

Why buy from us?  Our customers have peace of mind knowing they are buying from a highly rated professional shop.  We've been doing this type of work since 1999 and have thousands of happy customers.  We pride ourselves in providing best-in-class personalized service for each of our clients. We are a Reverb Preferred Seller, and our approval rating is close to 100%.

Dr. T’s Professional Inspection and Setup: You may find a similar guitar at a lower price, but ours may still be the better value as we include our professional inspection and setup. This service costs from $80 to $150 at most shops. With over 25 years in the industry, we’re convinced that a good setup is the single most important investment to improve the playability and sound of your guitar.  Here’s what in entails. We inspect the guitar and address issues. Next, we remove the strings and tighten and set the drag on the tuners. We inspect the frets, find any high spots, then level, crown and polish. We clean and oil the fingerboard, restring, tune to pitch and set the neck relief, action and intonation. We then play each fret and check for fret buzz and fret-outs during bends, and we fine-tune as required.  Next, we test the electronics, clean and tighten pots and jacks and balance the pickups.  Occasionally, we find a fault with the electronics, so we dig in and diagnose and repair that.  Once the electronics are tip top, we play the guitar to make sure everything is just right.  Finally, we clean and polish the guitar, then slacken the stings to get it ready for shipping.

String Gauges and Settings:   We do our setups using common string gauges and settings, which we've found work well for most players. For electrics, we use 9-42 gauge strings for Fender (25.5") scale guitars and 10-46 for Gibson (24.75") scale guitars.  We set action to 0.050 on the high e side and 0.060 on the low E side. This action is fairly low and allows for easy fretting without buzzing or sacrificing tone. If you have special preferences, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Fine Tuning Adjustments:  Your guitar will be playing and sounding wonderful when we finish our setup. However, occasionally minor adjustments will be needed after shipping due to changes in temperature and/or humidity, rough handling or other unfavorable conditions. Since we have no control over this, we cannot cover the cost of these adjustments. However, if your guitar was mishandled during shipping, please let us know, so we can see if a shipping claim is in order. Sometimes it’s possible to get you a partial refund to help cover issues if we can show that they were caused by shipping.

Condition Ratings: We do our best to be consistent with Reverb’s condition rating system.  Please keep in mind that Reverb’s descriptions are very general and can be open to interpretation. The guitar you get will be the one shown in the photos, and if it has any major flaws or defects, we will point them out in the listing.  Our guitars rated below “Mint” will have signs of use and cosmetic imperfections, including minor dings, dents and swirl marks, which might only be visible upon close inspection. If you are sensitive to minor cosmetic defects, please let us know, and we can provide you with close-up photos.  We do not accept returns nor give partial refunds if you receive your guitar and believe that it should have been rated lower.  We’ve sold thousands of guitars, and almost without exception, our clients have not had issues with our ratings.  This tells us that we are doing a great job with our condition ratings.  

Standard of Care: We strive to meet our clients’ expectations, and we want you to be happy with your purchase.  Guitars develop wear with use and it’s widely accepted that honest wear adds character and shows that the guitar has been played and loved. Our used and vintage guitars will have signs of use. Our Del Mar Lutherie brand guitars are hand-built and will have artifacts that some people might view as "imperfections".  If you want a guitar in “perfect” or “flawless” condition, we advise you to buy new from an authorized dealer or buy locally so you can inspect it in person. We do not guarantee that our guitars will be cosmetically flawless, and we don’t accept returns or give partial refunds due to cosmetic imperfections.

Specs: We list specs as a courtesy. Some specs are measured by our techs. Others are taken from the manufacturer's data. Manufacturers change specs all the time, and their listed specs may not be 100% accurate. Also, some used guitars have mods that may not be apparent upon visual inspection. The guitar you will get is the one shown in the photos. If there are any "deal breaker" specs that you must have, please let us know so we can double check for you before your purchase.

Videos: We often provide YouTube links to provide our clients with more information. These videos will be of a similar make and model which is representative of the guitar in our listing. 

Shipping: We ship guitars via UPS ground. The fee shown includes shipping within the contiguous USA with insurance. It also includes packaging materials and our time to pack up and drop off at UPS.  For guitars, shipping costs are controlled by box size and insurance is based on value. Your guitar will ship without a case, unless one is described as included in the listing or you add one to your order. If you decline to add a case, we will pack your guitar well with bubble wrap and other padding and ship it in a sturdy guitar box. However, if you want your guitar to have even better protection, we encourage you to add a hard case to your order. See below for details.

Cases: Some guitars we buy come with cases and some don't.  Some clients want cases, and some have so many they don't want more.  To offer flexibility, we make cases optional.  This allows us to pass on some savings to those who don't want cases and to offer several case types to our clients who do want them.  If you want a case, please let us know.  There are many benefits when you buy a case from us; we have good prices, we make sure your guitar fits, we offer free shipping on the case (when combined with a guitar) and we ship your guitar inside the case for better protection. Each year, we see a small number of guitars arrive with damage caused by mishandling during shipping. However, when shipped inside a hard case, the incidence of damage is almost zero. See the top of the listing or inquire for options.

Delivery Time: We do our best to get your guitar setup, boxed and shipped as soon as possible. However, sometimes this can take a few days depending on our workload and other factors. Once UPS receives your guitar, they will estimate a delivery date, which you can access via Reverb. UPS will typically deliver your guitar within 2 to 7 business days after they receive it, depending on your distance from Southern California. If you're in a hurry, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you, or at least we can advise you of the estimated wait, so you can decide if you need to make other arrangements.

Damage Claims: Although rare, guitars sometimes are damaged during shipping. If you receive a guitar that is damaged, please let us know immediately so we can open a claim.

Returns and Canceled Orders:  We are a small business and can’t afford to offer free returns like the big guys. There is a lot of time, effort and cost involved with processing your order, pulling your guitar from inventory, setting it up, packing and shipping it. Please make sure you want the guitar before you commit to buy. If we agree to a return or to cancel your order, you will be responsible for shipping costs (both ways) and a restocking fee to cover our time.

Trades:   We are a professional guitar business. Anything we take on trade, we resell. Due to shipping costs and transaction fees, we only do trades in person. To make sense for us, we can only offer wholesale value, which is typically 40% to 60% of what it would sell for on Reverb. This is usually as good or better than Guitar Center.  If you’re OK with this, please send current photos of the actual gear you have for trade. We need brand, model, year, and condition. Note any mods, repairs or other issues. If your guitar includes a hard case or gig bag, send photos of that as well.