Carvin 5 String Bass Views
The bass had been sitting on his display floor for a few years, so I managed to pick it up at about 65% off the asking price! Bargain. It plays beautifully and sounds superb - better than any other fretless I've played. It happens to be the first fretless bass I've owned, (and first Carvin) and I think I was very lucky to pick up this piece. Apparently there are not many here in Oz, as the Carvin name is not well know.
It is a Bunny Brunel model, 5 string fretless with fret markers. These markers are not just lines, but are like frets with the crowns cut off. It has Sperzel machine heads, with a drop tuner on the B string (low end rumble galore!). The neck feels/looks like ebony and has offset pearl dot markers. It features two j bass pups (not sure of the model) and a Wilkinson bridge. The preamp is active with vol/balance/treble/bass controls. It has a nice flame maple wood in what I assume is Vintage Yellow." Tim's BB75 Carvin BBS ID: Bass 'n 'Yo Face
Next, you'll notice that the input jack is on the front of the bass, versus on the side like all other Carvin basses. The first two years of the BB series had a thinner body that their other basses - so thin that it wasn't practical to put the input jack on the side. In '95, a mid-range control was added, so the jack had to move to the side, and a slightly thicker body was introduced to accommodate this. Finally, the lower cutaway is more sculpted than on later BB's, allowing better access to the higher frets. This is another feature that came and went.
This bass was originally made for Bunny Brunel, but for whatever reason, he decided not to take it, so it wound up in Carvin's In Stock section and on eBay. It's a 2005 model, and most obviously, has a custom blue swirl paint job. Other features include chrome hardware, dual HB2 pickups, and block inlays.
Carvin 5 String Bass Images
