i had one take 9 weeks and the other took 5 weeks ( second was all tung oil)
the recent order i placed today was quoted at 7 weeks, that"s even with options not listed on the website.

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Of the 2 choices , carvin for sure , but I'm in love with my tele .

Thanks for the opinions, that's what I was hoping for. I'm a little concerned with the neck being too small for my tastes, so I'm planning on driving down to their shop to do some test drives.
The SS frets is something I'm not sure about. I hear they slide nice. But I tend to play with a heavy hand and I would have to change my bad habits to avoid going sharp on quick chord changes. Thanks for the help, I'm glad I'm not the only turncoat here on the Fender board.
I love my Tele!

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

well with the stainless, they feel like a fresh level and recrown every day
cording to me didn't feel much different, but it does take a couple of minutes to get used to how easy it is to over bend. .
make sure you ask to try one with SS frets.

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Carvin guitars are amazing, I have a CS4 goldtop that is top shelf. Family owned and run since the 40's and made entirely in San Diego. My stuck-on-a-desert-Island guitar is my Strat but I'd sure miss Goldie! If you don't like it you have 10 days from when you receive it (not 10 days from shipment) to send it back, full refund but you pay ~ $25 UPS. Worth the risk, believe me. Only downside to Carvin is resale value which personally I don't care about. The glitch is why pay top dollar for a used one when you can order it however you want? Happy hunting.

I'm going with Ibanez. Carvin doesn't let their woods dry. I've seen Carvin necks that looked like curly straws.

With Ibanez, you can get OEM Dimarzio pickups. Big plus IMO.

I was going to post pretty much that same thing. I know more about basses than guitars, while Carvin basses may sound good and play well they just don't retain nearly as much of their original purchase price in a resale and oddly they do not appreciate over decades upon decades. Guitars seem the same way, but not to quite the extreme extent as basses. The custom factor is probably the reason for that.

whatever Carvin you buy make double sure it is the one you want because you won't get diddly for it in resale or a trade if you don't love it. Pretty much buying a Carvin is like getting an eastern European mail order bride. Make sure it is pretty because you are going to be stuck with it forever or take a huge loss.

i'd go for the Carvin over Ibanez though. Carvins are nice. Necks and all. I've not seen one with a silly-straw neck myself.

Carvins wood is properly kiln dried, sometimes wood doesn't care though
you can take a well aged piece of wood and once it hits a new environment it starts going crazy on you. this actually happened while i was carving a bow. I had a well prepared Stave that was kiln dried and well over 20 years old. but once i got the draw knife on it, it started twisting. sometimes it just happens

you know, I recall only seeing a few twisted neck's in my lifetime, two were fender and one was a mid range Ibanez RG of some sort. but I don't discard the whole brand over one bad apple, or 2 in fenders case

but i agree some carvin pickups are garbage, but the S22-B/J/T pickups are very good
also the AP11's are quite nice.

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I think the Ibanez guitars/basses of the late 70's, early 80's are made extremely well. I also have a friend with a U.S. Custom Ibanez Tele(sort of). Thing sounds amazing.

The Prestige models of today are at least as nice as any Carvin.

Really...??? Are you sure that is not because of the owners own mishandling of the guitar....
Like the people I see buying new guitars at GC and walking out with them sans case into 30F degree temperature or vice versa, from an air conditioned 68F to an outside 90F or Plus...

I have played quite a few Carvin's and I had never seen a guitar that matched your description unless the owner abused it...Plain and Simple....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

All that said..I would take a gently used Carvin over any new, non-Prestige Ibanez. I have seen numerous problems with broken truss rods, flips, and..ski jumps with Carvin(and they're somewhat limited in production). You're really better off buying a used one of those.

I'm hoping to go into the Hollywood store tomorrow. My biggest question is the neck profile. From the specs is seems pretty slim and I tend to like a heftier neck, not baseball bat like, but a little girth to grab. Everyone says the Carvin necks are great so I'm going to keep an open mind and see what happens. If I like the neck, I'm probably going to go for a CS3M. That's an LP copy, with no top, just the solid mahogany body and neck with Tung Oil finish. I like natural, organic wood. I probably won't order it right away though. I find my GAS has an evolutionary process if I let it perculate long enough.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

they also have much better prices on guitars off the wall so if you get one
POST PICS!!!

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