I wanted the exact model Allan uses, which is alder body & neck w/ ebony fingerboard. The neck is HUGE with a ton on shoulder & the whole guitar is a tad neck heavy. This guitar was definitely built for someone else, namely Allan Holdsworth. The frets work, PU height, action etc all were meticulously done. The overall craftsmanship is as nice as humanly possible in a guitar. This has one of, if not the nicest, quilt maple top I have ever seen & the finish, which is antique brown, is amazing. I felt that it would be good customer service to arrange for everything to come back, but at the end of the day it is a minor issue compared to the things they do great.I finally got my Carvin Allan Holdsworth Model a few days ago. Arranging the return of the amp itself was painless, but they would not pay for the return shipping on accessories that I purchased only to use with that amp - most notably an amp stand that would cost as much to ship as it cost to purchase.
I've only had one return experience where I wasn't entirely satisfied, which was when I returned a Carvin combo amp due to a defect. All it took was one quick phone call and the rebuild was arranged, and not long after I received a new bass that was even better than the first one (I'm half convinced they went out of their way to pick nicer-looking wood to compensate for my trouble). My very first Carvin (LB70) required a rebuild because the truss rod snapped during a routine adjustment a couple of months after I received it. I recently tried out and returned two guitars from Guitars in Stock (I ended up ordering a new CT4 build instead) and my refund was processed quickly, and I don't remember having an issue when I returned a custom build many years ago. They have always been prompt in my experience. As for just getting a refund, that process starts the day the guitar arrives and I suspect inspected and cleared for no damage. Also, I tend to call and say why I sent it back, but I haven't always done that.Īs for time frames, when you call in about the first 2 issues, they are ready to go the moment the other guitar arrives. You can usually expect to see the refund in about 2-3 weeks depending on how busy they are. Again, you need to pay for the shipping back to Carvin.
Bart (when he was there) told me that I didn't really need to give a reason. Just write a little note on the packing slip that you would like a refund. I've learned with a few guitars that in this case you don't really need to call them. Scenario 3: You just didn't like it and want a refund. They just didn't give you what your heart desired. The rebuild time is pretty much the exact same as a normal build. In this case, you will pay for shipping back to Carvin. I would still call the salesperson or CS and let them know what you're really not in love with about the guitar (assuming you want a rebuild). In this case, the problem is really a matter of taste which is fine. Scenario 2: You like the guitar but want a rebuild because some spec wasn't quite up to your par (barring any special order where you've signed off on a photo showing exactly what you want - in that case it probably falls back under scenario 1 or is an Option 50 so it comes AS-IS). Hey, it happens, and they want to make it right ASAP so that you have the guitar that you wanted. My experience has been that rebuilds are quicker than normal builds because they screwed up. This is one time that you absolutely must call them. Usually, Carvin sends a pickup tag for the guitar and you don't pay for shipping.
Scenario 1: There is a manufacturing flaw (gave you a maple neck instead of mahogany or the guitar is blue when it should have been orange). It just gives them a heads up as to why the guitar is on it's way back or what the issue is. You can call either the salesman or talk to Mike or Joe.
The #1 thing is to call them immediately when you discover you need to send the guitar back for whatever reason.