Originally posted by bubkusjonesIt depends on how difficult a finish you want to make.If you want something simple, a clearcoat or oil finish will be easy to spray or wipe on. Or, you could try a solid colour finish. Go to an automotive store and buy some car paint, or some other decent spraypaint and go to town.As far as the electronics go, all you need is a soldering iron, solder a wiring diagram and patience (and lots of that). Just make sure you don't burn yourself, soldering irons get really hot.Yeah, I guess electronics shouldn. I assembled a Bolt Kit a couple of years ago and still love it.
Carvin Audio and Amplifiers has been designing and building guitar amplifiers since 1946 with all tube designs, solid state designs and blends of both. Our amplifiers have been used by many artists, session players and working musicians with years of solid performance.
I think Bolts are far superior to Mexi Strats, so it's definitely worth the extra bucks.I actually like my Bolt more than the American and Japanese Strats I've played, but I think at that level it's really a matter of taste. The high end Strats are fine guitars; I just prefer the Carvin neck shape and pickups (although my experience with Fender pickups is limited).I was very meticulous in learning as much as I could before making my purchase, so I'll share what I recall.The coolest thing about the Bolt kit is that all of Carvin's custom shop options are available.
I got the Bolt-T (Wilky tremelo) in walnut (instead of alder) with a maple neck and birdseye maple fretboard (stainless steel frets). I got a humbucker pup in the bridge, with a coil tap and phase switch. It also has locking tuners, black hardware, and a red tortoise pickguard.Finish was the toughest part, but not as difficult as I expected. I used a tung oil finish purchased from Home Depot for like 10 bucks, hand applied 3 or 4 times over the course of a weekend. It wasn't a perfect job, but it was good enough that my wife, who had been refinishing an old rocking chair, made me show her how to finsih with tung oil because it looked so much better (and applied more easily) than the varnish (or whatever the heck) she was using.Home Depot actually had several kinds of tung oil, some with color stains included.
You can also buy a stain and combine with the tung oil if you want. I wanted a natural walnut look, so I went with clear tung oil.Assembly was a snap, literally.
There is no soldering required. The pickguard is prewired, so you only need to connect a lead to the output jack. Carvin provides some little snap-thingy that connects it without soldering. However, if you really want to get your hands dirty, you can toss the snap-thingy and solder the lead directly to the output jack.BTW Carvin also offers a Bolt+ kit, which is basically a superstrat (rear routed with no pickguard and 2 humbuckers). It's not on their site or in the catalog, but if you call they will do it for a few bucks more.I know Carvin is a somewhat polarizing company; it seems that people either love or hate Carvin guitars. Personally, I've had only good experiences with them, in terms of their products and their customer service. I also have an SC90 I bought a few years ago.
It's a great guitar, easily my favorite.Good luck with the kit!EDIT:Added a pic. One other thing I forgot to mention. There is build time on a kit, particularly if you order a lot of options. Mine took about two weeks, I think. I was told it took so long because there were no walnut Bolt bodies available, so they had to cut one from a blank to fill my order.The plus side was that the salesperson with whom I spoke asked if I was looking for anything particular.
I asked for something with a heavy grain pattern. Not only did they come through on that, it ended up being a one piece body (instead of the normal two piece center-joined).
Walnut Pearloid Carvin Guitar Parts
I don't think it makes a difference as far as sound goes, but it looks cool. I assembled a bolt kit in a Carvin electric guitar class I took back in October of 2004. I finished the body with 4 coats of tung oil (I used fine steel wool between coats and finished with #0000 super fine wool). I finsihed the back of the neck the same way.I went with black hardware, black pickups and a black pearloid pick guard. I sold it on Ebay. I liked it a lot, but I prefer the American Series Strat. I learned a lot about guitar setup and repair in the class.The Carvin kit is top of the line.
It's made in the USA. Originally posted by BossrhythmHudman:Nice guitar!
Is that alder? Looks like you got a one piece body there, too.Is that a kit? If so, how'd you swing the Carvin logo on the headstock?Yes its a one piece alder body.It was a Carvin bolt kit.The first step was dressing the frets. Sanding the neck and body was the second step. Assembling and set up was the final step. After getting the setup complete (neck relief, action adjusted, pickup height and intonation) I took the strings off and stained the guitar.
Carvin Guitars Usa
ULTRA VC, deep moss green on quilted maple (QDM), black limba body (LMB), 5 piece maple/walnut neck (5MW), rear natural clear (RNC), natural body binding on bevel (BBEB), matching quilted maple headstock (QPH), abalone signature inlays (ABS), Floyd Rose locking nut (LN), stainless steel jumbo frets (STJF), thinner neck profile (THNN), abalone logo (ABL), dome knobs w/ abalone tops (AK), tung oiled neck (TN), move jack to inside of V body (VJ), black hardware (BC), black/white coils w/ black bezels.