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July / August 2004
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Carvin Corporation
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Carvin: Carvin got started in 1946 by my father, Lowell Kiesel, who had a great love for music. His love for music started with the South Sea Islanders who played Hawaiian music on the radio in the early 1930¹s. His interest was so strong that he started to build his own instruments, namely the Hawaiian Steel Guitar. Because Dad had a background in machinery, he was able to make instruments with great accuracy. Dad started his company as the KIESEL Guitar Company. MH: Tell us about the very first products offered in the early days? Carvin: His first products included a tube guitar amplifier,
which used 6V6 output tubes along with a 5Y3 tube rectifier. Dad
made several lap top Steel Guitars. In 1948 he had designed and
made a Bakelite Steel guitar, which was molded from a very ridged
plastic material. Carvin: By 1950 the company¹s name was changed from KIESEL to CARVIN by my father. Since I was the first born son he combined the first part of my name, with the second part of my brother¹s name Gavin to form the name CARVIN. With three more sons in the picture Mark, Paul, and Jon, we now had a total of five boys. Gavin, unfortunately later passed away, and we miss him, but today, all living sons are still running the company. As the company grew, the vision for the company was to produce new products that had never been on the market before. As you could imagine, the field was wide open for new discoveries because the electric guitar market was so young. CARVIN had the vision of direct sales that no other company had in it's day, which became a very "cool factor" for CARVIN. That concept still lives on today allowing customers to purchase direct from the builder where you can call and talk to the same people that build your instrument. After nearly 60 years, the vision for CARVIN continues to grow more quality items for the MI world. CARVIN's future includes greater craftsmanship, advanced electronics for lighter weight products, digital interfaces and more processing for audio.
Carvin: Our family is very much involved in the business. My brother Mark the designer of our guitars has an extensive background in both metal and wood, and worked as a design draftsman for the Aerospace Industry back in the late 60¹s. He will get an idea in his head and start to visualize it. He then can take his idea, and make it come to life. Many thoughtful hours goes into the process of creating an instrument. After the guitar has been designed, my Brother Paul who also has an extensive background in fine woodworking does all the computer programming for the C & C machine. Of course after the main cut of the guitar starts many hours of intensive detailing, painting, buffing, hardware and electronic installation, but every cut, angle, and option of our guitars and basses is programmed by Paul. My brother Jon is the director of product control for speaker cabinetry. He handles everything from PA, to bass, and guitar cabinets. My son Joel is the Director of International Sales, and my daughter Kristen is a Production Engineer. Also my nephew Jeff Kiesel is now our Director of National Sales for Carvin..
Carvin: 1950 was the first year we created catalogs. Before
that we would send brochures. In our early catalogs we sold amplifiers
loaded with Jensen, Altec, Carvin: We have seventy two electronic products such as mixers, power amps, crossovers, rack gear, equalizers, bass amps, guitar amps, powered speakers, etc. We also have approximately fifty different guitar and bass models, with hundreds of options to choose from which adds even more variety to our product line. We carry over 40 different speaker models. Our products reach a wide range of people. From the beginning guitarist, to the home studio, to the professional musician, to the churches, schools, and large venues, Carvin has something for everyone. Our products are now in BB Kings Blues Club in Hollywood at Universal City Walk. We even had our TRX speaker line out with the Warp Tour last year.
Carvin: Over the last 20 years we have progressively added more and more options to the Carvin custom shop list. It is all about giving more choices when it comes to pleasing the customer. In fact most of our options have been driven by customer request. Many of our current options started out as an experiment on a prototype guitar and many are the result of a special request by a renowned player. Just in the last several years we have added many wood, finish and hardware choices. A few of our recent popular options include: Rosewood and birds-eye maple fingerboards, stainless steel frets and our new array of deep stained finishes. We have just made the commitment to offer several different fingerboard radii which include 10", 12", 14" and 20" radius fingerboards. By mixing and matching the different woods, finishes, pickups and hardware choices you can literally have any Carvin instrument made in over 10,000 different combinations and not have the same instrument built exactly alike. More important than the growing list of available options for Carvin has been our commitment to high quality. Our modern 80,000 square foot plant in San Diego is equipped with the latest state of the art machinery and is capable of producing the finest guitars made. The instruments that we are producing today are significantly better than those that we produced 20, 10 or even just 3 years ago. We take pride in our exclusive reconditioning process that we put all of our woods through before they are put into production. This adds to the stability, playability and longevity of our instruments. The quality of woods and components and the constant improvement in manufacturing methods has elevated Carvin guitars and basses into the high end arena. By selling direct to the customer, Carvin not only gives incredible value but the customer has a direct connection with us that they do not have when purchasing any off the rack or custom instrument from a dealer.
Carvin: Prior to the release of the California Carved top, it seemed like we were always too busy to set out and design a carved top model. But you just can¹t ignore more than a decade of continuous customer requests for such a model. A big part of the success of the CT6 model has been due to the high quality of materials like the genuine hand selected Honduras mahogany or the AAAAA flamed and quilted maple tops that we use. Many of the tops that we use on the California Carved Top are actually as nice as those used by other companies whose guitars sell for $5,000 or much more. The special way that our tune-o-matic bridge is set into the body really makes this instrument sing and our own C22 pickups are custom wound in house to compliment the great tone. The biggest problem of introducing the California carved top for Carvin has been that we just can¹t keep them or any of our other models in stock. Our custom shop usually takes 4 weeks to produce a custom instrument, whereas now because of the bigger demand, we are quoting approximately 7 weeks. The good news is we have a great production team at work and we are slowly bringing production levels up for all Carvin instruments. MH: Tell us about some of the endorsers who have certainly assisted in propelling the brand awareness of Carvin Gear? Carvin: We have incredible and truly loyal endorsers of Carvin such as Steve Vai, Craig Chaquico, Eagles members, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, Lit, Bunny Brunel, Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale, Michael Wilton, and many more. These endorsers continue to be a strong voice for Carvin and we are happy to have them on our team. Also Carvin products can be seen in Movies such as "Raise Your Voice" with Hillary Duff, "Oceans Twelve" with Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts, a new movie called "Grilled" with Ray Romano to be released soon. Currently the TRX line along with Carvin power amps and a 16 channel Carvin mixer is the house system for the Hit Television show on Discovery channel called "Monster Garage".
Carvin: As every day passes, Carvin instruments are becoming more collectable. We have made so many different types of guitars and amps throughout the years and more and more people are trying to find some of the older models we used to make. There is a very accurate website called the Carvin Museum. It was started independently by a gentleman named Kevin Wright, who is doing an incredible job of updating and keeping everyone informed about Carvin. MH: Tell us a bit about the factory, and how many people are employed at Carvin, and what you feel is unique about the Carvin company mission? Carvin: Currently there are close to 200 employees at Carvin. I think what makes Carvin so unique is the fact that we are building the product directly for the customer. There is nobody in the middle. A customer can call our knowledgeable in house sales department, have their questions answered, and then have a custom guitar or bass built by the many different options we offer. They can choose the type of wood, their choice in color of hardware and paint, fret type, string choice, etc, and have a completed custom instrument within 4 to 7 weeks. We have many departments such as guitar building, electronic assembly, cabinet making, and speaker installation. Within these departments lies other small divisions such as hardware assembly, guitar set up, detailing, painting, many of our employees are performing musicians. This helps to bring an element of knowing what the working musician¹s needs are, and bringing it home to the customer. MH: In an industry of big box stores and internet e-tailors, how has Carvin managed to not only stay competitive, but actually prosper? Carvin: I think much of Carvin¹s success has hinged on the quality of the products we develop and sell, and also the pride that we take in being a Made in the USA company. Everything that we build is made right here in San Diego CA.. Many other companies have gone to China to have their products assembled, where as Carvin continues to stay within the US. It has become a very competitive market but instead of following the spiraling price wars we have to continue to rise above to keep the edge but still stay competitive.
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Musicians
Hotline is proud to bring you this exclusive Company Profile on
Carvin Corporation. As Carvin celebrates a hearty 60 year anniversary,
Brothers Carson, and Mark Kiesel share a six decade history of a
true family based American business. Its all here, the past, the
present, and the future. All the incredible advancements in the
Custom Shop luthiering department, to an entirely new line of pro
audio gear.Carvin, an American Company and a truly inspirational
American success story. Very special thanks to Bob Chini and Richard
Cruz for all their assistance, and especially Mark, and Carson Kiesel
for sharing an amazing story with Musicians Hotline....
MH:
Carvin is truly a family owned and operated American Company,
tell us about the family's involvement, and how each contributes
to the company?
MH:
Tell us about the first Carvin product catalogs, and how that
type of direct marketing assisted in propelling the Carvin brand,
and how the now famous catalogs have continued to evolve?
MH:
Carvin has really evolved as a diversified manufacturer, tell us
how many products are currently being produced and the areas of
the industry these products cover?
MH:
Carvin has really made incredible strides in the custom shop
area in the past few years. Tell us about the custom shop, and why
you feel Carvin is producing the very best instruments in the companies
history?
MH:
Carvin has also launched a very successful line with the new
"California Carved Tops", the entry into more of the boutique
side of luthering. This guitar has experienced overwhelming positive
reviews industry wide. Tell us a bit about the concept of this instrument
and why it has been so successful?
MH:
Carvin instruments have been gaining ground in the collectable
market as well. Tell us about the Carvin On-Line Museum?
Info....