
Mike Knaggs' LB90
 |
This is probably the nicest
looking LB90 I've ever seen. It's an '87 model, and it looks to be
as close to mint as possible for a 15-year old bass.
Extraordinary! And Mike tells me he got a killer deal on this, as
well. Way to go!

|
 |
Dave McLain's LB90
WWW:
http://www.polarisband.com/
This is a rare bird. It's a
1988 LB90, which was the last year for this model, and the only year it was made
with a neck-thru (versus set neck) design. Dave says:
 |
"The model I'm using was only
offered in 1988, I ordered mine on Dec 31, 1987 in deep pearl blue and
it took about 4 or 5 weeks to arrive. While Carvin offered the
LB90 for a few years, they only built the ones with a 24 fret neck like
I've got for one year. Having 24 frets is no big deal, but the
body was restyled and that's what I like. It's much smaller with
longer horns, the older ones look more like a Fender bass.
Mine has been modified with a hipshot tuner, a shim under the bridge and
the pickup selector has been bypassed. I just use both pickups all
the time and I shimmed the bridge with a .040 piece of aluminum to cut
down the angle and to reduce string breakage.
I've now got two of these basses, both blue, one deep and one light.
The light one is in very good condition I got it for about $200 from a
place in New York, it hasn't been played much. Mine is worn
through the finish on the back of the body, neck and by the pickups.
The edge of the neck is worn and it's going to need to be refretted
before too much longer, but it still sounds and plays great!"
|
I recently got some more photos from Dave,
including his other LB90. Here's what we have, and what Dave has to say:
"I spent some time
this morning taking a few pictures of my LB-90 basses. Most of
them are of my old reliable Deep Pearl Blue bass that's I've used for
everything since early 1998. I tried to get some detail shots of
the headstock, body shape and unique features of the bass.
I wanted to get some details of where
the finish is worn through to the wood on the neck and stuff. It
is a little hard to see in the photos, but the finish goes from clear to
pearl blue to black, to filler and finally to the wood. Since
the pickups are different than the ones used in Carvin basses of
different eras, I got some details of them too. They are a nice
feature of this bass, I think they sound great." |
 |
 |
"I also took a few
pictures of my other LB-90 also from 1988. I bought it from a shop
in New York after Myles spotted it in an online classified add. He
said it was just like my bass and since I had NEVER seen another one I
had to snatch it up! It's finished in the other Pearl Blue with
black hardware. In my opinion this combination is not nearly as
nice looking as the one on the other bass and probably part of the
reason I was able to buy it for about $250. It's not been played
much and is in really good condition compared to the dark colored one.
After some minor adjustments and new strings it plays and sounds good,
but for some reason it just isn't quite as good as the dark one tone
wise when played back to back through the exact same rig, not sure why.
It seems brighter and not quite as nice, still good but somewhat
different. The vast amount of difference in mileage is probably
the largest factor." |
"I hope you enjoy
these pictures and can use them and any information I can provide on
your website. Hopefully they will be of interest to other Carvin
bass owners because in my opinion, Carvin basses are VERY underrated for
both quality and tone and are rather unknown by the general music
public."
Right on, Dave!
And as much as I like a nice, pristine bass, I dig
this "relic" look. Basses are meant to be played, and
this one has been.

|
 |
 |
Finally, here's both of Dave's
LB90's. Having one of these models is cool enough, but having a
pair is very cool. Like Dave, I like the darker blue one better
(and it's about the same color as my V440) - but the light blue one is
not without it's charm. And the black hardware stands out
nicely. Whichever you prefer, they're both very sweet basses! |
 |
Michael
Jacobsen's LB90
Wow, another
1988
LB90! Like Dave's above, this was the last year for this model, and the
only year LB90's were available with a 24-fret neck-thru design. Here's what
Michael has to say:
 |
"I'm the
original owner and she's not got scratch 1 as she's a studio lady only.
I left the Hofner in the pic circa 1965 also original owner due to the
fact that so many vintage Carvins sport Hofner necks. I let my Aria Pro
II Cardinal do the road work. No so, with the 90+% Carvin wall of deaf.
You'll note the bass rig (late eighties R600 w/ 4-10 /1,2 or 3 18s
depending on the need)."
|
|
|