President George W. Bush's Cobalt C980
WWW: http://www.whitehouse.gov

Regardless of your politics, this is one cool guitar.  It's a Cobalt C980 acoustic, adorned with the Presidential Seal, and was presented to Mr. Bush by Carvin endorser Mark Wills.  The President was in San Diego on August 30th, 2005 to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II, and Mark Wills, who provided entertainment at one of the events, asked Carvin to create this one-of-a-kind guitar for him to present to the President.  The photos below were were featured on Yahoo! News.

The picture caption from Yahoo! News:

"President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country Singer Mark Wills, right, backstage following his visit to Naval Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Bush visited the base to deliver remarks on V-J Commemoration Day."

 

AP Photo/ABC News, Martha Raddatz

Prototype Bolt

This unusual Bolt was made by Carvin for the 2003 Winter NAMM show.  It was built with a Floyd Rose Speedloader tremolo, which is essentially a reversed system, similar to a Steinberger trem.  So, with this design, the tuners are actually on the tremolo itself, which is why there are no tuners on the headstock of the guitar.

Despite the prototype being made, the Speedloader tremolo was abandoned by Carvin, and was never added to the list of available options.

 

Unknown eBay DN450

This is another one of those unusual and super-rare Carvins.  In this case, it's a 1990 model DN450, which, in this configuration, was a 4-string fretless/5-string fretted model.  It's finished in cherry sunburst and has solid quilted body wings.  Other features include inlaid fretlines on the fretless neck, ebony fingerboards, H50B stacked humbuckers, and Schaller bridges.

John Hudson's DN650

Here's an extremely unusual and rare Carvin.  Although DN640's in 1990 weren't that unusual, a DN650 was - in fact, this could very well be the only one Carvin made.  Like other guitar/bass doublenecks of the era, the bass neck was on top, and this model also has abalone block inlays and a Floyd Rose tremolo.  The hardware is gold, except for the bass bridge, which must have been replaced at some point.

The Webmaster's (former) DC/Bich Hybrid

This is a very unusual instrument.  It had made the rounds on eBay several times, and I eventually bought it.  According to the seller, it was originally a DC model, that had been heavily modified by the Ulmer Custom Shop, and converted to a BC Rich "Bich" style guitar.  As time as passed, and I've learned more about Carvin instruments, I'm not so sure this is the case.  I think, more likely, that this guitar was made with a Carvin neck and a custom-built body.  The main clues to this are that the body is physically larger than a DC200 or DC400, and the flamed top is not as thick as a Carvin flamed top - in fact, it's really more of a veneer, or possibly even a photo-flame.  Also, there are two strips of maple on each side of the neck - definitely not a Carvin feature.  The tuners are Carvin, and it has a Kahler tremolo. The pickups are Seymour Duncans.  It was possible, sometimes, to get a Carvin decal for the headstock years ago, so I'm guessing that's how it got the Carvin name on it.  Regardless of it's lineage, it's an interesting an unusual instrument, and was a pretty good player, as well.

Pastor Leroy Williams' Doubleneck DN660
WWW: http://www.leroyanddewayne.com/

This one is so unique, it doesn't even have a model name - the closest would be a DN660 - that's right, this is a doubleneck 6-string bass/6-string guitar - and left-handed, no less!  Thanks to Pastor Williams, and his son Dewayne (also the webmaster for their site) for sharing this extraordinary instrument.  Dewayne writes:

"Back in the early 90's my dad played a SG-style Ibanez double neck four string bass/six string guitar.  It wasn't truly left-handed, but because of the double cutaway design it could be flipped, and he still had access to the upper frets. Unfortunately, this instrument (along with many others) was stolen.  The police eventually found it (In a thousand pieces).

We set out on a mission to replace his beloved double neck. We approached Carvin about building a left-handed six string bass/guitar.  They agreed, but they wouldn't put the guitar on top (like the upside-down Ibanez). Here are all the specs:

The instrument was made in 1994 (arrived on September 28th).

Tuners are Sperzel on both the bass and the guitar.  The finish is "pearl white" with gold hardware. Both bridges are Wilkinson.

Both fingerboards are ebony. The back of the necks are painted to match the instrument.  The necks are maple (neck thru design) and the body is poplar. The pickups are stock Carvins (bass is passive). A coil splitter switch is included on the neck pickup of the guitar.  The lead guitar has a Roland GK2-A external pickup attached. Only one neck can be used at a time (unless one is triggering with the GK2-A)  Carvin sent a switch to allow both necks to be active at the same time, but it was never installed. Both necks can be sent to different amps using the two separate jacks. If the bass jack is used alone, both necks are sent through it.

The case is Carvin's tweed bass guitar case.  Possible future modifications include an internal GK2-A, and active electronics for the bass."