
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."
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AP Photo/ABC News, Martha Raddatz
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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.
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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.

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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."
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