Carvin Custom Shop Set-Neck Flame Top

This is one of those guitars where the pictures do most of the talking. I don’t have much history or documentation on this particular Carvin, but it is clearly a high-spec custom build with some beautiful details.

The body features a highly figured flame maple top finished in a rich amber-to-deep-red burst. The figuring carries onto the matching headstock, giving the guitar a very cohesive, upscale look. What really sets it apart, though, is the abalone detailing. Abalone appears in the Carvin headstock logo, the fretboard position markers, and the tops of all four control knobs. It’s a subtle detail from a distance, but up close it looks fantastic.

Construction is set-neck, with a deeply sculpted neck joint and generous lower cutaway that provide excellent access to the upper frets. The dark fingerboard has an unusual marker arrangement, including paired abalone dots, rather than the typical plain dot layout.

Electronics are built around two zebra humbuckers, a three-way pickup selector, and four individual controls. Hardware is chrome throughout, including the fixed bridge, tailpiece and Carvin-branded tuners.

There is no serial number that I can find anywhere on the guitar. I was told this is because it was a Carvin Custom Shop build and was not serialized. I don’t have documentation to verify that explanation, so I’m selling and describing it based on the guitar itself rather than making claims about its exact year or original specifications.

What I can say is that it’s an exceptionally attractive Carvin with a combination of flame maple, burst finish, abalone appointments and set-neck construction that makes it stand out from the more common Carvin builds you’ll run across.