In 1946, Lowell Kiesel founded Kiesel Electronics in Los Angeles, California. Three years later, the Kiesel family settled in Covina, California and began the original catalog business of manufacturing and distributing lap steel guitars, small tube amps and pickups. The Carvin trademark was derived from Kiesel's two oldest sons, Carson and Gavin. Guitars were originally offered in kit form, or by parts since 1949; Carvin began building complete guitars in 1964. By 1978, the glued set-neck design replaced the bolt-on necks. The majority of the current guitar and bass models currently feature a neck-through design.
Carvin has always been a mail-order-only company, and offers the players a wide range of options on the individual models. Even though they can't be tried out before they're bought, Carvin offers a ten-day money back guarantee. Because Carvin sells factory direct, they are not stocked in music stores; by requesting a catalog the careful shopper will also find a difference between the new list price and the actual sales price. Carvin offers a full range of guitar and bass replacement parts in their full line catalog. The Carvin company also offers mixing boards, power amplifiers, powered mixers, P.A. speakers, monitor speakers, guitar combo amps/heads/cabinets, and bass amps/cabinets as well.
In 2001, Carvin introduced a line of imported guitars called the Cobalt Series. These acoustics are hand-crafted overseas to Carvin's specs, and then they are set up and tuned at the Carvin factory before they are shipped. Lowell Kiesel passed away on December 28, 2009. For more information visit Carvin's website, visit one of their stores, or contact them directly.
Instruments currently produced in Escondido, CA and overseas (Cobalt Series). Carvin instruments are sold through direct catalog/online sales, as well as through their five factory stores in CA: Corvina, Hollywood, Sacramento, San Diego, and Santa Ana. Carvin has been producing instruments since 1946. Previous production was located in Covina, CA from 1949 to 1969.