genre music company founded 1946 ; 70 years ago 1946 founder lowell kiesel headquarters san diego california united states of america 32 59 17.38 n 117 04 10.47 w 32.9881611 n 117.0695750 w 32.9881611 ; 117.0695750 area served global products amplifiers audio equipment website www.carvinaudio.com carvin corporation is an american guitar amplifier and audio equipment manufacturer in san diego california . it is one of only a few remaining family owned companies in the industry . 1 contents 1 history 2 notable users 3 references 4 external links history edit carvin s legacy 3 amplifier and cabinets used by steve vai lowell kiesel founded carvin in san diego california in 1946 as the l. c. kiesel company to manufacture guitar pickups . by 1947 the company manufactured steel guitars in gothenburg nebraska . around 1948 it returned to southern california and in 1949 moved to baldwin park california where the company name changed to carvin after kiesel s two eldest sons carson and gavin . the company s current production facility occupies 82 000 square feet . 1 throughout the 1950s 1960s and early 1970s carvin manufactured guitars and bass guitars largely from bodies and necks made by h fner . during this period they also manufactured amplifiers and steel guitars and were authorized resellers of other gear including fender and martin guitars dearmond pickups and sonola accordions . in the late 1970s carvin began to produce all their own instrument components and expanded their product lines to include professional audio gear recording equipment lighting and other stage and studio equipment . later carvin switched to manufacturing through neck guitars attracting metal players such as jason becker . starting in the 1970s carvin developed a niche in the musical instrument world by only selling directly to the public via mail order in the 1980s they began to offer guitars and basses built to a customer s specifications based on available body shapes woods colors electronics and other features . in 1991 the company opened showrooms in southern california that resemble a full fledged music store only lacking effects devices keyboards and drum gear . for a long time since the late 90s the santa ana location had a sign of forbidden riffs posted on the wall i.e. ; no stairway to heaven enter sandman smoke on the water etc. the showrooms are stocked with an impressive selection of production models many with popular custom options already built into the guitars . in 2015 carvin corporation split off the guitar business to a new company kiesel guitars which continues to build electric and acoustic guitars midi synth guitars bass guitars and other instruments under the carvin guitars name as well as new kiesel badged instruments . carvin corporation continues to operate the brands carvin amplifiers and carvin audio which manufacture guitar and bass amplifiers and pro audio gear . 2 3 notable users edit current and past carvin users include greg howe jonathan butler frank zappa nicki kin allan holdsworth frank gambale steve vai joey tafolla brendon small bunny brunel craig chaquico alex lifeson jason becker marty friedman al di meola wolf mail yngwie malmsteen willie nelson danny elfman joe walsh shawn lane tony macalpine timothy b. schmit candy coburn doug lindsey warren cuccurullo 4 jaco pastorius 5 neil zaza john mcvie and earl slick . references edit a b moseley willie g. june 2009 . the carvin dn440t . vintage guitar . p. 64 . access date requires url help varga george january 20 2015 . carvin splits in two to launch kiesel guitars . retrieved march 5 2016 . carvin announces the launch of kiesel guitars . january 24 2015 . retrieved march 5 2016 . http www.carvinmuseum.com decade images 85 endorsers4.html http www.carvinmuseum.com decade images 85 endorsers5.html company profile carvin corporation musicians hotline july august 2004 accessed on line march 9 2007 . carvin turns 60 michael molenda guitar player december 2006 accessed on line march 9 2007 . carvin dn640k review willie g. moseley vintage guitar march 2005 accessed on line march 9 2007 . carvin cobalt c780 jumbo acoustic electric review proaudioreview.com accessed on line march 9 2007 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to carvin corporation . official website namm oral history interview with lowell kiesel june 24 2003 namm oral history interview with carson kiesel june 24 2003 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title carvin corporation & oldid 743674530 categories 1946 establishments in californiaaudio amplifier manufacturerscompanies based in san diegocompanies established in 1946guitar amplifier manufacturersloudspeaker manufacturersmanufacturing companies based in californiamusic equipment manufacturersprivately held companies based in californiahidden categories pages using citations with accessdate and no urluse mdy dates from march 2016commons category with local link same as on wikidataofficial website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages edit links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 17 33 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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