The Icon Series is Carvin's newest entry in our bass guitar line. Introduced in 2006, the IC5W 5-string bass represents the culmination of Carvin's 60+ years in producing high-quality guitars and basses. The Icon evolved in response to requests from bassist for a contemporary, ergonomic shape, with excellent playability and premium features usually reserved for boutique instruments. There are hundreds of available options on Carvin's Icon Series basses, and because we sell direct to you, you can design a fully-custom USA-made bass at a price that can't be beat.

The Icon has a body made from alder, which is a high-quality tone wood used by many manufacturers because of it's relative light weight and and fine resonating tone. Alder has a subtle and attractive grain that looks great whether finished or left clear. It's slightly darker in color than maple, which accentuates the IC5W's maple neck. Although alder is the standard wood, optional woods such as swamp ash, maple, mahogany, walnut and koa are available, all of which have their own tonal characteristics. A premium bookmatched figured walnut top is standard, which is finished in clear gloss, but can also be finished in matte satin or tung oil. Edges can be finished in optional sunsetburst, cherry burst or blackburst to add a subtle splash of color to the top. A thin layer of black laminate separates the alder body and top wood, which creates a nice outline around the perimeter. All of Carvin's body, neck and fingerboard woods undergo a long conditioning process in our de-humidification chambers to remove any stress in the wood and prevent future warping or twisting, and our woods are carefully hand-selected and inspected to ensure your new bass will be free of natural defects.

Neck-Through Design

The IC5W has a neck-through design, meaning the neck wood runs the entire length of the instrument. This adds definition, sustain and punch, and is extremely stable. The neck itself is maple with a high-gloss finish standard, or you can choose a tung-oil or satin finish on the back of the neck. The maple neck clarifies the overall tone of the instrument, but other neck woods, such as mahogany and koa are offered for their own slightly warmer tonal qualities. Optional 5-piece necks of different combinations of maple, walnut and koa add to the already great looks of this instrument. The neck shows through the top wood, or you can choose the neck not to show on the top or not. Carvin's dual-action, fully adjustable truss rod helps keep the neck straight and true, and allows you to set the action just the way you like it. The Icon-style headstock has a standard figured walnut overlay to match the top wood, and is also finished to match. A 24K gold headstock logo adds just the right touch of class.

A 34" scale ebony fingerboard with white pearl dot inlays, a 14" radius and 24 medium-jumbo nickel frets is standard. Carvin offers more fingerboard options than most manufactures offer for their entire bass lines. You can choose from rosewood, maple or birdseye maple fingerboards and dot or block inlays in mother-of-pearl or genuine abalone. Carvin also offers a number of fretwire options, including jumbo, low-wide and stainless steel. For the fretless player, you can choose an unlined ebony fingerboard, or an ebony fingerboard with white inlaid lines and with or without dot position markers. All fretless necks have small position markers on the side of the fingerboard. Carvin's "Rapid Play" low action neck assures effortless playability throughout the entire fingerboard, while the smooth neck heel allows easy access all the way up to the 24th fret.

The standard bridge is a Hipshot™ A-style with strings fed through the body. Carvin has used an assortment of bridges throughout the years, and we've found the Hipshot to be one of the best available. This bridge provides deep punch and definition, and has individual side-to-side string adjustment which allows you to custom-tailor the playability of your bass. The Hipshot bridge allows you feed the strings through the body (standard), or top load the strings. The Icon comes equipped with medium-light roundwound strings, and you can also choose flatwounds or medium-light stainless steel strings. Tuners are Carvin premium with an extra-fine 20:1 ratio, and are silky smooth and durable. You can also add a Hipshot bass detuner on the low B string, which allows you to drop the tuning of the string by a half or full step at the flip of a lever. Standard hardware is chrome, and you can upgrade to gold or black.

SP Soapbar Pickups

The Icon comes equipped with our new SP Series soapbar pickups. These pickups have a deep, smooth bass response with excellent mid-range punch and top-end definition. The SP Series incorporates side-by-side coil design which enhances mid-range growl and provides smooth bottom end. Carvin's new 18V active/passive electronics provide unlimited headroom and super clean response to satisfy the most aggressive slappers. Controls consist of volume, pickup blend, stacked concentric bass and high frequency, stacked concentric mid frequency and sweep. The volume control doubles as a push-pull switch to select active or passive mode. For the ultimate in tone, you can add the P Series upgrade, which incorporates a Hipshot piezo bridge, amplifiers and trim pots for each string, and a blend control to blend the piezo with the soapbar pickups. The P Series upgrade creates a warm acoustic tone which enables your Icon to emulate an acoustic upright bass.

The IC5W is also offered in a flamed maple version, the IC5. It has the same features of the IC5W, with a AAAA flamed maple top and matching flamed maple headstock standard. Premium AAAA quilted maple and flamed koa are also available. We also offer the Icon in 4 and 6-string versions, the IC4 and IC6. The IC4 and IC6 are also offered in figured walnut versions.

The only way to appreciate the performance of a Carvin product is to use it in your own environment, giving it the test of "real world" performance. Take 10 days to try out your Carvin IC5W. If you're not completely satisfied, you can return it - no questions asked. Your trial period starts when the merchandise is received by you, not when it's shipped. Really give it a workout. If you're not satisfied for any reason, send it back for a prompt refund or exchange - you would only be responsible for the return shipping. (US and Canada customers only; international customers, see your dealer for details)

The IC5W is built at Carvin's Custom Shop in San Diego, California.