Being from there, can verify, Portlandia is basically a documentary 
Actually if you cross it with Drugstore Cowboy and a bit of My Own Private Idaho, you’re getting pretty close to home
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Lots of options out there @AnotherJosh I bought mine for about $30 CDN at the time. There are cheaper options. Here’s the item for reference. It works fine.
https://www.amazon.ca/Helping-Flexible-NEWACALOX-SN6AR-USB-Soldering/dp/B07ZGBDLHB
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Bass identification in case of theft:
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Ok, so, here’s where my Warmoth (formerly Warvin Carmoth, but not so much on the Carvin any longer; just tuners, strap buttons, neck plate, and wiring) stands:
The neck is mounted on the body, the tuners are finger-tightened on the headstock. The electronics and pickup cavities have been painted with conductive shielding paint (that took longer than I expected, the cooler temps made for slower drying paint), and grounds have been run from the pickup cavities to the electronics cavity. The back of the electronics cavity cover has been covered in shielding tape. Pickups and bridge are installed.
Here’s what needs to happen still:
- Pilot holes need to be drilled for tuner screws, then tuners need to be fully installed.
- Pilot holes need to be drilled for strap buttons, then strap buttons need to be installed.
- Wiring needs to be modified for the wider distance between pots on the Warmoth, then wiring needs to be installed.
- Bottom of bridge needs to be sanded; ground needs to be brought to bridge.
Then the fun part begins:
- Install strings, adjust action, intonation, and neck relief.
- Play the hell out of it.
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This might seem like a really dumb question, so apologies in advance.
The Carvin pickups had black, red, and shield going to the wiring harness I’m stealing for the Warmoth. The new pickups have white and black, unshielded. Am I correct in assuming that new pickup white should go where old pickup red went, and that new pickup black should go where old pickup black went?
EDIT: Never mind. I have to buy new pots. The Carvin pots aren’t tall enough, no threads are available on which the nuts can be threaded. 
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No, different brands use different color code for the pickups. but with 2 wires you can’t really mess up
I add this for reference :
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Thanks, terb. That’s helpful.
Sigh.
So, I just ordered (from Warmoth) new pots, jack, capacitor, wiring, Gotoh tuners, and neck plate. The only thing that will be from a Carvin will be the jack plate, a used Carvin plate I got off of eBay. Nothing will be from the bent-neck Carvin B4; essentially, I’ll no longer have a Warvin Carmoth. I’ll have a Warmoth with Gotoh tuners/bridge and True Custom Shop pickups, and a disassembled, bent-neck, Carvin B4. While I like the idea of brand new stuff on the Warmoth, it bums me out that the whole idea for this project - a Warmoth with all Carvin bits - has slowly but surely been chipped away.
Oh well. Best laid plans, c’est la vie, all that.
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The universe might be telling you something.
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well, this project will surely end as a nice bass anyway …
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Maybe you could just buy a new neck from Carvin too, and have two nice basses?
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The breeze comes from the mountains. The sea is like a lake here.
There are a lot of crazies here. We are the home of Sasquatch and the Twilight series of books and film
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That was the first thing I tried. Here’s what I found out:
- Kiesel no longer manufacturers or repairs necks for the Carvin B4/B5 line of basses.
- The Carvin B4 neck is shorter and narrower at the base (making the neck pocket also shorter and narrower) than a “standard” Fender-sized neck.
So, as summary, what got me here was:
- Finding out #1 above.
- Looking into repair options from various and sundry guitar repair/luthier shops in SoCal and finding out it that across the board it would be horribly expensive and might not work (could be fixed with a PLEK but that might not work, could be fixed with a re-plane and re-fret of the fretboard but might not work, could be fixed with a re-plane and de-fretting of the fretboard to make a fretless but might not work, etc.)
- Ordering a new neck from Warmoth, discovering #2 above.
- Looking into getting the Carvin body routed out to fit the new neck from Warmoth but finding out that it would be horribly expensive and might not work (the intonation might always be off because the neck would have to be routed so far down towards the pickups so that the neck could be mounted).
- Ordering a Warmoth body to fit the Warmoth neck, with the idea being that I’d just move all the Carvin parts over to the Warmoth.
- Finding out the Carvin pickups aren’t standard sized.
- Finding out the Carvin wiring harness doesn’t fit the Warmoth pot layout.
- Finding out the threads on the Carvin pots don’t reach far enough through the Warmoth body.
At that point, I figured “EFF IT” and ordered replacements for all the remaining Carvin parts.
Ultimately, I can’t really complain; I’m going to wind up with a brand-new bass I built myself, a collection of parts in case of future need, and a nice-looking bass body and neck to hang on my wall all artistic-like.
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Yeah, sounds like the writing is on the wall for the Carvin. Bummer, I am really sympathetic- I discovered over the weekend that my SBV’s truss rod is maxed out. This might mean its days are numbered which is a big bummer as they are getting pretty rare.
So my choice would be to find a junker SBV500/550 of the same color for an eventual replacement neck, or keep it a while longer and sell while it is still able to correct neck warp.
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That’s not that bad, @JustTim , even if it’s not the initial plan. The Warmoth will be a cool bass.
Also if I were you, I’d certainly try to de-fret the Carvin neck and try to convert it to a fretless. You can do it yourself for pretty cheap, and if it works (which seems very possible to me) you will get a cool and unique fretless Carvin. If it does not work … well, the Carvin would not be really worse than today. So, nothing to loose, and possibly something cool to get at the end.
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Did you
- Set up auto searches on eBay and reverb for Carvin Necks so you are automatically emailed if one comes up?
- Put a “wanted, Carvin neck” ad on talkbass?
You never know
Btw, why do the pot threads now not fit Vs prior? Thicker pickguard? Have you removed all but one washer/nut?
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This!!! Fantastic idea
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No idea. Thinner body top on the Carvin than the Warmoth? Nonstandard pot height on the Carvin (which wouldn’t shock me)?
All I know is I put them in the Carvin, threads! I put them in the Warmoth, no threads!
I did for a while. Got tired of finding nothing, which is why I went the whole Warmoth route.
I’m kinda over that Carvin. The Warmoth is its replacement, and I don’t have the interest or desire to rebuild it. The body and neck will hang on my wall all artistic like.
If ever I do decide to do something with it again, it’ll be a fretless conversion. But until and if that ever happens, I’m fine with it all torn apart like C3PO in Empire.
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If there are more than one you can remove some and get more thread height btw.
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Short scale FrankenCarvin 
But I get not wanting to futz with it anymore.
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Since the neck is unusable and the parts carcass idea didn’t pan out… maybe I can help out with the new project for me! Can’t afford the other beauty you have up for sale yet but maybe I can buy what’s left of the pieces and try my hand and making one of my necks work on it? I did open up the pocket on my Thunderbird to take a pbass neck heel. I know you mentioned there’s a decent amount of body that would have to be removed. I’ve also seen some guys thin out the neck heel for the fenderbird conversion. Maybe a combination of both would do the trick? You have the parts and I’ve got a spare Squier neck I’m willing to sacrifice to the Great Maybe… lemme know
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