I don't have an art carr, but I've used a couple of shift kits and now use a lentech valvebody.
I must admit that the 1-2 shift has always seemed just a hair more harsh with all of em. Well 4 down to 3 was harsh at part throttle with the bauman kit...
As for adjusting the TV linkage, I would be very careful with that, it is not a shift adjustment! I've built a few AODs myself, and everything I've read anywhere advises against adjusting the TV pressure.
You might have to send the VB back for recalibration if you think its too harsh, or just take some time to get used to it. I have never noticed a difference in feel after breakin in any of the trannies I've built.
You get used to it after awhile, but if you drive the family sedan for a week or so you'll notice it again for a few minutes... I remember using the medium settings on the baumann shift kit I put in and the shifts were alot more harsh than I expected. It worked just like that for a couple of years until I snapped the input shaft with it
I'll reiterate, I would not adjust the TV pressure without a guage. There is a special ford guage and there is also an alternate method (I've used) with a standard mechanical oil pressure guage; you can find these methods on the baumann engineering site becontrols.com I think it is.
If you adjusted for softer shifting, you have probably reduced the lubrication and heat transfer of the transmission; which is not good. The first tranny I built was out of an emmaculate low miles lincoln towncar where the TV linkage fell off the throttle, (which was a factory recall for many fords including some tbirds). Not 40K miles on it and it needed a reubild from a burnt OD band. So make sure you have the metal bushing and cotterpin, and not the rubber grommet as well.
Good luck!