Charvel so cal or san dimas

[rockstah]

So i bit the bullet and purchased and San Dimas pro mod Charvel.

it was a tough decision between the San Dimas and the So Cal being that the SoCal is front loaded ala strat, which i prefer but comes with black hardware, not my favorite choice. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2927000876

The San Dimas is rear loaded but has the chrome hardware, which i prefer. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2926000876

I like the idea of being able to swap pickguards with SoCal. With the san dimas i am stuck with where the selector switch is etc.

I may end up purchasing a SoCal as well and put the chrome hardware from the San Dimas on it and the black hardware on the san dimas and sell the san dimas.

also i chose white as i just couldn't see myself with a blue, black or even red guitar for long periods of time ( "hey your guitar looks just like Brad Gillis' guitar!" ).... white i could tolerate although it still isn't even my favorite color.

anyone else own one one of these and go through the same delima of not being able to make the choice between pick guard or no pick guard?

i haven't had a floyd rose guitar since the 80's and i thought its time to have one of them again.

The San Dimas supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Mark

 

[Gainfreak]

So i bit the bullet and purchased and San Dimas pro mod Charvel.

it was a tough decision between the San Dimas and the So Cal being that the SoCal is front loaded ala strat, which i prefer but comes with black hardware, not my favorite choice. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2927000876

The San Dimas is rear loaded but has the chrome hardware, which i prefer. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2926000876

I like the idea of being able to swap pickguards with SoCal. With the san dimas i am stuck with where the selector switch is etc.

I may end up purchasing a SoCal as well and put the chrome hardware from the San Dimas on it and the black hardware on the san dimas and sell the san dimas.

also i chose white as i just couldn't see myself with a blue, black or even red guitar for long periods of time ( "hey your guitar looks just like Brad Gillis' guitar!" ).... white i could tolerate although it still isn't even my favorite color.

anyone else own one one of these and go through the same delima of not being able to make the choice between pick guard or no pick guard?

i haven't had a floyd rose guitar since the 80's and i thought its time to have one of them again.

The San Dimas supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Mark

I own both and I love them both and if you get a good one, you will be in love (yes, they do vary, as does just about every guitar model IMHO)

The great thing is if you are even curious about a so cal, you can get one for a steal used on E-bay.

They are great guitars for the money!

 

[rockstah]

So i bit the bullet and purchased and San Dimas pro mod Charvel.

it was a tough decision between the San Dimas and the So Cal being that the SoCal is front loaded ala strat, which i prefer but comes with black hardware, not my favorite choice. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2927000876

The San Dimas is rear loaded but has the chrome hardware, which i prefer. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2926000876

I like the idea of being able to swap pickguards with SoCal. With the san dimas i am stuck with where the selector switch is etc.

I may end up purchasing a SoCal as well and put the chrome hardware from the San Dimas on it and the black hardware on the san dimas and sell the san dimas.

also i chose white as i just couldn't see myself with a blue, black or even red guitar for long periods of time ( "hey your guitar looks just like Brad Gillis' guitar!" ).... white i could tolerate although it still isn't even my favorite color.

anyone else own one one of these and go through the same delima of not being able to make the choice between pick guard or no pick guard?

i haven't had a floyd rose guitar since the 80's and i thought its time to have one of them again.

The San Dimas supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Mark

I own both and I love them both and if you get a good one, you will be in love (yes, they do vary, as does just about every guitar model IMHO)

The great thing is if you are even curious about a so cal, you can get one for a steal used on E-bay.

They are great guitars for the money!

not many white So Cals have been available ebay and i have been looking for a few weeks.

yeah i do get that its crab shoot buying a guitar without playing it first. nothing you can do about a dead piece of wood.

 

[Gainfreak]

So i bit the bullet and purchased and San Dimas pro mod Charvel.

it was a tough decision between the San Dimas and the So Cal being that the SoCal is front loaded ala strat, which i prefer but comes with black hardware, not my favorite choice. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2927000876

The San Dimas is rear loaded but has the chrome hardware, which i prefer. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2926000876

I like the idea of being able to swap pickguards with SoCal. With the san dimas i am stuck with where the selector switch is etc.

I may end up purchasing a SoCal as well and put the chrome hardware from the San Dimas on it and the black hardware on the san dimas and sell the san dimas.

also i chose white as i just couldn't see myself with a blue, black or even red guitar for long periods of time ( "hey your guitar looks just like Brad Gillis' guitar!" ).... white i could tolerate although it still isn't even my favorite color.

anyone else own one one of these and go through the same delima of not being able to make the choice between pick guard or no pick guard?

i haven't had a floyd rose guitar since the 80's and i thought its time to have one of them again.

The San Dimas supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Mark

I own both and I love them both and if you get a good one, you will be in love (yes, they do vary, as does just about every guitar model IMHO)

The great thing is if you are even curious about a so cal, you can get one for a steal used on E-bay.

They are great guitars for the money!

not many white So Cals have been available ebay and i have been looking for a few weeks.

yeah i do get that its crab shoot buying a guitar without playing it first. nothing you can do about a dead piece of wood.

I have a white pro mod that I got off of the classifieds here and I agree it was a PITA to find one in that color hahaha!

When I got it, Im not going to lie. The neck sucked bigtime but the guitar sounded INSANE! The good thing is that I had another San dimas laying around that had a KILLER neck but a so so body. A good friend of min swapped the neck from the SD onto the Pro mod and it's now one of my best playing sounding guitars. I like the Silver hardware look to, but since I swapped out the neck I went with black hardware only because the guitar I swapped it out for had black Hardware and I did not want to have fuss and change it. Needless to say I think the black looks killer now hahaha!

Hopefully you will get a kick ass one!

 

[tripstan]

I've been looking at the same thing. I'm wanting a super strat w/a floyd at a reasonable price. I've never owned a guitar with a floyd rose so I think it's time to dabble a lil bit. I'm leaning towards the San Dimas too.

 

[rockstah]

So i bit the bullet and purchased and San Dimas pro mod Charvel.

it was a tough decision between the San Dimas and the So Cal being that the SoCal is front loaded ala strat, which i prefer but comes with black hardware, not my favorite choice. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2927000876

The San Dimas is rear loaded but has the chrome hardware, which i prefer. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2926000876

I like the idea of being able to swap pickguards with SoCal. With the san dimas i am stuck with where the selector switch is etc.

I may end up purchasing a SoCal as well and put the chrome hardware from the San Dimas on it and the black hardware on the san dimas and sell the san dimas.

also i chose white as i just couldn't see myself with a blue, black or even red guitar for long periods of time ( "hey your guitar looks just like Brad Gillis' guitar!" ).... white i could tolerate although it still isn't even my favorite color.

anyone else own one one of these and go through the same delima of not being able to make the choice between pick guard or no pick guard?

i haven't had a floyd rose guitar since the 80's and i thought its time to have one of them again.

The San Dimas supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Mark

I own both and I love them both and if you get a good one, you will be in love (yes, they do vary, as does just about every guitar model IMHO)

The great thing is if you are even curious about a so cal, you can get one for a steal used on E-bay.

They are great guitars for the money!

not many white So Cals have been available ebay and i have been looking for a few weeks.

yeah i do get that its crab shoot buying a guitar without playing it first. nothing you can do about a dead piece of wood.

I have a white pro mod that I got off of the classifieds here and I agree it was a PITA to find one in that color hahaha!

When I got it, Im not going to lie. The neck sucked bigtime but the guitar sounded INSANE! The good thing is that I had another San dimas laying around that had a KILLER neck but a so so body. A good friend of min swapped the neck from the SD onto the Pro mod and it's now one of my best playing sounding guitars. I like the Silver hardware look to, but since I swapped out the neck I went with black hardware only because the guitar I swapped it out for had black Hardware and I did not want to have fuss and change it. Needless to say I think the black looks killer now hahaha!

Hopefully you will get a kick ass one!

hopefully!
looks cool man!

i want to put cream pickups rings and get the zerba coils, one black one cream on each pickup. it will look cool just hope it plays cool.

 

[John4021]

I bought a USA SanDimas II( the Tele shape) used and it's just a real smooth player. Went to Sam Ash and played So Cal import that played just as well as the USA made one.
Seems they are pretty consistent in build and feel.
Enjoy !

 

[Gainfreak]

So i bit the bullet and purchased and San Dimas pro mod Charvel.

it was a tough decision between the San Dimas and the So Cal being that the SoCal is front loaded ala strat, which i prefer but comes with black hardware, not my favorite choice. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2927000876

The San Dimas is rear loaded but has the chrome hardware, which i prefer. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2926000876

I like the idea of being able to swap pickguards with SoCal. With the san dimas i am stuck with where the selector switch is etc.

I may end up purchasing a SoCal as well and put the chrome hardware from the San Dimas on it and the black hardware on the san dimas and sell the san dimas.

also i chose white as i just couldn't see myself with a blue, black or even red guitar for long periods of time ( "hey your guitar looks just like Brad Gillis' guitar!" ).... white i could tolerate although it still isn't even my favorite color.

anyone else own one one of these and go through the same delima of not being able to make the choice between pick guard or no pick guard?

i haven't had a floyd rose guitar since the 80's and i thought its time to have one of them again.

The San Dimas supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Mark

I own both and I love them both and if you get a good one, you will be in love (yes, they do vary, as does just about every guitar model IMHO)

The great thing is if you are even curious about a so cal, you can get one for a steal used on E-bay.

They are great guitars for the money!

not many white So Cals have been available ebay and i have been looking for a few weeks.

yeah i do get that its crab shoot buying a guitar without playing it first. nothing you can do about a dead piece of wood.

I have a white pro mod that I got off of the classifieds here and I agree it was a PITA to find one in that color hahaha!

When I got it, Im not going to lie. The neck sucked bigtime but the guitar sounded INSANE! The good thing is that I had another San dimas laying around that had a KILLER neck but a so so body. A good friend of min swapped the neck from the SD onto the Pro mod and it's now one of my best playing sounding guitars. I like the Silver hardware look to, but since I swapped out the neck I went with black hardware only because the guitar I swapped it out for had black Hardware and I did not want to have fuss and change it. Needless to say I think the black looks killer now hahaha!

Hopefully you will get a kick ass one!

hopefully!
looks cool man!

i want to put cream pickups rings and get the zerba coils, one black one cream on each pickup. it will look cool just hope it plays cool.

That's going to rule!

If it plays cool you are in for a shock. Mine is every bit as good as my 83 and I don't say that to easily and the guitar only cost me $650. Its a bargain even with the neck swap hahha!! Congrats and let us know how it is when you get it!!

 

[rockstah]

yeah man. ill keep you posted!

 

[John4021]

Kinda like this Mark?

http://www.charvel.com/guitars/customsh ... 7-9659-000

 

[rockstah]

Kinda like this Mark?

http://www.charvel.com/guitars/customsh ... 7-9659-000

more like this.

 

[chumbucket]

I picked up a used SoCal Pro Mod used for ~$550 shipped and it is one of the best bang for the buck guitars I've ever played. Kickass neck that is close to unfinished and feels very close to my 83 Charvel neck. The volume knob was in the perfect spot but I cut a new pickguard for it and through in a Superswitch and have a few parallel settings on there for cool clean tones. White looks great with black hardware but I think the black on black are badass too.

 

[stratotone]

Awesome bargains new or used. I like mine a lot.

 

[Orbis_Mortis]

You can't go wrong with either. My Charvel So-Cal and San Dimas has become some of my favorite guitars I have ever owned. I thought about selling the San Dimas but I ended up keeping it.

 

[chumbucket]

Awesome bargains new or used. I like mine a lot.

That Pagan Gold is a pretty cool color!

 

[Joe-TX]

So i bit the bullet and purchased and San Dimas pro mod Charvel.

it was a tough decision between the San Dimas and the So Cal being that the SoCal is front loaded ala strat, which i prefer but comes with black hardware, not my favorite choice. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2927000876

The San Dimas is rear loaded but has the chrome hardware, which i prefer. - http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2926000876

I like the idea of being able to swap pickguards with SoCal. With the san dimas i am stuck with where the selector switch is etc.

I may end up purchasing a SoCal as well and put the chrome hardware from the San Dimas on it and the black hardware on the san dimas and sell the san dimas.

also i chose white as i just couldn't see myself with a blue, black or even red guitar for long periods of time ( "hey your guitar looks just like Brad Gillis' guitar!" ).... white i could tolerate although it still isn't even my favorite color.

anyone else own one one of these and go through the same delima of not being able to make the choice between pick guard or no pick guard?

i haven't had a floyd rose guitar since the 80's and i thought its time to have one of them again.

The San Dimas supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Mark

I had a hard time deciding too.

So I got 1 of each.

Now I have 3. I'm not good at math.
USA White So Cal, USA Wildcard #3 and an MIJ Wildcard #7.

I'm looking for a 4th. Not sure what yet but I've got my eyes peeled.

Mark, are you going to swap out the JB for a Dimarzio Super D?

 

[Michi]

Congrats! I'm sure you will have helluva bang for buck in any case.

I have a white San Dimas that I love, and our other guitarist has a white So-Cal . I've played both of them, they are just great guitars, easily the best 600€ I've ever spent on a guitar.

Just found a DiMarzio SD to put in the San Dimas, can't wait to replace the JB (I'm not a huge fan of the JB). The neck especially, I really dig the almost unfinished feel. And the profile is just right as well

Hehe, can't really say enough good things about these guitars. To me they're the s**t!

 

[Little B]

Awesome bargains new or used. I like mine a lot.

Love the blue one!..but really, I love em all!...awesome guitar for the money..!!!!!!!!

 

[Chubtone]

here's an old thread with some pics of the Retro Mods we used to do on these Charvels. Unfortunately the Japanese ones are not available anymore. They are not saying they are discontinued though, but they have been sold out for months and FMIC is reportedly not doing any more business with the factory in Japan that built these and some Jacksons and the EVH Specials. I hope they replace them with something cool.


viewtopic.php?f=3&t=91379&hilit=charvel+retro+mods

 

[rockstah]

here's an old thread with some pics of the Retro Mods we used to do on these Charvels. Unfortunately the Japanese ones are not available anymore. They are not saying they are discontinued though, but they have been sold out for months and FMIC is reportedly not doing any more business with the factory in Japan that built these and some Jacksons and the EVH Specials. I hope they replace them with something cool.


viewtopic.php?f=3&t=91379&hilit=charvel+retro+mods

exactly what im doing to my white one in those pictures.

when i spoke with someone at Charvel he said that the factory in japan was taken out by the Tsumani and that the guitars will be back, "probably will be Korean made" but they would be back.

Mark