Is there anything better than a Charvel?

[tnourse]

The best playing and sounding guitar I've ever played is my mid 90's San Dimas USA reissue. I absolutely love it. I've had many Charvels and every one if them played great. But none come close to my reissue.

My Music Man Petrucci JP6 comes close though.....

 

[mlkx2]

I like Charvels

 

[Shask]

Great guitars, but the look really isn't for everone. The generation that I think alot of the members of this board belong to are heavily influenced and inspired by the 80s heavy rock/metal guitarrists, specifically EVH, Garry Moore, Gilbert, etc.

The taste in tone and appearence for guitars kinda goes along with that I think. But my generation, not so much. Don't get me wrong, I'd love a black or purple (I'd love a purple) San Dimas or SoCal..

..That is, if it had a rosewood/ebony fretboard, less rounded bevels (more like an ibanez), 24 frets, etc etc. That's the generational gap. My ideal guitar looks more like an ESP Horizon, whereas I think if I were 30 years older it'd be a red San Dimas with a lovely blonde fretboard.

I dunno, most of my guitars are ESP or Schecter or something but I want a black So-Cal something fierce I will get one once I get the cash. I think if you stay away from the skittles colors ones, they still look classy even for today....

 

[thiswaythatway]

Anything?

What about

 

[tnourse]

Anything?

What about

DAMN!! What were we talking about??

 

[Ayrton]

Anything?

What about

I would drown a bag of kittens to watch her touch her toes.

 

[Digital Jams]

The charvels just have this cool factor, the original superstrat without the bells and whistles. Has nothing to do with the 80s looks wise except for several neon type finishes, more that they not for wiping down with micro fiber rags but for getting funked up while jamming out and drinking some beers. Guitars are made to be made your own, bang em, scratch em, swap shit out, let face it.....most of the Suhrs and PRS owners would cry if they got a mark on them. For guys that enjoy shipping stuff and packing yeah I could understand them not wanting to make their guitar look like it was played to get max value back.

I would love to own an Anderson, the god father of the superstrat, but for what I do with guitars my charvels just do it for me. The necks are awesome and after 3 years my first so-cal neck is butter.

 

[rottingcorpse]

when they first came out, a bro won one in a guitar competition. it was by far and away one of the baddest guitars i have ever played, to this day. it was always sitting out in the front foyer of his moms house. another bro found it in parts at his house and put it back together recently. the damned this still smoked like a mofo.

his old lady had a different neck and a real floyd installed on it a few years ago. my bro found all the original parts in a box and put it back like it was when we were 16. brought back some memories....

neck is nice and worn in. fretboard looks like it got some serious wear over the years. will ask juggernaut if he has pics of it.

 

[SFW]

Anything?

What about

Yeah... I'd tongue punch her in the fart box...

 

[Chubtone]

I've said it before and I will say it again. I'm especially flabbergasted at the comment above that Charvels don't have mojo but Anderson, Suhr and PRS do. Those three are amazing guitars. Gorgeous. But I have to say that Charvels have mojo, vibe and attitude at least on par with the others mentioned. There are many different types of guitars as there are many types of cars. Some like this:

Others like this

 

[thiswaythatway]

Your analogy worked for me when applied to Suhr, but not Anderson. For me at least.

 

[Rev]

The charvels just have this cool factor, the original superstrat without the bells and whistles. Has nothing to do with the 80s looks wise except for several neon type finishes, more that they not for wiping down with micro fiber rags but for getting funked up while jamming out and drinking some beers. Guitars are made to be made your own, bang em, scratch em, swap shit out, let face it.....most of the Suhrs and PRS owners would cry if they got a mark on them. For guys that enjoy shipping stuff and packing yeah I could understand them not wanting to make their guitar look like it was played to get max value back.

I would love to own an Anderson, the god father of the superstrat, but for what I do with guitars my charvels just do it for me. The necks are awesome and after 3 years my first so-cal neck is butter.

That worn neck feel is what I'm talking about. Like and old baseball glove feel. The rolled neck in their description with this guitar has me very interested. Never really cared for the relic look but the neck seems to have the work of years gigging done for you out of the wrapper.

 

[Chubtone]

Your analogy worked for me when applied to Suhr, but not Anderson. For me at least.

I hear you Dan and I respect your opinion because i know you went through a Suhr phase and even tried a Charvel out from me but they didn't move you like your Anderson does. To me an Anderson and a Suhr are so incredibly similar, maybe one's a Bentley and the other is a Rolls Royce. And how could being compared to either of those not be a huge compliment to any maker?

 

[Chubtone]

Quinn,
The Charvels all come with that rolled fretboard edge, even the Production models although a few of the USA Productions at the end didn't have the fretboard edges rolled. They are just like a broken in baseball glove and they feel like that almost immediately and just get better and better feeling with the more hours you put on them. When I special ordered my Suhr, John said that he really suggested putting a thin satin feel finish on the neck and that it would feel pretty much like an oil finished neck. The thing DID feel great, but it was never going to improve with time like almost all oil finished necks do as your own oils from your fingers work their way into the necks.

Your analogy is right, a broken in baseball glove or broken in pair of jeans.

 

[Rev]

Quinn,
The Charvels all come with that rolled fretboard edge, even the Production models although a few of the USA Productions at the end didn't have the fretboard edges rolled. They are just like a broken in baseball glove and they feel like that almost immediately and just get better and better feeling with the more hours you put on them. When I special ordered my Suhr, John said that he really suggested putting a thin satin feel finish on the neck and that it would feel pretty much like an oil finished neck. The thing DID feel great, but it was never going to improve with time like almost all oil finished necks do as your own oils from your fingers work their way into the necks.

Your analogy is right, a broken in baseball glove or broken in pair of jeans..... but hey some guys are more comfortable in Dockers.

Yeah that Orange SoCal I played of yours was the ticket. Never forgot that feeling and tried to find it elsewhere only to come up empty handed. I then played another one that wasn't rolled and assumed that yours was just well aged from playing. Didn't know they all come like that now...what a conundrum.

So it seems every Custom Shop dealer has their own thing. What is yours going to focus on?

 

[Phrygian]

I feel like one of the few guys who's been unimpressed by the new Charvels. I wanted to love them so bad. I've played probably close to 20 of them, different models and batches, but none of them impressed me enough to buy one. Even borrowed a couple of my buddy's...same deal, and I even gave them a good go. I will say bang for the buck they are quality. The necks along are enough to be happy about. Pretty flawless craftsmanship and they put most new Fenders (even double the price) to shame. In the end though I found all of them pretty much dull to play, no mojo, just a guitar. The Suhr's and Anderson's on the other hand put these things to shame, but there's an obvious price difference. My old Charvel's kill the new ones as well but it's like anything these days...you have to find the right one.

To each their own though. I'm happy to hear they're being enjoyed by so many people and am glad that's there's something of this quality in the price range. I think us guitarists needed something like this. Maybe one day I'll find the right one, but for now I'm pretty "meh" on them.

 

[Chubtone]

Yeah that Orange SoCal I played of yours was the ticket. Never forgot that feeling and tried to find it elsewhere only to come up empty handed. I then played another one that wasn't rolled and assumed that yours was just well aged from playing. Didn't know they all come like that now...what a conundrum.

So it seems every Custom Shop dealer has their own thing. What is yours going to focus on?

My thing with the Charvel custom shops will be what I feel is a strong appreciation for what put the Charvel name on the map and what made all the hot shot players in the early 80's turn to them. That's all I'm going to say about that now. I think the only other custom shop dealer that gets it is Tommy at Music Zoo.

 

[Rev]

Yeah that Orange SoCal I played of yours was the ticket. Never forgot that feeling and tried to find it elsewhere only to come up empty handed. I then played another one that wasn't rolled and assumed that yours was just well aged from playing. Didn't know they all come like that now...what a conundrum.

So it seems every Custom Shop dealer has their own thing. What is yours going to focus on?

My thing with the Charvel custom shops will be what I feel is a strong appreciation for what put the Charvel name on the map and what made all the hot shot players in the early 80's turn to them. That's all I'm going to say about that now. I think the only other custom shop dealer that gets it is Tommy at Music Zoo.

"Your killing me smalls"

So I take it yours will have that fit to comfort rolled necks?

 

[Chubtone]

Everyone is going to have their own opinion here and I don't think you will find a bigger Charvel cheerleader than me. I had Suhr's that are as nice as Suhr's get:

I have had so many original Charvels through my hands that it is crazy. Here's a fraction of what I've had:

Here's what I have now:

and

an '80, an '84 and a couple of '08 USA Productions. The white one is an '09. To make a blanket statement that the old ones are way better than the new ones i would say is just simply inaccurate. The new custom shop ones are every bit as good as the originals. I'm sure sah5150 can chime in here too as he owned originals back in the day and has three new custom shops now. MANY of the original ones that had strat heads didn't come with Floyd Roses and so they had everything from vintage Fender type fretboard radius to much flatter fretboard radius. The new ones have compound radius including the USA and MIJ production models. Tons of the originals I had were extremely tough to get set up right if you modified it to a Floyd from the stock brass trem due to the radius being too rounded.

I don't want to be some blind, Charvel Kool Aid drinker but I think there is a tendency to dismiss them based on some poorly set up guitar hanging in a store or whatever. I put about 2 to 3 hours into each of my new Pro Mods necks, steel wooling, re-oiling with gun stock oil and steel wooling and polishing the frets. i have to say that right now, I honestly prefer them to my '80 and my '84. I am hoping my new custom shop that is in production now will come out on top and to be honest, if it sounds as good as my black or my white USA Production, I will be STOKED.

 

[Rev]

That white relic one looks awesome! Did you have that done or is that how you bought it?