Chubtone
Well-known member
On Tuesday, my Jackson Charvel sales rep popped into the store. He had samples of all six of the new USA production Charvel series guitars. All three models in each color. Let me qualify this for those that don't know me. I played my first San Dimas Charvel in 1983. By 1984 I bought my first one, #3409 brand new in Chicago. From 1984-1997 I owned so many different San Dimas Charvels I can't even come close to remembering them all. In 1985 I moved to Los Angeles and Charvels were everywhere..... pawn shops, used stores, trade ins at Guitar Center etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if anyone dealing Charvels these days is a long time Charvel freak and has owned dozens of originals and held and played easily over 100 real deal, original San Dimas Charvels, I've got to be on that list too.
So on to the review. They nailed the neck in my opinion. The width and the shape is right. To me it is the perfect neck shape and reminds me of the typical 1982-1983 era neck. Nice big frets, not like 6000's but probably 6100 sized. Nice compound radius, unlike the originals but a nice modern update. As for the finish on the necks, it is oil but let me say this. These oil finished necks are sanded smoother than the originals were. The originals had this very slight rough "unfinished" feel that went away the more you played them. These still need to be played in for that ultimate Charvel feel.
The bodies (all 6 that I played) had a nice even weight to them. I'm going to guess in the 7.5-8lb range. The bodies are 2 and 3 piece bodies according to my rep. Just like the originals were. (except one of my pre production Charvels is a 4-piece body). They are nice and resonant acoustically. Not one of them was dead sounding. The pickguard models felt a little more resonant acoustically. They also had different pickups so I can't make a direct comparison tonally.
The guitars sound good. Very good. None of them were thin sounding. None of them were muddy. They were just big, mean sounding hot rodded Charvels like you would expect. The JB sounded great in the bridge and I always love a '59 in the neck. The DiMarzio loaded guitars (the So Cal models) sounded different but still in that same ballpark of big, meaty, rock tone. I think I preferred the neck pickup on the So Cal model, but the bridge pickup on the San Dimas Style 1 and 2.
The Floyd Rose bridge sounded nice and resonant. Not pingy or wimpy at all. It had nice sustain, even unplugged. It felt great and it stayed in tune. All in all, I had these guitars in my hands for an hour straight. My main employee has also owned several old San Dimas Charvels. He played them too. We were both impressed with these guitars. They do feel like a "production" version of these guitars I have loved for 25 years, but they don't feel cheap or skimped on. As a matter of fact they feel closer to the Charvel Custom Shop models than the production Fender American Standard Strats feel to the Fender Custom Shop models.
I guess it is really tough to explain until you've felt them, but in my opinion whoever came up with these designs chose the right parts, and especially the right old school San Dimas Charvel features to use on these guitars. To make a long story short, I am buying one of these for my son as his first pro guitar. I am buying at least a few of them for myself. My employee that played them already has a couple of his other guitars up for sale in order to cover buying a few of these. Our main guitar teacher here is buying one too.
So I have 12 of these guitars still available coming in sometime in the 1st or 2nd week of July. They are available for pre-order today. There are two of each guitar you see pictured here. If you would like one or two, please PM me or contact me at the store in the website in my signature. Ask for Curt or Jay. I am really excited about these new guitars. I was half skeptical to begin with, but they are better than I expected them to be. Charvel is going to sell a ton of these!
So on to the review. They nailed the neck in my opinion. The width and the shape is right. To me it is the perfect neck shape and reminds me of the typical 1982-1983 era neck. Nice big frets, not like 6000's but probably 6100 sized. Nice compound radius, unlike the originals but a nice modern update. As for the finish on the necks, it is oil but let me say this. These oil finished necks are sanded smoother than the originals were. The originals had this very slight rough "unfinished" feel that went away the more you played them. These still need to be played in for that ultimate Charvel feel.
The bodies (all 6 that I played) had a nice even weight to them. I'm going to guess in the 7.5-8lb range. The bodies are 2 and 3 piece bodies according to my rep. Just like the originals were. (except one of my pre production Charvels is a 4-piece body). They are nice and resonant acoustically. Not one of them was dead sounding. The pickguard models felt a little more resonant acoustically. They also had different pickups so I can't make a direct comparison tonally.
The guitars sound good. Very good. None of them were thin sounding. None of them were muddy. They were just big, mean sounding hot rodded Charvels like you would expect. The JB sounded great in the bridge and I always love a '59 in the neck. The DiMarzio loaded guitars (the So Cal models) sounded different but still in that same ballpark of big, meaty, rock tone. I think I preferred the neck pickup on the So Cal model, but the bridge pickup on the San Dimas Style 1 and 2.
The Floyd Rose bridge sounded nice and resonant. Not pingy or wimpy at all. It had nice sustain, even unplugged. It felt great and it stayed in tune. All in all, I had these guitars in my hands for an hour straight. My main employee has also owned several old San Dimas Charvels. He played them too. We were both impressed with these guitars. They do feel like a "production" version of these guitars I have loved for 25 years, but they don't feel cheap or skimped on. As a matter of fact they feel closer to the Charvel Custom Shop models than the production Fender American Standard Strats feel to the Fender Custom Shop models.
I guess it is really tough to explain until you've felt them, but in my opinion whoever came up with these designs chose the right parts, and especially the right old school San Dimas Charvel features to use on these guitars. To make a long story short, I am buying one of these for my son as his first pro guitar. I am buying at least a few of them for myself. My employee that played them already has a couple of his other guitars up for sale in order to cover buying a few of these. Our main guitar teacher here is buying one too.
So I have 12 of these guitars still available coming in sometime in the 1st or 2nd week of July. They are available for pre-order today. There are two of each guitar you see pictured here. If you would like one or two, please PM me or contact me at the store in the website in my signature. Ask for Curt or Jay. I am really excited about these new guitars. I was half skeptical to begin with, but they are better than I expected them to be. Charvel is going to sell a ton of these!
No seriously, the gig bag may be a bit of a let down to such a gig bag aficionado as donbarzini but to the rest of us it is a decent, medium quality bag that will protect the guitar from dings, chips, scratches etc. It most likely wouldn't survive a nuclear apocalypse. 
