Review : Played the new USA Charvels and am now a dealer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chubtone
  • Start date Start date
Gainfreak":2704fc2e said:
badger71":2704fc2e said:
Thanks....I'm putting a HSH Strat together with a Dave Murray-esque twist.
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Cool!! Keep in mind that they have the shit chrome plated plastic ones or the metal Chrome ones! Just be careful because I once bought the plastic ones by accident !!
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Thanks for the heads up! :thumbsup:
 
Chubtone":1ijte79f said:
Megadeth7684":1ijte79f said:
One thing I don't like is the gray looking pickup rings and the volume knob looks kinda cheap. Those would be cheap and easy fixes though.
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The pickup rings are flat black and look cool in person. That knob however is another story. It's gotta go. :yes:
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funny you mention that...after looking the photo over,initially,i said to myself..."that knob has gotta go"! :lol: :LOL:
 
donbarzini":2w4w65tv said:
Calamari, tell me more about the gig bag.
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+1, but leave out some information so he has to ask at least 4 more times.
 
shit, I want to know about the case candy....well, gig bag candy in this instance.
 
The gig bags would be sweet if they matched the finishes on the guitars. :lol: :LOL:
 
Hard to tell, but the knob looks like one of those rubberized type knobs that is on parkers, no? I *hate* those :lol: :LOL: lol

Edit: actually looks more like the knobs on my jackson but in that ugly grey color, but that's still better than a parker type knob :thumbsup:
 
mctallica1":1bx07wc7 said:
I REALLY like those Tele type bodies....any chance of seeing these without a whammy bar? I would be all over that :yes:
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Yes, hardtail versions would be awesome!

:rock:
 
redrol":10clfs5i said:
no HSS config ;_;
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To tell you the truth, the HSS config really wasn't that big when these strat head Charvels were popular. HSS got real popular in the mid to late 80's. These old strat heads were mainly single hums with substantially fewer double hum guitars. However the production model pickguard guitar is routed H-S-H so you can do whatever you want with that one, pickup wise.
 
So at this price point is it safe to say the parts are made in Mexico/China and assembled in USA?
 
Greazygeo":2ib6x5hy said:
So at this price point is it safe to say the parts are made in Mexico/China and assembled in USA?
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George,
I have an ex employee of mine who works inside Fender at the Corona plant and these he says are start to finish, top to bottom, made in the USA. The Highway 1 guitars sell for about $699.... these sell for $300 more than that give or take. They also don't include a hard case like the USA Standard strats do and those are $999. So at this price point and the extremely limited options and with only a gig bag, the price really supports them doing this on the US production line.

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about when I say that you can "feel" the difference in build quality between the Highway 1 strats and the USA Standard strats. These feel easily equivalent to the overall quality and construction of an American Standard strat but with better shaped necks, better hot-rodded super strat feel and sound.

Even the Floyd Rose that some people are wary of because it is made in Korea seems really nice. I'm a Floyd Rose freak. The kind of guy that only uses Floyds from the early 80's for all my builds. Then I put those big brass trem blocks on them. I played these guitars through the same amp I always play my guitars through and they sounded killer so I don't know if I have been wasting time hunting down very early production Floyds and then spending $50 to put the big block on them or not.

This first batch is also going to be really, really good. So many people are waiting to read the reviews on these and Charvel plans on coming out of the gate very strong. What they will be like a year from now, I can't say but this first batch is going to really be under the microscope. That's why I'm personally getting one of this first batch and then I'll wait and see what happens color-wise over the next year.
 
Chubtone":2tu72ytt said:
Greazygeo":2tu72ytt said:
So at this price point is it safe to say the parts are made in Mexico/China and assembled in USA?
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George,
I have an ex employee of mine who works inside Fender at the Corona plant and these he says are start to finish, top to bottom, made in the USA. The Highway 1 guitars sell for about $699.... these sell for $300 more than that give or take. They also don't include a hard case like the USA Standard strats do and those are $999. So at this price point and the extremely limited options and with only a gig bag, the price really supports them doing this on the US production line.

I'm sure you know what I'm talking about when I say that you can "feel" the difference in build quality between the Highway 1 strats and the USA Standard strats. These feel easily equivalent to the overall quality and construction of an American Standard strat but with better shaped necks, better hot-rodded super strat feel and sound.

Even the Floyd Rose that some people are wary of because it is made in Korea seems really nice. I'm a Floyd Rose freak. The kind of guy that only uses Floyds from the early 80's for all my builds. Then I put those big brass trem blocks on them. I played these guitars through the same amp I always play my guitars through and they sounded killer so I don't know if I have been wasting time hunting down very early production Floyds and then spending $50 to put the big block on them or not.

This first batch is also going to be really, really good. So many people are waiting to read the reviews on these and Charvel plans on coming out of the gate very strong. What they will be like a year from now, I can't say but this first batch is going to really be under the microscope. That's why I'm personally getting one of this first batch and then I'll wait and see what happens color-wise over the next year.
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Ahh I see. The ad made it look like retail was 999.00, so I was figuring normal discounting etc. Is the nut width 1 5/8?
 
Greazygeo":lo2jbil5 said:
Ahh I see. The ad made it look like retail was 999.00, so I was figuring normal discounting etc. Is the nut width 1 5/8?
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Nut width is 1 11/16". Typical Charvel nut width. Some were narrower, some were wider, but most were this width. Yeah, this $999 street price and no stated retail price is confusing a lot of people.
 
64DUECE":7a7rp7s8 said:
Damn I want that black tele Charvel!!!
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And I want you to have it. :lol: :LOL: The black tele looks like some sort of stealth fighter to me.
 
psychodave":31lxa8py said:
I cant wait till I get this!!!! The next 3 weeks will be hard :D

NAMM2008006.jpg
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nice :thumbsup:
 
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