Any one have the new Charvel San Dimas? How do you like it?

[thenine]

I am a big fan of the MZ natural series. You guys who have tried these prod guitars and didnt like them may fare better with one of the MZ nats. I have one in mahog and it is a killer guitar. Heavy guitar but very toneful and fun to play.

 

[Gainfreak]

Put that Mr. Scary clip up dude.I dare someone with an "old" Charvel to match it in terms of tone.I'm not saying all the new ones are this good but you can definitely get a great one.Plus part of the fun of owning one of these is upgrading to better pickups,big brass block,D-Tuna etc.

Exactly man. My original Charvel has had probably 20 pickups in it over the years. It had a brass bridge. Then it's had 3 or 4 different Floyds on it.

It's funny a lot of guys say these guitars are ok but aren't really "good enough for them". Well, they are capable of this below. I'd say that they can cut it.

psychodave ripping and achieving great tone with his Charvel and a $30k amp rig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j52t-a_o ... re=channel

and here is JMR the guitar teacher at my store doing a Bogner Fish demo for Tone Merchants. He's in a store surrounded by Suhrs and Tylers and instead chooses to play this crappy Charvel of his. Skip to about 5:30 in to here him bring the rock. Then a little later at the insistence of those around him, he switches to a Suhr Modern a guitar that store actually sells :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRFRvPjN ... annel_page

And here's some hack named Chubtone fumbling, bumbling and stumbling his way around on a Charvel So Cal:

https://www.soundclick.com/util/getplaye ... 58212&q=hi

So yeah, all in all I'd say these guitars are junk and unplayable and crappy sounding and you should avoid them at all costs.

You also have to keep in mind that its the luck of the draw if you get a good one or not Curt and that's for any guitar. Ive had a $400 tex mex strat kick some of my $2000 guitars ass. The ones that I have played were ok tone wise my 83 is spectacular tone wise, so that's what I'm going on. When I find a new one that sounds as killer as my old one I'll buy it

 

[Chubtone]

[\
Which is the reason why I said I haven't found one yet!! I'm pretty sure I eventually will find one that is as good as my 83

With that said, The guitar 4th in from the right looks like mine only with a Maple neck!
Mine is a mutant and I had so many people offer me rediculous amounts of money for it

Ralph,
None of these alder bodied Charvels with maple necks are going to sound like your maple bodied one with a rosewood neck. Don't make me reach through the internet and slap you.

 

[Gainfreak]

[\
Which is the reason why I said I haven't found one yet!! I'm pretty sure I eventually will find one that is as good as my 83

With that said, The guitar 4th in from the right looks like mine only with a Maple neck!
Mine is a mutant and I had so many people offer me rediculous amounts of money for it

Ralph,
None of these alder bodied Charvels with maple necks are going to sound like your maple bodied one with a rosewood neck. Don't make me reach through the internet and slap you.

Shit, You busted me

I thought about that when I posted

 

[Chubtone]

And I am not speaking in any way to danyeo's experience in this thread. Dan got a blue San Dimas 1 from me and I promised I would pick him out the better one of the two that came in. I did. His was better than the other blue one I got from a playing perspective and it sounded the same. When he got it, he just wasn't feeling the tone with it and even tried a pickup swap. He didn't think it sounded that great and psychodave agreed that his own San Dimas 1 sounded better than Dan's. So yeah, they're not all going to rule. I think that the Charvel I sold danyeo isn't exactly in horrible company though with not passing danyeo's tone tests. $4000 solid Koa Suhr's have also failed the danyeo test. I don't mean this in a negative way at all towards danyeo. I think he is a very cool guy. That guitar just didn't work out for him. I think he was mainly comparing it to a Gibson Explorer he had at the time too so that's going to be a very different sounding guitar.

 

[gbsmusic]

First off I am a Charvel dealer and sell these new Charvels so you can take all this with a grain of salt. I've sold a ton of them to guys on Rig-Talk. I am also a long time Charvel San Dimas collector. I have owned or had my hands on anywhere from 80-100 of the original, real deal, "holy grail", San Dimas era Charvels. For some reason they even considered me enough of an expert to be interviewed for the Charvel book that came out several years ago.

Here's some guitars that have gone through my hands. Included in the pic is the black strat head that Rowan Robertson used to record Dio's "Lock Up The Wolves". The black/green/yellow hot rod flame in the front row belonged to George Lynch and he was pictured with it on the cover of the Rhino CD "Best of Dokken". The blood-splattered one in the middle row is THE infamous "Redrum" guitar that was very well known in Charvel circles.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know Charvels. I'm not the world's foremost Charvel expert, but I know them ok? I lived in LA in the 80's and I started hunting for the US ones in 1985 as soon as production went to Japan. I have played a ton of the Japanese Charvels. Some of them have been decent guitars.

These new production Charvels with a little set-up here, maybe a pickup swap there are killer guitars that I would defintely put up "Tone-wise" against any of the original San Dimas Charvels I have ever owned. I own two old ones and I own two new ones. I love the new ones once I have done a little massaging to them to make them my own. The same sort of things I did to all my original Charvels and one of the guys in this has done to his Japanese Charvel. I have NEVER found an off the rack guitar to be exactly what I like. I would never compare something off the rack to something I have played for years and years and made exactly what I want out of it. What I feel in these Charvels right off the rack is potential. Tons of potential. And yeah for about $1000 brand new I think a guitar having potential to be exactly what I want is just about the right price.

WOW!! Nice!! I just made it back home and played 4 of them and this one made it home with me! I liked the feel of the neck on this way better for some reason and it sounded better, its a little brite but I'll fix that. I'm going to set it all up and I think it will work great for what I'm looking for and they made me a good deal. I really like the blue better as far as looks go but this one was just better! I've never cared for red but I guess I like it now!!! Thanks for the input!!

 

[thiswaythatway]

And I am not speaking in any way to danyeo's experience in this thread. Dan got a blue San Dimas 1 from me and I promised I would pick him out the better one of the two that came in. I did. His was better than the other blue one I got from a playing perspective and it sounded the same. When he got it, he just wasn't feeling the tone with it and even tried a pickup swap. He didn't think it sounded that great and psychodave agreed that his own San Dimas 1 sounded better than Dan's. So yeah, they're not all going to rule. I think that the Charvel I sold danyeo isn't exactly in horrible company though with not passing danyeo's tone tests. $4000 solid Koa Suhr's have also failed the danyeo test. I don't mean this in a negative way at all towards danyeo. I think he is a very cool guy. That guitar just didn't work out for him. I think he was mainly comparing it to a Gibson Explorer he had at the time too so that's going to be a very different sounding guitar.

You know they are at such a good price that it wouldn't hurt to try another one, but load it with some Suhr Aldrich pickups. The Suhr was $2000 not 4k In all honesty, i had an Ibanez RG3120 that sounded better than most Charvels i have played. Probably because it had Mahoganey body with the maple top and i tend to that combo better than a solid Alder guitar.

 

[projectx102]

And I am not speaking in any way to danyeo's experience in this thread. Dan got a blue San Dimas 1 from me and I promised I would pick him out the better one of the two that came in. I did. His was better than the other blue one I got from a playing perspective and it sounded the same. When he got it, he just wasn't feeling the tone with it and even tried a pickup swap. He didn't think it sounded that great and psychodave agreed that his own San Dimas 1 sounded better than Dan's. So yeah, they're not all going to rule. I think that the Charvel I sold danyeo isn't exactly in horrible company though with not passing danyeo's tone tests. $4000 solid Koa Suhr's have also failed the danyeo test. I don't mean this in a negative way at all towards danyeo. I think he is a very cool guy. That guitar just didn't work out for him. I think he was mainly comparing it to a Gibson Explorer he had at the time too so that's going to be a very different sounding guitar.

You know they are at such a good price that it wouldn't hurt to try another one, but load it with some Suhr Aldrich pickups. The Suhr was $2000 not 4k In all honesty, i had an Ibanez RG3120 that sounded better than most Charvels i have played. Probably because it had Mahoganey body with the maple top and i tend to that combo better than a solid Alder guitar.

Makes perfect sense . I really dig the Aldrich in mine but I'm ordering a Motor City Afwayu to try.

 

[Chubtone]

You found a candy red San Dimas 1 at a store brand new still? Dang, those went out of production in Sept '08. No wonder they were willing to deal

Congrats and enjoy it.

 

[Chubtone]

[ The Suhr was $2000 not 4k

I meant current pricing for a new one.

 

[Digital Jams]

Reading this thread really wants me to........................

1. Slap the shit out of Danny boy for selling that 3120 I sold him as he keeps bringing it up years later

2. Laugh my ass off at the next " It is the best guitar I have ever played but I want to try something else!!!!!" cause due to the experience talking in here they do not come along very often.

I am a happy camper with what I have anyways

 

[Gainfreak]

is the one on the right foreskin?

Yes!! And the weird thing is that more you play with it the more the guitar grows on you!! It's uncanny!!!

 

[glpg80]

is the one on the right foreskin?

Yes!! And the weird thing is that more you play with it the more the guitar grows on you!! It's uncanny!!!

dude thats so wrong on so many levels

 

[Gainfreak]

is the one on the right foreskin?

Yes!! And the weird thing is that more you play with it the more the guitar grows on you!! It's uncanny!!!

dude thats so wrong on so many levels

 

[MrDan666]

You think that's awesome.. try this:

Its very ballsy sounding, with a bell like top end..

 

[Laura]

Has anyone tried the Adrian Smith Jackson and/or compared it with the Charvel So. Cal?

 

[Chubtone]

Has anyone tried the Adrian Smith Jackson and/or compared it with the Charvel So. Cal?

I have a customer/friend that bought one of each Adrian Smith model the ebony board one and the maple board one and then bought a white San Dimas 1 from me. We played them all back to back. He immediately sold one of his Adrian Smith's because it didn't sound as good. I believe his other Adrian Smith may be going on the market soon and he told me his production model SD1 is a keeper. As for the feel of the necks? Well I wouldn't be shocked if they came off the exact same production line. I don't know that they do, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they did. The Adrian neck did feel like a little more time was spent in the oil finishing and hand rubbing of the oil finish than the production models.

 

[thiswaythatway]

 

[Digital Jams]

As screwed up as that company turned out to be those mij ESP necks held some of the most stupid low action around.

If only hair lasted a few more years so they could have bought Gibson

 

[thiswaythatway]

As screwed up as that company turned out to be those mij ESP necks held some of the most stupid low action around.

If only hair lasted a few more years so they could have bought Gibson

The guy in the boat on the right is my friend Albert. He has his Ibanez with him in the pic. Damm shame that he stopped playing in the 90's since he was playing Racer X tunes note for note. Funny how the guy in the middle would just talk about how much better his LP was than any of the Kramers, even though he worked in the Kramer custom shop

I'll never forget the one morning i was hungover and half asleep and i was trying to buff out a scratch on a cheap Farrington and the buffing machine caught the guitar and some of my long hair. The guitar got thrown and i lost some hair.