Charvel Guitars vs. Wayne Guitars?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rev
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In a comparison, I've found the recent production Charvels to be more consistent than the Waynes I'd gotten my hands on in both Tone AND playability. Ralph an I compared his 2 Charvels and my 2 and I strained HARD to hear OR feel ANY difference between them and I'm an anal headcase when it comes to what I can/cant play on comfortably.
I LIKE having 2 exact guitars that I can go to in event of a broken string without having to change amp settings to compensate....
The necks?
I've played 8 different Wayne rock legends, they have varied between a flat, thin Jackson style neck all the way up to a damned baseball bat!! Perhaps in some instances 'handmade' isnt always a good thing...
In addition, I've personally learned to fall out of love with birdseye maple neck/boards (Wayne tends to use) as opposed to a non figured maple, only because in my experience birdseye tended to get a little twisty, alot sooner.
personally, I'll forgo an Original floyd for these new import floyd bridges if it allows me to save 2 thousand dollars for the Wayne, no matter WHAT the paint scheme is.
On the other hand, the Fretwork on the Rock legends are terrific. Amazing. I love their fretwork. Still do. I like the wire AND the unique method of crowning they use. But dont look for the same wire on the cheaper models, (Monster, if I remember right?) I found, although similar, the work just isnt put into them.
Yeah, I guess the Waynes are pretty if you can get past the headstock.. :lol: :LOL: But for the same price I'd rather own 3 Charvels... :lol: :LOL:

Bottom line is, with any guitar, you play the thing first and find out if its the one you want. If so, take it the F home an ROK!!! :rock:
 
Ralph and H, wait to check out the neck on my slime ;)

There are better quality built guitars out there but I am just stoked my new favorite guitars are these new charvels due to their cost. Funny how 2 years ago I was screaming about the escalating costs of new guitars and out of nowhere here comes charvel with $1000 fully loaded guitars with awesome feeling necks. Very happy with them.

Still would love a Warren snake cs though :doh: :lol: :LOL:
 
I own Waynes, American Charvels, and 1980 Japanese Charvels. I play rock guitar like ZZ Top or Van Halen type tones.

Wayne Guitars - I have two models with the old head stocks (not the bird beaks). These guitars are fantastically awesome, nice string action (I like the strings as close to the neck as possible), German Floyd Rose, stay in tune, flat thin necks, oiled necks (not laquered). Once you own an oiled neck it is difficult to go back to laquered necks. The neck feels WOW smooth. I lemon oil and polish the neck every time I change strings, it takes 4 or 5 minutes. The frets are rounded off so when you slide your hand it is smooth. Pickups are screwed directly to the body (no springs), this makes the tones unbelievable. I added a whammy stop so it really returns to tune for my style of playing. If you sweat a lot on the Floyd Rose it will gum up over time and will need an alcohol bath and a few drops 3M machine oil on the hinged saddles and the rusty looking long lock-down screws. The frets are nickel and I use .000 fine steel wool to lightly polish the tarnish off the frets. It makes the guitar faster. I dial back the volume knob to about 9 or so for the best rhythm tones. These are my main guitars.

American Charvels - made by Fender, Fender bought the Japanese company out a few years ago (2008ish ???). My guitar is made in San Dimas, CA. These are almost Wayne Guitars in body cut and neck cut... the necks have a satin laquer finish though. the pickups are on springs... nice string action. I had to file the corners of the frets to fix the saw tooth feel when I slid my hand down the neck. Stewart-MacDonald sells a nice little file with round edges that will not scratch the fret board. It plays really nice now. I added a whammy stop. If you sweat a lot on the Floyd Rose it will gum up over time and need an alcohol bath and a few drops 3M machine oil on the hinged saddles and rusty looking long lock-down screws. A nice surprise... this guitar was white when new but has turned a nice cream color over the last 6 years. I like this guitar a lot and use it often when recording.

Japanese Charvels - In the 1980's Wayne Charvel sold the Charvel name to a Japanese company. The name plates read "Fort Worth" but these were made in Japan. These Charvels have the pointy headstock and Kahler Tremelos. The neck is a two part glued maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. The cool thing about this neck is that it is less wide at the nut than Waynes or the new American Charvels. It's a little more narrow at the nut and feels really great to my hand. I wish Wayne would cut a few necks like these. The Kahler nut does not always lock the string down on the high E, the angle to the tuning peg is a design flaw. If you sweat a lot on the Kahler it will gum up over time and need an alcohol bath and a few drops 3M machine oil on the rollers. These rollers can stop rolling and need to be forced to roll again if gummed up. These guitars were work horses though. A good one was a GREAT ONE. The Kahler fine tuner screws required oiling periodically.

There's my two cents worth of knowledge...
 
Apparently the Korean made "original Floyd rose," is the closest to buying a German one for about $309.00 according to their site.

I'm considering switching out the Korean "original," for a German one, but don't know how much of a difference it'll be. I can't recal my Kramer from 87 that had the German on it how good it was.

I saw that they sell a titanium Floyd for s whopping $1200.00. That's fuckin crazy!!!!
 
I bought a used Titanium Floyd and I have to say it's great! Sounds awesome, and somehow everything 'feels' much nicer than a normal floyd. But is it worth the money? No, of course not..
 
JohnnySea":3iallcbf said:
I own Waynes, American Charvels, and 1980 Japanese Charvels. I play rock guitar like ZZ Top or Van Halen type tones.

Wayne Guitars - I have two models with the old head stocks (not the bird beaks). These guitars are fantastically awesome, nice string action (I like the strings as close to the neck as possible), German Floyd Rose, stay in tune, flat thin necks, oiled necks (not laquered). Once you own an oiled neck it is difficult to go back to laquered necks. The neck feels WOW smooth. I lemon oil and polish the neck every time I change strings, it takes 4 or 5 minutes. The frets are rounded off so when you slide your hand it is smooth. Pickups are screwed directly to the body (no springs), this makes the tones unbelievable. I added a whammy stop so it really returns to tune for my style of playing. If you sweat a lot on the Floyd Rose it will gum up over time and will need an alcohol bath and a few drops 3M machine oil on the hinged saddles and the rusty looking long lock-down screws. The frets are nickel and I use .000 fine steel wool to lightly polish the tarnish off the frets. It makes the guitar faster. I dial back the volume knob to about 9 or so for the best rhythm tones. These are my main guitars.

American Charvels - made by Fender, Fender bought the Japanese company out a few years ago (2008ish ???). My guitar is made in San Dimas, CA. These are almost Wayne Guitars in body cut and neck cut... the necks have a satin laquer finish though. the pickups are on springs... nice string action. I had to file the corners of the frets to fix the saw tooth feel when I slid my hand down the neck. Stewart-MacDonald sells a nice little file with round edges that will not scratch the fret board. It plays really nice now. I added a whammy stop. If you sweat a lot on the Floyd Rose it will gum up over time and need an alcohol bath and a few drops 3M machine oil on the hinged saddles and rusty looking long lock-down screws. A nice surprise... this guitar was white when new but has turned a nice cream color over the last 6 years. I like this guitar a lot and use it often when recording.

Japanese Charvels - In the 1980's Wayne Charvel sold the Charvel name to a Japanese company. The name plates read "Fort Worth" but these were made in Japan. These Charvels have the pointy headstock and Kahler Tremelos. The neck is a two part glued maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. The cool thing about this neck is that it is less wide at the nut than Waynes or the new American Charvels. It's a little more narrow at the nut and feels really great to my hand. I wish Wayne would cut a few necks like these. The Kahler nut does not always lock the string down on the high E, the angle to the tuning peg is a design flaw. If you sweat a lot on the Kahler it will gum up over time and need an alcohol bath and a few drops 3M machine oil on the rollers. These rollers can stop rolling and need to be forced to roll again if gummed up. These guitars were work horses though. A good one was a GREAT ONE. The Kahler fine tuner screws required oiling periodically.

There's my two cents worth of knowledge...
Click to expand...
Wayne Charvel never sold the Charvel name to a Japanese company. He was out WAY before that happened. He sold the Charvel name/equipment/company to Grover Jackson. Grover is responsible for all the great 80s American Charvels that were so sought after, not Wayne...

Steve
 
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