Charvel Socal...do I really gotta..

[jkdsteve]

....take the neck off to adjust the relief?

The reason I held off buying on of these for so long methinks

 

[Tone Zone]

pretty gay, huh?

 

[Doubleneck]

I've done it about 3 or 4 times on mine with no problems.

If you want the strings closer to the neck, righty tighty, if you want the strings further away, lefty loosey.

Just do a slight adjustment at a time, bend the crap out of the strings, tune the guitar to pitch and let it sit for a day or two before you do another adjustment.

 

[Chris6870]

PITA ass, yeah but it really takes about takes 5 minutes. I never even take the strings off, just loosen then up real good.

 

[Digital Jams]

Own three, one for three years and only one time I had to pull the neck here in multi-climate CT.

loosen strings
tape strings to fretboard
re-tune.

Nothing to it

 

[tnourse]

I hate taking off the neck to adjust it. That's why I love my Music Man JP-6. Very easy neck adjustment.

Here in MN, the weather changes so much, seems like I'm always tweaking the necks on my guitars.

 

[Ayrton]

I have not touched mine since the initial set up.

The necks are very stable.

 

[stratotone]

Quick way to do it - push the floyd down so the strings are slack, put something inside the trem cavity to hold the trem in position. Carefully take the neck off, adjust the truss rod, put it back on (I usually use two screws, one front and diagonal back) take item out of trem cavity, tune guitar back to pitch (usually it's pretty close) check relief, if it's not right then repeat, otherwise add two screws back to the neck plate and you're done.

Pete

 

[joepete77]

really only need to do serious adjustment when changing the gauge in strings

 

[jkdsteve]

It's settled a little bit since I got it and with change in the weather here, there is not quite as much relief as when i set it up....so I need to loosen it a tad.

Good idea on blocking the trem and loosening the strings, hopefully I can get in there like that!

 

[mentoneman]

this charvel i'd take:

headstock truss adjustment, no floyd, maple neck, natural finish, owned by my hero.







this one is also doable, in a pinch

 

[Chris O]

It is a pain for sure, but if it makes you feels any better, I have to do the same thing with MUCH more expensive Charvel Custom Shop models. With that said, once I get them set up well, they are 'relatively' stable.

Like Pete said, if you loosen the strings and block the trems, it isn't that big of a deal. I sure did like the Charvel WDM Snakeskin that had the wheel cutaway like EBMM guitars.

I still think that the USA or Japanese SD's and SoCals are about the best guitar out there for the price.

 

[TeleBlaster]

This is why I've held off on one.
Nobody has been able to tell me if I could put a wheel nut on from Stew-Mac.
Notching the body and/or fretboard would be easy, but the nut has to work.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Truss_rods/ ... es#details

 

[Rockinloud]

I have 3 USA ProMods & really once you get the hang of it it's not that big of a deal, besides I haven't had to adjust them that often. Worse one was my Polar White. That neck took about a year to settle in but has held great since (about 2 years old now). Would be much nicer if the adjustment was at the headstock. Not too crazy about the Snakeskin DeMartinis & that cut out at the top of the fretboard (still love that guitar though!).

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Kept me from buying one as well.

I've had guitars in the past where I had to take the neck off and even though it's not too big of a deal I just don't think it's a very good design philosophy unless you have that nifty notch like I've seen some guitars have that lets you get a wrench in there with the neck still attached.

 

[Chris O]

I think the bigger outcry would come from the Charvel Faithful if things weren't JUST AS THEY DID IT BACK IN THE DAY. I do agree the design is dumber than a bag of hammers, but I'm sure there was a reason.

 

[jkdsteve]

Quick way to do it - push the floyd down so the strings are slack, put something inside the trem cavity to hold the trem in position. Carefully take the neck off, adjust the truss rod, put it back on (I usually use two screws, one front and diagonal back) take item out of trem cavity, tune guitar back to pitch (usually it's pretty close) check relief, if it's not right then repeat, otherwise add two screws back to the neck plate and you're done.

Pete

All done...took 10 minutes tops.

Thanks Pete.

 

[Chubtone]

I know some people fixate on that Ernie Ball style wheel and it can literally ruin the look of a Charvel for them. I'm not one of them. I had the truss wheel installed on my custom shop build.

My USA Productions have only needed the necks adjusted once or maybe twice in 2-3 years. I am going to look into having the wheel installed on those too.

 

[Chris O]

I know some people fixate on that Ernie Ball style wheel and it can literally ruin the look of a Charvel for them. I'm not one of them. I had the truss wheel installed on my custom shop build.

My USA Productions have only needed the necks adjusted once or maybe twice in 2-3 years. I am going to look into having the wheel installed on those too.

Curt,

Post a pictorial of the process if you do have that done. It would be super interesting to see.

I don't mind the wheel personally. It made my WDM Snake super quick & east to set up. The part that I didn't dig was the Dinky-style body. I ended up selling it and got 2 Taylors instead. I wish my other WDM's had that neck single in them though. That thing rules!

 

[Anonymous]

I know some people fixate on that Ernie Ball style wheel and it can literally ruin the look of a Charvel for them. I'm not one of them. I had the truss wheel installed on my custom shop build.

Agreed, the wheel looks fine on my Fat Checkers Custom Shop:

My new Custom Shop order is gonna have the wheel fo sho...

Steve