CHARVELS

[Goat]

I played a FMIC built Charvel today. The guitar was a Guthrie Govan basswood/maple top model. Easily one of the best guitars I've ever played. They didn't have an ash body model in-stock.

 

[Junk Yard Dog]

I'm thinking about picking up another MIM. I look for USA Selects used and prefer to have the truss adjustment without having to take off the neck. My 2017 MIM has the multi-piece neck with wheel adjustment and it's pretty stable; doesn't go crazy from room temp changes.

Curious how stable the USA select necks are compared to the MIMs. Anyone compare the two?

 

[atrox]

I'm thinking about picking up another MIM. I look for USA Selects used and prefer to have the truss adjustment without having to take off the neck. My 2017 MIM has the multi-piece neck with wheel adjustment and it's pretty stable; doesn't go crazy from room temp changes.

Curious how stable the USA select necks are compared to the MIMs. Anyone compare the two?

My MIM necks are way more stable, but my USA's are quatersawn. I have to adjust them twice a year where I live, but not much. The MIM's I rarely have to touch.

 

[Junk Yard Dog]

I'm thinking about picking up another MIM. I look for USA Selects used and prefer to have the truss adjustment without having to take off the neck. My 2017 MIM has the multi-piece neck with wheel adjustment and it's pretty stable; doesn't go crazy from room temp changes.

Curious how stable the USA select necks are compared to the MIMs. Anyone compare the two?

My MIM necks are way more stable, but my USA's are quatersawn. I have to adjust them twice a year where I live, but not much. The MIM's I rarely have to touch.

Nice. Yeah, I found a 2016 MIM Pro Mod used and played it. It needs a setup with my gauge strings and a trem-stop.

Have the MIM's been pretty consistent since the 2016s?

 

[scottosan]

Ok Guys, I need some Direction. Which Charvels are the Good Ones? The Mexican ones? The Made in Japan ones? I'm looking to Purchase a Hardtail Charvel with Rosewood Board in the Next few Months & i'm trying to be ahead of the curve if i'm able.

Charvel Custom Shop>USA Select>Japan>2016 or older Mexican>New Mexican

 

[braintheory]

Ok Guys, I need some Direction. Which Charvels are the Good Ones? The Mexican ones? The Made in Japan ones? I'm looking to Purchase a Hardtail Charvel with Rosewood Board in the Next few Months & i'm trying to be ahead of the curve if i'm able.

Charvel Custom Shop>USA Select>Japan>2016 or older Mexican>New Mexican

Agreed, but I’d say even a step up would be a vintage San Dimas from the ‘80’s and not really more expensive than a current custom shop one

 

[Junk Yard Dog]

Ok Guys, I need some Direction. Which Charvels are the Good Ones? The Mexican ones? The Made in Japan ones? I'm looking to Purchase a Hardtail Charvel with Rosewood Board in the Next few Months & i'm trying to be ahead of the curve if i'm able.

Charvel Custom Shop>USA Select>Japan>2016 or older Mexican>New Mexican

Cool. What about the 2016 MIM vs New MIM is better in your opinion? The two MIM's I'm looking at are both 2016s with the wheel adjustment.

 

[GreatRedDragon]

I built a partcaster around a neck and Floyd off a 2019 MIM Pro-Mod bought from Stratosphere.

It's a nice neck. A little slimmer than my usual preference (for reference, Warmoth's Wolfgang profile is the standard I hold all necks to) but it plays very fast. The wheel adjustment is convenient but in a year I haven't had to use it, the neck really is rock solid. My particular neck has some very nice figuring on the fingerboard, definitely not plain maple.

So nice neck. But the reason I made a partscaster instead of just buying one is there are too many features on the MIMs that I just don't jive with. I like my Charvels straightforward and stripped down. Recessed Floyds don't do it for me, nor do the expanded tone controls of the MIM. Give me one volume and a toggle please.

I wish Charvel still made Pro-Mods like the USA/MIJ models. Those were absolutely perfect spec-wise.

 

[Racerxrated]

Ok Guys, I need some Direction. Which Charvels are the Good Ones? The Mexican ones? The Made in Japan ones? I'm looking to Purchase a Hardtail Charvel with Rosewood Board in the Next few Months & i'm trying to be ahead of the curve if i'm able.

Charvel Custom Shop>USA Select>Japan>2016 or older Mexican>New Mexican

Agreed, but I’d say even a step up would be a vintage San Dimas from the ‘80’s and not really more expensive than a current custom shop one

I'd agree but with this asterisk*....I've had a few (still own 1) original vintage Charvel USAs and the neck profiles do vary some...not by much but all 3 I've owned have all been slightly different from one another. Makes sense since they were all custom shop orders back then.

I'd rank them from my experience this way..

Original USA vintage 82-85> Current Custom shop=08/09 USAs(I have 2 that are as good or better than the 3 customs I've owned)>2010/11 MIJ>MiM any year.

The 08/09s only pale to customs/original USAs in 1 aspect..tone. All the originals and customs have had great tone, while the USA or MiJ/MiM can vary. My current 08/09 USAs sound killer though and play even better. Effortless.. I never ever fight them at all.

I'd stay away from the first few yrs of MiM as they seemed to be a cheap 'clone' of a Charvel....from 13-15. From my experience anyway.

 

[nigelpkay]

I’ve had one of each (USA Pro Mod, MIJ Pro Mod, MIM Pro Mod, custom shop.)

My thoughts:
USA - I think you find these the most consistently good. Nice body woods, fretwork, found my USA neck to be slightly bigger than the MIJ, MIM necks which actually fits my hand a bit better. Really hard to find these days and are overpriced on the used market IMO

MIJ - the rolled edges on the fretboards make these probably the best necks, fast and slim. Bodies and resonance are ok and varied a bit between models I tried. Only one that came with a nice SKB case.

MIM - varies between years, the most inconsistent of the bunch so definitely try before you buy. Some gems and some stinkers. My current one is a 2016 SoCal. It’s middle of the road but seems to do the job for me.

Custom - At one point I had a Music Zoo flat black San Dimas with a HS config. It was definitely the most solid and well built, immaculate fretwork. But something just didn’t jive with me and it always sounded a bit dry to me. I ended up trading it for a MacBook Pro which I still use after 6 years lol
I would never buy a custom again unless I can play it before buying.