how're the new mexican promod Charvels?

[joepete77]

what store has them?

*edit*

just saw 'custom color for guy from weezer' so I'm guessing this wasn't in a store

Yeah, not at a store. They're "supposed" to be shipping in July sometime I heard, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

Yeah, I would guess that they would take extra time to make sure it is right from the factory being it is for a famous artist. I just hope that they all come as nice as the example you had.

 

[Chubtone]

I have been inspecting and testing EVH Stripe Series guitars all day before shipping them out. They are MIM. The quality and feel and playability straight out of the box is equal to any of the MIJ Pro Mods that came before it in my opinion.

 

[Chubtone]

One thing a higher up told me regarding the MIJ Pro Mods and Jacksons going away is that factory was really slow and contracted with Fender to build those guitars at a really attractive price, for the first year. When the time came to negotiate, they wanted quite a bit more and it would have pushed the street price of the MIJ's to the $1100-1200 range. That Japanese factory low-balled themselves just to get the work and then once they had it, tried to push for too much money and Fender walked.

 

[romanianreaper]

I have been inspecting and testing EVH Stripe Series guitars all day before shipping them out. They are MIM. The quality and feel and playability straight out of the box is equal to any of the MIJ Pro Mods that came before it in my opinion.

You bastard, don't tell me that.

Dang it. I was just driving home today listening to a Van Halen song in the car and wondering how those EVH guitars are. Son of a.....

 

[Chubtone]

I have been inspecting and testing EVH Stripe Series guitars all day before shipping them out. They are MIM. The quality and feel and playability straight out of the box is equal to any of the MIJ Pro Mods that came before it in my opinion.

You bastard, don't tell me that.

Dang it. I was just driving home today listening to a Van Halen song in the car and wondering how those EVH guitars are. Son of a.....

I'm on your speed dial right?

 

[sytharnia1560]

I would pay $500 for the necks on the charvel over the fenders any day of the week .....just an amazing feeling neck

 

[the rossness]

I agree - the USA ones were the best made so far. Of course, I have not tried the MIM ones. Would rather buy the USA's and mod them to what I want....

Not sure why people shit on MIM all the time. I've played and felt some MIM that were bitchin. I have no problem with Mexican geets. Take it over chinese.

Personally, I have issues with a guitar going from USA production to made in japan to mexican production in a few years but the price stays pretty close to the same. That's why *I* shit on MIM - it just seems like Fender is trying to see how low they can go production cost wise and still sell them.

What's next, made in China or Vietnam? On the plus side, my USA Charvel promods have gone up in value. And yeah, I'm one of those snobs that prefers a USA guitar over a Japanese one. Call it myopic pride in my country or whatever, when offered a guitar for the same amount, I'm going to pick USA over Japan and Mexico each time.

With the exception of the USA Tele's, the Japanese pro mods were the best. I'd love to help Americans by buying a Made in the USA guitar, but that Jap. shop J/C was using, was turning out fantastic gear towards the end. They were/ are better than their american cousins.

 

[polaris20]

Totally want to pick one of these up and tune it down one full step:

http://www.charvel.com/guitars/search.p ... 2966001509

I think for the price and specs, it'll be a fine instrument. List is $1050, so street will be $750-$800? How's it acceptable Schecter gets $900+ for their MIK guitars, and Charvel can't get that for their MIM guitars? Owning an MIM strat, I think the quality will be fine.

EDIT

Ah, I see Sweetwater already has them up for pre-order.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SanDimas1HSCR/

I think $799 is fair; I'll be ordering one I think.

 

[Bob Savage]

Maybe it's just because I'm an older guy (early-mid 40s) but I don't see paying $899 *new* for a MIM guitar as a good deal.

I'm older than you and think the $799 street price is a great value. It's not age related

 

[romanianreaper]

Maybe it's just because I'm an older guy (early-mid 40s) but I don't see paying $899 *new* for a MIM guitar as a good deal.

I'm older than you and think the $799 street price is a great value. It's not age related

Dang, just like finding out Santa is not real. Bob, I thought you were 25.

 

[rupe]

I agree - the USA ones were the best made so far. Of course, I have not tried the MIM ones. Would rather buy the USA's and mod them to what I want....

Not sure why people shit on MIM all the time. I've played and felt some MIM that were bitchin. I have no problem with Mexican geets. Take it over chinese.

Personally, I have issues with a guitar going from USA production to made in japan to mexican production in a few years but the price stays pretty close to the same. That's why *I* shit on MIM - it just seems like Fender is trying to see how low they can go production cost wise and still sell them.

What's next, made in China or Vietnam? On the plus side, my USA Charvel promods have gone up in value. And yeah, I'm one of those snobs that prefers a USA guitar over a Japanese one. Call it myopic pride in my country or whatever, when offered a guitar for the same amount, I'm going to pick USA over Japan and Mexico each time.

With the exception of the USA Tele's, the Japanese pro mods were the best. I'd love to help Americans by buying a Made in the USA guitar, but that Jap. shop J/C was using, was turning out fantastic gear towards the end. They were/ are better than their american cousins.

They missed the boat on the neck feel though...the finish was far too "plastic-y" feeling. It was easily fixed, but the US models got it correct right out of the gate.

What do you feel made the US Teles better than the US Strats? I played plenty of both and don't share that opinion.

 

[Bob Savage]

Dang, just like finding out Santa is not real. Bob, I thought you were 25.

That's just how I act.

 

[rupe]

it is because you are jaded, not old. Take the MIM out of the statement and then reasses. $899 Retail for a new guitar with those features is a lot to you? You couldn't even part a guitar and buildmit yourself for that much. As long as the quality is there, why do you care that it is mim? would $1500 for the same guitar made un CA by Mexicans be better?

So what are you paying for when you compare the fender with floyd I posted and the charvel? That's a $400 street price difference ($500 msrp) and it's nowhere near that in materials used such as pickups, the better? floyd, and case. Is the charvel 'name' worth that?

Does Charvel still have to pay Fender licensing fees to use the Strat headstock? If so, that's probably a significant portion of the cost difference right there.

Before some genius chimes in and says that they're the same company, they are owned by the same parent company (FMIC) but they operate independently. Companies frequently have different divisions that try to profit from one another...in fact, cutting out the middle man (another division in my old company) nearly cost me my job as I attempted to manage my bottom line.

 

[stratotone]

Maybe it's just because I'm an older guy (early-mid 40s) but I don't see paying $899 *new* for a MIM guitar as a good deal.

I'm older than you and think the $799 street price is a great value. It's not age related

You kinda switched up the models though. This is a better comparison.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratPMACB/

$549 for same factory, H/S/S pickups, maple top, etc. If anything, the Fender should be more IMHO since it does have more complex setup/parts and a flame top. That should at least offset the case and better pickups.

I'm just comparing to similar offerings from the same manufacturing plant - I find it hard to believe the guys in the Fender factory are going to give the Charvels that much more attention than the Fenders... but hey, value is a personal thing. I will probably end up getting some of the EVH mexican striped guitars because of the graphics. And I have a mexican strat, a chinese *!* Peavey bass, a japanese strat, several japanese charvels and jacksons, up to USA Tom Andersons. I'm not a gear snob by any means.

If I do buy any Charvel or EVH guitars new, Chubtone's getting my $, he's forgotten more than most of us know about C/Js, and was super awesome to deal with on my blue flame charvel. A lot of his comments in this thread softened my stance considerably.

 

[stratotone]

it is because you are jaded, not old. Take the MIM out of the statement and then reasses. $899 Retail for a new guitar with those features is a lot to you? You couldn't even part a guitar and buildmit yourself for that much. As long as the quality is there, why do you care that it is mim? would $1500 for the same guitar made un CA by Mexicans be better?

So what are you paying for when you compare the fender with floyd I posted and the charvel? That's a $400 street price difference ($500 msrp) and it's nowhere near that in materials used such as pickups, the better? floyd, and case. Is the charvel 'name' worth that?

Does Charvel still have to pay Fender licensing fees to use the Strat headstock? If so, that's probably a significant portion of the cost difference right there.

Before some genius chimes in and says that they're the same company, they are owned by the same parent company (FMIC) but they operate independently. Companies frequently have different divisions that try to profit from one another...in fact, cutting out the middle man (another division in my old company) nearly cost me my job as I attempted to manage my bottom line.

If that's the case, they must be RAPING Charvel on that, since I can buy a licensed from FMIC strathead neck from warmoth starting at $157. Same price as a warmoth 'warhead' neck with warmoth's headstock. Obviously Warmoth sells enough stratheads to keep the price to the consumer down, but the licensing fees between FMIC and Charvel must border on ludicrous by comparison.

 

[Bob Savage]

We're not going to agree on this one, and that's fine... The good part is that nobody is holding a gun to anybody's head. If you find something that's a better value, buy it instead.

 

[stratotone]

We're not going to agree on this one, and that's fine... The good part is that nobody is holding a gun to anybody's head. If you find something that's a better value, buy it instead.

Yup, agree to disagree. Although I have to say, you did quote me out of context above.

 

[Anonymous]

it is because you are jaded, not old. Take the MIM out of the statement and then reasses. $899 Retail for a new guitar with those features is a lot to you? You couldn't even part a guitar and buildmit yourself for that much. As long as the quality is there, why do you care that it is mim? would $1500 for the same guitar made un CA by Mexicans be better?

So what are you paying for when you compare the fender with floyd I posted and the charvel? That's a $400 street price difference ($500 msrp) and it's nowhere near that in materials used such as pickups, the better? floyd, and case. Is the charvel 'name' worth that?

I would pay $1000 for the logo alone.

Steve

 

[83stratman]

Wait a min.! How could "The neck profile is the same as the US and MIJ models, no difference." possibly be true, when the MIJ and MIA necks feel different from each other?

 

[luxxtone]

Wait a min.! How could "The neck profile is the same as the US and MIJ models, no difference." possibly be true, when the MIJ and MIA necks feel different from each other?

The profiles are similar if not the same, but the finishes are very different on the MIJ and US. That makes a big difference. There are variances in each individual ones. I didn't caliper all the different profiles on each country's Charvel and compare them, just the way they felt to me. Could be a few thousandths difference, who knows.