N
nigelpkay
Active member
Most of my fave players from the 80's were Charvel guys (Demartini, Jake E Lee, Criss Oliva), although because Yngwie was my #1, I've always had Fender Strats, usually HSS ones. Recently I got a American Special Stratocaster HSS which is a great guitar, all black, jumbo frets, nice weight and looks etc... but I'm kind of missing the aesthetics of the Charvel over the strat though - no vintage bridge chewing up my hand, side input jack, two humbuckers or hum/single, compound radius, strat headstock, no tone knobs, jumbo frets...
But I've had trouble finding a keeper Charvel. A few years ago I had a Charvel Japanese Pro Mod, nice guitar, great neck, good workhorse, but it was a bit light, plain looking, I'm not big on maple boards, and I didn't get much mojo vibe out of it and eventually sold it off. I've tried the new Mexican Charvels and same thing. I currently have a Mexican black hardtail HS HT model with rosewood board, but it's very light, and I don't think the wood is very good because it's very muddled sounding which is a shame. Makes a great backup guitar - hardtail with locking tuners stays in tune very well, cheap enough I wouldn't care if it was dinged or stolen, but otherwise that's it. I didn't pay much for it, in fact it was factory refurbished or factory 2nd, I don't know why, except the neck seems very thin, even for a Charvel.
So anyway, I still have the Charvel bug, but looking to bump it up. I've never tried a Charvel Custom, and I just want to know if they are really worth the $$ compared to the production models? See them all the time in the classifieds here and drool over the looks. I'm really interested in the ones that The Music Zoo has been selling, like the matte black HS version with rosewood board. I just don't know how huge a jump it would be from what I have now.
But I've had trouble finding a keeper Charvel. A few years ago I had a Charvel Japanese Pro Mod, nice guitar, great neck, good workhorse, but it was a bit light, plain looking, I'm not big on maple boards, and I didn't get much mojo vibe out of it and eventually sold it off. I've tried the new Mexican Charvels and same thing. I currently have a Mexican black hardtail HS HT model with rosewood board, but it's very light, and I don't think the wood is very good because it's very muddled sounding which is a shame. Makes a great backup guitar - hardtail with locking tuners stays in tune very well, cheap enough I wouldn't care if it was dinged or stolen, but otherwise that's it. I didn't pay much for it, in fact it was factory refurbished or factory 2nd, I don't know why, except the neck seems very thin, even for a Charvel.
So anyway, I still have the Charvel bug, but looking to bump it up. I've never tried a Charvel Custom, and I just want to know if they are really worth the $$ compared to the production models? See them all the time in the classifieds here and drool over the looks. I'm really interested in the ones that The Music Zoo has been selling, like the matte black HS version with rosewood board. I just don't know how huge a jump it would be from what I have now.
