Identifying Custom Shop Charvels

[CaptNasty]

Hi,

I am looking at a Charvel that is being billed as a used 2008 Charvel Custom Shop San Dimas 2H. The serial number is C8134. This is a reputable business that deals exclusively with high end guitars, as a matter of fact I recently bought a Custom Shop Jackson SL2H from this same business.

I know a bit about Jacksons, albeit nothing like some of the JCF Memebers (My new Soloist is my 3rd Custom Shop guitar and my 5th USA Jackson) but I don't know anything about Charvels and want to learn, so I thought there would be no better place to go than JCFOnline. I have been truly impressed with the amount of knowledge that the members of the forum have.

Thanks in advance for any advice or info you guys can provide.

[Number Of The Priest]

I presume it's this one: https://www.themusiczoo.com/products...guitar-natural

What exactly are your concerns? 2008 was the first year for these new (new at the time) Charvel San Dimas guitars. The production models were called Pro-Mods (short for "production models", naturally) and were made in the USA until 2009 or 2010. I would refer you to this thread: http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/145...ls-catalog-ads except all the images of catalog scans are broken thanks to Photobucket's shitty new "no hotlinking" policy.

I wasn't active in the guitar/gear scene around 2008 but it's not hard to imagine, given that there were limited numbers of Pro-Mods with special finishes (Blue Flame pictured below) and the Wild Card sub-series that had unique finishes/specs, that there were also one-offs and Customs that were made.



Looking at the specs on the TheMusicZoo website, it's a San Dimas configuration with a few identifiable tweaks compared to a production model San Dimas circa 2008. The unique features of this koa guitar in question would be:

-Koa body (stock is alder)
-Birdseye maple neck with ebony fingerboard (stock is one-piece fretboard/neck of quartersawn maple)
-Duncan Custom 5 and Jazz pickups (stock is Duncan JB/59 on San Dimas, DiMarzio Tone Zone/Evolution on So-Cal)
-Schaller tuners (stock is Grover Mini Rotomatics)

Up for debate: Floyd Rose tremolo, is it an Original Floyd Rose? (stock had the Korean-made FRTO-2000 even on USA Pro-Mods)

Other visually-identifable differences include that brass dome knob (stock was a black flattop heavily-knurled knob), chrome hardware (stock was black), no dots (stock had dots), and that skunk stripe doesn't look like your typical dark brown wood (stock was bubinga or walnut, pretty standard for skunk stripes).

USA Pro-Mods also came with a gigbag, no case. This koa guitar comes with a hardshell case.

USA Pro-Mods retailed for USD$999 MSRP in 2008, then increased to USD$1099 towards the end of American production (at which point production moved to Chushin Gakki in Japan which had been making Japanese Charvels since 1986 and Japanese Jacksons since 1990). It's up to you to decide if these spec changes on this koa guitar are worth USD$2599 to you.

Good luck.

[CaptNasty]

Thanks for the detailed response. That helps. That is the guitar I am looking at. I like natural finish guitars. It does have an OFR, not a licensed Floyd. The pic is not very clear (to my 50 year old eyes anyway) looks like the Schallers could be locking tuners also.

I would say my concerns are not with the guitar, but with my lack of knowledge. As an example, I know that with Jackson, serial numbers for Custom Shop guitars are in the format J#### (J followed by 4 numbers). I literally know nothing about how to identify custom shop Charvel guitars (Add to that Charvel does not seem to put "Custom Shop" on the head stock or have other CS identifiers). Ditto for specs and models. I am familiar with Jackson, but know nothing about Charvel. I like to be knowledgeable when making big purchases so I am starting to read and gain knowledge about Charvels.

[ulijdavid]

The pic is not very clear (to my 50 year old eyes anyway) looks like the Schallers could be locking tuners also.

No expert here, but I believe these models came with Grover tuners.

[CaptNasty]

No expert here, but I believe these models came with Grover tuners.

The listing says the tuners are Schallers

[ulijdavid]

My bad.....I was looking specifically at the blue flame guitar posted above.

[CaptNasty]

My bad.....I was looking specifically at the blue flame guitar posted above.

Nah its cool man. Already starting to learn some things about Charvels.

[Tour Dimas San]

I own 8134...its a TMZ natural Koa 2H

[diablomozart]

I own 8134...its a TMZ natural Koa 2H

exactly...its part of a limited run done for the music zoo...d.m.

[CaptNasty]

Just to update everyone. I got this guitar and had to send it back. When I did the initial inspection of the guitar I discovered that the truss rod was fully played out. So back it went. The sales rep said all the right things, handled it appropriately, but I could tell he was not thrilled.

Turned out it was for the best. I ended up ordering a Jackson Custom Select Dinky. That Dinky is the finest guitar I have ever played.

I gave the TMZ sales rep the chance to do my Jackson custom order. The guy said all the right words again, but would not help me at all in filling out the order sheet. Once I sent the order sheet to him, he stopped taking my calls and I never heard from him again.

I ended up going to a friend of mine who is a local Jackson dealer. He had a build slot that he was willing to use for my order.

To top it off, TMZ relisted the guitar at the same price they had it listed for when I bought it. They did not disclose the truss rod condition either.

[hazar]

Just to update everyone. I got this guitar and had to send it back. When I did the initial inspection of the guitar I discovered that the truss rod was fully played out. So back it went. The sales rep said all the right things, handled it appropriately, but I could tell he was not thrilled.

Turned out it was for the best. I ended up ordering a Jackson Custom Select Dinky. That Dinky is the finest guitar I have ever played.

I gave the TMZ sales rep the chance to do my Jackson custom order. The guy said all the right words again, but would not help me at all in filling out the order sheet. Once I sent the order sheet to him, he stopped taking my calls and I never heard from him again.

I ended up going to a friend of mine who is a local Jackson dealer. He had a build slot that he was willing to use for my order.

To top it off, TMZ relisted the guitar at the same price they had it listed for when I bought it. They did not disclose the truss rod condition either.

Thanks for sharing.........as an older cat myself,I have no time for this kind of bs. Dude could have helped you fill out the order sheet. Hopefully TMZ will get that sorted. crazy.

[Jimi James Hedrick]

Please help ME figure out origin of my soloist with Floyd Rose and J serial number?? Japanese? Custom shop??? Help!

[CaptNasty]

Please help ME figure out origin of my soloist with Floyd Rose and J serial number?? Japanese? Custom shop??? Help!

Start your own thread instead of hijacking someone’s thread. In that thread you need to include pics.

[toejam]

Start your own thread instead of hijacking someone’s thread. In that thread you need to include pics.

This. There's no need to post this twice in TWO threads like you've already done. Start your own new post and include pics.

[Tour Dimas San]

Captnasty...i am very confused as I have owned #8134 since Jan 2018. I bought it from a guy in LA user name Marshallmod on Reverb. Has a Titanium Floyd & Fernandes sustainer drive pu with extra routing to accommodate electronics