Charvel San Dimas Series - your opinion

[freakmatt]

Yeah, I had a IV with a purple stain and gloss back - nice guitar.

[Bumble]

hello ti's me another time...the guitare of i want is sell...i wanted a charvel san dimas III of 1995 or a san dimas I...if you want to sell me one of your guitar....i'm ok

[SanDimasCharvel]

Some nice pics in this thread!
I posted this a couple years ago, but here it is with some additional info for those who are really curious about this series...

San Dimas reissue history:
--mid-late 1994: prototypes made including a trans red V with a lacewood body, a I with a natural alder body, and a III with a natural ash body as well as other prototypes.
--late 1994: production of I, II, III, IV, and V begins.
--October 1994: Guitar for the Practicing Musician ad runs promoting the I, II, III, IV and V.
--Late 94/early 95: V is discontinued, replaced by the Traditional.
--1995 San Dimas catalog: Standard and Traditional models are introduced. The photo of the prototype trans red V from the 10/94 ad is used in this catalog for the Traditional. That is why in this catalog the printed description of the Traditional doesn't match the photo next to it.
--1995, months unknown: IV and Standard are discontinued.
--1996 San Dimas catalog: TL-1 model introduced and photo of Traditional model is corrected.
--early 1997: production for series ends

Variations:
I’m sure there are more, but here are some I’ve seen:
--Initial ones made have Jackson backplates.
--Some of the same models have scalloped body contours by the backplate, some don’t.
--At the least, the following models can be found with OR without a skunk stripe: I’s, II’s, III’s and Standards.
--I used to think that the skunk stripe, or lack thereof, and the type of neckplate corresponded, but I’ve seen a couple of examples where they don’t.
--Seems like the earlier III’s have pao ferro boards and then rosewood after that.
--I had 2 V’s. One had pao ferro, the other was rosewood. (wish I kept those!)
--At least one later III has a black painted back, instead of gloss natural and also has the perfect oval type of single coil route without the lip.
--Some have a “Made in USA “ logo, others are “MADE IN USA”
--The SP-1, a variation of the Traditional with h/s/s and a Wilky, was made in 1996 for Sam Ash and not a part of this series. Don’t think they had locking tuners either.

Production numbers:
I 378
II 319
III 450
IV 151
V 17
Traditional 346
TL-1 20
Standard 212
Total production: 1920

Spec differences between the V and the Traditional:
V:
birdseye neck
pao fero and rosewood boards
hot rail Dimarzios s/s/s with pearloid pickguard
ash body (prototype was lacewood)
floating Wilkinson trem
transparent finishes
side output jack

Traditional:
quartersawn neck
rosewood and maple boards
pole piece Dimarzios s/s/s with pearloid pickguard
alder body
standard trem
solid finishes
output jack on top

[jackson1]

That's some nice info, SanDimasCharvel. It cleared up a few thing for me. Thank you so much.

[PittJitsu]

Nubie question, but why didn't they get their own plates? why are they wearing Jackson neck plates?

[SanDimasCharvel]

That's some nice info, SanDimasCharvel. It cleared up a few thing for me. Thank you so much.

My pleasure. Thanks for your links in your signature. I never knew they did a San Dimas series in Japan! That's a cool catalog.

[SanDimasCharvel]

Nubie question, but why didn't they get their own plates? why are they wearing Jackson neck plates?

Most have Charvel plates. They started with Jackson plates in '94 and then switched to Charvel plates (seems like beginning of 95).

BTW, if anyone is looking for an SD Traditional, I have one in Sapphire Blue for sale. Looks just like the one in the '96 SD catalog.

[daisp]

Here's a '96 to add to this list of beauties...

[Bumble]

hello,
i have found a charvel san dimas III in a very rare finished honeyburst the most popular color for san dimas III is green or red or purple but in honey burst it's rey amazing i have found this guitar in italia and she is very mint!!!
the probleme is than she don't have the original chopper dimarzio in neck but a little paf seymour but this is not a big probleme!!!

this is a old construction with the old neck plate charvel and not a jackson neck plate with contoured heel

this is an original san dimas III reissue of 1995 and not a charvel japan model A

[Genebaby]

Wow, the top on that looks awesome!! The recessed neck plate is interesting. I've only had experience with 1995 guitars with Charvel plates but neither was recessed like that. They were SDI and SDII's though.

[Shibs]

I own both Vintage (85' era) and brand new Charvels and I think that they play just as well now as they did then, actually, my new Charvel is my go to guitar and I own 22 guitars in all! I do sell Charvel Custom shop stuff so I get to check out all of them and I have met Mike Shannon who still makes the necks on my custom shop stuff! I can't keep them in stock! I think that they are the best shredder guitars made hands down!

Shibs

[Robert Hendrix]

I found this one on ebay if anyone is interested. If I had the extra money, I'd be all over it. I have it's purple twin sister here and the serial numbers are 18 apart.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150201305472&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching

[Robert Hendrix]

Here's some pics of my SD III

[surfreak]

I just bought a SD II and it's an absolute keeper, I am truly surprised by how good it looks, plays and sounds!

I'd be happy to email some pics if anyone wants to post them.

Mine is (I guess) one of the early ones built in late '94, as it has a Jackson neckplate with a 002XXX serial number.
The body is made of either a very figured mahogany (some flame, swirls etc.) or medium-figured koa, can't really tell.

What I like is that it is very lightweight, less than 7 lbs, yet it sounds huge, and it's got all the modern functionality of a well designed solidbody (24 frets, Sperzels, original Wilkinson USA bridge) with the "classic" San Dimas neck shape (thin flattened D, a bit thicker than an '80s SD I had, and very similar to one of my Mahogany naturals).

Mine also has a factory stock 5-pos switch so you do get the in-between split coils "strat quack" tones, and I've somewhat got used to the stock pickups (DiMarzio Evo neck and Super 3 bridge).

Talking about the pickups, you can tell they were chosen with a very specific tone in mind: the neck pickup is brighter than a typical reference neck humbucker, say a Duncan 59, both because of the pickup itself and its position (24 frets means it's placed further from the traditional neck sweet spot), whereas the Super 3 has a pronounced mid bump, and it sounds darker than, say, a Duncan JB or a Custom 5.

So the overall tones are more "balanced" across all frequencies, and they do sound a bit more generic on clean settings, but definitely very aggressive on dirty settings, with lots of harmonics.

all in all, these are great guitars, and they are still very affordable (mine was $ 850 in absolutely mint, basically unplayed condition) so I'd say grab one if you find it!

[2long4u]

I've only ever played an old san dimas, and it wasn't a strathead so does that count? Anyways the SD model series are flat out awesome for the price. Thats the key thing. Where as an original san dimas can run you as much as 3 to 4x the price, the 90's ones can be had easily for under a grand. They are a STEAL. Thats why you see so few for sale. The resale on them isn't good for how awesome they are. The most common ones to see are the model I and II. The III and IV (particularly IV) are much harder to find. I've been looking for a III or IV for awhile and when they come up its usually overseas or I have no money at the time. I'm dying to get a Model III or IV in koa (they did make the IV in Koa right?).

Sorry to bring up such an old thread, but I'm a proud owner of a San Dimas IV. Mine has a Koa body, violet quilted maple top, birds eye maple neck, and a pao ferro fingerboard. I'm not sure if it's a "95 or "96 I'll have to look. I was pretty excited to see that they only made 151 of them. I originally got this guitar for $350 in probably "96 or "97.