Charvel Custom Shop fret work?

[Dave Simpson]

Hello all!

I've got a Charvel Custom Shop San Dimas coming in and wanted to hear any opinons on the fret work from people that all ready own one. Is it decent or am I going to need to get a fret level job done? I'm asking because I've owned a few brand new Gibson's over the years and couple of them need a little fret work done right out of the box. Kind of a shame after paying over $2K for a guitar.

[dg]

I have 2. The first was the Dweezil green pointy, which had good but not great fretwork. No dead spots or anything, but the edges weren't super smooth. Not so bad that I've had any work done, just not as good as some other guitars in the same price range, imo. The second was from the recent candy red strathead run, and it was fantastic in every way.

[Dave Simpson]

It's a Strat head so hopefully the fret work will be OK. Dead spots is what the problem was with the Gibson's. Nothing sucks more than bending a string and the note just dies mid bend.

[surfreak]

That would not be a dead spot, but rather a note "fretting out". it is a common occurrence with sharp radius fingerboards (7.25") such as old Strats and Teles, and, as you point out, bad fretwork.

You've got a dead spot when a note dies out quickly and does not sustain, even without bending it.

[Robert Burns]

My Custom Shop Charvel is good...not great. Smooth, but not perfectly
smooth everywhere. My Jackson Pc-1? Perfect EVERYWHERE! Its like
the edges are made of Ceramic. Yet not bound. I would rate my CS
Charvel Eldred HRF an 8.. Jackson an 11 ! Both jumbo frets

[Joe_Steeler]

I am not going to rant off and spill the beans here. But let me just say I own a fair share of Charvels including a couple of NAMM guitars, supposed to be the pick of the littler for show and impresswing prospective buyers.

The fretwork from my stable is: some very nice ones, some average at best with some decent examples of care and a couple of flat out stinkers. Cort type stuff on the last two.

NOT AT ALL what I expect out of the Custom Shop.

Can't say I've ever seen that out of Anderson, Suhr, PRS or even the Fender CS (of which I own no les than 15 axes).
Before you say "but those are boutiques, yadda , yadda , yadda....", The J/C CS commands top dollar even more so today to display just as good if not better attention to detail than those guys. All get see form the J/C CS is single hum axes with basic hardware compliments.

The other guys give you flame/quilt drop tops with breath taking finishes, hand scapped edges, any pups and hardware under the sun.
From the J/C CS we get a single hum Greenie Floyded axe and they can't even get that right on more than one case.

Something ain't right........

[RR05xx]

I am going to speak up on this.

I have 2 new CS pointy guitars that both needed to "go back" for QC issues.

Thankfully, neither have had any fret issues. Both play exceptionally well, simple as that.

I have played a number of newer charvels, including CS pointies and S-heads, and all had very good fret work IMHO.

I understand that others have not been so lucky, so your miliage my vary.

[Shibs]

Hmmm, I have 4 custom shop Charvels and two vintage and I have yet to have a problem with any of them.... I did hear about a delam problem on a pointy headstock and another with a cracking Ebony fretboard, but I have been lucky i guess, I have one arriving on Friday... that will be my 7th one and I will check it closely as I always do.... crossed fingers!

[Shibs]

BTW... I have a WD Bomber and the neck is awesome! The only Gibson's that have the real nice fret work (IMO) are the Custom Shops (R8's, R9's etc...) they are run through a Plek Machine!

[Axewielder]

My experience with USA Jackson/Charvel is you try the guitar in the store, the frets seem killer, no choking out at all, crazy sustain, smooth as glass. Then, you have a tech switch it over to 10 gauge strings (which most people I know play), and it opens a pandoras box of subtle issues. A good tech will get it dialed in OK, but they seem to settle out a few notches down from where they were. Anyone else experience this? Damn those 9 gauge strings!

[Shibs]

Hmmm, I Like 9's... Yes I have heard of that as well. When I sell a custom shop guitar (any brand) and the customer requests a different guage string, the guitar gets the new strings installed and the guitar completely set-up again for free.....Floyd needs to be adjusted anyway... so I offer the rest as well!

[Axewielder]

I got off easy when I switched my USA Jackson to 10's....2 trips to the shop and it was still a buzz-o-matic. It finally got a grind and polish on the 3rd trip (on brand new frets) before it played right again. What happened is the neck twisted ever so slightly and had to be compensated for.

I switched my MIJ ESP M-II from 9's to 10's and didn't fare as well...a full replane and refret was required, on account of a neck hump which suddenly appeared. It plays killer now, but DAMN those guitars which are shipped with 9 gauge strings!!!

[Rupe]

I've played a bunch of the new ones and most had pretty decent fretwork (although not to the degree of Anderson and Suhr). The only ones that I played with issues were two different examples from the "Dweezil" run. Those guitars also had the issue of the finish lifting on the headstock.