Charvel USA Production Model Series

[DHardmanJr]

I'm feeling like a real idiot for ordering through a dealer instead of going the ebay route and getting the discount hook up with Live.

UPS still has my So Cal!

AaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhHH!

Dave

[beachjammer]

I finally got to try them out today. My local dealer has one of each left. I liked the tangerine So-cal the best but honestly wasn't that impressed with any of them. The necks felt different on each guitar and I didn't like the trem. It says Floyd Rose but doesn't feel anything like the one on my Reissue Charvel. I also didn't like the 1 ply pickguard, knob, mini grovers or the gigbag. He has a used red ghost flame 2005 reissue on the wall beside them for the same price so that'd be the one I'd get for my money. I think that they're still a decent deal for the money but I just wasn't blown away like I was hoping to be. As bad as I hate to say it, and I'll probably catch some slack over this, they kinda felt like an over-seas or south of the border guitar but with a USA decal on them.... Just my opinion though.

[Newc]

To each his own, but my SoCal doesn't feel anything like the 2 MexiStrats I've owned, or the USA FR Strat I had, or the USA "EVH" Strat I had.

There are only so many electric guitar neck profiles out there, and they're all based on Fender's original designs. The difference with these is the compound radius fretboard.

There's also the mental blocks: "it's got a Strat head, a Strat body, FMIC owns Charvel, it's not going to wisk me back to 1981 like I'm Marty McFly", and lo and behold, that's exactly how it happens.

I think many people had too many expectations of these, namely the "time machine" effect. Even if you had the same people that built #1001 building these in Glendora on the same machines and using the same tools they did before, they would still not be just like EVH's original. Those days are gone forever. Everyone move on.

[AK47]

Those days are gone forever. Everyone move on.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOO

Say it aint So NEWC! NOooooooooo

fabfaknbafvnbsgepjugtwnlknnlkgsalkndkln!@!!!!!!!

[Ralph E.]

It's funny, because I think the neck on my So-Cal is way more "original" Charvel than the neck on my custom shop "pre-pro" I bought from Music Zoo.

I think it feels great imo.

[DickyB25]

+1 Newc Great post, always good to see a Back to the Future reference

[Jackson-Charvel]

A lot of companies do this sort of thing ... the base model is pretty plain and then if you want a nice color you gotta pony up more dough. The scarcity of the limited colors creates a buzz arond the product but if they had plentiful color choices with good availability it could eat into the sales of their higher end models, in this case the CS models.

Dave

From what I've seen on Ebay anyways, the black one are the same price as the others.

[DHardmanJr]

From what I've seen on Ebay anyways, the black one are the same price as the others.

Agreed. They don't have to do a price differential since the non-black ones are in very limited number.

[Newc]

And no one has to compete on price just yet for the black ones because there are so many people willing to drop full MSRP on them.

What gets me is you can find a few online stores that show the list price over the $999 price stated on the Charvel website, and they state the $999 price as a savings

[Newc]

WOOHOO! O.F.D.!

Out For Delivery!

And it appears F'edEx now has a local facility, which means I should get it this afternoon like my UPS deliveries, rather than early in the morning the way F'edEx used to be

[beachjammer]

To each his own, but my SoCal doesn't feel anything like the 2 MexiStrats I've owned, or the USA FR Strat I had, or the USA "EVH" Strat I had.

There are only so many electric guitar neck profiles out there, and they're all based on Fender's original designs. The difference with these is the compound radius fretboard.

There's also the mental blocks: "it's got a Strat head, a Strat body, FMIC owns Charvel, it's not going to wisk me back to 1981 like I'm Marty McFly", and lo and behold, that's exactly how it happens.

I think many people had too many expectations of these, namely the "time machine" effect. Even if you had the same people that built #1001 building these in Glendora on the same machines and using the same tools they did before, they would still not be just like EVH's original. Those days are gone forever. Everyone move on.

I'm not saying that I'll never get one but like you stated, I think my expectations were a little high I guess. The difference I felt in the necks were that some were rougher or sandy feeling as compared to the other guitars. The tangerine I played the store owner had been playing it and had obviously set it up and showed it some love so it was pretty nice.

[DHardmanJr]

Out For Delivery!

Mine is OFD as well. Finally!

Dave

[busdriver]

Mine is delivered!
The first thing I did was swapping out the volume-knob and strap-buttons for brass ones. I didn't like the stock knob... felt like a curled up wood rasp

[Newc]

Mine came while I was asleep - woke up to the sound of the driver beating on the door (had to sign for it), dragged the box in the house and went back to bed

Once again, I'm pleased as punch. No problems with the bridge, pickups, or anything else that's been (mis)reported.


Serial # 001193

[DHardmanJr]

The wait is over ... 001269 finds a home

After what seemed like forever I got my CT SC today. Audiophile posted some great pics of his So Cal, so no reason to be redundant with more.


First impressions:

• I love it
• The paint job is killer ... unlike XSSIVE's black one, mine had a finish like a mirror ... no light scratches or swirls ... perfect
• The neck is a little thicker than my 84 SD pointy, but still very comfortable to play
• The setup is perfect. The guitar arrived mostly in tune ... just fine tuned a couple of strings and it was off to the races. The pickup heights are adjusted just like I like them ... the action is just like I like it ... proper neck relief ... nut is the right height ... trem is at the correct angle wrt the neck ... no buzzing ... just great
• The dimarzios sound good. Not what I usually use ... but I will give them some time to see if they grow on me.
• You can tell the Floyd is different than the made in germany ones. The tone sounded fine and the feel seemed pretty darn close to me but the fine tuner screws are not as smooth turning and the trem arm wobbles even when the collar is fully tightened. I put on an arm from an MIG OFR and the wobble was gone ... so it seems like the screw collar on the one that comes with the guitar that is the culprit. Others have mentioned that the arm seems to come loose easily. Someone please post if you find a fix for this. If there's no fix I'll be ordering a replacement from stewmac.
• I was wondering if other reviewers were just being overly anal about the frets, but they do in fact need some polishing ... there were more tooling marks on them than I would have expected for a made in the USA guitar. Seems like to cut costs less time was spent on the frets. That said ... the fret ends were very good ... no sharp edges or anything .. the shapes of the frets were good ... just a little rough on the crown of the frets.
• Cosmetically the guitar was perfect except the frets needing polished and one other thing ... there was some white residue next to probably 8 frets ... probably something left over from the finishing process and just needs to be cleaned out
• The 1-ply pickguard is actually very very thick ... so even though it's 1-play it feels very solid & sturdy
• The guitar seemed to have great sustain and tone when played unplugged
• The knob ... well ... like the pickups ... I'm going to give it some time to see if it grows on me ... but it is like a porcupine knob. I had to check to see if it drew blood when I first turned open the volume. It's got some serious knurlage.
• Other odds and ends: the gig bag is nothing to write home about ... very cheap and cheesy. It's nice they throw in the wrench holder. It's nice it comes with straplocks, but I would have preferred Schaller straplocks. It's cool that the back trem cover is metal instead of plastic. That said, I would have preferred to have no cover and a painted cavity (springs exposed).

All in all ... great guitar .. am very pleased. The looks are great, the setup was great, plays very nice ... just some fret polishing to take care of and some residue cleanup where frets meet the fretboard.