Hey guys read this! USA PRODUCTION OWNER reviews his new san dimas

[Psh511]

Nice review Mike...

[savage]

savage...yeah i wanted to be real honest and not blow smoke up everyone ass saying they are the best guitars ever blah blah. hit and miss, my guess is yes but odds are more hits than misses. there were variations between the two black ones i got to pick from in fret work, fingerboard roll, and weight (that's a given on any guitar though). set ups were about the same on the two, ok i guess you could call it, playable if you're not picky needs work if you want the best from your guitar...but that's ANY guitar. every guitar out there needs to be set up for each player. i can't play 9s (way too thin) so a string change at a minimum was a must for me. i think these will end up like a typical USA made strat. go into a shop pick 5 up and you'll see several variations in neck shapes.

-Mike

Mike the neck shape thing really bothers me
I like a very thin neck front to back like on my original and thought these would be all the same size seeing that they are going by a custom shop SD profile?
is it in the final sanding that is making these vary?
I dont want to have to take a belt sander to it

[savage]

Nice review Mike...

yeah and a NICE practice room too bro!

[XSSIVE]

Psh511...thanks Paul...oh and i hope to get you're Clone done this week!! i just need to meet up with Cris and that's not an easy task as you've come to realize hahaha.

savage...the typical (they vary too) but the typical shape for the TMZ naturals and customs is more of a flatter D that's ~.750 - ~.810" it seems so these have ~.040" more meat to them but they're real comfortable to me. like i said that thickness of .790 - .850 is the standard thickness i use on my Clone brand guitars so these fall right in line with that in terms of thickness. i don't know how much these vary, some may be thinner but i only took calipers to mine to get the measurement. i'd certainly give one a try, the neck shape/thickness is good IMO, no problem there. again part of the good platform. thanks for the kind words on the den/guitar room. pics are a bit old some guitars have left since then and some new ones added.

-Mike

[dg]

Thanks for the detailed review, Mike! I'm heading out to check some out now, and I'll try to get a look at more than one of each if possible.

Savage, .790" to .850" is exactly what my '06 custom strathead measures. When they published specs a few years ago in one of the pricelists, the pointy spec was listed at .750" at the 3rd and .810" at the 12th. The strathead spec was listed at .735" at the 3rd and .850" at the 12th. I don't know of anyone who got one that was that thin at the 3rd, but the .850" at the 12th has been pretty consistent for many people, with some exceptions. I keep telling you that your '81 is an especially thin one, from a time when they varied a lot. There are some extremely thick old ones too.

[thenine]

awesome review MIke. Very detailed and I wanted to see a nit-picky review. It gives all of us an excellent picture of what these guitars are before buying sight unseen, awesome job.

I noticed on your site that you have TMZ 185 - I have 186.

9

[savage]

Savage, .790" to .850" is exactly what my '06 custom strathead measures. When they published specs a few years ago in one of the pricelists, the pointy spec was listed at .750" at the 3rd and .810" at the 12th. The strathead spec was listed at .735" at the 3rd and .850" at the 12th. I don't know of anyone who got one that was that thin at the 3rd, but the .850" at the 12th has been pretty consistent for many people, with some exceptions. I keep telling you that your '81 is an especially thin one, from a time when they varied a lot. There are some extremely thick old ones too.

dg, The .735" and .850" size is definitely more in the ballpark of my 81's neck size and i can see now mine is considered a especially thin one after seeing the variations of the old and new neck sizes.
man and here i thought that all the oldies had these thinner than thin necks
i guess it is because charvel was always known to feature a speed neck and my bud's star also has a neck just like mine.
just think if i found a real deal 81 or 82 on the internet for $5000 or more as a back up to mine and it arrived to me with a BOAT NECK!

[toejam]

the floyd kicks ass-mine set up perfect bar has jut enough resistance but not
too stiff only mod i will do is drop a tremolno in there so i can lock it into down only
so i do not have to adjust the neck pocket and then i will slap an evh d tuna on
there because my band plays alot of drop d material.

No need for the Tremol-no, and you don't need to shim the neck pocket. Just drop the Floyd to the body and put some metal shims under the saddles so they're raised up enough. I did that on my Charvel Star.

[savage]

No need for the Tremol-no, and you don't need to shim the neck pocket. Just drop the Floyd to the body and put some metal shims under the saddles so they're raised up enough. I did that on my Charvel Star.

I thought that would restrict the dive of the floyd?
When i tried it on a old usa kramer pacer(also non recessed) the front of the OFR base would hit the body and actually lift the whole bridge with a deep dive ala eruption
I wound up having to shim the neck pocket with a thin sliver of cardboard
which i dont like to do since i prefer the full connection of the neck pocket/neck heal for the most tone/sustain .

[dg]

Just got back from checking them out, and figured I'd put my review in here rather than start another thread. Played a black SD 1, gold tele, black SoCal, and got to quickly check out a couple others (all black). They had no red SD 1s or tangerine SoCals but have more coming.

Neck profile was very consistent on all of them. They were just a hair thicker at the low end of the board than my '06 strathead, very similar in thickness higher up. I would say these have a slightly rounder profile than mine. Exactly like Mike (XSSIVE) said in his review, not quite as flat a D, maybe bordering on a C shape. Very nice, comfortable, playable necks, with nicely rolled fretboard edges on all of them. I liked them a lot.

Fret ends on all of them were noticeably sharp compared to both of my customs. This is an observation and not a complaint. The fretwork is about what I think can be realistically expected at this price point. Frets could've used a polish, but I found no issues with buzz or leveling in the time I had with them. Nice playability, but I'd have a tech go over the fret ends (or be prepared to do it yourself) to get the most enjoyment from those nice fretboard edges.

The finishes were nice on all of the black ones that I checked out. I looked hard for seams and couldn't spot any. The gold tele had a slight paint issue on the back around the belly cut. Hard to describe, but you could see a bit of a spray pattern (I think it was in the metallic undercoat), like 3 or 4 wide lines that followed the curve of the belly cut when the light hit it at an angle. You had to look for it, but it was there. The front of the guitar looked fantastic.

As Mike said in his review, the trems are set high and there is a fair bit of neck tilt. These have more pullup range than my strathead, and about the same as my pointy. This is exactly how I like 'em. The trems are just going to have to take playing & abuse before the jury is in, imo. They seemed fine, but I didn't go over them really closely.

The guitars sound great. Nice & resonant, similar to my alder pointies. Not in the same league as my ash strathead, but that guitar is just special, at least to me. Amplified tone was decent. As I expected, I don't like the JB in these, and would immediately put a Custom in, but that's my preference. The Tone Zone sounds good in the SoCal.

Overall, a very good budget guitar, imo.

[savage]

Just got back from checking them out, and figured I'd put my review in here rather than start another thread. Played a black SD 1, gold tele, black SoCal, and got to quickly check out a couple others (all black). They had no red SD 1s or tangerine SoCals but have more coming.

Neck profile was very consistent on all of them. They were just a hair thicker at the low end of the board than my '06 strathead, very similar in thickness higher up. I would say these have a slightly rounder profile than mine. Exactly like Mike (XSSIVE) said in his review, not quite as flat a D, maybe bordering on a C shape. Very nice, comfortable, playable necks, with nicely rolled fretboard edges on all of them. I liked them a lot.

Fret ends on all of them were noticeably sharp compared to both of my customs. This is an observation and not a complaint. The fretwork is about what I think can be realistically expected at this price point. Frets could've used a polish, but I found no issues with buzz or leveling in the time I had with them. Nice playability, but I'd have a tech go over the fret ends (or be prepared to do it yourself) to get the most enjoyment from those nice fretboard edges.

The finishes were nice on all of the black ones that I checked out. I looked hard for seams and couldn't spot any. The gold tele had a slight paint issue on the back around the belly cut. Hard to describe, but you could see a bit of a spray pattern (I think it was in the metallic undercoat), like 3 or 4 wide lines that followed the curve of the belly cut when the light hit it at an angle. You had to look for it, but it was there. The front of the guitar looked fantastic.

As Mike said in his review, the trems are set high and there is a fair bit of neck tilt. These have more pullup range than my strathead, and about the same as my pointy. This is exactly how I like 'em. The trems are just going to have to take playing & abuse before the jury is in, imo. They seemed fine, but I didn't go over them really closely.

The guitars sound great. Nice & resonant, similar to my alder pointies. Not in the same league as my ash strathead, but that guitar is just special, at least to me. Amplified tone was decent. As I expected, I don't like the JB in these, and would immediately put a Custom in, but that's my preference. The Tone Zone sounds good in the SoCal.

Overall, a very good budget guitar, imo.

thanks for the review and also thanks a million for answering my "copying my 81 profile on these new SD's" question via PM

[Number Of The Priest]

Really nice photos by the way.

[Ralph E.]

Really nice photos by the way.

That guitar, with gold hardware...

[daisp]

Thanks Mike!

[XSSIVE]

dg thanks for the input!! nice to see another person realizes they are solid guitars with plenty of potential but not on par with the customs that cost thousands more in some cases. i should note that my workshop has all florescent lights and under that light at the right angle the body seams can be seen. under tungsten light or natural daylight they are very hard to see and you really need to try and know where to look. i forgot to note that since i was overwhelmed with info and trying to pass every little bit on to everyone. i also used to do professional auto detailing for show cars and high end exotics so i'm real damn picky about paint quality...it's a curse lol. i don't mind my own wear on a guitar but when it's brand new (and not a relic) i expect it to be scratch and swirl free. i think mine and the other black one i chose from were just some friday last guitars of the work week getting buffed out and they rushed to get done lol.

thanks very much for the kind words on my pics!!

i think this was my favorite shot i took...


it just looks real clean and simple in all black...thus why i went with it over the candy red.

Ralph i actually thought about gold but the stealth look is working for me for now.

-Mike