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

[Axewielder]

So the fret ends are not individually rolled by hand with a file, I'll buy that. To compensate, sounds like they are beveling them a bit more to reduce the "railroad track" feel. How about the level and crown process, how do you think that differs?

[Ralph E.]

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

-Mike

Don't get me wrong, it looks killer the way it is. I was just thinking out loud...

I guess that's the beauty of these, at this price point, you can mod them and still not break the bank.

[savage]

the style 1 in pagan gold is going to look just incredible

[Jacksonite]

Great review Mike, I'm an anal guitar guy myself. As for the fretwork, the question that is bugging me is how can the USA strats and the Select Series Jacksons and the Pro Mod Charvels have different levels of quality on the fretwork, being they are made at the same factory? I work for a manufacturer myself, and I know if I have one guy working on a low-end product and one guy working on a high-end product with similar features, I don't give them both the same procedure and try to tell the low-end guy to "do it faster". In this case, I would give them different documented procedures, one with cost shavings and one without. So the question is, how exactly is the fretwork being approached differently on these?

different people build these guitars.

[eddyrox]

Mike, thank you for taking the time and pix to seriously detail review the new production models. You rock brother!
mike

[XSSIVE]

no problem man! i'm glad to shed some light on every inch of them and not BS people.

-Mike

[chmizell]

I think its a great review. Tone and feel are the most important factors to me. I am glad in your later posts it seems you point out, that its mostly "finishing" thats not as good. I want to make sure that people dont shy away from these guitars thinking that they dont sound or cant play as good. I will say that my custom shop edges out in warmth of tone, and felt broken in right out of the box. But I will say, that at least with my green production model...I had a lot less of the issues you had with your guitar. My neck had the same grain and digital look to it as the customs I have seen. I didnt see any imperfections at all. I was pretty suprised by that. However I did need polish up the frets to get that soft feel that my CS has. Also I cant directly compare, because my CS has an ebony board and my green production has a maple board. The CS seems to have a softer and warmer neck tone...and a slight softer feel. In my opinion I think finally we are getting our monies worth on a production guitar! Anyways, I just want to make sure that people realize that the real difference is the finshing, I think that the the tone and the necks on these things are top shelf, especially after some TLC. The one gripe I have is, why couldnt they have put an Original Floyd on this, and just charged $100 more? To me thats the only beef I have with this guitar, the Floyd that is on there is fine, but the value on this guitar would be much greater with a real floyd. My gut tells me that the margin on this guitar is thinner than most, and also I think that the margin is too high on most custom shops, except for ones with radical construction differences,and graphics obviously! I will say however that the 2005-2006 pointies on the used market are probably the best bang for the buck if you can find one in good shape, and with Floyds and multiple pick-ups. I have one of those and its basically a custom shop without the filligree. If they had only made some strat heads in that series!!!

[Spivonious]

Wow what a thread resurrection!

I really don't understand the problem with the Korean Floyds. They're exactly the same as the German ones except for the location of the workers.

[chmizell]

You know, I think you are right! I probably am being too jaded on that one. I was thinking it might impact resale value! Only thing else I think I can say, is that when I plug in the green one....it sounds just as good as my CS...and after some tweaks, plays as good. I am wondering if its wishful thinking, to say that after the "re-finidhing" a production model can play and sound as good as the CS. To me thats where it all meets, because if thats true, I would only buy a CS if I absoutley had to have a feature not found on a production guitar. If everybody thought that way maybe the prices for customs would come down! I will say though, I have not priced a custom shop, that was a basic color, strat head, maple board, two humbuckers, Original Floyd.....the only Customs I have put my hands on had special finishes that jack the price way up. Any thoughts? What would it cost to have a custom version of a production model?

[chmizell]

After reading my post..and finding bad spelling....some might wonder why I would get custom shop version of a production guitar....what I am trying to find out, is that, here is a guy with limited resources...when its all said and done, after all the tweaks and elbow grease...is the custom guitar gonna still sound and play better? If thats the case, than this guy is gonna wait, save up, and get that custom or find a used one. If not, I am gonna buy a production guitar, spend a few extra $$ or hours tweaking it, and reconsider the pearl inlay, naked chick graphic, etc etc.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Wow what a thread resurrection!

I really don't understand the problem with the Korean Floyds. They're exactly the same as the German ones except for the location of the workers.

Well, really, I have to disagree with this, because they are not exactly the same.

The saddles are different, the base plate is different, and certainly the fit of the bar in the collar is sloppier or at least a hell of a lot less consistent in my experience on the Korean version.

Now, I'm not going to argue the Korean Floyd is a tone-sucking piece of junk compared to the OFR, or that the differences are night and day, but it's definitely not the same as the German OFR.

[voodoosound]

You know, I think you are right! I probably am being too jaded on that one. I was thinking it might impact resale value! Only thing else I think I can say, is that when I plug in the green one....it sounds just as good as my CS...and after some tweaks, plays as good. I am wondering if its wishful thinking, to say that after the "re-finidhing" a production model can play and sound as good as the CS. To me thats where it all meets, because if thats true, I would only buy a CS if I absoutley had to have a feature not found on a production guitar. If everybody thought that way maybe the prices for customs would come down! I will say though, I have not priced a custom shop, that was a basic color, strat head, maple board, two humbuckers, Original Floyd.....the only Customs I have put my hands on had special finishes that jack the price way up. Any thoughts? What would it cost to have a custom version of a production model?

Thats certainly a lot of generalization when you refer to CS models. Which CS models are we talking about? What wood, pickups, configuration.

Without trying to be rude, to suggest that the production series is anything close to a Custom SHop CHarvel is very silly. I don't care how much time, effort or money you put into your production model with the woods, and the way the frets were layed short of replacing almost all the part, a refret, and a better paint job on a different body you will not even come close to the quality of a Custom shop model. Seriously if you think this I would doubt you have ever compared the 2.

On another note. I hope you really didn't buy the production model in hopes of it "going up in value". That is plain silly. Call the guitar what it is. A middle of the road guitar at an ok price. Thats what it was meant to be and thats all it will ever be.

[chmizell]

1st off, sounds like you were trying to be rude! If you would have read my post without being dismissive....I simply asked....with only regards to tone and feel....would a custom shop strat, with a standard specs....I'll be more specific, as I thought people would sorta "get" what I was driving at...alder body, Floyd, JB in the bridge, one piece maple neck....sound noticeably better than the production guitar with alder body Floyd, JB in the bridge one piece maple neck!...after a dressing, could the production neck feel the same as a custom shop with the same specs? Sounds like in your post, you are saying that the woods, frets etc are inherently better. Is there gonna be a huge difference in an alder body from the CS vs. the line? Are they using better fret wire in the CS? If that is true, let me know because I wont waste time hunting down a production instrument. I guess I am having trouble wrapping my head around the idea thay you cant hand select a USA production Charvel, tweak it out to rival a CS of the same composition. I cant afford to order direct, a custom shop...I have to hunt the used market for a CS with close enough specs, and still pay big $$. If the CS uses that much better of woods and frets and will continue the hunt...if its really the same materials, or even just marginally better, I will save a bunch of dough on the purchase, then pay a guy $100 to refine it. By the way, I dont mean to insult the extremely talented people in the Jackson Charvel Custom Shop...I totally get that they turn out truly special instruments, fit and finish unparalleled. Listen if I had unlimited resources I would order custom, if not just for the sake of the convenience! I get what I want, dont have to shop, gets delivered, pick it up and go play!

[chmizell]

Now I am being rude! It seems like, from the review, most all of what is wrong with the Prod model are things that can be improved upon, brought up to spec etec etc. Is there anything with the Pro model..aside from what was said in the review, that is simply "less than"?

[voodoosound]

Ok I already pretty much answered you questions in my post above but I'll break it down.

ProMod Best price scenario for a new one $850

Custom Shop Best price scenario for a new one with similar spec. $2000

Throw a used Custom shop into the equation for around $1500 to $1650 and it really becomes a no brainer.

Lets examine the costs involved to get the ProMod even close to the CUstom

First you have to buy a case. $120
Second and OFR $180 Yes they sound very different
Third a quality setup by a good luthier not the local guitar store knucklehead $180-200

Fourth the ProMOd uses a 3 piece body the customs use 1 or 2 piece and a higher grade.

I can make this list a lot longer but just with the very basics you already add $500 to the price. So now that PRO MOD Costs you $1350 assuming your scored on it to begin with. Also, I don't know about you but my time also costs money so you would have to factor all that in for all the leg work tracking all this crap down, swapping it out, dropping it off, etc.

It's still not a custom shop model and even though you invested more money it the frets are still not comparable and the wood is not the same quality. Should you go to sell it you might get your original $850 back this month. In a couple months the newer models come out and your "investment" is now worth even less.

I can keep going on this but I think you get my point. No matter what you to do the PRO MOD the quality will not be the same as the Custom SHop. If you really want to do the the work and build a great guitar for lesser costs. Skip the PRO MOD and buy Quality Musikraft lumber and build your own.

Another excellent option would be to buy a used zoo CS and have it painted.