NGD and Charvel family!

[zenki200]

Hi y'all, Thought I'd post up a few pics of my Charvels up. It's pretty basic as I live in the UK and we don't seem to be blessed with old Charvels bursting from local secondhand stores and Craigslist like you appear to be over there in the USA!!

I have a Model 2, Model 3 a DS Star and my new arrival is a Charvel SD Pro Mod WDM Snake. Here are a few pics. With exception of the Snake they have all been modded, the M2 has a pickguard, Dimarzio Tonezone, Original 1987 Floyd and fat brass block, The M3 has been routed HSH with Dimarzio Fred on the bridge and PAF Pro at the neck and a Floyd FRT1000 with fat block. The Star has a Dimarzio PAF Pro with a fat block on the Floyd Special. All of them have had original screw in arms/ collars fitted with the "Cap screw" slot in arms replaced ( I have one on the way from the USA for the Snake).

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c384/GrahamLeaney/Guitar%20Stuff/20161123_222341_zps4ecpo4um.jpg

[kamanda]

[elrrek]

Nice. Where was the Star made? Is it one of the Fender Stars from a few years back?

[Johnnyryche]

Nice group of Charvels!

[zenki200]

Sadly not, its one of the Korean DST-3 models. I must admit I bought it on a whim but have been really surprised as it's actually a very nice guitar. The Floyd Special is absolutely fine as long as it's set up properly and the PAF Pro makes it sing! The neck is similar profile to the necks on my M2 and M3 but slightly chunkier but does not inhibit getting around the frets tho.
I'll get some more pics up tomorrow.
Thanks for the help Kamanda. I posted it late last night and obviously used the wrong link on Photobucket!

[zenki200]

Hopfully it worked this time!

[elrrek]

A Korean DST-3? I thought they were all made in China. If I had known there were Korean ones I would have hunted one down.

I Like what you've done with the M2, I'm going to do something similar with my M3, but I need to junk the Kahler on it (total piece of crap) and I'm going with a single EMG.

[Number Of The Priest]

I agree, I personally found that the Floyd Rose Special does not suffer. It has the exact same dimensions as the Original Floyd Rose (German) and the 1000 Series Floyd Rose (Korean) and the same construction, so they are all direct swaps of each other. The difference lies in the Special saddles being zinc alloy rather than steel, and the Special sustain block being zinc alloy instead of brass. Swapping the saddles and sustain block would make essentially turn a Special into a fully-functional "Original".

When you put the Floyds on your Model 2 and Model 3, did you also change the trem posts? Or did you reuse the studs from the JT6 trem (which I've learned is perfectly fine)?

Very nice collection!

[zenki200]

I agree, I personally found that the Floyd Rose Special does not suffer. It has the exact same dimensions as the Original Floyd Rose (German) and the 1000 Series Floyd Rose (Korean) and the same construction, so they are all direct swaps of each other. The difference lies in the Special saddles being zinc alloy rather than steel, and the Special sustain block being zinc alloy instead of brass. Swapping the saddles and sustain block would make essentially turn a Special into a fully-functional "Original".

When you put the Floyds on your Model 2 and Model 3, did you also change the trem posts? Or did you reuse the studs from the JT6 trem (which I've learned is perfectly fine)?

Very nice collection!

Exactly, I really don't get all this hating of the Floyd Special and the FRT 1000. As you say, the Special has zinc alloy saddles and a zinc alloy block, all other components are hardened steel as per the Original. The FRT series are all hardened steel components but manufactured in Korea as opposed to German so basically, it's a Floyd!. I will say that the fine tuners are not as smooth in operation as my Original but my Original is nearly 30 years old so I guess they will bed in! I've also changed the blocks on the Special and FRT on the Model 3 for brass ones. I honestly believe that most of the hating posts are from people who have not got them set up properly because I cannot get these trems to go out of tune!

I have left the old post from the JT6 trems in place with no issues whatsoever in 30 years!

[Number Of The Priest]

I agree... I attempted to be aggressive on the Special on my Jackson SL3X, the 1000 Series on both my Charvel So-Cals, and even the JT580LP on the two Jackson KE3s I've owned, and they all returned perfectly to pitch.

A recent hater... http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/151...=1#post1655154

[zenki200]

A Korean DST-3? I thought they were all made in China. If I had known there were Korean ones I would have hunted one down.

I Like what you've done with the M2, I'm going to do something similar with my M3, but I need to junk the Kahler on it (total piece of crap) and I'm going with a single EMG.

Actually you are right, they were made in China but as said, it's a pretty nice guitar. The Desolation series got a lot of flak and to be fair, the more expensive ones were pretty hideous and not to my tase but the DST3 star is a "back to basics" guitar and does that very well.

[zenki200]

I agree... I attempted to be aggressive on the Special on my Jackson SL3X, the 1000 Series on both my Charvel So-Cals, and even the JT580LP on the two Jackson KE3s I've owned, and they all returned perfectly to pitch.

A recent hater... http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/151...=1#post1655154

Well, each to their own. Personally, as you can see, I have an OFR, two FRT1000 and a Special (and a 1988 Schaller Floyd II I took off the M3) and I cant fault any of them. Sure the special does not feel quite as responsive or do "trills" quite as well as my OFR but its under half the price and to be fair, once I junked the arm and fitted an "old style" screw in collar type arm it's damn close. Floating trems need setting up properly and regular fettling to make them function properly.

Unless you really know what you are doing I'd never undertake changing nuts on a guitar as they are rarely just straight replacements and will need the nut seat or the nut itself to be modified to get perfect height at the first fret.

Sadly the cheap pot metal Floyd copies that have flooded the market over recent years have resulted in a lot of snobbery around these trems and many scoff at the Special and FRT units, but many that do have never even played one for any length of time. I have played guitars with OFR's fitted that didn't hold tune and that were horrible and dead to use becuase they were not set up correctly so just because one is fitted to a guitar does not guarantee it work as it should and the same can be said for the cheaper models.

[kamanda]

How was the swap to the FR on the model 2 and 3? Notice anything weird spacing wise? That seems to be my only worry

[zenki200]

How was the swap to the FR on the model 2 and 3? Notice anything weird spacing wise? That seems to be my only worry

Straight swap. No issues regarding spacing.