San Dimas Retro Update

[Predator1]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

1 11/16 nut width just like the Bullseye reissue.
I love mine and would buy another in a heartbeat! [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[Ralph E.]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

Originally posted by slo100:
Greg, except for the Lynch guitar which is paper thin, all the necks of my stratheads are very similar in radius, backshape, and contour. Plus they are all 1 3/4". Even among the 22 fret guitars vs the 21 fretters they are similar in fit and feel.

Ralph, my memory is severely failing me. I remember you had a bunch of holdsworths...I thought they had 1 3/4". I almost bought the red and black and I was sure those did. What were your others?

It is definitely a preference thing...maybe I got lucky that mine are all similar. Now only if that dang seafoam tele head was 1 3/4" DOH!

Bret

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">A couple of pre-pros, Lynch's green bengal, an EVH, a dinky from 82, Mark St. John's strat, 4 Holdsworth's, and a few more I can't put my finger on (it gets tough after having over 150 guitars in the last 6 years [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] ).

One thing I do remember is that there were only a couple that had a 1 3/4" neck. And another thing I remember is that Greg is right about the strathead having a variety of profiles. IMO, the 21 fret necks always felt the best, the early 22's (1982-3) were very close, and the Holdsworth's were totally different. They were much thicker, and always had a thick laquer finish which ruined the feel as far as I was concerned (but again, that is personal preference).

Other guys seem to remember alot of 1 5/8"-1 11/16" as well, so I can't be dreaming this up. I think the bottom line is who cares what they did then or now, just pick up the damn guitar and play it. If there's one thing that gets real old after awhile is all the over-analysation that goes on regarding this stuff. Any real guitar player cares about TONE, TONE, TONE. That is truly how a great guitar is judged.

[ January 23, 2004, 10:53 PM: Message edited by: Ralph E. ]

[Ralph E.]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

A little more research into this whole nut width:

The Mark St John guitar was essentially a holdsworth model guitar. "Holdsworth" is written right on the work order that is displayed at Robert Witte's site. The neck is the typical holdsworth neck, ebony fretboard, laquered neck, and a 1 11/16 nut (this is also right on the same work order).

[LarryL]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

Other than maybe the oiled neck there wasn't much that was standard about Charvels that would be a carved in stone thing to duplicate. You had different profiles, pickups, electronics, bridges, body woods, and fingerboards sometimes from guitar to guitar let alone over the few years of Strat-heads. There isn't a lot of room to dispute the authenticity of the reissues.

[RP]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

Originally posted by Hamner1:
I do think the pointy star is cool, but it needs a Floyd before I would consider getting one... [img]graemlins/idea2.gif[/img] maybe that is the idea to flash us back to the '80s. Get a standard trem and have it modded for a Floyd. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">They're offering the pointy Star with a Floyd. Just not the strathead, apparently.

[diablomozart]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

both of my strat heads are 1 3/4" wide and the purple crackle is in the high 4000 serial # range...both the necks on mine are very slim as well...so if ya gotta ***** at someone, then ***** at me...my two were taken to namm over the summer so mike shannon could put his hands on them...hence the 1 3/4" width now...d.m.

[shreddermon]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

DM, it's all cool. I don't think anyone's b***hing about having a 1 & 3/4 nut on the new stratheads. Just debating which - 3/4, 5/8 or even 11/16 - were most common in the SD era, as they were all used.

It is a curious choice for the new pointyhead Charvels, though, as they were pretty standard at 1 & 11/16ths.

[~K~]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

Originally posted by shreddermon:
DM, it's all cool. I don't think anyone's b***hing about having a 1 & 3/4 nut on the new stratheads. Just debating which - 3/4, 5/8 or even 11/16 - were most common in the SD era, as they were all used.

It is a curious choice for the new pointyhead Charvels, though, as they were pretty standard at 1 & 11/16ths.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is already being worked out .. and while I'm not bitching about the startheads I probably would have bought in if 1 5/8 was offered as it should have been. Those are my stratheads and I prefer those necks for myself ..

[sully]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

Originally posted by Ralph E.:
If there's one thing that gets real old after awhile is all the over-analysation that goes on regarding this stuff.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">one of the smartest things ever said in the history of this forum. thanks ralph.

sully

[shreddermon]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

...Or as you once put it, Sully (I think?), we're a bunch of "anal-retentive screw counters". [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I totally agree guys. It's occassionally fun to talk about this stuff and learn more of the history. But, like I said in a previous post, not anything that will stop me from buying 'em. And, in fact, I'll be doing just that for at least one - maybe more - very soon.

[slo100]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

I don't see something as important as nut width as something dismissable. I have a tough time playing 1 5/8" necks. To me, part of the classic Charvel configuration is a wide flat profile neck. They made others, of course, but by and large that is part of the legacy. 1 3/4" is a must have on a strathead for me to be able to play comfortably.

Also, 1 11/16" is "the" standard for Jackson style necks. I don't think Les Paul fans would be happy if the reissues all of a sudden had a changed nut width from the originals...why should Charvels be any different.

We do, at times, get over-analytical but I don't think this is one of those times.

But that's just me.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

Sometimes I count screws when Im lying in bed and I can't sleep...

[L]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

or maybe they just used the 1 3/4 to differintiate themselves or as a selling point againt the majority of other current production guitars out there today that have smaller widths?

Maybe they want to entice some new interest in the line rather than just the diehards?

[diablomozart]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

or maybe they just used the 1 3/4 to differentiate themselves or as a selling point againt the majority of other current production guitars out there today that have smaller widths?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">very astute of you...to this day you can get jacksons with those specs...and anything can be ordered thru the custom shop...the 1 3/4" nut is something that jackson does not offer on a production guitar and prob. a good way to differentiate the charvels from the jacksons...but i'm biased too...i prefer the 1 3/4" nut myself... [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ...d.m.

[sully]

Re: San Dimas Retro Update

Originally posted by shreddermon:
...Or as you once put it, Sully (I think?), we're a bunch of "anal-retentive screw counters". [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">actually, i said we were "screw counting freaks", but i have to give bret credit for the "screw counter" term; it was something he coined in an email.

sully