Played the tangerine hardtail Wildcard today...

[RobRR]

Stopped in Sam Ash today and they had the hardtail Wildcard ProMod hanging so I gave it a quick whirl... WOW, what a difference between these Jap ones and the USA ones! The Jap neck was AWESOME, a good bit thinner than my first run Tangerine Socal, tighter grain in the maple, nice vintage tint to it, beautiful THICK ebony board. Fretwork is PHENOMINAL, especially comared to the USA when I first got it. Fit and finish is also phenomnal.

Plays and feels just great, the neck feels perfect, slightly thicker than a typical Jackson Speed Neck, but definitly comfortable, and a LOT thinner and more smoothly finished than my SoCal neck.

If I had the money burning a hole in my pocket, itd be sitting right next to me as I type this, and thats coming from somoene who does NOT like non-Floyded guitars. After checking out this guitar, to be quite honest, I kinda feel like I got ripped off on my USA SoCal. Dont get me wrong, the SoCal plays great after the fretwork I had to do to it, but I just cant bond with the thick neck.

[SkullCrusher]

awesome.

When i get back from holiday im gonna snap one of them up.

I LOVE HARDTAILS!!!!!!!!!!!

[snucka]

I've been looking at the "hardtail" and have been wondering how the Pro-mods were. I was thinking about picking up the body on eBay and putting something together.

[MarkTheMuscleShark]

BLASPHEMY!! I have played several recent Charvels, both the Japanese and U.S.A. models, and the USA guitars are always far superior. I hated the neck shape, fretwork, neck finish, control knob, bridge (do they have different bridges or is it just me?) , direct mount pickups and general feel of the guitars, although the sound was there. The USA models I've played (just the San Dimas) always felt better, not only when playing them but even when holding them. You know what I mean, when you hold a guitart and you KNOW that it's put together beautifully? I get that feeling with my San Dimas, I don't get that feeling with the Jap guitars.

[dg]

So you're saying that the factory that made the Charvel 750XL, Jackson Soloist Archtop Professional and all of the other Pro series guitars, the factory that requires all of its employees to go to luthier school, somehow just can't compete with the regular Fender assembly line that made the USA production models? I'm all for USA made products, and I wish the jobs could've stayed over here (if indeed any were actually lost) but almost every reviewer so far has said that the fretwork and fit & finish has been better on the Japanese models, and the only complaint I've heard is that some think the tru-oil finish is a little more heavy on them

[RobRR]

The fretwork was 100 times better on the Jap guitar than my USA when I got it. The first thing I had to do when I got my USA was recrown and polish the frets because they were HORRIBLE.

Anyways, I went back to Sam Ash the other day just to "see" that guitar again... and it was gone. So I guess someone felt as strongly as I did about it! Kinda regret not buying it though... I had the money but didnt "need" to spend it. Ah well, everything happens for a reason... or not...

[SouthernShred]

Every Japanese Pro Mod I've played has been excellent and every one has had better fretwork than the USA Prod models...go figure.

[VitaminG]

I guess your opinion is wrong, Rob?!

maybe if you'd reviewed a specific guitar and compared it to a guitar you actually own or have spent a deal of time with, instead of talking in generalities about US vs. Jap....

[RobRR]

Yeah, the nerve of me! How dare I!

[MarkTheMuscleShark]

Maybe it's just placebo, but my USA San Dimas feels better than any Japanese Charvel I've played. Not only the fretwork, the oil finish is so much smoother and faster. Plus I prefer the spring mount pickups, because I like to slant the pickup so the individual string volumes are about equal.

[Hellbat]

It could be that your USA is also one where everything just came together perfect. I have a cheap squier affinity strat that is one such happy accident. I'm not saying it holds a candle to my USA Jacksons but it plays well and sounds as good as guitars costing many times more. Around here the USA's seemed to have a slightly higher share of "average" versus "excellent" guitars. Like RobRR's experience that it was a quality guitar but needed some extra setup attention before it morphed from Okay to Awesome.

As the manufacturer the goal is to get as close as you can to "Every one has to be at least as awesome as this one." How high you set the bar is generally affected by profit margins mainly.

Like people, some guitars just rise above due to luck of the draw genetics. I don't think anybody is saying "burn your USA's, they're only good for tinder." Most people that have sampled both, (Myself included, although only short trials on floor models for me.) have felt the Japanese ones are a little more consistently of a high setup quality. I'm not surprised though, as the Japanese culture places high value in consistent excellence.

Of course this is all my gut feeling and perception from hanging out here for a couple years and limited playing time on floor models. I could be 180 degrees off.

[DHardmanJr]

Would have loved this new wildcard if it only had a Floyd. First one I've been interested in a while in terms of pups/woods/color and no Floyd. ugh.

[DHardmanJr]

Seems strange the new wildcard isn't on charvel.com as far as I can tell. Is Charvel on vacation? Or did they just lose interest in promoting the pro mods?

[fullmetalguitar]

Seems strange the new wildcard isn't on charvel.com as far as I can tell. Is Charvel on vacation? Or did they just lose interest in promoting the pro mods?

I was thinking the same thing. Update the website guys.

[toejam]

Plus I prefer the spring mount pickups, because I like to slant the pickup so the individual string volumes are about equal.

You do realize that's what a screwdriver will do for the pole pieces, right?