Photoshoot day: 2011 Charvel Japan Pro-Mod So-Cal (Candy Red)

[Number Of The Priest]

I previously unveiled this guitar last year with mediocre photos taken with my point-and-shoot camera. I finally got around to shooting DSLR photos on an overcast day.

A previous owner modded this guitar with a big brass block from FU-Tone, a tremolo stopper, and an EVH D-Tuna. He also sanded the back of the neck and it feels so good that I can't bring myself to oil it with gunstock oil as per the original-specified finish.

This guitar plays and sounds awesome, and is in all respects equal to my USA So-Cal (https://www.jcfonline.com/threads/15...te)?p=1665864), and perhaps better due to its condition and the modifications. However, I haven't quite bonded with it. It only gets a fraction of playing time and I can't understand why, even after over a year of ownership. I even had it listed for sale recently but then retracted the listing. Lately, Canada is seeing many Japanese Pro-Mods listed for prices higher than my asking price, so I decided I should hold on to it and try to give it a chance to become a regular part of my rotation.

Full sized images on my Imgur account: http://notp1.imgur.com/

[kamanda]

Love it. Still GASing for a MIJ San Dimas/ SoCal

[Number Of The Priest]

There was a Japanese San Dimas listed on our local Kijiji in July. The seller was willing to accept CAD$515. If I had known you were interested, I would have passed it along to you.

I'm almost certain it included the SKB OHSC too, since by default these Japanese Pro-Mods came with SKB cases. (Funny how the American Pro-Mods were sold with gigbags.)

[lefty]

Great guitar! I'm curious why you didn't want to treat the neck with gunstock oil?
I've got that on an EBMM and it's my favorite neck...

[Number Of The Priest]

It feels very smooth with zero finish on the neck, and the neck is quartersawn (ie - high strength and stability) so I've left it alone.

I now have guitars with a multitude of neck finishes, in increasing order of labor/time.

1) Full gloss clearcoat. I leave these alone on my neckthru and setneck guitars.

2) Deglossed clearcoat. I use 0000 steel wool on bolt-neck guitars to remove as much clearcoat as it will allow. This has the most impact on reducing the sticky feeling on the backs of necks with a small investment of time.

3) Removed clearcoat (bare wood). This is what the previous owner of this So-Cal did to this neck. A bit more labor-intensive if I wanted to do this myself on another guitar.

4) Removed clearcoat and refinished with gunstock oil and wax (like EBMM guitars). I recently learned the procedure and performed it on the neck of my 2000 Ibanez RG570: https://www.jcfonline.com/threads/15...70-Gray-Nickel. Charvel's specification sheet for the American Pro-Mods (and, by extension, the Japanese Pro-Mods since they had identical specs) states that these guitars had gunstock oil finishes, with no mention of wax, though I could do one or both to this So-Cal if I wanted to "refinish" it back to "stock" configuration.

[mpexus]

Nice looking guitar


Curious why you put a Trem Stopper if the FR is already Top Mounted.

[Number Of The Priest]

I didn't install the upgrades. But, to me, "top mounted" doesn't necessarily mean "dive only". The Floyds on these Pro-Mods is not mounted flat to the body. It hovers a little bit above, allowing pull-ups and divebombs. Thus the need for the tremolo stopper to restrict the tremolo to "dive only" and to allow the EVH D-Tuna to work properly.