Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

[Insidedoubt]

I bought a beautiful Charvel 750XL yesterday and I love it!
I've been dying to find one since I saw Shawn Lane(R.I.P) play one in one of his instructionals. This is really a great, versatile guitar!

[pro-fusion]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Nice one! Welcome to the JCF.

The 750xl, and really all of the 'toothpaste-logo' Charvels, are absolutely first-rate guitars.

[Insidedoubt]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Thank you =)

Yeah, they seem to be great guitars!
The only think that might not suit my style is how hot the stock pickups are, so I might swap them out some day [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[pro-fusion]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Most people seem to swap out the pickups on the 750xl. Lot of folks go with EMGs on those guitars. Personally, I would go for either a Duncan JB or Distortion in the bridge.

[eaeolian]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

I played one of these with dual 89s, with the splitting set up on the five way. It sounded fan-tastic.

[Chrisb]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

If I ever get one of these damned things I'm planning on a Custom/Jazz combo. The 750's are mahogany right? I think that is totally ruined by the brittle sterile sound of EMG's. EMG's are great for Basswood and Alder IMO.

[donf]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Nice.........if you fall out of love with it,...give me a call. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Sunbane]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

[ QUOTE ]
If I ever get one of these damned things I'm planning on a Custom/Jazz combo. The 750's are mahogany right? I think that is totally ruined by the brittle sterile sound of EMG's. EMG's are great for Basswood and Alder IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

*cough*allEMGmodelsaren'tsterile*cough* [img]/images/graemlins/fart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

But although I'm a long time EMG-addict, I will have
to second that opinion. I've had my favoutite EMG
combo (85/58) in my 750XL for a couple of weeks now,
but the combination isn't really rocking. I've done
comparisons with the stock pickups, and while I still
think the EMGs sound slightly better (tighter and more
bite), they didn't quite have the effect I hoped. The
EMGs were a remarkable improvement in my Model 6, but
that is a poplar/maple guitar.

This is a golden opportunity for me to finally venture
into Duncan territory. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I just need to figure out where
I want the sound to go...

As for the 750XL itself - killer guitar! I couldn't be
happier with mine. It's the first time that a guitar
really feels 'right' from the moment I picked it up.

[1trussell]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Pickups I've used in a 750xl:

EMG 89's - decent, but not my thing. The cleans were really clean, but the overall sound just wasn't as open as I wanted it to be. It's like the argument between analog and digital. Some people say digital just ruins the sound.

Duncan Distortions - I've got a pair of these in one of my 750xl's and that thing is a shred machine. Rip your head off metal tone and amazing shred lead tones from the neck. A good example of why the Distortion is my favorite pickup.

Duncan Jazz neck - Very articulate and clean. Splits very well. It's just a little too bright for me.

Duncan Full Shred neck - pretty much a hotter version of the Jazz. Liked all the same things, disliked all the same things.

Pickups I'm going to be putting in a 750xl:

Custom-Custom/APH1 - I'll give you guy a full rundown on these when I put them in.

[Insidedoubt]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Thanks a lot for the pickup suggestions guys!

I'm thinking about going for DiMarzios though, I have yet to try out a DiMarzio equipped guitar that didn't sound fantastic. I have only tried Hot Rails from Seymour Duncan though and I hated that pickup =/ Might give the full-size pickups a try though.

I'd love to hear more about which pickups you've found best suitable for the 750XL though (or mahogany guitars in general).

[Sunbane]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Thanks for the pickup review Travis! [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]
I'd be really interested to hear what opinion you'd
have on the JB (in case you've tried one). [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I'm looking for something moderately aggressive (a
notch cooler than an EMG), and fairly tight-sounding, as
the combination of mahogany and short scale seems to fuzz
up the sound a bit.

I liked the hump in the mids that the stock pickups had,
but I thought the neck pickup was a bit lacking in the
treble department. The bridge pup (J80C) was really nice,
but I would've liked a bit more output from it.

[Habanero]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Haven't got a 750xl, but I do have a Custom-Custom in my model 5A. It used to have a JB in it which was ok'ish, but was lacking in the high frequencies probably due to the fact that I had an F-spaced pickup that didn't line up with the JT6 trem. If you are looking for a 'brown sound', the C-C does the job, but you may have to tweak the amp settings a lot compared to other pickups i.e. if I switch to my stock model 4 without changing the amp it sounds like a telecaster.

[pro-fusion]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Custom Custom might be kinda dull-sounding in a 750xl, as compared to a 5A, due to the 750's mahogany body and short scale.

I recommend a JB. I've got a JB-7 in the bridge of my Schecter C7 Blackjack, which also has a set maple neck and mahogany body (although without a maple cap). Sounds really good in there. I'd say you can't go wrong with either pickup.

As for DiMarzios, I would consider a Super Distortion or PAF Pro in the bridge for a 750xl, and a PAF Pro in the neck.

[RickStar]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

That is just an awesome guitar. Killer buy. Treat her well. Damn I want one.

[Chrisb]

Re: Just bought my first Charvel.. (750XL)

Actually with the switch configuration of 750xl's one of the very best pickups for that guitar would probably be a Dimarzio Dual Sound. Hot with a good bottom end and its designed to be split. I dunno the configuration for the 750s
but since its a 5way and 2 humbuckers I assume its N, B, NB, NB(inner coils), NB (outer coils). Or some variation. So I'd recommend the Dual Sound which I know is a great pickup but I've never tried it in a mahogany body before, believe it or not I think it was a walnut body that I played that particular pickup in?
Anyways so it might be TOO mushy in mahogany but I doubt it.

As for the neck position? I have a Dimarzio Air Norton in the neck of my HH Jackson (Steve's Special in the bridge) and the guitar just rips. It may be a crappy import jackson but its my favorite guitar, the tone is just monstrous.