So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

[Brian Griffin]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

I also shun the new MIM cause the only come with Duncans. The older Japanese So Cal came with DM Tone Zone-Evolution combo, giving us more options.

[Brian Griffin]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

I wish they came with a non-recessed Floyd option as well. Would certainly leave more wood, and with the action I usually play, I can pull up as far as most would with a recessed one anyway.

Get the Japanese. They are not recessed under the Floyd.

[maidenfan909]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

I have a MIM San Dimas hard-tail, black. Plays and sounds fine, but I have decided i'm not a fan of the unfinished neck..Also the resale value due to being made in Mexico is very low. I have mine listed for way less than 1/2 of retail and no luck selling it. IMO, USA / Japanese models would be a way better option, especially if you keep guitars for a long time!!

[kramersteen]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

I have a mij pro mod which is way better than mim haHA!. shame i only have the neck to boot.

[AZRippster]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

So I thought I would do a review of the Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas Style 1 Made in Mexico (MIM) guitar. I purchased mine in September 2015. I have been playing since 1978 and have been fortunate to own Fender, early ‘80s Kramer, Ibanez, Brian Moore, and Gibson guitars. I always wanted a Charvel but at the time never got around to getting one. Now, a USA made San Dimas is just too much green for me to consciously spend when I have several other wonderful guitars. From what I read, this Pro Mod San Dimas Style 1 was being offered very close to the original and spec, so for $849, I figured what the heck.

The Neck:

For me this was the highlight of the guitar. It is an oiled neck that feels simply great. The fret work is surprisingly good. Many times I have to dress cheaper guitar’s frets, but this one is pretty much spot on. Nice and straight, just a bummer the truss rod adjustment is in the heel, but that’s the way the originals were as well.

Electronics:

The pickups are what you would expect from Seymour Duncan and these specific models. More about that later though. Good quality with no surprises. The volume pot is Korean made but very smooth. Survivability undetermined, but nothing bad expected. The 3-Way toggle is a mystery, time will tell. The input jack is a mystery as well. Graphite based shielding paint is used inside the control and tremolo springs cavities. Not the best, but functional, the problem is it was done so thin that I’m sure the conductivity of the paint is less than adequate.

Hardware:

Well, Charvel (Fender) pulled an underhanded one here. They advertise this model as having an Original Floyd Rose, well sort of. The nut is a mystery. When you purchase a Floyd Rose, it comes with a Floyd Rose Nut of your choosing. Fender looked at shaving some cost on this for the sake of profit. It looks to be of good quality, but honesty would be nice. The tuners are Chinese styled after Gotoh labeled Charvel using 2 pins versus a set screw. The string tree is another mystery but the finish is good, so no complaints.

The Body:

Here is where it all goes downhill. No matter how good the pickups may be, the guitar sounded lifeless and choked to me. Upon close inspection, the body cavity rout edges almost looked frayed/splintered. This got me wondering. Charvel advertises this model as having a Flame Maple Veneer Top. When they say veneer, they should say “paper thin flame maple veneer top similar to the faux sticker tops used by imported Jackson’s in the mid to late 90’s”. This would be a more honest statement. I’m saying, this veneer is so thin, it can barely be sanded smooth due to the grain being the depth of the veneer. Now I understand why the rout edges were frayed/splintered, the veneer is so thin, the grain is all that is left creating a situation where it cannot be smooth sanded. So how do you create a smooth surface in this situation? Gobs and gobs of paint finish. When I say GOBS, I mean GOBS! And this is exactly what Charvel/Fender did. I didn’t expect a nitro finish, but this is ridiculous. This finish laughs at heavy duty paint stripper. So how do I know this? I did it, and it took a week using a heat gun to get through the exterior finish layer, days of stripper on the lower layers, and finally careful use of sandpaper on the final spots that nothing would take off. This is also when I discovered the fuzzy truth in the “Alder Body” statement. OK, they were honest, Charvel just didn’t say a “three piece glued together alder body”, which is exactly what it is. Fender/Charvel have definitely stretched the “truth in advertising” statement with this guitar.

Bottom Line:

Short of the neck, pickups, and fulcrum body, a person can do much better elsewhere. In reality, if a person wants a Charvel to ‘80s specs, several companies exist online that sell exact bodies and necks that can be fitted with name brand hardware for less than the price of this guitar. Thankfully, by the time I get done refinishing this guitar and replacing some of the hardware, it should be what I was hoping for in the first place.

Would I buy one again, definitely not!

[Myaccount876]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

^What are you on?

You're suspicious that the advertised OFR isn't an OFR because you didn't have the option of a different nut? OFR sets usually come with a R2 nut, and they choose the nut according to the nut width and string spacing for the neck. If the nut width is 1 5/8", it can only fit a R2 nut. For it is 1 11/16", you either use a R3 or R4, the R3 having the narrower string spacing. Those are the most common Floyd nut types (the R refers to being a right-handed nut. A L2 is the same nut specs, but left-handed). What makes you question if the string retainer bar is an OFR part. Your complaints here are just non-founded.

Veneers have always been paper-thin. That's the whole point of wood veneers: to get the appearance of a type of wood, without the cost or drawbacks of working the actual wood. There's nothing wrong with three-piece bodies either - they never even advertised the amount of wood pieces in the first place. Were you seriously expecting a one-piece body? Your re-finishing story also sounds like straight-up BS. Either you were using your mom's hair dryer, or there's no way it took you a week to remove a poly finish with a heat gun. You can completely strip old Epiphones in an hour with a heat gun, and THOSE guitars had THICK finishes. You also said the guitar sounds dead. What amp did you play it through, a Marshall Micro-Stack? Now before you go about saying how you played it through a bunch of super high-end gear and you've been playing for 40 years or some utter BS like that, why should we believe you. Your first post was an obvious troll post. What says your second post won't be a whopping pile of bovine feces?

[Shooter.556]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

I had an mim Jackson Dinky Pro and it was made well.
No where near as well made as my Ibanez RG Prestige but it was nice.
I just think they are a lot of money for a Mexican guitar with no case.
It wouldn't stop me from getting one, I just think that Fender has gotten a little out of control selling Mexican guitars for the same price American Fenders cost 5 years ago.

[JOLLY]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

That review means nothing to me. I own four of the Charvels now. That should tell you all something. Hell, I haven't even touched any of my Gibsons since I bought the Charvels.

[kramersteen]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

I haven't even touched any of my Gibsons since I bought the Charvels.

NO way not a gibson? haha imo its like comparing a harley to a huyabusa.

Sell them and get more charvels.

[BloodRose]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

back to the original question. Jolly, you have US ones and MIM ones now right? (IIRC, you don't have any of the Japanese stage ones,.) I know you love em all. What is your take on the MIM ones vs the US ones?

[JOLLY]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

back to the original question. Jolly, you have US ones and MIM ones now right? (IIRC, you don't have any of the Japanese stage ones,.) I know you love em all. What is your take on the MIM ones vs the US ones?

They're the same.

[BloodRose]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

Cool!! 'cept the recessed trem... Is the feel of the back of the neck any diff? Not shape but finish. (yeah know they arent finished per se') but the Japanese ones seemed to have more of a yellow tint than the first US batch and they had a slightly diff feel. Thanks for the reply

[JOLLY]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

Cool!! 'cept the recessed trem... Is the feel of the back of the neck any diff? Not shape but finish. (yeah know they arent finished per se') but the Japanese ones seemed to have more of a yellow tint than the first US batch and they had a slightly diff feel. Thanks for the reply

The necks are the same in feel and shape.

[AZRippster]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

You're suspicious that the advertised OFR isn't an OFR because you didn't have the option of a different nut? OFR sets usually come with a R2 nut, and they choose the nut according to the nut width and string spacing for the neck. If the nut width is 1 5/8", it can only fit a R2 nut. For it is 1 11/16", you either use a R3 or R4, the R3 having the narrower string spacing. Those are the most common Floyd nut types (the R refers to being a right-handed nut. A L2 is the same nut specs, but left-handed). What makes you question if the string retainer bar is an OFR part. Your complaints here are just non-founded.

Veneers have always been paper-thin. That's the whole point of wood veneers: to get the appearance of a type of wood, without the cost or drawbacks of working the actual wood. There's nothing wrong with three-piece bodies either - they never even advertised the amount of wood pieces in the first place. Were you seriously expecting a one-piece body? Your re-finishing story also sounds like straight-up BS. Either you were using your mom's hair dryer, or there's no way it took you a week to remove a poly finish with a heat gun. You can completely strip old Epiphones in an hour with a heat gun, and THOSE guitars had THICK finishes. You also said the guitar sounds dead. What amp did you play it through, a Marshall Micro-Stack? Now before you go about saying how you played it through a bunch of super high-end gear and you've been playing for 40 years or some utter BS like that, why should we believe you. Your first post was an obvious troll post. What says your second post won't be a whopping pile of bovine feces?

To begin with, personal attacks truly reflect the kind of person attacking. Wow, I'll leave it at that.

Most OFR do come with R2 nuts unless otherwise requested. This being a compound radius neck at 1 11/16" would require a different nut. That is why Floyd offers a multitude of nut sizes. Just check out their website. You can also pair whatever nut is required through other vendors like Warmoth with no up-charge. The use of an aftermarket nut was a cost savings for Charvel/Fender. That is all I was pointing out and kinda sketchy.

No, they did not say it was a 3-piece body, I agree, and that's why I didn't say they outright lied. Just a fuzzy truth.

Regarding the finish, you're correct in that it didn't take an entire week with the heat gun, and no, I used a commercial heat gun used for stripping (and I often use it for heat shrink as well). Being that I'm 49 and my mom is in her 70's, well, I don't need to defend myself. The entire process took a week. I may not have been clear about that, I apologize. I also work full time, so it was only my evenings that I had time to work on the guitar. I focused on using stripper in order to be sure to not remove wood unnecessarily. I used both Formby's and Klean Strip Aircraft Paint Stripper.

I played the guitar through my Marshall JVM 410 combo and a JCM 2000 half-stack with V30's I've modded with MM transformers, choke, and a couple other mods. I do have a MB Mark V, but I didn't try it through that.

Not sure what a troll post is, I'm not a big chatter on forums. I would rather spend my free time playing than pontificating. I only provided what I found after breaking the guitar down so that others had the facts. Obviously my "sounds dead" comment is truly subjective, however the other findings are fact.

Sorry for hurting your feelings, maybe some big boy pants are in order. Or, you actually work for Fender and this just ticked you off. Sorry, sometimes the truth or facts can be painful.

[Myaccount876]

Re: So, What Is The Concensus On The Newer MIM Charvel San Dimas And Pro Mod?

I'm not going to start a **** storm in Jolly's thread. Sorry Jolly.