UberMetalDood
New member
My Charvel San Dimas production guitar is 1 year old today so I thought I would post a review. I started off ordering a black San Dimas and instead the music store sent me a black So-Cal. Since they messed up my order and I had to wait several weeks for the San Dimas in my color to arrive, they offered me a sweet deal on both... so I bought both for only $1550.
After a few months I swapped my JB/59 for the Tone Zone/Evolution of my So-Cal thinking that the Dimarzios would sound better directly mounted to the body... and it did so I kept it that way.
I sold the So-Cal with the Seymour Duncans and continued playing the San Dimas with Dimarzios for a while and finally swapped out the Evolution neck for an Air Norton. I sold that guitar a couple of weeks ago for $400. That's basically the story of my experience with those guitars. Here's what I have to say about them.
The Good:
- Neck looks nice and feels nice to play
- The Dimarzios and Seymour Duncans are great pickups
- The Floyd Rose trem is not bad
- The fretwork and body paint is pretty nice
- Good sustain
The Bad:
- Frets wore fast even though I only played it a couple of hours a week
- Floyd Rose must not be OFR because it does not stay in tune as well as my Custom Shop Charvel
- The JB/59 sounds better in the So-Cal and the Tone Zone/Evolution sound better in the San Dimas
- The fretwork isn't the best I've seen. My fender USA strats have better fretwork. I used the bottom of a screwdriver handle to tap the 11th and 16th frets down to reduce string buzz
Production vs Custom Shop:
- No contest. Custom Shop Charvels are plain better than production models. Better wood, better sustain, better frets, better neck, better tremolos.
Overall impression:
- I probably won't buy one again since I already acquired a taste for Charvel custom shop guitars. Knowing that I can get better quality from Fender USA and triple the quality from Charvel custom shop, I can't see my self buying another one.
I'm not saying they are not worth it, but at their price point, Ibanez offers a few prestige models that beat it... except for the pickups. As far as quality my Ibanez RG1570 is clearly a better guitar and I spent roughly the same amount on it as my production model - which was discounted...
Probably my biggest gripe are the frets. I have never had a guitar with frets that wear out so fast. I didn't put a lot of time on that guitar either. I played it mostly for practicing pentatonics and chromatics.
If I had to give it a score, I would give Charvel Production models a 6/10.
Vs Pro Mod:
- I don't know, never played a Pro Mod. I hear they are made in Japan. I respect Japanese quality so I would actually give one a try if the reviews are favorable compared to the production model.
After a few months I swapped my JB/59 for the Tone Zone/Evolution of my So-Cal thinking that the Dimarzios would sound better directly mounted to the body... and it did so I kept it that way.
I sold the So-Cal with the Seymour Duncans and continued playing the San Dimas with Dimarzios for a while and finally swapped out the Evolution neck for an Air Norton. I sold that guitar a couple of weeks ago for $400. That's basically the story of my experience with those guitars. Here's what I have to say about them.
The Good:
- Neck looks nice and feels nice to play
- The Dimarzios and Seymour Duncans are great pickups
- The Floyd Rose trem is not bad
- The fretwork and body paint is pretty nice
- Good sustain
The Bad:
- Frets wore fast even though I only played it a couple of hours a week
- Floyd Rose must not be OFR because it does not stay in tune as well as my Custom Shop Charvel
- The JB/59 sounds better in the So-Cal and the Tone Zone/Evolution sound better in the San Dimas
- The fretwork isn't the best I've seen. My fender USA strats have better fretwork. I used the bottom of a screwdriver handle to tap the 11th and 16th frets down to reduce string buzz
Production vs Custom Shop:
- No contest. Custom Shop Charvels are plain better than production models. Better wood, better sustain, better frets, better neck, better tremolos.
Overall impression:
- I probably won't buy one again since I already acquired a taste for Charvel custom shop guitars. Knowing that I can get better quality from Fender USA and triple the quality from Charvel custom shop, I can't see my self buying another one.
I'm not saying they are not worth it, but at their price point, Ibanez offers a few prestige models that beat it... except for the pickups. As far as quality my Ibanez RG1570 is clearly a better guitar and I spent roughly the same amount on it as my production model - which was discounted...
Probably my biggest gripe are the frets. I have never had a guitar with frets that wear out so fast. I didn't put a lot of time on that guitar either. I played it mostly for practicing pentatonics and chromatics.
If I had to give it a score, I would give Charvel Production models a 6/10.
Vs Pro Mod:
- I don't know, never played a Pro Mod. I hear they are made in Japan. I respect Japanese quality so I would actually give one a try if the reviews are favorable compared to the production model.
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