Recent gear purchases (belated NGD)

[Archer250]

I got two guitars recently, both very nice. Left is a Charvel So-Cal that I fell in love with while trying out a consigned CAA OD100 at a store, and the right is my latest Rangka order.

Only changes I've made to the Charvel are changing the Floyd 1000 to a Schaller Lockmeister and installing a big brass block, as well as switching pickups to a local custom wind (I'd say the closest Duncan equivalent would be the 35th anniversary JB/Jazz set)



The Rangka is a pretty interesting axe spec-wise

Alder body w/ full-thickness maple cap
Maple neck (1960s strat oval profile) w/ Ebony fingerboard
Stainless Super Jumbo frets
Schaller Lockmeister tremolo w/ Tungsten sustain block

But most importantly, the scale length is 25.125". Exactly between 24.75 and 25.5.

Both are great guitars that I got recently. They play awesomely

 

[Mincer]

Wow, both of those look (and I bet, sound) great! Congrats to a nice pair.

 

[Archer250]

Wow, both of those look (and I bet, sound) great! Congrats to a nice pair.

Thanks! They both sound great acoustically.

Electrically, I didn't feel much for their original pickups. I much preferred the JB on the San Dimas, but since the So Cal felt far better, I just swapped the pickups to a local's offering.

The Ragnka, ditto, but since the local winder's out of stock RN, I've decided to order some Bareknuckles to try out.

 

[Synapsys]

Congratson the axes!

I've been looking at the same Charvel Model in Vintage White, so how is the build quality of that one?

Was the Distortion set a bit too much gain to your liking, or did you find they are overall unsuited for the woods used?

 

[Archer250]

Congratson the axes!

I've been looking at the same Charvel Model in Vintage White, so how is the build quality of that one?

Was the Distortion set a bit too much gain to your liking, or did you find they are overall unsuited for the woods used?

Build quality is great. No complaints

I didn't like the character of the Distortion tbh. It sounded too "grainy". IMO it works in a Les Paul playing heavy music, but for my uses a JB would sound "smoother" while still being high output

 

[Synapsys]

Thanks! If I eventually get it, I'll probably go Custom Custom/ Full Shred. It all depends on some stuff I have being sold.

Rock on!

 

[Archer250]

Yeah the Custom Custom would be perfect too

 

[Mincer]

The CC would absolutely be my choice here.

 

[PFDarkside]

Very nice, enjoy!

 

[ErikH]

Digging the Charvel. Always liked those.

 

[Reee]

Thanks! They both sound great acoustically.

Electrically, I didn't feel much for their original pickups. I much preferred the JB on the San Dimas, but since the So Cal felt far better, I just swapped the pickups to a local's offering.

The Ragnka, ditto, but since the local winder's out of stock RN, I've decided to order some Bareknuckles to try out.

i've played 3 or 4 of those new san dimas models and they all felt really bad, "duds" as they would say on thegearpage.com, just no fun to play. perhaps i should try a socal.

 

[Mincer]

i've played 3 or 4 of those new san dimas models and they all felt really bad, "duds" as they would say on thegearpage.com, just no fun to play. perhaps i should try a socal.

What was up with them?

 

[Reee]

What was up with them?

It's hard to describe, but the guitars didn't resonate well at all, they felt like a hassle to play, just didn't feel right.

for reference, i've owned really cheap and expensive guitars and one of the cheapest (ibanez S470) played just as nice as my custom shop Charvel San Dimas.

I've also owned a mexican strat, EVH WG Standard and a jackson DK2 before and it had the same issues as the promod san dimas', can't put my finger on it exactly what the problem is honestly, but they are all "low-mid" priced FMIC guitars, i see a trend here but i might just have bad luck, i'm also a lefty so it's possible we just get the scrap woods or something, FMIC doesn't really seem to give a f*ck about lefties anyway if you look at the catalog.

It was a real letdown because I've been looking for a backup for my custom shop San Dimas and have come to the conclusion that i'll have to order another custom to Charvel specs (i'm thinking Stormshadow in the UK, they do a nice Charvel copy, i'd get a Chubtone if i was in the USA) because these Promods aren't cutting it.

If i see one of these So-cals the OP has in a store i'll defintiely give it a go though, but it's unlikely i'll find one without ordering one since i'm a lefty.

 

[Archer250]

It's hard to describe, but the guitars didn't resonate well at all, they felt like a hassle to play, just didn't feel right.

for reference, i've owned really cheap and expensive guitars and one of the cheapest (ibanez S470) played just as nice as my custom shop Charvel San Dimas.

TBH this just sounds like FMIC dabbing in some of that "store favoritism" Gibson is known for. If they like a certain store or dealer and are sure to get more profit from them, they'd send those dealers better guitars; if the dealers are problematic, they'll send them dogs until they find a better dealer in the area.

Charvel's had two dealers in Thailand in recent times (ie. the past 10 years). The first was already Fender's distributor, as well as Musicman, Jackson and Gibson guitars. The Charvels they had there, excluding one or two Govan models were definitely dogs. In fact, even some of the Fenders on display were dogs, and the Jacksons were all dogs (but the custom-ordered Fenders are always extremely good, and the Gibsons were always of the highest QC).

The moment Charvel switched distributors to a much more boutique store (distributes boutique gear almost exclusively), the quality of guitars being sent there just skyrocketed. We started getting lighter, more resonant guitars, and I've even heard that some were even well set up out of the box from the factory.

 

[JOLLY]

Nice. I was eyeballing those shell pink Charvels for awhile.

 

[Mincer]

It's hard to describe, but the guitars didn't resonate well at all, they felt like a hassle to play, just didn't feel right.

for reference, i've owned really cheap and expensive guitars and one of the cheapest (ibanez S470) played just as nice as my custom shop Charvel San Dimas.

I've also owned a mexican strat, EVH WG Standard and a jackson DK2 before and it had the same issues as the promod san dimas', can't put my finger on it exactly what the problem is honestly, but they are all "low-mid" priced FMIC guitars, i see a trend here but i might just have bad luck, i'm also a lefty so it's possible we just get the scrap woods or something, FMIC doesn't really seem to give a f*ck about lefties anyway if you look at the catalog.

It was a real letdown because I've been looking for a backup for my custom shop San Dimas and have come to the conclusion that i'll have to order another custom to Charvel specs (i'm thinking Stormshadow in the UK, they do a nice Charvel copy, i'd get a Chubtone if i was in the USA) because these Promods aren't cutting it.

If i see one of these So-cals the OP has in a store i'll defintiely give it a go though, but it's unlikely i'll find one without ordering one since i'm a lefty.

The new Charvel line looks great, but I haven't had a chance to play any in person.

 

[Reee]

The new Charvel line looks great, but I haven't had a chance to play any in person.

they do look nice and on paper the specs are as close to perfect as i'll find in a production model guitar, i just have to find one that feels good yet.

what Archer250 is saying could be the underlying problem, most of these guitars that were dogs came from stores that are anything but boutique stores, they were either big-box online stores or your run of the mill european guitar center equivalent.