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Irrationalities


LucSulla

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So I am currently, once again, lusting after a Fender-headstock Jackson or Charvel.  I've sold three guitars I wish I had back - 

1.  Hamer Special - Less because I really miss playing it and more because it was pristine when I got it, yet apparently the person I sold it to snapped the headstock off.  I'd rather have just kept it. 

2.  ASAT Classic 

3. Charvel USA So Cal - Playingest neck I've ever owned, and the build quality was excellent. 

Sooner or later, I'll grab one, I know.  Probably as soon as I figure out what piece of gear I'd be willing to part with to justify owning it. But here is the thing, I'm stuck on buying US and that Fender shape.  I could snag a 90s through early-00s USA Charvel that would be build great, play just as well, and cost half as much.  There is a rad one on Ebay right now in fact.  But in the end, I'll spend the $1k+ really just for that damned headstock.  I know it's stupid, and I know I'll do it anyway. 

So what irrational blind-spots to the rest of you have?

 

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1 hour ago, gtrdaddy said:

The perception others would have if I allow myself to be hog-tied, horse-whipped and spanked by a blue Sock Monkey.... a 12/10 to be exact.

I wouldn't judge.

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Totally makes sense to me.  I love the charvels with that headstock and a regular strat profile body   I also like a very natural colored maple neck not aged looking.  Since I'm trying to keep costs down and am not going to buy a USA Charvel, I currently have a USACG 24.75" conversion neck in maple with giant frets and a compound radius fb I finished with a minimal amount of tru oil.  My surf green body arrives Monday and I have all black hardware and a Gravelin rebuilt humbucker  he said would be great in a superstrat for the bridge and Duncan for the neck.  Can't wait to finish this build.  It was all inspired by my desire for a San dimas.  It is irrational sinice I don't need another 2 HB guitar at all.  But whatever.  Also I've been irrationally lusting after a Huber Krautster lately.  

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So many of my idols during my formulative guitar years played a strat head something of a guitar that did not say "Fender" on it. Emphasis on "something" - wasn't restricted to SD Charvels, I was also awestruck by the lawsuit ESP stratheads played by George Lynch, Vito Bratta, Jake E. Lee during the Badlands run, Ronni Le Tekro and Dave Murray. Plus I have always adored that SD oiled neck finish since the first day I finally got my hands on one. That's why I jumped on an ESP strat sporting this neck when it came up locally. Not only better than an old Charvel via meatier profile but a helluva lot harder to acquire a legit example. This one is from the old 48th Street NYC custom shop, mid 1980s. When the guitar's original maple body (polar white) was way too heavy, I spec'ed a lightweight alder Musikraft several years ago to pure San Dimas specs (contours, cavity rout, wood screw Floyd mount) with some of my own requests thrown in and then let Stike do his spray booth magic on a finish inspired somewhat by Vai's "Crossroads" SD Jackson. And I converted the trunk of the neck from hard gloss to hand-rubbed Danish oil when I refretted it last year.

Here's George Lynch last year at the Dallas vintage show playing around with my "Ruby" build. His orange submarine camo Charvel from the "Tooth and Nail" tour era was another inspiration in this guitar's revamp and I apparently nailed it ... he told me it was "perfect," told me my fretwork and neck refinements remind him of Phil Kubicki's custom guitar work, he played it non-stop as we shot the breeze, and he took pics of my guitar with his personal cell and texted them to the ESP Custom Shop gang as we BS'ed. Probably my biggest influence on guitar playing and guitars in general, praising "my" guitar he inspired. Nearly a year later and I am still just as giddy as a schoolgirl over it.

Edited to add ... pickups were cream Duncans at the show. I ran into Seymour (longtime friend) and MJ at the show too, and Seymour loved "Ruby" too, enough to make my shop a Duncan dealer on the spot. Pickups went to black when I got my first Duncan shipment in a couple weeks later. The "Ruby" test drives were on Saturday at the vintage show. I returned to the show Sunday and when I ran into Seymour, the first thing out of his mouth was. "Hey, good morning. Man, love that red guitar. Me and George were talking about it again at dinner last night."

 

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Despite having had pretty bad luck with Mexi- Charvels and Jacksons, I went ahead and bought this last year:

Enter the DK24. 24 frets, Dinky style body and the beloved Strat head.

This is something irrational,  given it's Mexican origins where, frankly, there have been significant QC issues. I've owned 3 or 4 Jackson and Charvel Mexi-builds that all had fret issues as well as other problems. To be fair, this one had it's issues, too. The DiMarzio's had been wired/soldered in like Duncans and had to be sorted out. The Floyd was the Korean version which, for obvious reasons, had to go. However, once I got her Diablo-cized (toggle, big block, new p'ups, yadda yadda yadda) she became every bit as capable as my Hamers as well as my CS Jackson and Charvel. The neck is every bit as comfy and sweet as the Pro Mods, with a lovely oiled finish.

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3 hours ago, BubbaVO said:

A les paul. 

I have the U#40, a newport and a mapletop mirage.   I have plenty of midrange flavored punch in those  3, but I still have that singlecut fever.

I blame Ace.   

This place is responsible for breaking my Heritage addiction while fueling my Les Paul irrationality.  Eventually, I had to admit that no matter how much I new better, it had to say Gibson.  I guess that is only half irrational - the Heritage gold top I had was a fabulous guitar that played and sounded great.  It just didn't say "Gibson."  The 157 I had - the "Les Paul Custom" version - had pretty shoddy build quality as soon as you looked under the hood.  

The other problem with this place is that it's my favorite place on the web to by Lesters, ironically enough.  

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Charvel is coming out with a "Statchel" model this year. Yellow Bengal. I am interested, but it has 2 humbuckers. May have to EVH it and take the neck one out. I don`t care for 25.5 scale length with 9-42 strings so I will have to have it set up with 8-38`s.

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4 hours ago, BubbaVO said:

A les paul. 

I have the U#40, a newport and a mapletop mirage.   I have plenty of midrange flavored punch in those  3, but I still have that singlecut fever.

I blame Ace.   

Same. Ace, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page and even a bit of Jeff Beck...

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13 minutes ago, black magic said:

Charvel is coming out with a "Statchel" model this year. Yellow Bengal. I am interested, but it has 2 humbuckers. May have to EVH it and take the neck one out. I don`t care for 25.5 scale length with 9-42 strings so I will have to have it set up with 8-38`s.

 I love this one!  If they'd make it in similar specs to the DK24, I'd snap that up in a heartbeat!

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On January 12, 2018 at 2:49 PM, gtrdaddy said:

The perception others would have if I allow myself to be hog-tied, horse-whipped and spanked by a blue Sock Monkey.... a 12/10 to be exact.

LOL!! I wish I could tell you that it sucks, but it doesn't. Jakeboy sent me some 12au7's that i'm swapping in and out trying a few things. The Gain PULL Switch is magic. 

 

OP: My first obsession what Charvels. I have 13 of them smuggled and stashed in my closet so my parents didn't know how many I had. I was buying them up for $150 to $250 at a time before the prices went up. I bough as many Japan CS Neck Throughs as I could find, hope to flip them all and buy a San Dimas Strat Head. It never happened, I flipped all of them and bought a 79 Les Paul which I got and was total crap (EBAY), it was returned and that is when I bought my first Hamer a 91 Sunburst which is still around here on the board. So many damn fakes out there that I just gave up buying one. The Japan made ones were great, a local guitarist has an Orange Creamsicle with a Flamed out neck, hard tail and the one of the best damn necks i've ever felt. 

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3 hours ago, FGJ said:

I want a Charvel just for their guitar-shaped logo. I know, it's stupid, but that's my irrational itch.

This too. I passed on a Charvel 475 Deluxe because it had that damn toothpaste logo on it. No other reason. Price was fantastic, beautiful condition.

I cannot abide that logo. AND, I'm not overly thrilled about the 3 aside guitar logo. Pointy 6 inline logo, or GTFO..... :lol:

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Good chance the Bogner is going out the door (heresy, but I genuinely like the Royal Atlantic more), freeing up some cash, so now I am probably going to do this:

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or this:

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The two I'm looking at are within spitting distance of the same price.  Fender-stock Jacksons are cool, and I love the ebony board with the abalone inlay, but the other seems more classic. It's also a satin rather than gloss finish, which at first I thought was cheaping out.  However, I actually think it really pops after watching some videos.  

I've also generally stayed away from signature series guitars, aside from, you know, The One. 

 

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As far as irrational blind spots, I played a first year Jackson Kelly ("Special Explorer") when they came out,  and have been Jonesing for one ever since. Fortunately,  since they are rare as hen's teeth, I really don't have to worry about ever actually getting one of those...

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Plenty of the smaller Kellys without the cutouts, and even the reissue, but they don't "look right"    

And I have no business playing a guitar that pointy and flashy anyways. :)

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Ohh all the Charvel lust.   I love it   

So here's my irrational partscaster based loosely on a Charvel and a partscaster i saw done up just like this somewhere else once.  Use this to fuel your own desires.  

I got the body today from.  Warmoth. so this is a mockup photo

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This was USACG neck and a warmoth body (both made in Washington) with a warmoth pickguard. It's been a lot cheaper than a USA Charvel, but the resale would be crap also. There is something it be said for buying name brand guitar you can sell easy if you don't mesh with it 

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30 minutes ago, Ua D said:

This was USACG neck and a warmoth body (both made in Washington) with a warmoth pickguard. It's been a lot cheaper than a USA Charvel, but the resale would be crap also. There is something it be said for buying name brand guitar you can sell easy if you don't mesh with it 

 

Resale is a major concern.  I think it would be really fun to by some Warmoth parts and build something, but then I know I'm kind stuck with it from then on.  The other thing is I know jack shit about who makes good necks.  I know Warmoth isn't the only game in town, but I wouldn't know where else to look. 

This gets into another irrationality of mine.  I'd like to try to build a partscaster just to do it for fun.  I know part of the reason I buy and flip so many guitars is really partially because I enjoy "the hunt" and also because it's a kind of tinkering.  A partscaster would probably suck up that tinkering itch.  However, rather than looking for some good MIM or MIJ parts, I only want USA, which is dumb because it is just a project guitar.  That pushes the price up, and blah blah blah. 

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