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Market Research ......Opinions wanted....Charvel?


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Posted

What is the general opinion of the new Charvels?

Jacksons?

You will figure out why I am asking, I am sure.

Posted

I like the concept of going back to the "old school" look of them, but would like to play an 1982-83 or 84 original San Dimas Charvel and a new one side-by-side ..........

Posted

Charvel

Based off everything I have heard or seen on line, they make a very good guitar. Their custom shop stuff is nice and they do custom runs for dealers. Interesting that they they are owned by FMI and really go out of their way to do custom run stuff.

Jackson

Other than some posted QC issues with customer ordered guitars, I have heard praises for their regular production models. I hate the term "best of breed" but if I was a shredder, I would have to look hard at Jackson.

Out of the two, I could see a Charvel in my future.

Just my two cents.

Hamerica

Posted

I played one of those new USA charvel strats that retail for around

$999... thought those were pretty interesting.

Posted

The newer US Charvels i played were very tempting. They're still in my short list for a Strat/superstrat, but that decision is a long ways off.

Jackson... if i were still into the pointy guitar thing, the Kelly is still wicked cool.

Posted

Love the new Charvel USA's. Amazing bang for your buck, could've priced them a lot higher.

Posted

I'm actually surprised that Fender has been able to resurrect Charvel. These newer USA Charvels for $999 are good guitars. Simple, but high quality. Original Floyds, real DiMarzio or Duncan pickups, nice fret finishing, good feel....

My only beef is that the truss rod is not adjustable from the headstock. You have to take the neck off completely to make any adjustments. And when I'm trying to get a Floyd dialed in, I find myself making many minute truss rod adjustments. It would drive me nuts having to completely detune, take the neck off, adjust rod, reassemble, and retune 3 or 4 or 5 times while I'm getting it dialed in just right. Add to that that I'm in the northwest, where the humidity wreaks havoc on my action.

Posted

I think the Jackson PC-1 might be the best of the genre. It is one of the very few guitars that I regret selling. HUGE neck, and smokin' fat tone with an original Floyd.

The Charvels I have played have been great and now that Fender has given them the right to use the strat headstock they finally look right.

Guys my age who are now beginning to pay off college and make some money are all over these Charvels for nostalgia reasons.

I think they would be a great pick-up for your store Greg. IMHO.

Posted

Hey Greg, go register at www.usacharvels.com and play around in there. GREAT site - tons of knowledge and great folks. The content may help you figure out if the lines are good for your market.

The Charvel production series guitars are an incredible bang for the buck. I'll own one in the coming months. I haven't had a San Dimas Charvel since the 90s.

Jackson's regular run stuff is good quality and consistent.

But I don't think you'd be pleased with C and J's custom shop operations, Greg, considering you and your clients are prone to do custom jobs and one-offs. They will build anything you can dream up, sure, but it ain't cheap and delivery time absolutely blows. There are guys at usacharvels.com that waited well over a year for custom builds that IMHO were simply not complex enough to justify the delays.

Posted

The Eldred Hot Rod flame single hummer & hum + single makes me man bits tingle.

Posted

31H4WY9R99L.jpg

My buddy just picked up one of these Jacksons new, factory adjusted. I did not like it one bit. Very light, but it felt like a boat paddle. A wide neck, silly wide at the high frets, made it super uncomfortable to play. E & B strings were buzzing, intonation not so good from factory. I would not recomend it unless you are into Korn an similar stuff.

Posted
My buddy just picked up one of these Jacksons new, factory adjusted. I did not like it one bit. Very light, but it felt like a boat paddle. A wide neck, silly wide at the high frets, made it super uncomfortable to play. E & B strings were buzzing, intonation not so good from factory. I would not recomend it unless you are into Korn an similar stuff.

USA or import? It makes a huge difference. They do have the wide, thin, shredder necks. But the Jackson USA's that I have played and owned have been stellar instruments that were seriously versatile, much more so that you would think.

Posted
My buddy just picked up one of these Jacksons new, factory adjusted. I did not like it one bit. Very light, but it felt like a boat paddle. A wide neck, silly wide at the high frets, made it super uncomfortable to play. E & B strings were buzzing, intonation not so good from factory. I would not recomend it unless you are into Korn an similar stuff.

USA or import? It makes a huge difference. They do have the wide, thin, shredder necks. But the Jackson USA's that I have played and owned have been stellar instruments that were seriously versatile, much more so that you would think.

He said it was a USA model, so I'm sure it was.

The new Charvel's are cool. I could see myself with one of those, (If I didn't already own my fabulous Steve Stevens II - nothing with a Floyd beats that guitar, ever).

Posted

Disturber, if the guitar you posted a pic of is the exact guitar your friend has, he has an import (unless he ordered a Custom Shop copy of an import series for whatever reason).

No USA series to my knowledge has the pirahna inlays - they all have the full-size sharkfins.

USA series guitars all have "Made In USA" behind the logo. If the logo says "Jackson" and it stands alone, it's an import, just like Hamer USA versus Hamer imports.

Posted

Disturber, if the guitar you posted a pic of is the exact guitar your friend has, he has an import (unless he ordered a Custom Shop copy of an import series for whatever reason).

No USA series to my knowledge has the pirahna inlays - they all have the full-size sharkfins.

USA series guitars all have "Made In USA" behind the logo. If the logo says "Jackson" and it stands alone, it's an import, just like Hamer USA versus Hamer imports.

Could be an import. My buddy does not know much about guitars in that sense. He bought it in a store

, the seller might have sweet talked him. I'll ask him.

It looks like the one on the pic, but I can not remember what kind of inlays it had. I fiddled with it for perhaps two minutes and then put it away as I really did not like it at all. I also hate EMG's - so I was pretty uninterested to begin with.

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