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Shredder, what kinda nowadays


Jeroen

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Hey y'all, 

It has been a while for me know on this forum, but still there, making music and still have my 3 Hamer USA guitars!!  Almost 2 years ago I bought a G&L Asat classic with Swamp Ash body. Was looking for a Tele for a while and really like this guitar, so play it a lot! The other guitar at the moment is my Centaura. With getting older and flashbacks to the 80's I pick that one up more often too! :)

My son Ian (15) bought an Ibanez 15 months ago and this dude is really improving fast! I am afraid that he doesn't need 2 more years to out play his father...hmm. The Ibanez he bought was like 200USD and although it is a nice guitar for the money, there are dislikes too. Now he is looking for a guitar with a Floyd, but what are the "to go to" brands at the moment for him? He is looking in the 2-300 USD/Euro range, but I will help him up to 5/600. Please don't tell him!! The build quality and especially the tuning should be ok. pickups you can swap easily. I did the same back in the day with my Westone guitars:) Was looking for Jackson guitars for example, but no experience here. I am more into the woods, sounds and sustain, he is still more into the shape and looks:)

Jeroen

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For my money, you cannot beat the late 80’s early 90’s Japanese made Charvel guitars. The “model” series (model 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) had a guitar shaped logo and either a Kahler (1986) or Jackson JT6 Floyd style bridge, except the model 1 which was a vintage trem. 
 

in 1989 they switched to a toothpaste logo (same font as Jackson) and changed the names to pro/deluxe/XL.  They used a Schaller Floyd for the double locking trems. The build quality in these Japanese guitars was so high they cut into Jackson USA sales and were eventually discontinued. I’ve had several of these guitars over the years and kept my Charvel 650xl. It is every bit a pro level guitar and for a shredder, one would never need to graduate from it. 

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1 hour ago, Travis said:

For my money, you cannot beat the late 80’s early 90’s Japanese made Charvel guitars. The “model” series (model 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) had a guitar shaped logo and either a Kahler (1986) or Jackson JT6 Floyd style bridge, except the model 1 which was a vintage trem. 
 

in 1989 they switched to a toothpaste logo (same font as Jackson) and changed the names to pro/deluxe/XL.  They used a Schaller Floyd for the double locking trems. The build quality in these Japanese guitars was so high they cut into Jackson USA sales and were eventually discontinued. I’ve had several of these guitars over the years and kept my Charvel 650xl. It is every bit a pro level guitar and for a shredder, one would never need to graduate from it. 

I played a Model 5 Charvel neck thru model for years. My son has it now. Great guitar with a super fast neck!!! He now has all these guitars.

BE6369BB-187D-42C1-831E-CF14BFBC57DE.jpeg

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The model 5/550xl was one of the “common” ones I never had but wanted...

if your son ever wants to sell it...

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11 minutes ago, Travis said:

The model 5/550xl was one of the “common” ones I never had but wanted..

I had one of those in metallic red. It was a killer guitar. Even though I've not played Floyd equipped guitars in 25 years, I sorta wish I had that one back.

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I'd suggest really he get VERY detailed about what he wants: number and size of frets, neck carve, PU configuration, floating, recessed trem or decked and blocked, type of finish on the neck back etc.This will help steer you in the best direction.

He may not know all of those things yet but any that he can give insight to would help in finding a better fitting axe.

The used USA Hamer Centauras and Diablos are good values. The Japanese Jackson and Charvels, as previously stated, are a good value. Many of the later Korean-built shredders for  BC Rich, Dean, Schecter  and others stand up well, too.

 

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Almost all of my axes are late 70’s to mid 80’s. I will have to admit that I bough an Indonesian made bc rich perfect 10 about six years ago. And while it doesn’t hold a candle to my ‘83 ten string and is not the shredder my ‘79 mockingbird is, it’s got solid bones. I was really impressed when I got it with the build quality. Especially for a one piece instrument.  Says a lot about the improvements made in manufacturing overseas. It was really just a pro setup and good hardware away from being a respectable player. Of course Neal Moser sells some quality upgrades for them that you could easily outspend on mods what you put out for the guitar. If your son is more into the looks they make all the old styles still and more that are even too goofy looking and pointy for yours truly. Have some really nice trans finishes as well. I saw a trans-blue seven string mock with a Floyd the other day and it keeps popping into my head. Yeah it took me a bit to get past the “it’s not even made in Japan?” thing but it could be just what the two of you are looking for

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21 minutes ago, diablo175 said:

I'd suggest really he get VERY detailed about what he wants: number and size of frets, neck carve, PU configuration, floating, recessed trem or flush and blocked, type of finish on the neck back etc.This will help steer you in the best direction.

 

 

Don’t forget that reversed headstock and toggle switch...  😜

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59 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

I had one of those in metallic red. It was a killer guitar. Even though I've not played Floyd equipped guitars in 25 years, I sorta wish I had that one back.

Pics or it didn’t happen...

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36 minutes ago, Travis said:

Don’t forget that reversed headstock and toggle switch...  😜

Nah, that shit only matters if you're an inept, over the hill, wanna be shredder. :P

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I agree with the choices above.  For that specific application, I love old USA Jacksons and Charvels.  Some of the high end MIJ Charvels are almost as pricey as USA Jacksons for whatever reason.  You can find Jackson Professionals (not Pros) from the early 90s for a few hundred dollars less than the USA model, so I'd call those a deal. 

I'd add to the list that some Indonesian lines are pretty good if you are looking for cheap and cheerful.  I have not laid hands on one myself, but the Solar Guitars might be worth a look too I believe.  I like Ola Englund in general, but he really seems to have a solid QC process for his guitars coming out of there and often flies to Indonesia to inspect them himself.  Unlike the Chapman guitars (another YouTube shredder cum guitar company owner) I've seen pretty much nothing but great reviews for them around the web.  

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My favorite non-Hamer shredder might be a Kramer Pacer Deluxe or a Focus 3000 (if modded to different pickups), preferably one of the earlier ones with alder body. The Focus model went for cheap for some time.

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