tjon901 « Modern Charvel with a Floyd »
Published on 01/21/12 at 11:45Very recently since Charvel is owned by Fender the company has transformed a bit. They still make their old school superstrat guitars but now they seem to be making more modern metal guitars for the younger generation. The Desolation series of guitars seems to be aimed at Schecter and ESP. They come modern construction techniques and modern hardware and are very modern metal guitar designs overall. This is the double cut model with the Floyd Rose the DC-1FR. They have hardtail models as well with identical specs. The body on thsi guitar is mahogany with neck through construction. The neck is mahogany as well. The fretboard is rosewood with some big fancy abalone inlays. The fretboard has 24 jumbo frets and features the Jackson/Charvel compound radius design. The pickups are the classic 81/85 EMG setup. The Floyd is a good quality unit. The controls are all you need with a volume and tone with a 3 way.
UTILIZATION
The raw mahogany neck on this guitar is something cool. You dont see raw mahogany necks on guitars very often. It has a slightly different feel than a raw maple neck. It feels more like wood. You can feel the pores in it and everything. The compound radius is very cool and it is nice to see it on a modern design like this. Normally the old school superstrats and Jacksons are the only guitars with compound radius fretboards. With the compound radius fretboard you can have a nice rounder feel lower on the neck where you play chords and a flatter feel up on the neck where you are playing leads.
SOUNDS
This guitar comes with exactly what you need to play heavy music nowadays. Metal players nowadays demand active pickups. Thats what you get with this guitar. This guitar is taking aim at the ESP's and Schecters of the world trying to get the mid range metal guitar market. This is a classic combination for metal pickups. Just about everyone has used an 81 in the bridge at some point. It is great for tight chunky rhythms. It has a high end grind that lets you retain clarity under high gain and low tunings. It does not clean up very well or do smooth leads but it wasnt made for that. It was made for head chopping riffage. The 85 is great as well in the bridge and the neck. It is in the neck for this guitar and give you a slightly smoother tone. This makes the lead playing less harsh sounding than it is with the 81 but it can also make some tones muddy.
OVERALL OPINION
There are a ton of guitars in the range with this guitar. You can get all sorts of ESP's and Schecters with EMG's nowadays that work great for heavy music. Now that Charvel is in the segment you can get a more classic name on your metal guitar. Charvel is breaking out of the superstrats and doing it right. With the Desolation series they just about have a guitar for everyone who wants a metal guitar. They have different body shapes but all the features are standarized so no model is missing out on anything.
UTILIZATION
The raw mahogany neck on this guitar is something cool. You dont see raw mahogany necks on guitars very often. It has a slightly different feel than a raw maple neck. It feels more like wood. You can feel the pores in it and everything. The compound radius is very cool and it is nice to see it on a modern design like this. Normally the old school superstrats and Jacksons are the only guitars with compound radius fretboards. With the compound radius fretboard you can have a nice rounder feel lower on the neck where you play chords and a flatter feel up on the neck where you are playing leads.
SOUNDS
This guitar comes with exactly what you need to play heavy music nowadays. Metal players nowadays demand active pickups. Thats what you get with this guitar. This guitar is taking aim at the ESP's and Schecters of the world trying to get the mid range metal guitar market. This is a classic combination for metal pickups. Just about everyone has used an 81 in the bridge at some point. It is great for tight chunky rhythms. It has a high end grind that lets you retain clarity under high gain and low tunings. It does not clean up very well or do smooth leads but it wasnt made for that. It was made for head chopping riffage. The 85 is great as well in the bridge and the neck. It is in the neck for this guitar and give you a slightly smoother tone. This makes the lead playing less harsh sounding than it is with the 81 but it can also make some tones muddy.
OVERALL OPINION
There are a ton of guitars in the range with this guitar. You can get all sorts of ESP's and Schecters with EMG's nowadays that work great for heavy music. Now that Charvel is in the segment you can get a more classic name on your metal guitar. Charvel is breaking out of the superstrats and doing it right. With the Desolation series they just about have a guitar for everyone who wants a metal guitar. They have different body shapes but all the features are standarized so no model is missing out on anything.