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tjon901 « The Original Shred guitar »
Published on 06/16/11 at 05:51The Charvel company eventually turned into Jackson guitars. When they first started they made replacement parts for strats making them better for metal music and shred playing. They put out flatter necks and bodies cut for Floyd Rose tremolo systems. They recently put out a new guitar based on their classic design. The Charvel So-Cal is a classic superstrat. The model I tested was white with the pickguard and the maple neck. It has a maple fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and it has a compound radius fretboard similar to what Jackson uses on their guitars. The compound radius allows the for great playability on both ends of the neck. Near the headstock on the low end the radius is 12 inches which means the fretboard is slightly more curved up there to make playing chord shapes more comfortable. Near the high end the radius is 16 inches which makes shredding and lead playing effortless. This guitar comes with a Dimarzo Evolution pickup in the neck position and a Tone Zone pickup in the bridge. It has an Original Floyd Rose and all the hardware is black.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is probably the best playign strat ever made. Its so good it probably cant be considered a strat anymore. The jumbo frets are huge and give you a nice playing action. The compound radius fretboard is nice and lets you play comfortably all the way up and down the neck. The Original Floyd Rose is the best tremolo system you can get and it will always stay in tune when properly setup.
SOUNDS
The Dimarzio pickups are a welcome change to the Seymour Duncan pickups you get in most guitars like these. The Evo in the neck gives you a super sharp attack and over the top harmonics. These pickups are designed by Steve Vai for his over the top sound. The neck pickup is pretty bright and clear for a neck pickup because of this. The bridge pickup is a Tone Zone and it gets you the classic Van Halen sound. The Tone Zone has over the top mids and nice crunch. The Tone Zone is like a PAF on steroids. The over the top mids get you a wah like sound sometimes. EVH was close to selecting this pickup to go in his signature guitar. This pickup is the brown sound in a box.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is a nice and classy superstrat. I think these guitars will be very popular for a while. People who grew up in the 80s will remember the super strat trend. These guitars bring back some of those memories and put them in a classy shell. If you are looking for a classy super strat shreddy with versatile sounds this guitar is a good choice.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is probably the best playign strat ever made. Its so good it probably cant be considered a strat anymore. The jumbo frets are huge and give you a nice playing action. The compound radius fretboard is nice and lets you play comfortably all the way up and down the neck. The Original Floyd Rose is the best tremolo system you can get and it will always stay in tune when properly setup.
SOUNDS
The Dimarzio pickups are a welcome change to the Seymour Duncan pickups you get in most guitars like these. The Evo in the neck gives you a super sharp attack and over the top harmonics. These pickups are designed by Steve Vai for his over the top sound. The neck pickup is pretty bright and clear for a neck pickup because of this. The bridge pickup is a Tone Zone and it gets you the classic Van Halen sound. The Tone Zone has over the top mids and nice crunch. The Tone Zone is like a PAF on steroids. The over the top mids get you a wah like sound sometimes. EVH was close to selecting this pickup to go in his signature guitar. This pickup is the brown sound in a box.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is a nice and classy superstrat. I think these guitars will be very popular for a while. People who grew up in the 80s will remember the super strat trend. These guitars bring back some of those memories and put them in a classy shell. If you are looking for a classy super strat shreddy with versatile sounds this guitar is a good choice.