« Wild Card Thing! »

The first time I played a US production Charvel San Dimas I was blown away. What in the world have I been playing all these years? How did I not know about this guitar and why hasn't someone told me about them? These were the thoughts going throw my head. These were the questions I was asking myself as I sat down to jam on this instrument. I had never played a guitar that was so eager to race around the stage with, but a guitar that felt like it had been played for 35 years. The neck on this guitar was so incredible and that is really the reason I was so blown away at how comfortable it was in my hand.

This guitar is one of the wild cards from the USA production models. It is a great guitar with the added pickup in the middle. This guitar features the humbucker with the two single coils pickups. One for the middle position and one for the neck position.

UTILIZATION

# Color: LIMITED Trans Kandy Gold
# Alder body
# 1-Piece maple neck, bolt-on
# Compound radius 12"-16"
# Neck width at nut: 1-11/16"
# No. of frets: 22
# Bridge pickup: Duncan JB (direct mounted)
# Original Floyd Rose locking trem bridge
# Grover mini tuners
# Chrome hardware
# One volume control knob, knurled
# Gig bag included
# Made in California!

SOUNDS

The tone from this guitar was so instant that the amp I was playing in soon became mine as well. So the Charvel helped the amp it complimented into my personal ownership. This is a fast guitar as is basically a hot-rodded super Strat from the 80's. A beefed up Stratocaster with an angry chip on its shoulder. This thing is a rocker and meant to be driving hard.

The guitar has a great versatility to it with the three pickups. You can get a great array of tones with these features. The Charvel San Dimas is a pretty stripped down hot rod guitar but this feature with the added single coil gets a good report from me. I like having that extra position to go to especially playing covers. Since a cover band has many songs they have to pull from the added tonal variety is a must have.

OVERALL OPINION

If you can find one of these guitars they were going for around $1099, when they were being produced. Now the used market is the best way to go.

I know I have been raving about the perfection of this guitar and it needs to be said. The custom shop necks feel even better. A little flatter on the neck and smooth as silk. So I still give this a perfect but the custom shop has me chomping at the bit. Either way I love the new US Charvels. Fender has really done a fantastic job bringing these hot rod guitars back to where they should be and where they started 30 years ago.

I would recommend this guitar to any player who is not satisfied with his tone and it in that constant search or quest for something better. Look no further than a sweet sounding and looking Charvel.