Just bought used Charvel made in Japan - sight unseen (Yikes??)

B

Bman

Power User
I'd been looking for a super strat and visited a local store that had some of the new Pro-Mods (Pink & Lime) and had one Warren D Snakeskin. The Pro Mods felt OK. I'd always heard about Charvel's necks being to die for but wasn't that impressed with the Pro-Mod. The Warren D model felt absolutely FANTASTIC!!! OMG!. It's a bit flashy being snake skin finished and it's a signature guitar. I know about 4 Ratt solos....lol. I was hooked on that guitar's feel and took a plunge on a Model T, which is made in Japan and is a HSS config with Duncan SH14's or Custom Custom Customs, a hot rail and a cool rail. Not sure how it'll sound but hoping the build quality is as good they say for the 2001 era MIJ guitars. And for $470 I can easily modify to my tastes.

Anyone have any experience with the Seymore Duncan SH14s or the Hot Rail & Cool Rail pickups? Or do any of you guys know anything about the Charvel Model T?

Charvel.JPG
 
Those guitars were not bad. I had 4 of the usa versions at one point, favorite being a III. Mine had dimarzio's in it, chopper's and a tone zone. so there was some differences. Nice guitar though.
 
Well, got the guitar in and it's in great shape. One of the frets has a ding but I'll get that fixed asap. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to pull out my AX8 setup but I did get a chance to run it through my Blackstar HT5 combo. I don't know if these guitars came from the factory wired to be coil tapped in the 2nd and 4th positions on a 5-way toggle. I assumed it wouldn't be because the neck is a Hot Rail and the middle is a Cool Rail. But I'm assuming it's coil tapped because of the jangly tones and I love that. The Hot Rail is awesome for neck leads but of course doesn't clean up all that well or do the strat thing. But the coil tap gives it that vibe and makes it much more versatile. The middle Cool Rail by itself is a useless tone to me so far. Of course I'm playing overdriven and using the volume to get to clean.

The SH14 Duncan (Custom, Custom, Custom) is really aggressive in the low end. By that I mean it's got hair on it when playing chunky chords or low register stuff. But it's really great on leads and sustains very impressively. I'm not sure I'll get past the harsh/aggressive low end. The AX8 will ultimately make my decision for me on that. A JB would be an easy replacement.

After playing some of the new MIM Charvels vs. this guitar, I'd say this one feels better with the exception of the floyd tremolo. It stays in tune but the bar rides a little low. Maybe I can bend it upwards to get closer to the feel of an original.

Sorry for the unsolicited review. I've always wanted a Charvel because I'm from that era. I've been looking at the newer ones but the Warren D. snakeskin model was the only one I played that really got my attention. The other Pro-Mods feel blah to me.
 
Congrats! Get yourself an 86-88 model series if you want to play the first gen Japanese Charvels. They kick ass.
 
I can’t do the Jackson style headstock. I feel like those should only be on a Flying V. 99% of the world disagrees with me on this.
 
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