Seriously impressed with Charvel...

R

Ron_R

Power User
I just picked up a brand new Charvel Pro Mod DK24 HH 2PT and was blown away right out of the box.

First, in my 32 years of playing guitar, this is the first guitar I bought that was actually still in the factory box, unopened. I didn't really know what to expect, as I usually had either bought guitars used, or off the rack after they had been sitting there awhile. This one was untouched by anyone in the store. The box was still factory sealed.

I took it out of the box, and played it unplugged for about an hour. Nice low action, frets were nicely finished, and there were no flaws in the finish. No sharp edges on the frets. Nothing loose.

I don't get along with humbuckers in general. Especially the bridge. I always found them quacky and dull. This Seymour Duncan pick up is loud, clear and tight. Very nice with the high gain stuff, which is why I bought the guitar. The neck pick up is smooth and liquidy with both high gain and clean sounds. The guitar also has a little toggle for a parallel pick up config, and it sounds quite good.

Over all very pleased with the guitar. And impressed for something MIM.
 
I've been singing their praises for a couple years.

I have the HSS and really like it... So much so that I eventually bought a USA model :)

I would recommend looking for the Wilkinson locking saddles, losing the string trees and swapping out the tuners for staggered ones.

That will help a lot with tuning stability (assuming you use the trem)...

That's my only real complaint.

The USA models come with Sperzel staggered tuners and a single string tree.

I recently swapped in a Thornbucker+ in the bridge position of the MIM. It's pretty different from the Duncan but I like it.

Enjoy!
 
Before I pulled the trigger on the Carvin CT I was looking at the Cali pro mod but the reversed headstock and the active pups turned me off.
 
I too am very impressed with them. I had an HH DK24 for a while then traded it in for the swamp ash HSS version. Oddly, the Swamp Ash ones are made in Korea, not MIM, which was interesting. It plays excellent, looks great with the sand blasted ash with thin red finish. I swapped over to Bareknuckles with a HSP-90 in the bridge and it's really fun; it got more play time than any other guitar in my quiver last year by quite a margin.

Regarding the tuning stability @unix-guy mentioned, my HH had major tuning stability issues which undermined an otherwise excellent guitar. I discovered the nut wasn't cut well and installed a new one and it got quite a bit better. The rest of the issue was the fixed string trees, which if I bypassed them the stability was fine but the breakover angle was super shallow which concerned me. When I got the HSS, the nut was perfect and it had roller trees rather than fixed. I've had basically zero issues with stability with it, the only better I have are locking type tremolos. My fixed bridges aren't as good either.

The only other thing I tried was the other version of the Gotoh 510 bridge which reduces the number of places the string can catch in the block. It does help, but the block is too tall and it scrapes the back plate, and I've found it unnecessary on the HSS with the better nut and string trees.
 
Awesome! I really dig the HSH model of that guitar I have owned for about 18 months now.

I do have a couple of beefs with it. Biggest is the inability to adjust the pickup height. It has
the hotter pickup in the bridge (Full Shred) and I would LOVE to back it off from the strings a
bit more. I can't. She is drawn down to the body as tight as it will go. No springs means I couldn't
raise it if it needed to be raised.

Awesome neck. Comfy as hell, and can cop some reasonable Strat tones in the 2 and 4 positions.

I did preorder the Jake E Lee Sig model. Not sure if I keep the DK24 or not. I really only need one
Superstrat style guitar in the arsenal.
 
Dale LeClaire said:
I too am very impressed with them. I had an HH DK24 for a while then traded it in for the swamp ash HSS version. Oddly, the Swamp Ash ones are made in Korea, not MIM, which was interesting. It plays excellent, looks great with the sand blasted ash with thin red finish. I swapped over to Bareknuckles with a HSP-90 in the bridge and it's really fun; it got more play time than any other guitar in my quiver last year by quite a margin.

Regarding the tuning stability @unix-guy mentioned, my HH had major tuning stability issues which undermined an otherwise excellent guitar. I discovered the nut wasn't cut well and installed a new one and it got quite a bit better. The rest of the issue was the fixed string trees, which if I bypassed them the stability was fine but the breakover angle was super shallow which concerned me. When I got the HSS, the nut was perfect and it had roller trees rather than fixed. I've had basically zero issues with stability with it, the only better I have are locking type tremolos. My fixed bridges aren't as good either.

The only other thing I tried was the other version of the Gotoh 510 bridge which reduces the number of places the string can catch in the block. It does help, but the block is too tall and it scrapes the back plate, and I've found it unnecessary on the HSS with the better nut and string trees.
Click to expand...

Been eyeing that Ash model for since last summer. I may have even low-balled a Reverb seller to no avail. ;)

I love the open grain look of that axe! So pretty!
 
I've been looking at them for a while now. I used to play them back when I had hair.. lots of hair. lol
Had a model 2,model 3, and a 3DR.
....I miss those girls
 
I'll se your Botox laden Satchel and raise you a Whiskey drenched Jake E Lee.



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:)
 
la noise said:
Awesome! I really dig the HSH model of that guitar I have owned for about 18 months now.

I do have a couple of beefs with it. Biggest is the inability to adjust the pickup height. It has
the hotter pickup in the bridge (Full Shred) and I would LOVE to back it off from the strings a
bit more. I can't. She is drawn down to the body as tight as it will go. No springs means I couldn't
raise it if it needed to be raised.

Awesome neck. Comfy as hell, and can cop some reasonable Strat tones in the 2 and 4 positions.

I did preorder the Jake E Lee Sig model. Not sure if I keep the DK24 or not. I really only need one
Superstrat style guitar in the arsenal.
Click to expand...
My HSS has some form of dense "foam" under the bridge humbucker...
 
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