Seriously impressed with Charvel...

I do like that it has no sign of being a signature model. No funky autograph, or emblems, or
cheesy symbols. Not that there is anything wrong with that sort of thing. Just never been a
fan of any of that----even if ALL Les Pauls are like that. ;)
 
Now that I've had some time with mine, I have to say that it does EXACTLY what I wanted it to do. Playing with my FM3, with high gain tones, this guitar is just incredible. Funny enough, it has some serious spank on the clean tones, too. And does smooth jazz reasonable well. I love it. The perfect foil for my Strat blues/jazz machine. I don't know how they did it, but the neck is amazing and feels just like the neck on my Strat. Like it was made for me!
 
Must be the lighting.... er, bad lighting. :)

I am not sold it just yet. Atrociously cut nut, way too much relief on the neck, and the
neck itself is not as nice (to my hands) as the neck on the DK24 I have. Also, I didn't
know how much I would miss NOT having a Tone control. :(
 
Charvel owners… how much relief are you running? Charvel recommends 0.020. That’s quite a lot compared to other manufacturers.
 
ruso said:
Charvel owners… how much relief are you running? Charvel recommends 0.020. That’s quite a lot compared to other manufacturers.
Click to expand...
Charvel states that relief shouldn't exceed 0.020. They don't give a recommendation but rather:
"Personal playing preference will dictate the ideal/exact measurement for each player depending on musical style, playing dynamics and other factors."
 
ruso said:
Charvel owners… how much relief are you running? Charvel recommends 0.020. That’s quite a lot compared to other manufacturers.
Click to expand...

Kind of one of the downfalls of the compound radius. That flatter radius higher up the neck tends to mean slightly more
relief needed.

The one I just received had way too much relief, so I have tightened the truss rod already.

I also never use manufacturer recommendations. I just futz with the setup until I get it dialed into
what I like, and then hope that is enough for me to bond with the guitar.
 
JoKeR III said:
Charvel states that relief shouldn't exceed 0.020. They don't give a recommendation but rather:
"Personal playing preference will dictate the ideal/exact measurement for each player depending on musical style, playing dynamics and other factors."
Click to expand...

la noise said:
Kind of one of the downfalls of the compound radius. That flatter radius higher up the neck tends to mean slightly more
relief needed.

The one I just received had way too much relief, so I have tightened the truss rod already.
Click to expand...
I have it at about 0.008 and about 3/64th at the 12th fret and so far, so good. I think I have a high 9th fret, so I’ll need to address that.
 
I got a San Dimas about 5 years ago. I loved it with the flat radius. I felt like I could definitely play faster runs on it than my
Strat or PRS or Les Paul. However, either because I played the hell out of it or because of the flatter radius, I got pretty bad tendonitis in my fretting hand. I play it occasionally now, but mostly use the Strat because I am afraid of the tendonitis. Anyone else experience similar?
 
addedc said:
I got a San Dimas about 5 years ago. I loved it with the flat radius. I felt like I could definitely play faster runs on it than my
Strat or PRS or Les Paul. However, either because I played the hell out of it or because of the flatter radius, I got pretty bad tendonitis in my fretting hand. I play it occasionally now, but mostly use the Strat because I am afraid of the tendonitis. Anyone else experience similar?
Click to expand...
Did you have any discomfort when playing the Charvel? I’ve only had this one about a day, so it’s hard to tell so far. I know I can’t play Ibanez Wizard necks for long anymore without cramping.
 
ruso said:
Did you have any discomfort when playing the Charvel? I’ve only had this one about a day, so it’s hard to tell so far. I know I can’t play Ibanez Wizard necks for long anymore without cramping.
Click to expand...
No, it was really fluid to play. I only noticed the discomfort when the tennis elbow kicked in. My mother had bone cancer, so I thought that's what the bump was when I went to the DR to check it out. When he told me tennis elbow, the guitar never even occurred to me. I put that together later.
 
addedc said:
I got a San Dimas about 5 years ago. I loved it with the flat radius. I felt like I could definitely play faster runs on it than my
Strat or PRS or Les Paul. However, either because I played the hell out of it or because of the flatter radius, I got pretty bad tendonitis in my fretting hand. I play it occasionally now, but mostly use the Strat because I am afraid of the tendonitis. Anyone else experience similar?
Click to expand...

I can't play a Wizard style neck because of that. Damn near killed my ability to play when
I was in my early 20's, and I had to quit playing entirely on Doctor's recommendations. So
I strummed cowboy chords on an acoustic for 10 years before gingerly playing any electric
again.

To be fair, it was a lot of the repetitive shred style stuff I was playing/working on that was an
huge contributing factor.

I am like you, though, in that it scared the shit out of me so much that I don't ever want to
go down that path again. It limits what I can work, helped me be more diverse musically, and
probably made me a better musician overall---so all good in that regard. :)

My understanding of the Charvel compound radius is that it only gets super flat (16") the higher up
the neck you go.
 
ruso said:
Did you have any discomfort when playing the Charvel? I’ve only had this one about a day, so it’s hard to tell so far. I know I can’t play Ibanez Wizard necks for long anymore without cramping.
Click to expand...

Duuuuuuuuuuuude! Read my last post. Wow! :)
 
A few years ago I found an 80s Strat at a guitar store with the absolute thickest neck I have ever touched. I mean, huge shoulders, baseball bat, just enormous and uninviting, I first thought. I totally assumed it was going to be impossible to play, but after a few minutes I realized I freaking loved that thing, that it felt more "right" than anything else I've ever handled. I have big hands, so maybe it just fit me, but it just felt like I could play all day long and never cramp. I felt like I was flying. It's probably terrible for neck dive, probably great for tone, but definitely awesome for comfort with big hands. That made me not buy the idea that Wizard and other thin necks are the ideal for shredding across the board.

To my mind, it comes down to the pinching posture of your left hand, that a thin neck makes you pinch more to fret properly, and god help you if you're playing barre chords. This is nowhere near a universal truth or anything, but I think the less you have to pinch to fret cleanly, the better your endurance will be. You can totally bypass discomfort on a thin neck by altering your technique, but if I had the choice I'd totally go thick (that's what she said).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom