- Feb 17, 2009
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I've seen these mentioned in a few threads so I thought I'd chime in with my take on the Charvel So-Cal that I just received about 4 hours ago.
Overall the guitar is awesome. There was only one minor issue with the setup, and that was the spring tension being a hair too light. A very easy thing to overlook when you are "eyeballing" it to make sure the bridge is parallel to the body when the guitar is perfectly in tune. (Especially hard with new strings that are still stretching) The action was a pinch high for my preference, but that isn't a setup issue.
There were only two actual flaws with the guitar. One was a tiny splinter where one of the screws for the string tree enters the headstock. Maple necks are known for splintering and chipping (especially when refretting) so this isn't a surprise. The flaw is so small that I can only find it because I now know it is there. The other flaw was with the input jack. The jack itself wasn't holding the guitar cable tight enough so the signal dropped out every so often. Taking the jack out and bending the piece that connects to the tip of the 1/4 plug made the connection tighter.
I'd say that fresh out of the box this guitar is miles above anything I've picked up from the sales floor at a guitar shop. It's obvious that hard work went into making a nice guitar by someone who knows guitars. Even with the few issues that I found most guitar players would've said it was mint out of the box. I'm just extremely picky, and have been playing almost 15 years so I went over this guitar like I built it myself.
Sound wise it sounds less "dark" than my Schecter C-1 Classic. To my ears the Schecter sounds a little dark and "round" while the Charvel sounds "airy" and can get that aggressive bite much easier. Both guitars sound great, but I think the Charvel will get me a little further for my tastes.
Enough buzz words and subjective opinions. Just thought I'd put this out there for anyone thinking about these guitars. Take my opinion with a grain of salt.
Overall the guitar is awesome. There was only one minor issue with the setup, and that was the spring tension being a hair too light. A very easy thing to overlook when you are "eyeballing" it to make sure the bridge is parallel to the body when the guitar is perfectly in tune. (Especially hard with new strings that are still stretching) The action was a pinch high for my preference, but that isn't a setup issue.
There were only two actual flaws with the guitar. One was a tiny splinter where one of the screws for the string tree enters the headstock. Maple necks are known for splintering and chipping (especially when refretting) so this isn't a surprise. The flaw is so small that I can only find it because I now know it is there. The other flaw was with the input jack. The jack itself wasn't holding the guitar cable tight enough so the signal dropped out every so often. Taking the jack out and bending the piece that connects to the tip of the 1/4 plug made the connection tighter.
I'd say that fresh out of the box this guitar is miles above anything I've picked up from the sales floor at a guitar shop. It's obvious that hard work went into making a nice guitar by someone who knows guitars. Even with the few issues that I found most guitar players would've said it was mint out of the box. I'm just extremely picky, and have been playing almost 15 years so I went over this guitar like I built it myself.
Sound wise it sounds less "dark" than my Schecter C-1 Classic. To my ears the Schecter sounds a little dark and "round" while the Charvel sounds "airy" and can get that aggressive bite much easier. Both guitars sound great, but I think the Charvel will get me a little further for my tastes.
Enough buzz words and subjective opinions. Just thought I'd put this out there for anyone thinking about these guitars. Take my opinion with a grain of salt.
But congrats on your purchase dude, besides those complaints I've always thought it was a magnificent instrument every time I played it!
