P
Awesome, but ...
I had a craving for my 80's Japan made Fender Contemporary Stratocaster which I stupidly sold in the 90's so I started looking for something similar - Floyd tremolo, dual humbuckers & well built.
On arrival the outer box was in fine condition but the inner carton-bracings around the headstock was broken, the good news though was that the guitar seemingly had not suffered any damage.
Finish is flawless, among the best I've seen in the pricerange under 2 000€.
The Floyd Rose 1000 system is not as big a tone thief as the Kahler made tremolo on the aforementioned strat.
There's no mentioning of it in the supplied iformation, but there's a thin metal shim under the locking-nut which I removed since a too high nut makes it impossible to get clean open G/C/F chords.
Electronics: the volume knob has a nice sweep, but I'm not sure what I think of the "No-Load" tone knob, it does what it's supposed to but the "No-Load" has a hard/sluggish feel to it making hard to use with just the pinky - maybe it just needs to be used for a while(?).
Pickups are Duncan models which you can buy separately = very nice addition for a guitar in this pricerange where XYZ-designed are standard.
But:
A - both pickups were stiff to adjust, I had to unscrew them fully to be able to make adjustments - possibly there's lacquer spill on the "screw-feet", I'll look at it when it's time for string change.
B - I've always liked Dimarzio's better than Duncan's, these are no exception but my biggest gripe with them is that there's not enough sound difference between them despite placement, when the bridge PU sounds ok, the neck PU sounds a bit thin - this is just MY opinion and it's not uncommon to switch PU's according to the player's own taste on guitars that are a LOT more expensive so listen and make your own mind up before swapping them.
Charvel's supplied information sheet recommends a PU-height of 1.6 mm. below the strings measured with the string pressed down at the highest fret, I looked at Duncan's site which recommends starting with the pickups 2.4 mm. below the strings which made them sound less strained in the higher frequencies.
Body is smaller than a regular strat and is IMO "strat body 2.0", well thought out with better access to the higher frets than a standard strat, belly cut and the jack cut on the back.
Weight is light, but not so light that it makes the guitar neck heavy.
The neck, the neck, the neck - is AWESOME!
It has a non-lacquered feel to it but is treated with urethane.
Relief adjustment is done at the body end of the neck with a wheel, kind of revolutionary since the neck adjustment has looked pretty much the same since the 50's/60's.
Fretwork is flawless, much better than Fender's in the 2k € range the last 10 years.
Radius is 12-16" compound making it possible to have re-e-e-ally low action without any buzz or choking when making big bends.
Setup was not as good as described in other reviews since the neck was a bit askew making the strings unevenly spread across the fretboard, the high E fell off the frets from fret19 & upward - possibly caused by whatever caused the inner carton bracing to break. However I had no problem adjusting the neck to align with the strings by loosening the neck screws, pushing the neck into position and retightening the screws.
Summary:
Cons
Charvel's packaging could be better.
Pickups might not suit everyone's taste
Pros
Light weight
Enhanced body shape
Awesome neck
Seymour Duncan pickups
Good sounding Floyd Rose system
Would I recommend buying it?
Yes definitely.
On arrival the outer box was in fine condition but the inner carton-bracings around the headstock was broken, the good news though was that the guitar seemingly had not suffered any damage.
Finish is flawless, among the best I've seen in the pricerange under 2 000€.
The Floyd Rose 1000 system is not as big a tone thief as the Kahler made tremolo on the aforementioned strat.
There's no mentioning of it in the supplied iformation, but there's a thin metal shim under the locking-nut which I removed since a too high nut makes it impossible to get clean open G/C/F chords.
Electronics: the volume knob has a nice sweep, but I'm not sure what I think of the "No-Load" tone knob, it does what it's supposed to but the "No-Load" has a hard/sluggish feel to it making hard to use with just the pinky - maybe it just needs to be used for a while(?).
Pickups are Duncan models which you can buy separately = very nice addition for a guitar in this pricerange where XYZ-designed are standard.
But:
A - both pickups were stiff to adjust, I had to unscrew them fully to be able to make adjustments - possibly there's lacquer spill on the "screw-feet", I'll look at it when it's time for string change.
B - I've always liked Dimarzio's better than Duncan's, these are no exception but my biggest gripe with them is that there's not enough sound difference between them despite placement, when the bridge PU sounds ok, the neck PU sounds a bit thin - this is just MY opinion and it's not uncommon to switch PU's according to the player's own taste on guitars that are a LOT more expensive so listen and make your own mind up before swapping them.
Charvel's supplied information sheet recommends a PU-height of 1.6 mm. below the strings measured with the string pressed down at the highest fret, I looked at Duncan's site which recommends starting with the pickups 2.4 mm. below the strings which made them sound less strained in the higher frequencies.
Body is smaller than a regular strat and is IMO "strat body 2.0", well thought out with better access to the higher frets than a standard strat, belly cut and the jack cut on the back.
Weight is light, but not so light that it makes the guitar neck heavy.
The neck, the neck, the neck - is AWESOME!
It has a non-lacquered feel to it but is treated with urethane.
Relief adjustment is done at the body end of the neck with a wheel, kind of revolutionary since the neck adjustment has looked pretty much the same since the 50's/60's.
Fretwork is flawless, much better than Fender's in the 2k € range the last 10 years.
Radius is 12-16" compound making it possible to have re-e-e-ally low action without any buzz or choking when making big bends.
Setup was not as good as described in other reviews since the neck was a bit askew making the strings unevenly spread across the fretboard, the high E fell off the frets from fret19 & upward - possibly caused by whatever caused the inner carton bracing to break. However I had no problem adjusting the neck to align with the strings by loosening the neck screws, pushing the neck into position and retightening the screws.
Summary:
Cons
Charvel's packaging could be better.
Pickups might not suit everyone's taste
Pros
Light weight
Enhanced body shape
Awesome neck
Seymour Duncan pickups
Good sounding Floyd Rose system
Would I recommend buying it?
Yes definitely.
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