CHARVEL
So-Cal 1 2H
BY TONY PASKO
PRODUCT REVIEW
Unless you’ve been living under a rock,
you’ve noticed that the Charvel guitar company is back and in a big way. Back in the
‘80s Charvel was the “It” guitar; all the best
guitarists played them. Eddie Van Halen and
Jake E. Lee were the two reasons I loved
them so much, and they played Charvel
because back then Strats didn’t come with
any options for that type of player. Charvels
had bigger frets, a flatter fretboard radius,
a locking tremolo system, humbucking pick-ups already routed for the guitar, and an
array of crazy colors and graphics that all
the guitarists craved. Did I mention it was
the ‘80s?
as you go up the neck, very comfortable,
and very shred ready. The alder body is balanced and meaty, without being tubby. This
is a very comfortable guitar to play, and the
22 large frets make bending notes a breeze.
In June of 2008, Charvel began releasing the newly designed USA Production
Models Series. These are American-made
guitars, priced right around a grand. Every
three months they release limited numbers
of each model in custom colors—most
recently Ferrari Red, Polar White and Taxi
Cab Yellow. They offer two body shapes
with Duncan pickups (San Dimas Styles 1 2H
and 2 2H), and one with a pickguard and
DiMarzio pickups (So-Cal Style 1 2H). They
all come with black hardware, Grover tuners,
Floyd Rose locking tremolos and a gig-bag.
That’s a lot of bang for the buck!
Since my background is in guitar manufacturing and design, I can be very picky
when it comes to how guitars are made.
Manufacturers spend the money on the
parts that you can see, but sometimes
skimp on the stuff you can’t. When designing a guitar to fit in a certain price range,
sacrifices have to be made, like cheaper
pots, lower quality wood, cheap paint
and so on. So imagine my surprise when I
opened up the Charvel and saw clean solder joints and quality parts. The neck joint
is clean and the seams are tight. This
means that the guitars are cut, sanded
and assembled properly.
Most guitars on the showroom floor
are, in my opinion, ninety percent
done. Finishing and setting up a guitar
takes time and money, and unfortunately
that’s the area where the cost seems to
get cut first, especially in the lower priced
guitars. This was not the case with the
Charvel So-Cal; it was rockin’ right out of
the box.
Little Red... Charvel
For this review we received the So-Cal
model in Ferrari Red, which is the same
color as the Charvel Model 2 I had in high
school! Like I said, I’m a fan from way back.
After playing it for about an hour, I remembered why I loved my Charvel so much.
Though updated for a new generation of
players, they still retain all the elements that
made them so cool in the first place.
The guitar was set up, in tune and gig ready.
Really! I haven’t had that happen with a new
guitar in a while. The neck is quarter-sawn
maple, with a nice “C” shape that is tapered
Tone to Burn
The USA-made DiMarzio pickups are a
total complement for this guitar. The
Tone Zone in the bridge is a mid-rangy
pickup with lots of bite and harmonic
structure. If you’re a Paul Gilbert fan,
then you’ll love this pickup. They
combined the Tone Zone with the
Evolution in the neck. This is a very
interesting and complementary
combination: the Evolution is a very
smooth pickup, more PAF-sounding
than the Tone Zone, but the difference
is all good. These are not vintage pickups
