Charvel CX290

a strat with one tone and one volume pot and a humbucker at the bridge a small nice neck

it's a complete no-nonsens guitar, the scratch plate is made out of white plastic no layered stuf and there's only one tone knob (i like that)

the sound is pretty nice, but i'm seriously thinking about replacing the coils. not that they are bad, but ik like the sound of goldlace sensors and i think they will match my guitar.

i bought it 2nd hand and everthing was already adjusted fine to a guitar player.
as i mentiond it was my first guitar so what did i know about the action and the pickups.

though the years my preferences changed a little i started playeing other music styles and so I had to change the action beacause a low action doesn't sound great when your playing rough ritms on your guitar

the neck is what makes this guitar so nice. its simply perfect

the bridge was after 10 years old and made noises so i had it replaced. and i took the best replacement there is
and after 12 years teh frets needed to be flattened. but no other problems this guitar will last an other 20 years at least

i bought it back in 96 used for 450 dutch guilders (205 euro's)
it was my first guitar and through the years i've had seferal other guitars but no guitar realy could match up to this one.
in 2003 i replaced the brige for a wilkinson vs50 and replaced the nut for a fender rollernut

2 years ago i bought a charvel cx291 as a live backup guitar for if i would break a string. this one will have the same adjustments in the future

some guitars have a nice base to start with and when want it more professional you can choose to buy an other, or you can improve what is already good

this is such a guitar and i can play any style on it

I have a '91 white CX 290 made in Japan with 22 frets that I traded a nice Ibenez bass for it new back in '91 at the Guitar Center. I replaced the neck single coil with a Fender Lace Senser for a humbucker sound and less noise, gets great Scofield and Carlton
tones. I don't use the trem bar, the bridge lays flat against the body so when I bend strings while also playing bass notes everything stays in tune.

I love the jumbo frets and flat fret board, reminds me of the Dunlop frets I had installed in a '77 les paul standard that I sold off a couple decades back after owning it for only two years, big mistake! I also prefer its headstock to the pointier Jackson/Charvel type, makes it less flashy and more of a working man's guitar, very to-the-point no nonsense.

I use it with a POD 2.0 and it gets a humungous variety of sounds from strats, les pauls, flying v's even 335s. The POD has a Line 6 layer that has a brittle bright sound so the humbuckers can be as thin as single coils without the noise. Having a tone control on all the pickups makes for more tonal versatility than a strat. Can't get the Gibson neck and bridge pick-up combo sound, maybe there's a mod that allows you to add the neck or bridge pick-up? I'll have to investigate, that would be nice.

My CX 290 had great action to begin with and I've never touched it. I've brought the pick-ups up(I ALWAYS bring them up), great intonation as well.

I had a problem with the 5 way selector switch for the neck pickup, I thought it was the Lace Senser cutting out but I recently spritzed some silicon chain lubricant(available at motorcycle shops) into the top of the switch and that did the trick!

The finish was flawless and has a slight yellowed look now which is cool by me.

I have played it live a few times but mainly is stays in the studio, its very rugged. The tuning keys are as good as any I've ever used.
Its light, balanced and tres comfortable.

N/A. I've owned it for 13 years without a hitch.

I've been playing for 40 years now(gulp). I've owned a Les Paul standard, Gibson SG, Ibenez strat, G&L strat, and a rare Fender strat without the trem bridge, shoulda kept that one! The CX 290s have been discontinued so if it were lost or stolen I'd get a new Fender Mex strat and set it up the same way. Love the fat neck on those pups.

three pickups, humbucker and two single coils. 22 fret neck,thin and flat. light weight strat style body. five way switching.

bright, smooth sound in overdrive, exelent defined sound when tapping or shreding. ample punch from the pickups over marshall JCM 900, and smaller solid state amps. not too great with effects but not bad. the clean sound is slightly inpersonal and indifferent, has some twang but its not a strat. a bit thin on clean but, has a good smooth overdrive for power or euro metal, too precise for punk or grunge.

soft near perfect action on a flat slimline neck. very fast easy neck.
generally well put together, but nothing fancy. no faws and well built no frills though.

its strong and well built not cheaply thrown together. will serve the owner well at gigs , on the road or at home. reliable and forgiving.

n/a

i own a les paul and a number of strats and other guitars, theyre all different. the cx290 is a durable fairly versitile guitar thats well made even though it is a no frills economy model. excelent choice for giging metal lead guitarist. its not as warm as the pual or versitile as the strat but is not even have the price. ive owned it for just over a year and its still going strong. the one ply scratchboard is a dissapointment. and with its sound i would have like a jackson style head. a bargain at its price.

My understanding is that this axe was only built in 1992..not real sure, but it's an inexpensive strat style, 22 fret, s/s/h charvel passive pickups. Cheap fulcrum trem. I have no idea what type of wood the body is made of, neck appears to be maple with rosewood fretboard..decent Gotoh tuners, slim neck (compared to my les paul, anyway),

I found this axe to be pretty versatile..the single coil sounds are decent, and not too noisy, the humbucker does lack a little punch, as in it's a bit thin, (again, compared to my LP),but is usable. I did get some noise while playing thru my blackface bassman and standing under florescent lights, but was still controllable. Played thru my Marshall in different environments, totally cool. I do like the variety of the s/s/h configuration, it's the only axe I have set up this way..all my others are either all single, or all humbucker.

I bought this out of a pawnshop, and some hammerhead had owned it, so I spent an evening adjusting the neck and bridge. I smoothed out the nut and applied some graphite, and also did a little bit of shimming on the neck, the neck fit is not perfect, but not bad. All switches and pots were cleaned, and work well...one thing I noticed is that the volume and tone pots are pretty linear, and work like they should. Fret work is above average for a cheaper guitar.

Hell yes, this guitar will withstand live playing! (At least mine has!!) It's a pretty durable axe, mine stays in tune like a mofo, the finish is thick, most likely poly of some sort, even though mine has a few dings, it still looks good. Can I depend on it? Sure, as much as I do my Gibsons or Fenders! I don't play ANY guitar at a gig without a backup!!!

I've been playing for 31 years...I own a Strat, two Les Pauls, a Precision Bass 5 string, a 66 Baldwin, a mid-60's Kalamazoo, a whole pile of acoustics, a 1920's banjo, and a blackface Bassman and a 100W Marshall. Not to mention about 25 thou worth of PA gear...I'm a pro sound contractor. I'm a bit of a tone freak, and this guitar does a decent job - it's playable, sound good, and stays in tune. I'm not sure what these other cats have been using theirs for (canoe paddles?), but mine is a solid axe well worth twice or more what I paid for it.

i think it was made in korea..not sure though.
has 22 frets, 1 volume controll-1 for tone and a 5 way selector.
pickups- s/s/h, doesnt have a floyd-rose. neck is very thin and cofortable.
bought for like 300$ second hand(its pretty expansive here)

well...it has a nice sound at clean mode. but i dont usually play clean.
it fits the distortion and it has a powerful sound, but the pickups has such a plastic sound... very hollow and the single coil is buzzing and tend to make problems.
the humbucker is working alright...but i dont like its sound of it.
when i play clean like pink floyd and stuff like that...it sounds pretty good. also if u add a little distortion u can get a nice gilmour sound.
but if u want a real dirty powerfull distorion, such as metallica or megadeth...u'll find the single coil of the neck very hollow and not fitting the category. the humbucker can do the soloing job pretty well though for metal...

i got the guitar second hand so i donno about the factory much... the pickups arent based in so well, the pickup selector is very easy to slide and while playing it sometimes switches by mistake as u touch it with the hand...

i would never take her on stage.
the guitar goes out of tune every five minutes.
altough, the body seems pretty strong and built to last for years.
i didnt smash it against the stage though...

never dealt with them.

i've been playing for 2 years now and this is my first electric guitar. if i was a proffesional player at the time...i defenatly wouldnt have bought it. but as a first guitar...gotta love it:-)
one thing i can say is the pickups are terrible...and the single coil seems to make lots of buzzing noise when it gets old.
the guitar besides for that is OK....i wouldnt take it giging but as a first guitar it is great. very cofortable as well. i wish it had 24 frets instead of 22... and 2 hums instead of that single...

not many, its got a H-S-S, cheap grover tuners, "standard" tailpeice w/ trem bar, 1 vol, 1 tone, 5-way, rosewood neck, basswood body, round (non-pearl) dots.

heres the damnage. ok, first of all, ive got 2 guitars, and 1 shitar... the charvel is my shitar. the single coils have no tone. the humbucker squeals bloody murder. cant get the marshall above 3 without squealing everyone out of the room. it has a very very hollow sound.

has pretty high action. i tried to lower it down a bit, and BUZZZZZ. so, i took off all the strings, filed down the frets, and lowered the action again. it worked. i now have a lower action, and no buzzing. the tuners are loose as hell. the chrome rusts very easily. i loaned this guitar to a friend who lives on the beach, when he returned it, it was so rusted around the bridge, it took me a whole evening to clean the damn thing.

live? hell no! the damn thing goes outta tune after 3 minutes of playing it. i dont trust the electronics. the 5 way cuts out if you touch it, the volume selector has a dead spot, etc. although, the overall body condition looks sound, the componnents are very etchy. i simply dont trust it. this guitar functions as my backup.

neva dealed w/ em. shit, i dont think their even around any more.

dont buy a charvel strat. they suck. period