Charvel CX390

The guitar was built in japan, in the second half of 1992 (you can tell b/c of the non-strat-head). it has 22 frets, volume, tone, 1 humbucker and 2 single coils (s/s/h), a 5-way selector, and a JT580 floyd rose licensed vibrato. the stock pickups are made by jackson. they sound decent, but the bridge humbucker is a bit on the weak side (could have something to do w/ the pickguard and swimming pool rout, since it sounds ok in my brother's ibanez), so i replaced it with a seymour duncan dimebucker. the combination is quite good. all stock electronics are passive. the guitar is a basswood body w/ maple neck and rosewood fingerboard w/ dot inlays. mine is snow white with a black pickguard, and considering its age, i'm amazed it's still white, and not that creamy aged white color. pointy super-strat style body, with bolt-on neck. tuners are gotoh, i like them, they work well, and the locking nut also helps keep the guitar in tune. the neck is one of the thinnest i've ever played, and has a very smooth feel to it, moreso than my bc. rich ironbird, and this is great for my relatively small hands. didn't come with any accessories.

i play primarily metal, and it's always sounded good for it, but as said above, the bridge pickup was a little weak. currently, i play through a johnson j-station into the power section of a marshall mg-50rcd combo (this amp sux!!!). slightly on the noisy side when you use the neck or middle pickups w/ distortion, but that's pretty much expected for single coils. the bridge position sounded slightly hollow to me at first, but now i don't notice it so much, it sounds really good to me now. sounds great in Eb

i'm not really sure how well the guitar was originally set up at the factory, it was lying around the factory warehouse and the store for about 10 years, so it could have changed. the pickups were adjusted decently, but i always set that sort of thing up how i want it anyway. the second fret on the 4th string buzzes some, and i've tried to fix that, to no avail. it works ok tho, and if i really needed that note alone i'd play it at the 7th fret, 5th string, or use my charvette 100 instead. otherwise everything seems great.

this guitar will definitely withstand live playing, but basswood tends to get dings and dents easily. the hardware looks pretty tough, and the finish looks like it'll last pretty well. the strap buttons are huge, very solid. i use a levy's leathers inc. strap that screws on between the strap button and the felt, and i would practically trust these straps with my life. i would say it's pretty dependable, but i always take a backup guitar for shows, and especially for this one, since it's got the floyd licensed vibrato. once again, another use for my charvette.

never dealt with the company, hope never to need to. don't really know about any warranty, plus i probably voided it anyway when i replaced the pickup, so it doesn't do much good for me anyway.

i've been playing for a bit over 2 years (since august of 2000). i also own a bc rich platinum series ironbird, a bc rich rave series st, a charvel charvette 100, a johnson j-station digital preamp, a behringer fcb1010 midi foot controller, a marshall mg50rcd, a dod death metal distortion and a crate g10xl (yeah i've got a lotta shitty gear, so what?). if it were stolen or lost, i'd try to find another one in about the same condition, otherwise i'd go with any similar-feeling charvel or jackson i could afford (hoping to find a charvel avenger). thing i like most about this guitar is the neck, it's one of the most comfortable necks i've ever played. i was gonna buy an old ibanez roadstar rg440 from my guitar teacher, but he'd lent it to a friend and was unable to get it back for some reason or another, so i was just in the market for a new one and saw this one, which was very similar to the ibanez i was gonna get, and i loved the neck, so i had to get it. i would have liked a white pearloid pickguard, black hardware, and a white pointy-droopy (jackson style) head, but that's mostly cosmetic anyway. also, would be nice to have a little bit better high fret access, but again, it's a bolt-on, so you can't expect a whole lot better anyway. i love this guitar!!!

I think this is from the 80s not sure, don't care. I've read that it is from Japan. Pretty sure it's basswood. light as heck. It's a strat-styled body, mine is white w/black pickguard. It has doubles at the bridge, single/middle, single/neck. It has a Rose licensed trem. locking nut at the other end. The double at the bridge is Q U I E T. Middle single seems a little on the noisy side.. not a big deal at all.
got it at a pawn shop for $150

I get whatever sound I'm looking for outta this guitar (acdc, black crowes, motley crue, nickelback,.. whatever) I'm running it thru a Rat distortion, peavey bandit 65 amp.

I love this guitar, I traded in a bc rich warlock for it.. and I feel I got a very good deal. everything on this guitar is tight and fast. The neck is fat and thin.

I'm sure this guitar would withstand heavy shows it seems well built and very tight. I do use it without a backup with absolutely no worries.

never dealt with any nor do I forsee it.

Admittedly I've only had junk guitars for the past 18 yrs. But I did shop around, and for the money.. this guitar had the most bang for the buck hands down!!!!