Charvel ST Custom

Mine really is a Custom assembled in Fort Worth, Texas. I knew a girl who worked for them and she got me the guitar. Yours will probably be different, but all of the ST Customs I've seen were good guitars.

- Mine was made in 1992
- 24 frets
- The same as regular ST Custom...single coils in the neck and middle, with two single coils in the bridge.
- I don't know who made the pickups, but I don't like them.
- passive electronics
- I can't really be sure what kind of wood it has, but it seems nice
- see through "black", but it looks like a dark brown. It's pretty nice.
- It's a strat.
- Stratocaster inspired trem bridge...the other review does a good job describing it.
- Mine has Gotoh tuners.
- thin neck with jumbo frets, rosewood fret board
- mine came with a case, an extra bridge, and some tools.

It suits my musical style just fine. With bands I typically play noisy indie rock like Swervedriver and My Bloody Valentine. But sometimes I'll play country and blues, as I have pretty ecclectic tastes. This guitar can handle most of what I do just fine, but there are some flaws that I'll get to in a minute.

I use a variety of amps, but mostly a rack based system that's split stereo to two cabs. Effects are too many to list. The only constant in my system is a boutique preamp with no brand name, and a TubeWorks mosvalve power amp.

The guitar is never noisy in terms of hum or anything like that. It's wired very well, apparently.

I have a love-hate relationship with the pickups. The neck and middle coils are great, but I don't like anything they have in the bridge. Now that I've re-discovered it and am playing this guitar a lot I'm going to get all new pickups. That's my first order of business. It sounds just like a strat, although I'm limited in its range because I don't like the sound of what's in the bridge. It's always too thin. The other pickups respond really well to the controls but I never can get anything decent from the bridge. That's my one problem with the guitar, but it's a big one so I have to give it a five.

I think it's worth mentioning that mine is probably unique in this, and if you found an ST Custom it would probably be just fine.

Mine is the best playing guitar I've EVER used. And it always was, too, because I actually went to the factory and helped them set it up myself. The craftsmanship is second to none. Everything was perfect. In fourteen years I've only replaced the five-way switch. The finish is remarkably durable...best I've ever seen. Honestly, I'd like it to look a little trashed out but that's apparently never going to happen.

My friend when I was a kid got a guitar like mine, hoping it would be as good, but to me it wasn't. This is all a matter of taste, though. Every serious guitar player should have a good tech. His always played nice and it suited him just fine even when it was brand new.

Anyway, my trem is the regular ST custom trem and I really like its feel. The guitar never goes out of tune during a performance unless I go all Jimi Hendrix on it, and even then it stays close enough to play through. And when I say Jimi Hendrix, I mean "Star Spangled Banner", not "Little Wing".

I've already answered these questions, I guess. There's no doubt in my mind that this guitar will out-live me. I used to gig with it a lot, then it went into storage for a long time. I got it out about a month ago, put strings on it, and it was as good as new. Didn't even need a setup, believe it or not.

They were great to me, but as I said before mine was a special case. I don't know how good they are with others. I don't remember how long the warranty was.

I have a couple of USA strats that are comparable to this guitar. One is a 1977 and the other is a 2004. They don't play quite as well, but the bridge pickups sound better. The other pickups sound different...I wouldn't say better or worse. On some things I like the ST Custom more. The trem system in the Charvel beats both of Fenders. And for some reason I have to have them set up more often. The electronics are also a lot quieter in the Charvel, but I don't get as good of feedback with it. They're just different instruments.

If it were stolen, lost, or otherwise gone I don't think I could replace it. I'd be sad now that I've rediscovered it. I put it away for so long because of superficial reasons. Never liked the look of the pickups or the name "Charvel". I'm over that now, though.

Non-Pointy headstock Japanese made superstrat. Upmarket version of the ST Deluxe, with slightly different hardware. Bodies were finished in a fully-transparent sunburst, so presumably better timber was selected for the Custom bodies. Two-piece ash construction.

22 frets on a 4- bolt maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Neck is D shaped, no skunk stripe. Trussrod adjuster is at the body end. Beautiful fret job - nickel-silver jumbo frets as smooth as silk. Fingerboard overhangs the neck at the body end, and is squared off. Quite a slim neck with really excellent playability. rather chunky cast metal neckplate bearing the Charvel logo and the guitar's serial number.

String hardware is a little unusual. Bridge is a variation on the classic Strat floating tremolo (marked 'GOTOH'), but the strings pass over rollers. The saddles lock down with hexhead screws. The bridge itself rests on two knife-edges against adjustable screw posts, and has a push-fit tremolo bar. The nut is a roller device, which is adjustable by a tiny hexhead screw. Tuning machines are similar to Klusons, but have different height winding posts, which removes the need for a string tree. Posts are slotted, Fender style. Although completely non-locking, the tremolo system seems to work very well. Even serious whammy excess fails to put it out of tune (though I have broken strings a couple of times). Hardware is all excellent quality, and has a very durable gloss black finish (black chrome?) Guitar came with a box containing a heavy string kit (different rollers for the bridge and nut, and an extra tremolo spring).

Pickups are sc-size stacked humbuckers (marked Charvel/Jackson) with no visible pole pieces. The bridge pickup is doubled, and a switch is fitted to allow it to be used as a humbucker or single-coil, as well as out of phase. Scratchplate is a rather cheesy looking crushed satin effect, bearing volume, tone controls and a 5-way switch. Strat-style bullet jack is fitted.

Clean - the pickups are slightly hotter than most Strat single coils, and a little warmer in sound. Responds well to backing off the volume a little. Killer tone for bluesy type stuff. combination selector settings are very usable, with a little more body than a classic strat. Kind of a 'woody' sound. Great for funky popped notes. Good heavy attack. The bridge pickup in humbucker mode is so-so. Sound is plenty fat, but a little muddy, not as tight and hard as a good purpose-made humbucker. Bridge pickup out of phase with the little switch is very thin and reedy, not much use for anything. I play mostly with single-coil settings so I don't mind the slightly disappointing bridge humbucker sound but I'll mark this section low because some people would find it more of a drawback.

Construction quality is really excellent. I have seen very few factory guitars as beautifully screwed together as this one. The neck/body join is perfectly even all the way around with hardly enough gap to slide a razorblade into. All the screws are driven in straight. Wiring is very neat. The fretting on this guitar is a particularly beautiful job. Setup was pretty good from the factory, though the action was a little low for my style. Fairly light strings were fitted, and the intonation was spot-on. Timbers appear to be well selected. The fingerboard is hard, dark and close-grained. The neck came in a slightly satin finished lacquer.

Finish is very durable. The body finish is pretty scratch resistant and has survived plenty of bumps without taking a mark. The pickups are made of quite soft plastic, and have worn slightly at the edges from contact with the guitar pick. The hardware has a very tough black finish. Tuning machines are not adjustable, but remain smooth and tight. Fingerboard has resisted fingernail marks pretty well.

Overall, a more than competent guitar. excellent build quality, good range of sounds, classic vintage looks. Only shortcoming is the rather poor bridge humbucker sound.