Charvel San Dimas I

Original 1982 San Dimas -charvel Ser.-Number 1602
made in USA, Ash-body, birdseye-maple neck with rosewood, early active EMGs H-S-S, strat-type headstock, brass tremolo, red, one volume, no tone, 3 mini-switches, neck is not varnished.

I bought it in Germany (where I do come from), a lot of early San Dimas - Guitars were exported to Hamburg (the shop is called No.1).
It`s not easy to find a early San Dimas, a good tip is a look at ebay.de (German ebay). There these guitars are not cheaper, but all together there are some hundred San Dimas Charvels in Germany.

I payed nearly 3000 $, which unfortunaly is the standard proce for early Fender-headstock models.

I do play electric guitars since 1980.
I prefer blues, rock, hardrock, metal.
All the "guitar-heroes" of the 80s once played a early charvel, for example Ed van Halen, Steve Vai, Gary Moore, Dokken,...
Eddies main guitar was a (modified) charvel san dimas for 6 years, Vai played it for 4 years, Gary made some LPs with it, etc.

I use several amps. Mostly I use a Marshall full stack (JCM800 head 4x12 1960A-Box, JCM 900 1960B-Box), combined with a Marshall Valvestate S 80 for better trebles when playing "quiet".
No effects at all, just pure sound.
I also sometimes use a Mesa-Boogie 50 Caliber, a VOX AD 120, a Gallien Krueger 112.

The guitar sound is real unbelievable. I played several Gibsons, Fenders, ESPs, Ibanez, a Anderson but nothing compares to that guitar.
No use or beginners because that guitar makes you hear everything you play including mistakes, goofs. If you can`t play, this will be discovered. But if you are able to play well tis guitar makes you take off and fly.
The sounds are made for rock. The clean sounds are real good, but who would drive a ferrari with 10 mph ? (What I mean: It`s possible to play clean, but what a waste). Blues, crunch and first of all high gain rock and metal, that`s what this guitar is made for.
And NO other guitar will beat a early san dimas-charvel in this line.

Of course perfect.

It`s a professional guitar made for professionals and for being played as often as possible.
But remember: It`s a 1982-Guitar, which means that nobody knew big strap buttons, Floyd rose.
Except for that thw charvel is a dream to play. I made over 200 gigs over the years and the charvel has always been a absolut reliable, dependable partner.

A absolut dream guitar. Expensive and hard to find but if you find one, you`ll never sell it again

USA made Charvel with one-piece Soloist body in Hawaiian koa, bolt on birdseye maple neck with rosewood fingerboard (I think the radius is 15"), 24 frets with jumbo fretwire, Floyd Rose bridge, single volume control, 5 way toggle switch, 2 DiMarzio humbuckers (Super 3 in bridge, Evolution Neck in neck). The body has a hand rubbed oil finish, and the neck seems to be a slightly glossy satin (not quite lacquer, but not quite natural wood feel). Tuners are Gotoh. All hardware is gold. The neck is your typical Charvel/Jackson design - wide, flat, and thin. The only reason I'm rating features with a 10 is that there is no tone control and no piezo system. Considering I don't have a need for the piezo, the only thing this guitar is lacking (for my purposes) is the tone control.

I listen to progressive rock like Dream Theater and Queensryche, as well as more straightforward stuff like VH. My abilities, however, are more traditional blues based stuff with lots of vibrato and bending, legato runs. I feel this guitar suits how I play perfectly, although I would like the action to be lower (see next section).
I'm running the San Dimas through a Peavey 5150 Combo and Boss GT-5 guitar effects processor. While this setup doesn't give me all the tones I want, I'm quite happy with it. Any shortcomings would be a result of the amp/processor, not the guitar. The DiMarzio pickups sound great, and overall provide a pretty warm sound (also thanks to the koa). There is no pickup noise outside of ground loop hum when I'm not touching connected components.
This guitar is wired for a surprising variety of tones. Even thought there's only 2 humbuckers, the toggle switch allows for 5 different pickup configurations: 1/3/5 are as expected: neck, neck/bridge, bridge. Position 2 activates the outer coils of each pickup, while position 4 activates the inner coils (a la John Petrucci's sig Ibanez). These allow for cool scooped strat like tones, and very creamy lead tones when played with gain. These configurations were a welcome surprise. I have no complaints about the tone of this instrument, other than that it makes my EMG-equipped Jackson Soloist sound overly bright. I'm convinced that the koa body has a lot to do with the overall warmth of the tone, in spite of the guitar being equipped with a floating, double-locking trem.

The setup was actually very poor, but I doubt this is the way it come from the factory (very high action, trem not angled WAY forward). This guitar was sitting at a store for over three years so my guess it was tweaked numerous times. As soon as I got it home I dropped the action and readjusted the trem and it plays very well. My two complaints are as follows: 1) the action needs to be set higher than I would like (but not too high) otherwise the second strings buzzes, and 2) the high E string slips off the edge of the fret if you try to pull off to an open string (same as with my Soloist and an older Charvel Model 4 - why are the frets finished this way?). Plays beautifully otherwise. The pickups also needed to be adjusted (big deal).
The fit and finish throughout is impeccable. The slab of koa for the body is georgeous, as is the birdseye maple for the neck. This is one of the nicest instruments I have ever seen. All routing is very clean, the wiring is very tidy. I'm still trying to find the right spring configuration to maintain equilibrium on the Floyd and have it sit parallel to the body while tuned to pitch. I'm giving this section a '9' in spite of the poor setup, as I feel the store owner is responsible. It's not a '10' because of the previous complaints.

I can't speak to either reliability or durability as I've only had this guitar for a short period and do not travel or play live with it. If I was a working musician I would hesitate taking this instrument on the road because of the difficulty maintaining an oil finished guitar in this environment (especially considering how rare koa is these days). All the hardware and materials are top notch, so no worries there (DiMarzio pickups, original Floyd bridge, Gotoh tuners, strap buttons were quickly replaced with locking Schallers). As a recording or recreational guitar, however, this thing will last a long time. The only reason this section isn't rated as a '10' is that the oil finish has limited protection for the body.

I would say support is relatively poor as it was difficult to get an e-mail response from the Jackson website. I haven't tried to repair it, although it is covered under warranty. I'm not going to rate an opinion as I've never really had to deal with this company directly.

I've been playing for 12 years or so. I also have a Jackson Soloist and Charvel Model 4 (which is only for travel). I have no regrets about this purchase - every time I look over at the San Dimas it takes a while to turn away, and typically I'll end up playing it. It sounds great, and was built with care, it some cool pickup configurations. If it were stolen or lost I'd try to replace it, but it's not made anymore. It's also tough to find nice Hawaiian koa. If you can find any of the San Dimas series and you like Charvel guitars, I would definitely recommend you take a close look at it. The only reason a '10' isn't given here is because of some of the items mentioned above.