Charvel San Dimas II

It's a Charvel San Dimas Style 2 (Telecaster)
Color: LTD Pagan Gold

Alder body with contoured back
1-Piece maple neck, bolt-on
Compound radius 12"-16"
Neck width at nut: 1-11/16"
Scale Length: 25.5"
No. of frets: 22
Bridge pickup: Duncan JB
Neck pickup: Duncan '69
Floyd Rose locking trem bridge
Grover mini tuners
Black hardware
One volume control knob, knurled
3-position pickup selector toggle
Freakin stupid gig bag included- they need to include a hard case-
Made in California
strap locks

I like it. I play through tons of amps and all kinds of music. I don't have a complaint. Sounds like a humbucking strat.

I'm thrilled with it for the price. It lack the feel and vibe of a Custom Shop Charvel, but everything is in fine order and appears to be good attention to detail. Much better than I had expected for the retail price.

Seems fine. I have had it for a week.

It sucks and they suck. They don't care and probably never will. I had to sue them over a warranty issue in 2004 and was awarded judgement (won!). Don't buy a guitar thinking the warranty or Customer Service people will do a dang thing for you. Be critical from the start and buy form a solid dealer.

Nice guitar. I would buy more and probably will when new colors come out. The Charvel Custom Shop guitars are decisively nicer, but for those who don't have the big bucks or don't want to spend the big bucks this is a nice alternative.

1995 USA 24 frets solid body, 1 volume, 1 tone, 5-way pick-up selector, S/S/H with Dimarzio's, PAF Humbucker, Thin mapel neck with light satin finish, sperzel locking tuners,and rosewood fretboard not sure of body wood but it's probably alder. Ugly purple paint, but I had it changed to robin's egg blue by Sims Custom Shop in TN. The body style is a hybrid between a San Dimas and a Jackson Dinky (mor like a Dinky)The bridge was a standard 2 point strat type trem (nothing fancy) I changer all hardware to black and switched to a Wilkinson trem. I also replaced the stock black PAF with a zebra coil.

I like guitars that can do it all with almost any amp, but this is not one of those guitars. It dosen't quite sound like any of my strats, this guitar tends to be a bit too bright. I'm sure a different pick-up combination could rectify this, but I don't mind too much. It does opperate very quietly, but the output could be stronger. I thought this guitar would be great for classic hair metal, but when I hear the sound I think indie rock.

I bought the guitar used from some pawn shop on ebay, and the it played like crap from there (of course). But after having it refinished, I took it to Century Music in San Antonio, and they always do great set-ups. The original finish was just an ugly color, but it was a decent job. I will say that Charvel should have shaved the heel of the body for better fret access. I'm keeping the rating at no opinion, but I would say it would probably only get a 5 from the factory becaise it was originally ugly as hell.

This guitar is very reliable, but the neck is very thin and could be damaged if not proprly cared for. The original hardware was well decent I just changed for asthetics. I have used it without a back-up, but we should always take a back-up. I can't give it a perfect score on reliability, only because I fear the neck could be fractured more easily than most guitars.

Have not dealt with Charvel, other than a few e-mails, and they are slow to respond, but still much better than Gibson and Floyd Rose, both of which suck.

I have been playing for many years and I own lots of nice equipment, this is by far my cheapest guitar as I bought it for $200 and put another $600 into it. But I ended up with a beutiful guitar which may not be very versatle, but people go "that is one pretty gitar" and that's cool. If, God forbid, something happened to this guitar, I would probably buy a newer San Dimas Charvel, because they play and sound much better, but cost a lot more. If I can find another one for the $200 I paid for it, I'd buy it, but I see people spending $400 - $500 on these on ebay and all I can say is that's too much for this guitar. If you're going to drop that much, spend a couple more bills and get a newer San Dimas.

Made in 1995, USA.
Koa wood body with birdseye maple neck & 24 frets rosewood fingerboard.
1 volume knob and 5 way switch(upgraded).
Wilkinson trem.
Sperzel locking tuners.
H/H DiMarzios.
come with a charvel/jackson hardcase

No specific style i played, rock, funk, punk, or even bossa nova, it's good enough for all styles.
I use a Marshall amp with the 535Q crybaby and boss ds-2.
For clean sound, i like it's rich and warm tone. The sustain is really great. But Duncans may can further extend the performance of the koa wood.
For distorted sound, well the DiMazio is good enough for it. provide a strong , loud sound

excellent set-up.
the 3 way switch was substituted with a 5-way one which increase the sound possibilities of the guitar.
Since I prefer the sustain rather than the speed, the action is not a low one.

i think it could play life long.
but the body seems easy to dent, may need exta care.
reliabile strap buttons.

I have played with several guitars, godin sd/lg(duncan pickup), jem, fender strat, This charvel is one of the most playable guitar among all of them. It do maintain a good balance. The only weakness is that the H/H pickup set could never substitute the single coil. But overall it's a really great guitar. It's a good deal for lifetime.

Made in USA, not too sure about the year but they started popping up in Australia about 1996-7. I bought this a while back secondhand but its completely original and in mint condition. It has a 24fret rosewood fingerboard on a beautiful birdseye maple neck and feels very fast and smooth. The strat shape body is made from hawaiin koa wood which I know nothing about but it seems similar to mahogany, though its much more striking in appearance. All the harware is top class ie Sperzel locking tuners, WilkinsonUSA vibrato, Dimarzio Pickups etc... 1 Volume pot and 3Way gibson style switch(the pot crackles a bit, the guitars only flaw!)
Basically an upgraded, yet simpified, rockin srat made with exotic woods. It has everything I need, yet there are guitars out there with coiltaps etc.. so I cant give it a 10.

I play heavy metal, basically sounds like Iron Maiden riffs being played by Lamb of God with a bad Jon Petrucci solo hehe Just good ol metal but modernised and with some weirder time signatures. And anyway this guitar pretty much fits the bill. I play into Rocktron Hush SuperC_Marshall JMP1_TC Elec G MAJOR_MesaBoogie 295_Marshall 1960a which to me is a fukn awesome rig, very loud very heavy!!!
The guitar's sound is very well balanced, bright yet warm and loud when played unplugged. Amplified its the same, very good single note and chord definition. Its not a Fender and its not a Gibson, but it covers both areas well. For my tastes I prefer EMG pickups and Im still deciding whether too swap them. The dimarzios are fine but they dont have that chunk or chime that the EMG 81/85s do. There is a slight buzzing but nothing crazy and anyway my Hush takes care of that, but thats why it gets a 9.

I think aliens must work at the Jackson/Charvel custom shop(would explain the roswell rhoads!) because ive never in my life played a manmade guitar this good, ever! It feels like it was born this way or something, not pieced together. The action is perfect, low and buzz free. The fretwork is great. Very solid feeling. I cant flaw its craftsmanship. After 10 odd years theres no rust and everything functions as new. Yes its been very well looked after but this could last several lifetimes.

Solid as. The body wood is a bit softer than most and hardknocks will dent it. Hardware no problems. Mines 10 years old and still new, will last another 100 if treated right.

We deal with importer/distributor/retailers over here so I have no idea. Fender now owns jackson and I doubt that they would fix this guitar. Not too worry I service it myself and theres repairers around for refrets etc...

I love this guitar, its easily the best ive owned(Ive had a USA Strat Plus, 2 Carvins, IBZ JEM and others) but it really does need EMGs to totally crush skulls. If someone steals it I would be really really pissed off and feel like doing bad hurtful painful fatal things. Ive only seen 2 of these-mine, and 1 new in 97 so replacing it would be hard, but Id try for something similar-maybe with a floydrose. It seems I paid more (US$700) than the other reviewers did over in the states but when you consider that a bashed up Fender goes for about $1500 here I got the deal of a lifetime, my guitar smokes anything around here and its in mint condition.

Made in 1995 / USA San Dimas / 22 frets / Solid white top / volume, tone, 5 way switch / s-s-s Dimarzio / Passive / Satin white top / strat style / String thru with standard charvel whammy / Sperzel Locking tuners/ Rosewood neck /

The styles I can play on this guitar are endless / using 5150 half stack, with Digiteck RP3 / The best sounding strat style I have seen anywhere / don't like the perloid pick gaurd, too flashy /

action is medium / pick ups are great / all hardware is fine / no flaws except cosmetic

Guitar is great live, I think it likes live playing to normal jamming / hardware will last / finish is plain, and will last forever / strap buttons are the best I have ever had / best guitar I own / never go to a gig without a backup

NA

16 years / alot of other stuff / I would buy it again if it were stolen, in fact I just bought a San Dimas III off of ebay, and bidding on another San Dimas II / I love the fact that I only paid $310.00 for the best guitar I ever owned / wish it had a drop d tuner /

Made in 1995, Oil finished Koa wood body with birdseye maple neck & rosewood fingerboard. 1 volume knob and 3 way switch. Wilkinson trem and Sperzel tuners. 25.5" scale legnth. Has Dimarzio Evolution neck and Super 3 bridge pickups. The neck seems chunkier than my old San Dimas Charvels. A stripped down rock machine, no extra frills.

I don't like the sound of most DiMarzio pickups, and these are no exception. The Lead PU (Super 3)sounded grainy and too midrangey, it measured 29K ohms! Too much heat for me. The neck (Evolution) sounded thin and lifeless, even at 12K ohms. I replaced these with Duncans, Alnico II pro neck and Custom-Custom lead. Wow, what a difference! These pickups opened the sound of the guitar up much more, the neck sounds smooth and articulate, and the lead pickup sounds very sweet, punchy, and with lots of natural harmonics. A vast improvement over the stock Dimarzios. Now, I can get tones that are more sweet and open, like early VH. I used a Soldano SLO-100 through a Marshall 4x12.

Excellent build quality, though not too high on the Japanese made pot and switch. The Dimarzios are a matter of taste, I guess.

Should withstand lots of abuse, seems sturdy. I'm not sure how rugged the Wilkinson is, that remains to be seen. Always have a backup ax.

No opinion

I have a couple of old San Dimas Charvels and a couple of old San Dimas Jacksons, this guitar is nothing like an old San Dimas Charvel, but it is a fine guitar in its own right. I say if you get one of these, change the pickups, as the DiMarzios are not that great, at least to my ears. This is a high quality guitar, looks as tightly made as my Tom Anderson, I'm sure this would blow away any Ibanez or ESP the way it's set up now. Not a guitar for blues gigs or jazz, this is made for rock or metal.