Amazing value.

Eagle

Eagle

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The MIM Charvel guitars are unbeatable in terms of value for money.
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Alder body. Graphite reinforced neck with Dunlop 6100 frets. Duncan pickups . EVH volume pot CTS no load tone . Oak four pole switch . Switchcraft jack even. OEM floyd but they are on Gibson custom shop and Suhr.
Anyone who thinks Sire and other glitter covered shit is even close needs to stop watching paid charlatans on YouTube.
I set this up and put a lower output pickup in the neck (personal taste). I could cherry pick one of these and make it as good as anything available with only detail hand finishing work.
 
DrewJD82 said:
I'd love to make a Greenie Meanie out of one of those!
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It’s almost there as long as you don’t mind the difference in neck construction.
The wheel adjustment and graphite reinforcement is better really but quarter sawn and a skunk stripe look better imo.
 
One minor gripe, I don’t like the tuners but they are no worse than generic OEM tuners on guitars costing multiple times as much. They work well but they look a little cheap. I suspect I will put a set of Gotohs on.
 
Eagle said:
And how it is now;
There are surprisingly few decent old pictures of this guitar considering how well known it is.
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Wow, I had no clue that the split coil + middle single wasn’t a thing before this. I’ve always known about the route under the trem for pull-ups. That’s pretty f*cking cool that that one guitar had 2 ‘firsts’ on it that ended up being fairly standard specs on thousands of guitars after. Thanks for posting that, that might be the one Vai article I haven’t read yet!

I prefer the white pickguard as well, also find it a bit humorous that he put skateboard stickers all over it and I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a thing about Vai being a skater.
 
DrewJD82 said:
Wow, I had no clue that the split coil + middle single wasn’t a thing before this. I’ve always known about the route under the trem for pull-ups. That’s pretty f*cking cool that that one guitar had 2 ‘firsts’ on it that ended up being fairly standard specs on thousands of guitars after. Thanks for posting that, that might be the one Vai article I haven’t read yet!

I prefer the white pickguard as well, also find it a bit humorous that he put skateboard stickers all over it and I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a thing about Vai being a skater.
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I love it with the black guard. :love

Everybody skated back then! :rofl
 
Stone said:
Agreed I love my Charvel, but it did not come without issues MiM QC has little to be desired
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Yep. Mine had severe fret sprout, high frets, a few that weren’t properly seated, as well as excess paint in the neck pocket that prevented the neck from being properly seated. I fixed those issues and now have a well-playing guitar.

Also, the weights seem to vary drastically, so YMMV.

Just be aware when shopping for one and be sure to audition before purchasing.
 
norminal said:
Yep. Mine had severe fret sprout, high frets, a few that weren’t properly seated, as well as excess paint in the neck pocket that prevented the neck from being properly seated. I fixed those issues and now have a well-playing guitar.

Also, the weights seem to vary drastically, so YMMV.

Just be aware when shopping for one and be sure to audition before purchasing.
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Yup really bad sprouts, so so fret work, neck was crooked, very bad setup, was fixable
and all good now
 
Eagle said:
Frets can be fixed easily glitter covered s**t is still fundamentally s**t however hard you polish it.
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If taking a guitar to a luthier 200km away from you, leaving it there, going back home 200km, going 200km to pick it up, paying for fret leveling, going back 200km - is easy. Than sure. It's easy.
Not everyone has access to the same things you do.

On the other hand, getting a ~1000€ guitar and having to get its frets fixed isn't just shit, it's a goddamn pile of manure (however hard you polish it). And:


Interesting you chose Sire as an example, the manufacturer that's somewhat hard to find a bad review even from owners on forums, not just paid charlatans on YouTube.
 
the-trooper said:
If taking a guitar to a luthier 200km away from you, leaving it there, going back home 200km, going 200km to pick it up, paying for fret leveling, going back 200km - is easy. Than sure. It's easy.
Not everyone has access to the same things you do.

On the other hand, getting a ~1000€ guitar and having to get its frets fixed isn't just s**t, it's a goddamn pile of manure (however hard you polish it). And:


Interesting you chose Sire as an example, the manufacturer that's somewhat hard to find a bad review even from owners on forums, not just paid charlatans on YouTube.
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Change out tuners and pickups, replace all frets, sand down the neck pocket and you're golden!



...he said as he drooled over a green guitar for the first time in a long time :love
 
Eagle said:
Frets can be fixed easily glitter covered s**t is still fundamentally s**t however hard you polish it.
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My uncle recently purchased a MIM Strat that arrived with horrendous fretwork. Sent it back for another that had even worse fretwork. He didn’t understand why he’d have to have fretwork done to a BRAND NEW guitar.

So he purchased a Harley Benton and arrived flawless. IMO, it slaps the living shit out of the MIM Fender in terms of playability. And that’s coming from someone who owns several MIM Fender/Charvels.
 
norminal said:
My uncle recently purchased a MIM Strat that arrived with horrendous fretwork. Sent it back for another that had even worse fretwork. He didn’t understand why he’d have to have fretwork done to a BRAND NEW guitar.

So he purchased a Harley Benton and arrived flawless. IMO, it slaps the living s**t out of the MIM Fender in terms of playability. And that’s coming from someone who owns several MIM Fender/Charvels.
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But it was cut out of a fence post and the hardware is garbage and so are the electrics.
I said cherry pick because at this price you need too . The fundamentals on Charvel can’t be beaten at the price. Choose one in a shop and the QC issues are not going to affect your purchase.
 
the-trooper said:
If taking a guitar to a luthier 200km away from you, leaving it there, going back home 200km, going 200km to pick it up, paying for fret leveling, going back 200km - is easy. Than sure. It's easy.
Not everyone has access to the same things you do.

On the other hand, getting a ~1000€ guitar and having to get its frets fixed isn't just s**t, it's a goddamn pile of manure (however hard you polish it). And:


Interesting you chose Sire as an example, the manufacturer that's somewhat hard to find a bad review even from owners on forums, not just paid charlatans on YouTube.
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Sire are total garbage dressed up to look nice.
I usually need to work on any guitar however much it cost to get the best out of it. The only guitar that I didn’t feel the need disassemble and rebuild from new was a Vigier.
 
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