Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HH Floyd Rose - Snow White Reviews

ive had a player strat that was great, and i have a prs se custom 24, and a few other guitars. this is my bread and butter tho. this is my favorite looking guitar and the way it feels to play is amazin.

You'll have a hard time finding a nicer playing, better sounding, more comfortable and nicer looking guitar than this at this price. It's plays better than my American Standard Strat, and sounds better for playing rock. The Floyd Rose stays in tune, which is something I was concerned about. I suggest not going with the Charvel brand guitar case- it doesn't have enough room in the storage compartment.

I have never owned a Charvel or super-strat type guitar before, so I cannot compare this to the older USA/Japan Charvel guitars. However, I have owned quite a few guitars and the fit/finish/quality of this Charvel is about as nice as any guitars I have owned. I am picky, and cannot find anything wrong! Fret level and fret end fit is perfect. Neck pocket is perfect. Paint and finish is flawless. Pots and switch have a quality feel to them. I was hesitant to buy this guitar based on the fact it was made in Fender's Mexico facility, and the MIM Fenders are of rather mediocre build quality. The reviews of the Charvels were very positive and I decided to take a chance. I can confirm my experience matches the other reviews, these Charvels are really well built and good playing guitars.

I need to shoutout my rep Tom Koch. He knew how bad I wanted this particular color and pickup combo for my first Charvel, and got it to me ASAP!

This thing feels like your favorite old tennis shoe while performing like a Lambo! The neck is amazing. It's the most comfortable, fastest, and smoothest neck I ever felt. The JB pickup is perfect for 80's-90's Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, and the '59 sounds great for straty blues and jazz, and oh! the clean tones using the coil split!

I don't think it's possible to for me to ever play a better guitar than this. A real match made in Heaven for me!

And the color scheme works in every photo and video ...!

Absolutely in love with this guitar. Such a good set up and Sweetwater and my guy Israel took great care of me. I haven't been able to put this thing down.

This was my first time ordering from Sweetwater, and I am blown away by how good the customer service was! This guitar arrived with a very good setup, still in tune, flawless finish etc... Absolutely no complaints. I selected the fastest shipping method, and the guitar was in my hands in just over 24hrs. They go the extra mile by keeping the customer updated with the process, and let you know exactly what the status of your order is without you even needing to ask! I will order again for sure when I am ready for another Charvel! Thank you Sweetwater!I am so happy with this guitar!

Have been using Charvels since the 80's and was a little skeptical after Fender took over import production. I heard the same things as I did when I bought a Japanese made model 2. The quality is great, the playability and pickup/electronics ]blow me away with all the sounds I can get, from great blues tones to full thrash.Saving up now for a second as these are just too good for their price! And my rep at Sweetwater is the best!

Thank you Sweetwater for my recent purchase of this guitar. Charvel makes a quality guitar that should not disappoint. This is a real working man"s instrument for any playing situation in my book. Thank you Caleb and your staff for making my purchase easy and painless. Cheers , Steve

IMO, for the price, this is the best guitar on the market. Looks great, plays great, the neck feels incredible and the body is extremely comfortable against the flesh. The variety of tones are amazing. All this coming from a Les Paul guy of 20yrs. I"m a very well pleased and content with the guitar. Sweetwaters demonstration of this guitar was very well done and represented it well. As always pleased with Sweetwaters service.

It's everything I hoped for, it's everything I need. Great feel, great sound, great craftsmanship, great price.
Single coils, humbuckers and a Floyd. Rock, Country, Jazz and neo classical ready. This will hold its own with any guitar out there. I got a white one and it's beautiful.

I LOVE this guitar. It really feels like a high-price instrument, with the Seymour Duncans, push-pull coil splitting, no-load tone knob, and excellent fretwork. The Floyd Rose isn't an original German-made unit, but keeps the guitar perfectly in tune, and feels WAY better than licensed bridges. My favorite part is the neck. I grew up playing a Mexican Strat and an Ibanez, and the neck on this fits right in between. It has a slick, unfinished feel reminiscent of the Ibanez, but the shape of a slightly thinner Strat neck. There's enough to grab onto, but it doesn't get in the way. When you combine that with the versatility of the JB and 59 pickups with coil-splitting, there is tremendous value here. The only adjustment I needed to make was to lower the action, but I never specified that to Sweetwater, and it's a matter of preference anyway. My only beef is that I wish Charvel offered blue finishes on these, but you can only get them on the hardtail version. No big deal though. This is an excellent guitar, and well worth your time to consider.

I've had the San Dimas since June 1st, but I wanted to live with the guitar a little before writing a review. It's been 30 years since my last guitar purchase and I was a little nervous purchasing a guitar on-line. Thankfully my worries were misplaced as the folks at Sweetwater delivered a great product that didn't disappoint.

First, some specific points about the guitar that may help others in their decision:

Finish - Flawless
Setup:
* Neck Relief: perfect, just under .010 at 8th fret
* String Height: perfect, 3/64" low E, a hair over 2/64 high E
* Bridge: floating, but slightly upward tilting (was easily remedied by setting the spring tension)
Price - IMHO, best bang for the buck super-strat out there
Pickups - JB/59 humbucker set is a tried and true combo. For the San Dimas with an Alder body the JB produces a wonderful lead tone with a good bite and the 59 has nice warmth using a clean channel.
MIM - If you're worried about it not being a US made guitar, don't be. the craftsmanship stands up to scrutiny.
Versatility - Hard 80's crunch to clean rhythm, this guitar can do it all. Tone bypass at the 10 position and coil taping deliver a wide range of sound options.

In the end I'm very impressed with this guitar as well as the shopping experience at Sweetwater. My sales engineer Kurt Martin couldn't have made my purchase any easier and the Charvel arrived 3 days later as promised. Kudos to Sweetwater and their entire team.

Well worth the price .. super fast neck and amazing sound .. was delivered ready to play with minor adjustment.. action wise... stunning looks.. easy note bends..

I've lost count of how many guitars I've had over the years including some expensive American stuff, but if I had to pick only one, this would be it. Everybody always claims their guitars can do metal tones and smooth jazz and everything else, but this one is the only one that comes close to fulfilling those claims IMO. This thing can legitimately produce searing distorted tones from the humbuckers, as well as strat and tele tones. I realize a lot of this is personal preference, but I've tried to like Ibanezes over the years (owned and got rid of 6), but to me the neck on this guitar feels so much better. I get that these are a bit of a niche 80's shredder thing but I think a lot of people are missing out by overlooking these.

Also, I should mention the sweet water customer service is as solid as everyone says it is. They'll look after you and if it's not right they'll fix it.

-J

I really am blown away by Sweetwater. My sales engineer Robert Williams is the best and I would recommend him to anyone. I am a new convert to a Sweetwater customer and ordered the Charvel San Dimas first. The guitar arrived to me within 2 days, arrived packaged appropriately and setup excellent right out of the box. There really is a "Sweetwater difference". If you want a great piece of gear I would call. With other audio retailers I have sent gear back but I could never imagine doing this with Sweetwater. Since my first order I have made several more and have been amazed each time. My parents even made a $5 order and received a call from Robert just to make sure everything was fine with the order. Five stars, outstanding!

By the way, if you are looking at this guitar get it. Amazing for 80s rock / metal. Fast neck, sounds great with the Duncan's and excellent finish.

Love the neck! It came setup nicely out of the box. It has a wealth of tone options with the 3 way and coil tap. The bridge pickup is a little bright for me and will be swapped out though. Fit and finish as expected on a guitar of this price point. It should come with at least a nice gig bag, but it doesn't so budget for a case. I was looking for a guitar with that 80's hair band vibe and this one fits the bill nicely! It really is a great guitar and it's currently number 1 in the rotation. Did I say the neck is awesome? None of the individual parts are anything special, but all together it's really a nice guitar. I would surely but it again. Sweetwater was great. Quick shipping with good packaging.

Love my Charvel's!
Thanks for the crew Mike and Jeff from Sweetwater on finding my Charvel's for me!
Great job guys!

Especially for the price, this is a terrific instrument. A few quick pros/cons from my view:

LOVE: The neck feels amazing. Not too skinny, great unfinished maple feel, truly a joy to play. Pickups are a classic blend, though this is an instrument for players who expect to be on the bridge pickup most of the time. Bridge is a love-it-or-hate-it floyd, but this one has stayed solid and in tune in my own experience. It's a pure joy to play. Also the sweetwater setup was great (I gotta assume it was not the factory setup but don't really know).

NO LOVE: Frets sucked. I paid for a plek job since I had heard the fret quality was poor, so mine came out great over the neck, but the edges were like razor blades and I had to spend a lot of time filing them down. Mine was also a fairly heavy body, and though I personally like that, the weight and imbalance is not what what most people might expect from a great super strat. Finally, it came with no gig bag or case (though was packed very well and had no damage at all).

If you're expectations are similar to mine, you'll be happy with it. Wishing you all great joy in music!

Just got mine a few hours ago , Came in the box perfectly set up , The Floyd vibrato stays perfectly in tune ...Just a really well built , versatile guitar that can cover any style of music with ease . I am not going to get into all the specs because there is tons of info on these already and you tube videos as well...Buy with confidence !

Had high hopes for this guitar. Has a fair amount of fret sprout. Nut installed improperly. If I'd have had any sense I would have sent it back. It is at the luthiers instead. I really hope after all the issues are fixed I'll like the guitar. There's no way this guitar went through any kind of inspection process. Lesson learned. Try before you buy.