by Jef | 4,0 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes
Charvel San Dimas NAMM 2016 maple neck alder body seymour Duncan JB 59 Floyd Rose

Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas 2016 in Rocket Red  ·  Source: charvel.com

Charvel San Dimas NAMM 2016 maple neck alder body seymour Duncan JB 59 Floyd Rose

Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas 2016 in Specific Ocean  ·  Source: charvel.com

Charvel San Dimas NAMM 2016 maple neck alder body seymour Duncan JB 59 Floyd Rose

Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas 2016 in Tobacco Burst  ·  Source: charvel.com

Charvel San Dimas NAMM 2016 maple neck alder body seymour Duncan JB 59 Floyd Rose

Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas 2016 in Slime Green  ·  Source: charvel.com

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With the classic combination of a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and ’59 in the neck, with both direct mounted to the body, the Pro-Mod San Dimas is a very clean looking guitar, no pick guard and no frills. These guitars are made for those that like to shred. Classic ‘80s styling and “high performance” features and are new for 2016.

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The first thing I noticed was the terrible name. ‘Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas HH FR’ is a mouthful and the only thing that spoils the guitar for me. Moving on, the guitar features a 12”-16” compound radius on a maple neck with jumbo frets. The neck has been strengthened with dual graphite reinforced strips and has a neck-end-mounted spoke wheel truss rod adjustment. They’ve moved the volume control and added a ‘no load’ tone knob which bypasses the tone control on 10 and works as a regular tone from nine through to zero. This year they added a 3-way blade switch, allowing the guitar to offer more pickup configurations in conjunction with the push/pull volume control.

This model has an alder body and the see-thru finishes have a maple quilt top with black hardware, whereas the solid colours all have chrome hardware. The guitars all feature the Floyd Rose FRT-O1000 double-locking ‘recessed’ tremolo, which means you can pull up, as well as dive bomb.

All this seems to make for a great guitar for modern players, especially the combination of pickups and hardware which is classic ‘80s; the colour schemes also reflect this, with plenty of hot neon colours for the bold among you.

I really liked the previous generations of Charvels from the last couple of years and this new San Dimas series for 2016 has added some nice features. Especially the new pickup combinations using the three-way blade switch and push/pull volume knob.

Again, I’m a sucker for maple necks with big jumbo frets, as it means they will be great for bends and vibrato. I also really like the spoke wheel truss rod adjuster, as it makes it easy to adjust your guitars neck and requires no special tools to adjust.

Pickup switching details taken from Charvel Site

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3-Position Blade: Position 1: Bridge Pickup, Position 2: Both inner coils, Position 3:Neck Pickup, (split engaged) Position 1: Bridge outer coil, Position 2: Both outer coils, Position 3: Neck outer coil.

Lots of new colours for 2016 – Check the Charvel site for full list.

RRP GBP £680 should be available around April 2016

 

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Charvel San Dimas NAMM 2016 maple neck alder body seymour Duncan JB 59 Floyd Rose

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