An ADHD Find: The Charvel Pro Mod Guitars

We are living in an incredible age. Great guitars can be found at most price levels. And I'm always on the lookout for a good gear deal. I was surprised when a friend of mine called me (not text or email) freaking out over these guitars.

Here is the back story. He and I are both big Van Halen fans, he bought the black and white striped EVH guitar almost as soon as they were released. After we ran a setup on the EVH Striped Guitar we were both impressed with the fit and finish and play-ability of the guitar. It's a very comfortable guitar to play. I remember saying to him if Eddie wants to expand this line he should put out this same guitar with solid colors and dual humbuckers. I'm not sure who at Fender corp was listening in on our conversation but Charvel has done just that with the Pro Mod series. I had no idea how close these guitars were but a friend of his brought over his new Charvel Pro Mod Guitar and they both couldn't believe it. Everything is identical! The neck carve, the fretboard, of course the standard body shape ect. The only real difference are the dual humbuckers which are a Seymour Duncan JB/59 set and a tone knob that disconnects if you roll it all the way up. And of course the finish options. There are solid colors, see through quilt tops, and metallic flake, with and without a pickguard. There is even a hardtail version. Apparently these are made in the same factory in Mexico along side the EVH guitars.

These aren't for everyone but this is a killer guitar for the $500-1000 price range. Check the Charvel Pro Mod Guitar

Fender guitars IPO?

Leo Fender must be rolling over in his grave. Fender Guitars owns a lot of companies including Jackson, Charvel, and has a huge stake in the new EVH brand. They had sales of 700.6 Million last year but executives are sniffing for more money. By going public they are hoping to raise 200 million in capital, 100 million will be used to pay off debt. Remember in 1965 when they sold out to CBS. They kept producing high quality guitars for a few years but then bean counters at CBS made them look for cost cutting ways that hurt the quality of the guitars. Not to say you can't find a decent '70's Stratocaster but the best thing that happened to the company was when Fender Chief Executive William Schultz teamed up with some of the company's international distributors and bought out Fender in 1984. In my opinion, the quality of guitars that are coming out of the USA Fender shop are 1st rate. But there are a lot of boutique builders that are building better Strat style guitars for a better price than what you can get out of Fender's famed custom shop for twice the price. But whats going to happen as boutique companies get bigger and Fender now has to answer to stock holders? And by stock holders I mean fund managers.  The bean counters will start finding more ways to cut cost. If your thinking about buying a Fender custom shop guitar I'm gonna suggest doing it in the next couple of years. Or start researching boutique builders that source most of their parts from the USA. For more on the story read here. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/us-fender-ipo-idUSBRE8270M420120308