Jekyll & hyde
Built to shred, this skinny-necked American import was only supposed to have one job to do. Then the fat-fretted fiend’s mask slipped…
With terms like ‘Speed Neck’, ‘Full Shred’ and ‘Shredder’s Cut Heel’ on offer, you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce what kind of life this guitar is destined to lead. We’ll wager that the Charvel USA Select DK24 HH will never be deployed on a ropey rendition of Blanket On The Ground for line dancers at your local social club. This thing possesses the kind of power that welds eyeballs to the back of skulls. It’s designed for the fleet of finger. Shredders. Notejunkies, if you will. And speaking of notes, you’ll have to come up with 2,639 of the pound-shaped versions to own this guitar.
You might recall that we looked at a similar-looking Charvel DK24 in issue 448. On that occasion, it was the Mexicobuilt Pro-Mod DK24 HSH that fell into our clutches. The asking price for the instrument we described as “just about the most perfect rock guitar you’ll ever try…” is a pretty skinny £939. That puts the US-built DK24 in a bit of a tight spot. It needs to be pretty special to outshine its Mexican compadre.
On paper, the two guitars are spookily similar. Both feature a beautifully contoured alder body at their core. The Pro-Mod and USA Select DK24 also
share the same direct-mount Seymour Duncan SH-10B Custom Full Shred bridge and APH-1N Alnico II Pro neck humbuckers. The Mexican model’s middle position Seymour SSL-6 Flat Strat single coil is conspicuous by its absence on the guitar with the Green Card.
The wiring loom is almost identical. Aside from the American guitar’s additional series/parallel mini-toggle (more on that in a bit), there’s the same 500kohms EVH Bourns ‘low-friction’ master volume, the No-Load master tone, and your classic five-way pickup selector lever switch. You also get the Luminlay glow-in-thedark dots on the side of the neck, the ergonomically designed upward-facing jack plate, not to mention the 42.86mm wide Graph Tech Tusq XL top nut.
Okay, this guitar is bound to cost more because it’s built in Corona, California. Yes, in this case, the Gotoh Custom 510 floating bridge is pimped. Here you get upscale titanium saddles and a thick brass trem block. This American beauty leaves Corona tucked into a fantastic moulded hard-shell case. It’s lightweight yet built like a nuclear shelter. The Mexican DK24 doesn’t come with so much as a carry bag. All the aforementioned detail taken into consideration, there’s still a hell of a price gap here. It’s not looking good for the Yanks on this one.
Feel & Sounds
If you’re waiting for the plot twist, here it comes. The USA Select DK24’s neck is a masterpiece. To bring you up to speed, the neck has a super-slim profile, 24 jumbo stainless frets and rolled fingerboard edges. Like the Mexican DK24’s equally skinny appendage, the USA Select neck has been caramelised. In other words, it’s been baked, roasted, torrefied… that is, heated in an oven to reduce moisture content and introduce stiffness and stability. Figure in the graphite strengthening rods running through the neck and this thing is about as stable as you can get.
As we recall, the Mexican model’s neck was a peach. The craft evident on the USA Select neck, however, is outstanding. The neck and ’board look like a single piece of flame maple. After a lot of squinting, we can see that the ’board is a separate piece after all. It appears that after the truss rod and reinforcing graphite rods are installed, the ’board is glued back in place in such a manner that the flame is not disrupted. Someone showed this thing a lot of love.
As we plug in, we’ll give you a guided tour of the selector switch. Position 1 engages the Seymour Duncan SH-10B Custom Full Shred humbucker that lives at the bridge. Powerful Alnico V magnets and DCR of 14.1kohms suggest this thing means business. Yes, it’s a rock fiend, but we like
the USA Select DK24’s neck is a masterpiece. It has a super-slim profile, 24 jumbo stainless frets and rolled ’board edges
the clarity and tight bottom-end it retains no matter how beastly the gain gets.
Flicking to the second position coil splits the bridge and neck pups. Only the outer coils of the bridge pickup and Seymour APH-1N Alnico II Pro neck ’buckers are activated. This is kind of like the middleswitch position on a Telecaster. There’s a blend of bridge twang and neck woodiness that would appear to suit soul, blues and classic rock players more than the metal crowd. It’s sweet as hell with a Tube Screamer and gets a bit Stonesy as you turn up the heat.
Clicking to 3 on the switch gives you both pickups in full humbucker mode. Again, the definition and bite of the bridge pup is tempered by the warmth of the neck ’bucker. There’s more power here than position 2, of course, but we reckon more folk than just the intended audience will like this old-school tone.
Position 4 splits the coils again; you get the two inner coils There’s more of a glassy in-betweener Strat tonality here. Clean, you’re just about in Jimi’s jurisdiction. Add more dirt and you pass by Stevie Ray Vaughan’s house and those of the modern blues players that copped his attitude.
The final notch on the switch initiates the neck pickup in full humbucker mode. As the name suggests, this Seymour pup is loaded with Alnico II magnets for more of a vintage vibe. A DCR of 7.5kohms puts this guy firmly in PAF-alike territory, which explains why it brings so much warmth to the other positions on the switch.
The mini-toggle you can see in the control cluster offers two wiring modes, series and parallel, which affect the two split-coil combinations in position 2 and 4 on the five-way selector. In parallel, you hear the usual Strat-like mixes; in series, it’s a more humbucking-like voice that adds a thicker midrange and volume boost. If you’ve ever run the middle position on a Danelectro DC59, that’s series wiring and both are useful additions here.
verdict
We didn’t just fall for the charms of the USA Select DK24. This review has made us appreciate the Mexican-built version even more. If this American model is out of reach, once again allow us to point you in the direction of the Pro-Mod Series.
Is the USA Dinky worth the extra lolly? Well, the build quality, tonal palette and playability go a long way to securing a yes vote. The work that went into crafting the sublime neck makes it unanimous for us. In our previous encounter, we said that, specwise, the Mex DK24 isn’t a million miles away from something splendid like a Suhr Modern. The quality of the USA Select makes it a direct competitor.
Despite its overt shred credentials, the DK24 is way more versatile than we expected. This reviewer doesn’t shred and loves this Dinky. We found warmth, woodiness, sparkle. It’s not just about brute force. Even the deep red metallic finish shouldn’t offend anyone. Not even the line dancers if that happens to be your gig. By
Bb. the way, Blanket On The Ground is in
Despite its overt shred credentials, the DK24 is way more versatile than we expected… We found warmth, woodiness, sparkle