SOUNDCHECK Roadie 3 Automatic Guitar Tuner
CHARVEL PRO-MOD SERIES
THE ELECTRIC GUITAR industry’s equivalent of a hot rod speed shop, the original Charvel workshop in Azusa started out selling aftermarket accessories to help discriminating players improve the performance of their instruments. In addition to becoming the birthplace of the Super Strat, Charvel also transitioned to building its own high-performance instruments with custom features. That spirit remains alive today in Charvel’s Pro-Mod series, which offers a tantalizing selection of hot-rodded guitars with innovative design elements. In the past, instruments of this nature commanded expensive custom shop prices, but two new Charvel Pro-Mod Series models — the DK24 HSH 2PT CM and SoCal Style 2 24 HH HT CM — deliver the goods without a wallet-emptying price tag.
FEATURES With its asymmetrical doublecutaway Dinky body, the Charvel Pro-Mod DK24 HSH 2PT CM features a Super Strat design, while the Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 2 24 HH HT CM goes the Super Tele route with its single-cutaway body shape. Both share a few features, most notably their caramelized maple bolt-on necks with graphite
reinforcement, 25 ½-inch scale length, wide and flat “speed neck” profile with rolled fingerboard edges, 12- to 16-inch compound radius, 24 jumbo frets, 4mm pearloid dot fingerboard position inlays, Luminay side dots, GraphTech TUSQ XL nut measuring 1.6875 inches wide, heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel and hand-rubbed satin urethane finish. The neck is attached to the body with four bolts, and the treble horn cutaway features a sculpted “shredder’s cut” heel.
Both models’ bodies are constructed of alder and feature a streamlined neck heel, forearm contour and scalloped belly scoop for enhanced playing comfort. Hardware conformities include Charvel die-cast locking tuners and Fender Standard String Guide string trees.
The DK24’s distinguishing features include its dazzling Mystic Blue metal flake finish, gold-plated hardware and slim pre-CBS-style Strat headstock. The pickups are mounted in an HSH configuration and consist of a custom Seymour Duncan Full Shred SH-10B humbucker at the bridge, Seymour Duncan Custom Flat Strat SSL-6 single-coil in the middle and custom Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro APH-1N humbucker at the neck. Controls include a five-position blade pickup selector switch, master volume featuring a 500k EVH Bourns low-friction pot and master tone with no-load pot, and both pots feature black Stratocaster-style skirt knobs. The Gotoh Custom 510 bridge provides the tone of a vintage vibrato with rock-solid tuning stability and modern deep-dive performance.
The So-Cal Style 2 comes in a selection of Robin’s Egg Blue, Satin Black or Snow White finish options and features chrome hardware and a reversed licensed Fender Telecaster headstock. Its pickups are a pair of Fishman Fluence Open Core PRF-COC
• humbuckers that provide three voices: hot rodded humbucking (1), vintage PAF (2) and single-coil (3). A three-position blade switch provides standard bridge/middle/neck humbucker settings or outer single-coil bridge/middle/neck settings with the tone control’s push/pull split function engaged. A mini toggle allows users to switch between full humbucking voices 1 and 2. Hardware includes a Charvel HT6 string-thru-body hardtail bridge with brass saddles and dome-style control knobs.
PERFORMANCE Although the DK24 seems more modern at face value than the So-Cal Style 2, its overall tonal character is more classic. The three middle settings (bridge inner coil and middle pickup, both humbucker inner coils and neck outer coil and middle pickup) provide a variety of Stratlike in-between tones, while the “outer” settings deliver warm, harmonically rich high-output humbucker tones. The Fishman Fluence pickups on the So-Cal deliver tones with more hi-fi articulation and upper midrange shimmer while still sounding thick and full. The three voices also provide a wider variety of tones. I found myself gravitating towards ZZ-style blues rock with the DK24, while the SoCal Style 2’s variety of voices inspired prog rock and shred excursions.
Craftsmanship and playability live up to the Charvel Pro-Mode Series’ promise of delivering hot rodded performance. The necks are built for speed, with smooth polished jumbo frets and a slim profile that allows the fingers to fly. Both models boast a solid, sturdy feel, smooth contours and playabilityenhancing sculpts that make the guitars feel like a part of the player’s body. The bold finishes are not for the meek and mild, as they draw the eye from across the room and demand attention.