General
Since the early '80s, the Superstrat has become a staple in contemporary music. One of the pioneers in this area was the American Charvel company. Where they started out by customising existing ST-style guitars to better suit heavy music, the company now continues their work under Fender's wing. This is evident in the instantly recognisable '50s style Strat headstock, and typical Fender inventions like the no-load circuit on Charvel guitars. Of course, you can tell a lot about the Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas HH HT TBB from its name alone. San Dimas references the ST-style body, HH stands for its double humbuckers, HT means it's a hard-tail (fixed-bridge) model and TBB indicates the finish that adorns the alder body, Trans Blue Burst.
Built for speed
The alder body and maple neck give the guitar a balanced core sound, and with its high-mass bridge, the Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas is great for tight riffs and alternate tunings. As for its pickups, this guitar is fitted with the classic combination of a Seymour Duncan JB TB-4 at the bridge and a '59 at the neck, which is great for both sharp leads and creamy classic rock riffs. That versatility is further underlined by the maple neck and its compound radius (12" - 16"), while you can even split the humbuckers for a total of six different sounds. Finally, the Pro Mod San Dimas hardtail features a graphite-reinforced truss rod for optimal stability.
Charvel
In the '70s, Wayne Charvel made a name for himself by equipping ST-style guitars with high-output humbuckers, more slender necks and tremolo bridges that could better handle intense playing. In doing so, he answered the call for guitars with a comfortable Strat-style body that were fit for the heavier stuff. And thus, the Superstrat was born: a high-gain performance machine with a familiar ST-style body. Many decades later, everything came full-circle when the Charvel brand was taken over by Fender, now delivering high-performance Superstrats that were more authentic than ever before.
