Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas 1

General

Since the early '80s, Superstrats have become a staple in contemporary music. While they're generally associated with double locking Floyd Rose-style tremolos, there are exceptions to that rule. A great example of that is the Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas 1 HH HT in Olympic White. The HT in its name stands for hard-tail, meaning it has a fixed bridge, resulting in more sustain and making the guitar more suitable for alternate tunings. As for its remaining characteristics, this guitar is a thoroughbred Superstrat with a Stratocaster body and a '50s headstock. The major alterations to the Strat formula include the compound fretboard radius, locking tuners, and the pickup configuration. All in all, this is a stylish yet modest high-performance guitar that's built for speed.

Elegant powerhouse

Underneath its elegant exterior, the Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas 1 HH HT is a real powerhouse. At its core lie an alder body and a maple neck that together provide a well-balanced overall sound. The Olympic White version features a maple fretboard with a compound radius, which adds a bit of bite and some sparkle to the trebles, while also making the guitar better suitable for both tight riffs and lightning-quick leads on the high frets. Furthermore, two Seymour Duncan humbuckers take care of this guitar's amplified sound. Charvel chose to equip it with a feisty JB TB-4 at the bridge, and a somewhat milder '59 at the neck. As if that didn't make this guitar versatile enough, both 'buckers also feature a coil-split function, for that typical single-coil sound. Finally, with the Fender No-Load circuit, you can bypass the guitar's tone control section and send the pure, uncut signal from the Seymour Duncans through the output.

Charvel

Starting in the late '70s, former Fender employee Wayne Charvel cleverly played into the demand for Stratocaster-type guitars that were more suited towards heavy music, by fitting ST-style bodies with high-output humbuckers, fast necks and stable bridges. And thus, the Superstrat was born: a high-gain performance machine with a familiar ST-style body. Decades later, the brand was taken over by Fender, meaning they've finally come full-circle. Through Charvel, Fender now supplies us with pure Superstrats - stripped down guitars with classic styling and optimised for fast, heavy playing. As such, the San Dimas series wears its inspiration on its sleeve, with a typical Stratocaster body and '50s-style headstock.