Advice for a Charvel Model 88

[berniejohnson]

Hey all,

    Just picked up an old Charvel model 88 from ebay. The body is made from African Ribbon Mahogany, with a
maple neck / rosewood fret board. The stock pickup is a Jackson JT6, which despite my best attempts sounds very muddy and weak.

I play mostly death/thrash metal, and have a BK painkiller / cold sweat combo in a Jackson RR1 and love em. Was thinking about trying one of the new BK metal pickups, either the Black Hawk or Aftermath. From the clips i really like the bass response from the BH, but i think i might have to compensate for the slanted bucker and go with the Aftermath.

Using a Peavey 5150 II through a mesa boogie 4x12. Any suggestions or thoughts would be much appreciated

[DoomBuggi]

My first vote would be Painkiller.
 Next to that, maybe cold sweat (<--- not sure about that one thought)

I don't know about the Aftermath.  Since is sounds like you have a dark toned instrument, I would probably go with something that has a good out put, and a nice mid punch. 

 I am interested in seeing the responses in this thread. If all else fails, send BKP an email, and either Tim or Ben will send you a response.  Tell  them what you have, and what you want to achieve, and they will with no doubt get you sorted out.

[Loomer]

Well $%&# me if that isn't one of the most perfect, gorgeous guitars I've ever seen. I want one!

Other than that, I think the Painkiller would be a good choice. I really liked it in my BC Rich Gunslinger, which was also a Floyded Mahogany superstrat.

How's the wood tone on that thing? Is it bright or dark?

[FELINEGUITARS]

I used to have one of these babies and it was lovely
I felt it was a shame that it had such a bulky heel joint , and a thick Charvel neck plate  making access to the top end a bit tricky, but the neck was lovely .
The tremolo on these has a narrower string spacing than a Floyd - it's the same as a Gibson guitar, which helps keep the strings away from the fingerboard edges a bit better.

Like many Jackson guitars IMO - the bridge studs aren't in the optimal position - they could be further away from the neck .
Where they are tends to mean that the saddles have to be further back than is optimal for intonation setting.
This results in too much rise and fall when whammying , also if you detune & use heavier strings you will ned to move the saddles further back to achieve intonation, and may not have enough adjustment available.

I would say the Painkiller, Miracle Man or Cold Sweat would all be my first choices  for old school thrash metal, but your milage may vary...... :D

[berniejohnson]

Thanks for the responses fellas! I emailed Tim and he suggested a Black Hawk, which is what i was leaning towards. I'm looking for something that will really articulate every note in a chord, as what i'm playing draws heavy influence from bands like Voivod, Gorguts, etc. and still be able to have a tight, responsive low end for palm mutes.

The guitar itself is very dark, much different than my Model 4 or Model 6, which i find to be much brighter.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Having just gotten some blackhawks in and put a set in one of my guitars I would agree 100% with Tim (arrived since my earlier post) - they would work very well in this guitar.