Charvel Custom Shop Master Builder “Red” Dave Nichols delivered a magnificent collection of Custom Shop creations for the 2020 Winter NAMM Show—from a family of gleaming sparkle flake finishes to gorgeous exotic woods and a few relic beauties.
Custom Shop So-Cal® 24 SSS Relic
Hello Pink Lady! Now, we know there are plenty of haters out there who have zero appreciation for relic’d (yes, we read your Instagram comments) guitars, but many of us happen to love this vintage-style and worn-in look. And this relic’d Shell Pink So-Cal with matching reverse headstock, white pickguard and nickel hardware is sweet perfection. (For those of you who only want shiny & new, keep scrolling down as we’ve got those too!)
This Red Dave So-Cal creation also features an ash body with carved heel, bolt-on caramelized maple neck, 12”-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard with 24 jumbo frets, a triplet of single-coil Mojotone Quiet Coil parchment pickups, custom Gotoh bridge, Gotoh tuners and more.
Custom Shop San Dimas® 24 HH Relic Gold Sparkle
Another splendid relic from Red Dave arrives in the form of this San Dimas Gold Sparkle with matching reverse headstock. This golden beauty has a genuine mahogany body with carved heel, bolt-on quartersawn maple neck and 12”-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard with 24 jumbo frets. Fishman Fluence Classic bridge and neck pickups provide a versatile sonic palette, with a custom Gotoh bridge and Gotoh tuners for effortless and dynamic tremolo action.
Custom Shop San Dimas® Galaxy
Designed by Master Builder Joe Williams as part of a matching set that also features a Custom Jackson Rhoads model, this flashy San Dimas HS Galaxy hs a unique and colorful graphic on the body and headstock.
The ash body is topped with buckeye resin and features a carved heel for easy access to the upper frets. A bolt-on quartersawn maple neck hosts a 12”-16” compound radius maple fingerboard with 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, buckeye resin dot inlays with an ebony border and Luminlay side dots.
Barke Knuckle Aftermath neck and bridge pickups, recessed Floyd Rose Original bridge and Sperzel tuners complete the package.
Custom Shop San Dimas® HS Flake
Built by Red Dave, the Custom San Dimas HS comes in four dazzling, over-the-top finishes — Burnt Gold Flake, Cobalt Blue Flake, Emerald Green Flake and Smoke Chrome Flake — all capped with chrome hardware and black pointy headstocks featuring Charvel’s old-school toothpaste logo.
These San Dimas models all feature an alder body, bolt-on quartersawn maple neck, 12”-16” compound radius maple fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets and black dot inlays, heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel, Seymour Duncan JB™ TB-4 bridge and Seymour Duncan Classic Strat STK-S1 neck pickups, single volume, three-way toggle switch and 1984 Floyd Rose 37mm bridge.
Custom Shop San Dimas® HH Flake
Built by Red Dave, the Custom San Dimas HH is decked out in four jaw-dropping finishes — Brilliant Fire Red Flake, Chrome Silver Flake, Deep Burgundy Flake, and Tangelo Orange Flake — with black pointed headstocks featuring a Charvel toothpaste script logo
Similar to the HS models, these San Dimas axes feature an alder body, bolt-on quartersawn maple neck and 12”-16” compound radius maple fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets, black dot inlays and heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel. This HH version has a Seymour Duncan JB™ TB-4 bridge pickup and Seymour Duncan ’59 SH-1 neck pickup, as well as a single volume control, three-way toggle switch and 1984 Floyd Rose 37mm bridge.
Custom Shop Dinky™ DK24 Paint Splatter
With our DK24 platform thriving, Red Dave rolled out a pair of new Custom Shop versions with dynamite paint splatter finishes — Pink with Yellow Splatter and Black with Pink Splatter.
These DK24 models feature an alder Dinky body with sculpted shredder’s heel, bolt-on quartersawn maple neck and a 12”-16” compound radius fingerboard with 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, pearloid dot inlays, Luminlay side dots, heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel and Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut.
These stand-out models also come loaded with DiMarzio DP100 Super Distortion bridge and DiMarzio DP151 PAF Pro neck pickups, five-way blade switch, volume control with 500K Bourns Low Friction pot, no-load tone control, Gotoh Custom 510 tremolo bridge with brass block and titanium saddles, Sperzel die-cast locking tuners.
Both instruments feature matching headstocks with the Black and Pink Splatter version also offering an ebony fingerboard, pink pickup bobbins, one black Strat-style skirt knob and one pink Strat-style skirt knob. The Pink with Yellow Splatter guitar has a caramelized maple neck, yellow pickup bobbins, yellow switch tip, one white Strat-style skirt knob and one yellow Strat-style skirt knob.
Custom Shop Dinky™ DK24 Exotics
Moving into exotic territory, Red Dave cooked up a trio of raw beauties.
First up, there’s the stately DK24 in Black Korina with sculpted shredder’s cut heel and bolt-on quartersawn caramelized maple neck. The 12”-16” compound radius caramelized maple fingerboard hosts 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, pearloid dot inlays, Luminlay side dots, heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel and Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut.
Seymour Duncan Full Shred bridge and Alnico II neck pickups power this beauty, with a versatile control layout including five-way blade switch, mini two-way switch for series/parallel, volume Strat-style knob with 500K Bourns Low Friction pot and no-load tone Strat-style knob. A recessed Gotoh bridge with titanium saddles and brass block and Sperzel staggered tuners complete this package.
Sharing most of the above characteristics, the DK24 Claro Walnut offers a cooked ash body with a Claro Walnut top and a bolt-on zebrawood neck.
And last, but certainly not least, there’s the DK24 Koa, which features a roasted mahogany body with figured Koa 5A top and a bolt-on pau ferro neck.
