Charvel Guthrie Govan HSH

first play
19
october 2017 Guitarist
CHARVEL GUTHRIE GOVAN SIGNATURE
4
humbuckers, position two voices bridge
(slug single coil only) and the middle single
coil; position three gives us bridge and neck
(both slug single coils); position four offers
the screw single coil of the neck pickup with
the middle pickup. There’s no provision for
voicing the solo middle single coil, or any
way of coil-splitting the two humbuckers
but via a ‘secret’ two-way mini toggle that
is simulated by an old-school passive filter
(a 0.1 microfarad capacitor). Internally the
circuit features EVH 500k pots, and cap/
resistor in parallel on the volume control.
The guitar is full of subtle details. Along
with those luminous side dots we also get
dome-topped Luminlay control knobs with
clear luminous numbers around each base.
A Strat-like dished output jack is placed
close to the base strap button so plugging in
and threading your lead through your strap
is really easy. Even the strap buttons seem
over-sized.
Feel & Sounds
In many ways this feels more like high
performance rifle, not a guitar. It gives
4. Charvel, being part
of the Fender empire,
can happily use that
famous headstock
shape. Note the locking
Sperzel tuners and the
traditional bone nut
GIT425.rev_charv.indd 19 07/09/2017 12:52