Charvel CX291

I had a very battered example of this guitar. Without doubt the most playable guitar neck I have ever layed my left hand on. Better than Ibanez or the fender it copies. As others have said it was not finest sound, but a new set of pickups, shielding foil and some trickery with a soldering iron and it sounded fantastic. Sadly it was stolen last year, and I know its new "owner" will not fully appreciate the quality of this battered gem. If anyone does see this guitar around (it had a non standard mahogany finish and a fido dido decal) please email ianandady@yahoo.com I would buy this guitar back!

reliable gotoh pegs, standard strat style trem (very stable), superb jumbo frets, that played exelntly for ten+ years with minimal need for dressing. When I stripped the paint off mine i was supprised to find a book matched top veneer.

Ok ish as standard, but loaded with texas specials it is super fine.

A super playable guitar. Mine was well used when I bought it, so hard to tell

Mine was well gigged. It had the life battered out of her, yet never let me down. I frequently depended on it.

Once tried to get a new scratch plate. JHS were the distributors then and I had no problems. But they are not now....

Once modified, it was the best guitar I could ever hope to own. I have spent six times its value but not had a guitar to match it. The neck is its best feature, and it is a comfortably weighted guitar.

I would love a new guitar to have the neck and body of the CX291, but with better pick ups and better electrics. I'd recommend anyone who wants an exceptional guitar on a budget to buy one of these, even if it means switching the pickups.

Made in Japan
22 Frets
Trem
1 volume 1 tone
Regular non-recessed input jack
Gotoh Tuners

Like mentioned above, very standard Strat copy. The pickup selector is a bit scratchy but no biggie for a cheap guitar.

I can do a bunch of things with this guitar. It has Jackson pickups, but the electronics are a bit buzzy.
This can go from clean to overdrive, but the cavity isn't shielded so it is noisy.

Very nice neck... I love playing this thing. A super comfortable guitar with a nice thin neck.

The stock Gotoh tuners work pretty well. The playability is this guitars best feature.

Very solid guitar. Made in Japan.

I just wish the electronics were a bit higher quality.

Very sweet, underrated guitar for an EXCELLENT price! If you can pick one of these up you'll be pleasantly suprised.

This is a strat copy which I think was made in Japan. It has a white finish with a white scratch plate, 22 frets, 3 single coil pickups, 5-way selector. Pretty standard for a strat copy.

My style is metal, so this is not the guitar for that gig. I've used this with several amps, but my main rig is a Rocktron Piranha pre-amp - >Rocktron Intellifex multi effects -> Mesa/Boogie 50/50 power amp -> Marshall 1960 quad. The stock pickups are extremely low output and pretty buzzy. Not too impressive, although my rig really demands high output humbuckers. On a clean setting it does sound OK with that typical single coil twang.

Amazingly this guitar plays the best out of all the guitars I own. The factory setup was OK, but after lowering the strings and a fret dress it plays like a dream. It has a very thin and and fast neck which I like. Despite the fairly low quality bridge and tuners it stays in tune really well. If I'm just noodling at home and not plugged in, this is the guitar I pick up.

I've owned this guitar for over 10 years and action-wise it still plays like a dream. I've never gigged with it and it's been reasonably well taken care of. The paint job is still fine, maybe a little faded and slightly yellowed, but still pretty good.

Been playing 12 years, I also own a Jackson PS-4 (main guitar), American made 80's BC Rich Assassin & some old no-name acoustics.
Despite the fact that I never gig with this guitar or even rehearse with it, I'd be pretty annoyed if it was stolen. This is the first electric guitar I owned and it's like an old friend. I'm strongly considering replacing the pickups and using it as a backup guitar instead of the BC Rich.

Well, this isn't really a "feature" guitar. Pretty standard Jap-Strat clone, with one tone and one volume nob. It's got a tremelo, but it kinda sucks. Still, I had to give it an above average rating because it does what it's supposed to do. Oh, and three single-coil pick ups. They're alright.

I played modern rock for years and this thing sat in my closet. I recently joined an 80s coverband, and I pulled it out, slapped some stickers on it, and viola, an 80's guitar! It sounds... decent. But for the money, it's pretty good.

Well, I bought this li'l beauty new in 1991, and the set-up was, as I recall, OK. I had to have the action lowered, but that was part of the deal where I bought it. The finish is shiny red, and still looks OK, despite more than a decade of abuse.

Man, I've put this guitar through some hell. It was my main axe in my formative years, back when I didn't see the need for stands or hard shell cases. I still have my beloved gig bag, crammed in a box somewhere. I replaced the strap buttons w/ quickstraps in 1992, and I failed to save the old ones, much to my chagrin now. So considering all this, the fact that the wiring to the input just went out LAST WEEK (6/02), I'd say it's pretty damn reliable.

Never needed 'em.

I'll give it a seven, considering what it is. It ain't fancy, but it gets the job done. Since I got this, I've had SGs, Strats, a Casino and an Eppi Acoustic (among others), but this guy has a special place in my heart.