Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas worth it?

[BassTheory]

Hey team, I'm wondering if someone could assist me with a photo of their 4 string wiring?

I pulled mine out last year to wire it passive - VVT. It made it my favourite sounding bass ever.

However, it has neck dive (even with the hipshot ultralights) and the overall bass is heavy and I stopped using the J pup. So now I have a fender P, with the same dimarzios in cream and a jazz neck.

The neck on these is insanely awesome, but heavy and I realised I prefer the smaller frets on this new jazz neck. I miss the neck profile though, best neck I ever played.

Anyway, sorry to waffle, but now I want to re-wire it and set it back to factory. However I lost my photo of my wiring diagram - I'll attach some pics (I have an new thread on this then found this one) but would love some help re-wiring the bass back together.

 

[BassTheory]

All good, I worked it out.

 

[MtManiac]

I recently bought one of the PJ V’s in the TB Classifieds. It was described as mint, and while it’s definitely not mint (scratch on the back, and a ding out of the wood next to the G string tuner on the headstock, plus a terrible packing job - crickets from the seller), it is a very impressive bass, and fortunately survived the journey.

What an insane value these are! Compound radius fretboard, rolled edges, Luminlay side dots, roasted maple neck, active/passive switch, knobs with detentes and embossed arrow indicators, wheel truss rod adjust, alnico magnet pickups, and a sparkle finish.

I’ve played it twice now at band practice, and the second time brought my MarkBass combo amp because the drummer had a new snare he wanted to try out. Normally, we’re all in-ears. Punchy!!! Holy crap!! So punchy, with the EQ set flat, either passive or active. Lots of gain in either mode. Neither time nor at home have I noticed any noise from the preamp, dead silent, and the preamp is very usable. I’d call the tone definitely not vintage, there’s a clank that wants to come through regardless of my attack, but it’s a musical clank. It can be toned down via the EQ, and I’m sure I could remove it with a change of strings, but for now I like it so it’s staying. I had to keep the volume on the bass adjusted fairly low in both passive and active mode, as the pickups seem to be quite high output.

The neck is the real treat with this though. I’ve never played a more comfortable five string neck. I’m not sure what the string spacing is, but it seems narrower than my Fenders, yet it plays very, very fast. My fingers on both hands know exactly where to go. No neck dive either, and overall weight I’d guess to be slightly over 9 Lbs, not bad at all for a five string.

For reference, I also own and regularly play two American Pro Precision V’s (a Pro and a Pro II), a Stingray Special V, an American Deluxe Dimension V, and an MTD Kingston Saratoga V. All my other basses are IV’s. My Pro II P V, which I love, regularly gets tone compliments from my guitar player, he doesn’t want me to play anything else, but I can see the Charvel easily taking top spot for me due to the comfort factor, and the tones are all useful in what we play.

Anybody on the fence about these, time to check them out. Well worth the dough, especially if you’re considering a Player/Player Plus, a Ray35, a Sire, anything else in that price range, or if you’ve been looking for a five string P bass. Don’t be turned off by the reverse split coil - it’s an improvement for a 5-string in my opinion, and the difference is similar to the difference you might experience just doing a pickup swap from stock to something else. Tight bottom, warm highs. Five stars.

 

[Low-Five]

I recently bought one of the PJ V’s in the TB Classifieds. It was described as mint, and while it’s definitely not mint (scratch on the back, and a ding out of the wood next to the G string tuner on the headstock, plus a terrible packing job - crickets from the seller), it is a very impressive bass, and fortunately survived the journey.

What an insane value these are! Compound radius fretboard, rolled edges, Luminlay side dots, roasted maple neck, active/passive switch, knobs with detentes and embossed arrow indicators, wheel truss rod adjust, alnico magnet pickups, and a sparkle finish.

I’ve played it twice now at band practice, and the second time brought my MarkBass combo amp because the drummer had a new snare he wanted to try out. Normally, we’re all in-ears. Punchy!!! Holy crap!! So punchy, with the EQ set flat, either passive or active. Lots of gain in either mode. Neither time nor at home have I noticed any noise from the preamp, dead silent, and the preamp is very usable. I’d call the tone definitely not vintage, there’s a clank that wants to come through regardless of my attack, but it’s a musical clank. It can be toned down via the EQ, and I’m sure I could remove it with a change of strings, but for now I like it so it’s staying. I had to keep the volume on the bass adjusted fairly low in both passive and active mode, as the pickups seem to be quite high output.

The neck is the real treat with this though. I’ve never played a more comfortable five string neck. I’m not sure what the string spacing is, but it seems narrower than my Fenders, yet it plays very, very fast. My fingers on both hands know exactly where to go. No neck dive either, and overall weight I’d guess to be slightly over 9 Lbs, not bad at all for a five string.

For reference, I also own and regularly play two American Pro Precision V’s (a Pro and a Pro II), a Stingray Special V, an American Deluxe Dimension V, and an MTD Kingston Saratoga V. All my other basses are IV’s. My Pro II P V, which I love, regularly gets tone compliments from my guitar player, he doesn’t want me to play anything else, but I can see the Charvel easily taking top spot for me due to the comfort factor, and the tones are all useful in what we play.

Anybody on the fence about these, time to check them out. Well worth the dough, especially if you’re considering a Player/Player Plus, a Ray35, a Sire, anything else in that price range, or if you’ve been looking for a five string P bass. Don’t be turned off by the reverse split coil - it’s an improvement for a 5-string in my opinion, and the difference is similar to the difference you might experience just doing a pickup swap from stock to something else. Tight bottom, warm highs. Five stars.

I actually bought a RAY35 HH at the same time. They are both wonderful basses; neither of them is slacking off at $1,099.

 

[superheavyfunk]

The neck is the real treat with this though. I’ve never played a more comfortable five string neck. I’m not sure what the string spacing is, but it seems narrower than my Fenders, yet it plays very, very fast.

Glad you’re enjoying the bass! It’s definitely the best 5-string neck that Fender makes, imo. The only one from them that I like better is the Marcus Miller 5 but those are very rare birds and the bass weighs a ton. FYI, they used the same neck from the Charvel for the Mononeon sig (i don’t think it has a compound radius though?) but that neck uses thinner, almost vintage-style frets rather than the jumbos that they put on the Charvel. Myself, I prefer smaller frets but I still love the San Dimas neck all the same.

The string spacing is 18mm at the bridge, and it’s made by Schaller. I can’t remember the nut width atm but I posted it before, either in this thread or in the other big one dedicated to this instrument.

 

[SDBassed]

Anyone know of a lighter drop-in tuner replacement? (Possibly Hipshot HB7?)
My PJ V has the slightest neck dive.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Anyone know of a lighter drop-in tuner replacement? (Possibly Hipshot HB7?)
My PJ V has the slightest neck dive.

Yeah, I used Hipshot on mine. Dunno if it was this thread or the other big one but I posted pics and measurements. In the end, just remember that the Hipshots will require you to also buy the adapter rings but with that in place, it’s a drop in replacement and it does help the weight of the headstock - at least, it did for me!

 

[SDBassed]

Yeah, I used Hipshot on mine. Dunno if it was this thread or the other big one but I posted pics and measurements. In the end, just remember that the Hipshots will require you to also buy the adapter rings but with that in place, it’s a drop in replacement and it does help the weight of the headstock - at least, it did for me!

Thanks!!!

 

[Erik Turkman]

Anyone know of a lighter drop-in tuner replacement? (Possibly Hipshot HB7?)
My PJ V has the slightest neck dive.

They are not direct drop in, but I replaced the stock tuners with Gotoh GB350s. It requires drilling a single hole for each tuner. Much lighter.

 

[Ellery]

Dunno if it was this thread or the other big one but I posted pics and measurements.

Any chance of re-posting? Also I'd love to see how it looks on your Charvel.

 

[Ellery]

They are not direct drop in, but I replaced the stock tuners with Gotoh GB350s. It requires drilling a single hole for each tuner. Much lighter.

Do the ferrules fit snug? Did you just have to drill for the mounting screw?

 

[Erik Turkman]

Do the ferrules fit snug? Did you just have to drill for the mounting screw?

I removed the stock tuning machines but left the bushings in place. The Gotohs fit inside the existing bushings just right. The hole I drilled was for the single mounting screw.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Any chance of re-posting? Also I'd love to see how it looks on your Charvel.

Here you go: Reflections on the Charvel San Dimas Pro Mod IV (kinda long)

 

[superheavyfunk]

…And just so this info is here, since this seems have become the de facto San Dimas thread:

“Just in case anybody comes along in the future looking for some detailed info on these basses, I’ve just measured the tuners and post holes in the headstock. All measurements are +/- 1-2mm, as my callipers aren’t the best.

Headstock holes: 18.5mm
Bushing crown (the part at the top that covers the hole): 20.7mm
OG Charvel tuner post diameter: 13.6mm”

 

[Yahboy]

I own a MOD Squier PJ bass with Dimarzio DP126PJ loaded. Walk in Guitar store and found there are Charvel P-Mod IV and Fender Player Plus PJ on the wall. So i A/B test both myself after request SA did some tweak on both bass.

The neck profile notable different compare to Plus PJ , favor with PJ neck profile but love the Pro-Mod fretboard radius. The fretboard edge rolled more on Plus PJ but Pro-MOD fretboard edge still smoother than my previous Fender Player P bass. Both has few sharp fret wire edge found, but not terrible, easy fix.

On both bass weight, Pro-Mod weight below 4kg on my naked hand weight, meanwhile Plus PJ weight over 4.2kg.
I am sure that, because my MOD Squier PJ weight 4.2kg itself. Both bass has no notable neck dive issue and both use same machine head.

Both has same himass bridge but different brand name stamped.

The pickups voice are completely different on both bass. Since i own the DP126PJ, the Pro-Mod sound no much different in passive mod, but strangely lower output. Output back to usually strong on active mod. Plus PJ has no output different between Active/Passive mode, less hot compare to PRo-MOD in active mode.

Plus PJ sound more to traditional kind but a bit blanket-ist of sound.The solo J pup sound beefy but seem lacking bridge J character. Sound more mute compare to Squeir VM PJ stock 10.7K J pup. The P are ok, blend voice are fine without sparkling tone like Model PJ on PRo-MOD .
Since the J pup on Plus PJ sound beefy, once blend with Neck pup, that scoop tonal character are less notable compare to Pro-MOD. Less aggressive but smooth.

The onboard preamp has notable hiss on Pro-MOD especially while increase the treble. Plus PJ just silent even treble knob turn up (little hiss on full treble) .

On $200 price different, beside the personal tonal preference, I favor with Pro-MOD truss rod access location over headstock tweak on Plus PJ. That Plus PJ neck has similar feel to Player P but with rolled fretboard edge and flatter radius , that's all. Roasted Neck on Pro-MOD are great selling point to me. I own a cheap Bacchus J with roasted maple neck, i only need checking and some tiny tweak on neck relief every 6 months. That pitch only +/-5% different on vary weather/humid change.

Lot of thing i love on Pro-MOD except volume drop on passive mode. But In the end, i dint check out the Pro-MOD , my MOD Squier PJ has all that aggressive PJ sound, playing feel and solid neck . Another reason is i am fully passive guy.

I am actually bought an used Sterling Ray24 couple weeks ago, with same Cobalt flat 2814 loaeded, My MOD PJ has my sound. The G string on Ray24 still sound thin even how i tweak on both onboard preamp and Amp EQ. I have meaty thick G sound on PJ bass even both in pickups in blend.

If i dint own single PJ bass,i can live with active bass gutiar and i have $1K to spend within Plus PJ, Jackson CBX IV and Pro-MOD, i will go with Pro-MOD myself.



*
My MOD PJ are Squier Mattfreeman P neck + Squier Vintage Modified PJ body + Dimarzio DP126PJ + Volume/Blend + EB Cobalt flat 2814 = Angry PJ.

 

[BassTheory]

I have the Sam Dimas 4 - love, love, love the neck. Had some neck dive and was heavy, also put the hipshots on there. they do not fit snug without taping or using the existing bushings, although I did neither when I first was testing them and forgot to go back and add anything - they’ve been on there a year now with a few string changes and zero issues so far.
Anyway what I came in to say was I have fitted the charvel neck to a fender P body (also MIM) as the neck is way nicer than the mim one. It fits like a glove, although the heel height is larger so you need to put your bridge barrels into orbit to get it to play nice. Anyway, it’s back to normal now and I must say it is the best sounding bass I’ve owned. I actually dig using just the J on its own with fuzz so it’s super versatile for me.
Love those dimarzios on the P with the black guard.

 

[superheavyfunk]

Anyway what I came in to say was I have fitted the charvel neck to a fender P body (also MIM) as the neck is way nicer than the mim one. It fits like a glove, although the heel height is larger so you need to put your bridge barrels into orbit to get it to play nice.

This is GREAT to know! So the Charvel neck fits in standard fender bodies… that opens up a whole new world haha

what do you mean about the bridge barrels?

 

[BassTheory]

This is GREAT to know! So the Charvel neck fits in standard fender bodies… that opens up a whole new world haha

what do you mean about the bridge barrels?

Yeah that was my favourite discovery haha - l bought that fender p body in the hope it would fit.
Sorry, I mean you have to raise the bridge barrels crazy high - on my fender high mass bridge they were almost maxed out. Worked fine though, just needed to adjust the pup height to compensate.

 

[filler83]

Yeah that was my favourite discovery haha - l bought that fender p body in the hope it would fit.
Sorry, I mean you have to raise the bridge barrels crazy high - on my fender high mass bridge they were almost maxed out. Worked fine though, just needed to adjust the pup height to compensate.

so the neck sits lower in the body pocket? A shim might also work then?

 

[superheavyfunk]

so the neck sits lower in the body pocket? A shim might also work then?

I would assume that the neck heel is thicker front-to-back than a standard fender one, hence having to lift the bridge saddles so high in order to get the action right. A shim under the bridge might solve the problem though.