516.626.9292     Email Us • My Account • View Cart

Music Zoo Exclusive Charvel Guitars


You've found some of our most special guitars: The Music Zoo exclusive Charvels. Want bang for the buck? Better plug your ears. The Charvel San Dimas Natural Series is a USA Custom Shop built, oil rubbed, no frills tone machine. Building on the superior foundation of the Natural Series, the Charvel® San Dimas Carbonized Natural Series guitars are the new high performance, built to be lighter, louder, and stronger. The Charvel Nitro Aged San Dimas is The Music Zoo's dream Charvel: our favorite custom neck shape, and a relic'd thin lacquer finish. The guitars pictured here are in stock and individually photographed. Please note: we will ship Charvel® products within the United States only.



Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized 160-Year-Old Pine San Dimas Electric Guitar
This is a very special run of instruments with a great history; introducing the Music Zoo exclusive Charvel Custom Shop 160 Year Old Pine San Dimas. This old-growth wood, used for our bodies, is considerably stiffer than new White Pine. It is very light weight and produces a clean, clear tone. It also has a lot of "oomph" with a good amount of lower mid-range that makes the guitar really cut, and rounded out highs that never get too shrill.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. The maple necks have been carbonized, a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the wood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. These guitars are light weight and full of tone, with an incredibly comfortable neck, and a piece of wood that just kind of makes you go "wow" when you get it in your hands. Read on for more info on both the 160 year old bodies and carbonized necks.

Old Growth Pine Body:
The Amoskeag Mill complex was built in the 1840s using native White Pine and other species from the upstream virgin forest. Once cut it was floated down rivers and milled on site to build what became by mid century the largest mill complex in the world. In 1990 the mill closed and stood vacant until purchased and repurposed. In 2008 some of the buildings were deconstructed and the native first-growth white pine beams were transported and stored until the tonewood grade beams were sold in 2010. Instruments produced from this wood include high-end archtop and acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and the bodies for this run. Although they are titled 160 year-old bodies they are in actuality much older as the wood grew from early colonial times, some dating back as early as 1600 in the natural pre-industrial forest.

Carbonized Maple Neck:
Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks.

Due to the scarce supply of the reclaimed Pandora Mill White Pine, this guitar is 1 of only 12 instruments built for this extremely limited series.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized 160-Year-Old Pine San Dimas Electric Guitar
This is a very special run of instruments with a great history; introducing the Music Zoo exclusive Charvel Custom Shop 160 Year Old Pine San Dimas. This old-growth wood, used for our bodies, is considerably stiffer than new White Pine. It is very light weight and produces a clean, clear tone. It also has a lot of "oomph" with a good amount of lower mid-range that makes the guitar really cut, and rounded out highs that never get too shrill.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. The maple necks have been carbonized, a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the wood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. These guitars are light weight and full of tone, with an incredibly comfortable neck, and a piece of wood that just kind of makes you go "wow" when you get it in your hands. Read on for more info on both the 160 year old bodies and carbonized necks.

Old Growth Pine Body:
The Amoskeag Mill complex was built in the 1840s using native White Pine and other species from the upstream virgin forest. Once cut it was floated down rivers and milled on site to build what became by mid century the largest mill complex in the world. In 1990 the mill closed and stood vacant until purchased and repurposed. In 2008 some of the buildings were deconstructed and the native first-growth white pine beams were transported and stored until the tonewood grade beams were sold in 2010. Instruments produced from this wood include high-end archtop and acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and the bodies for this run. Although they are titled 160 year-old bodies they are in actuality much older as the wood grew from early colonial times, some dating back as early as 1600 in the natural pre-industrial forest.

Carbonized Maple Neck:
Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks.

Due to the scarce supply of the reclaimed Pandora Mill White Pine, this guitar is 1 of only 12 instruments built for this extremely limited series.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized 160-Year-Old Pine San Dimas Electric Guitar
This is a very special run of instruments with a great history; introducing the Music Zoo exclusive Charvel Custom Shop 160 Year Old Pine San Dimas. This old-growth wood, used for our bodies, is considerably stiffer than new White Pine. It is very light weight and produces a clean, clear tone. It also has a lot of "oomph" with a good amount of lower mid-range that makes the guitar really cut, and rounded out highs that never get too shrill.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. The maple necks have been carbonized, a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the wood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. These guitars are light weight and full of tone, with an incredibly comfortable neck, and a piece of wood that just kind of makes you go "wow" when you get it in your hands. Read on for more info on both the 160 year old bodies and carbonized necks.

Old Growth Pine Body:
The Amoskeag Mill complex was built in the 1840s using native White Pine and other species from the upstream virgin forest. Once cut it was floated down rivers and milled on site to build what became by mid century the largest mill complex in the world. In 1990 the mill closed and stood vacant until purchased and repurposed. In 2008 some of the buildings were deconstructed and the native first-growth white pine beams were transported and stored until the tonewood grade beams were sold in 2010. Instruments produced from this wood include high-end archtop and acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and the bodies for this run. Although they are titled 160 year-old bodies they are in actuality much older as the wood grew from early colonial times, some dating back as early as 1600 in the natural pre-industrial forest.

Carbonized Maple Neck:
Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks.

Due to the scarce supply of the reclaimed Pandora Mill White Pine, this guitar is 1 of only 12 instruments built for this extremely limited series.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized 160-Year-Old Pine San Dimas Electric Guitar
This is a very special run of instruments with a great history; introducing the Music Zoo exclusive Charvel Custom Shop 160 Year Old Pine San Dimas. This old-growth wood, used for our bodies, is considerably stiffer than new White Pine. It is very light weight and produces a clean, clear tone. It also has a lot of "oomph" with a good amount of lower mid-range that makes the guitar really cut, and rounded out highs that never get too shrill.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. The maple necks have been carbonized, a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the wood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. These guitars are light weight and full of tone, with an incredibly comfortable neck, and a piece of wood that just kind of makes you go "wow" when you get it in your hands. Read on for more info on both the 160 year old bodies and carbonized necks.

Old Growth Pine Body:
The Amoskeag Mill complex was built in the 1840s using native White Pine and other species from the upstream virgin forest. Once cut it was floated down rivers and milled on site to build what became by mid century the largest mill complex in the world. In 1990 the mill closed and stood vacant until purchased and repurposed. In 2008 some of the buildings were deconstructed and the native first-growth white pine beams were transported and stored until the tonewood grade beams were sold in 2010. Instruments produced from this wood include high-end archtop and acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and the bodies for this run. Although they are titled 160 year-old bodies they are in actuality much older as the wood grew from early colonial times, some dating back as early as 1600 in the natural pre-industrial forest.

Carbonized Maple Neck:
Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks.

Due to the scarce supply of the reclaimed Pandora Mill White Pine, this guitar is 1 of only 12 instruments built for this extremely limited series.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized 160-Year-Old Pine San Dimas Electric Guitar
This is a very special run of instruments with a great history; introducing the Music Zoo exclusive Charvel Custom Shop 160 Year Old Pine San Dimas. This old-growth wood, used for our bodies, is considerably stiffer than new White Pine. It is very light weight and produces a clean, clear tone. It also has a lot of "oomph" with a good amount of lower mid-range that makes the guitar really cut, and rounded out highs that never get too shrill.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. The maple necks have been carbonized, a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the wood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. These guitars are light weight and full of tone, with an incredibly comfortable neck, and a piece of wood that just kind of makes you go "wow" when you get it in your hands. Read on for more info on both the 160 year old bodies and carbonized necks.

Old Growth Pine Body:
The Amoskeag Mill complex was built in the 1840s using native White Pine and other species from the upstream virgin forest. Once cut it was floated down rivers and milled on site to build what became by mid century the largest mill complex in the world. In 1990 the mill closed and stood vacant until purchased and repurposed. In 2008 some of the buildings were deconstructed and the native first-growth white pine beams were transported and stored until the tonewood grade beams were sold in 2010. Instruments produced from this wood include high-end archtop and acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and the bodies for this run. Although they are titled 160 year-old bodies they are in actuality much older as the wood grew from early colonial times, some dating back as early as 1600 in the natural pre-industrial forest.

Carbonized Maple Neck:
Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks.

Due to the scarce supply of the reclaimed Pandora Mill White Pine, this guitar is 1 of only 12 instruments built for this extremely limited series.

Charvel®, San Dimas®, and the distinctive headstock design commonly found on Charvel® guitars are registered trademarks of FMIC under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized 160-Year-Old Pine San Dimas Electric Guitar
This is a very special run of instruments with a great history; introducing the Music Zoo exclusive Charvel Custom Shop 160 Year Old Pine San Dimas. This old-growth wood, used for our bodies, is considerably stiffer than new White Pine. It is very light weight and produces a clean, clear tone. It also has a lot of "oomph" with a good amount of lower mid-range that makes the guitar really cut, and rounded out highs that never get too shrill.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. The maple necks have been carbonized, a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the wood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. These guitars are light weight and full of tone, with an incredibly comfortable neck, and a piece of wood that just kind of makes you go "wow" when you get it in your hands. Read on for more info on both the 160 year old bodies and carbonized necks.

Old Growth Pine Body:
The Amoskeag Mill complex was built in the 1840s using native White Pine and other species from the upstream virgin forest. Once cut it was floated down rivers and milled on site to build what became by mid century the largest mill complex in the world. In 1990 the mill closed and stood vacant until purchased and repurposed. In 2008 some of the buildings were deconstructed and the native first-growth white pine beams were transported and stored until the tonewood grade beams were sold in 2010. Instruments produced from this wood include high-end archtop and acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and the bodies for this run. Although they are titled 160 year-old bodies they are in actuality much older as the wood grew from early colonial times, some dating back as early as 1600 in the natural pre-industrial forest.

Carbonized Maple Neck:
Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks.

Due to the scarce supply of the reclaimed Pandora Mill White Pine, this guitar is 1 of only 12 instruments built for this extremely limited series.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized 160-Year-Old Pine San Dimas Electric Guitar - Shopworn
This is a very special run of instruments with a great history; the Music Zoo exclusive Charvel Custom Shop 160 Year Old Pine San Dimas. This old-growth wood, used for our bodies, is considerably stiffer than new White Pine. It is very light weight and produces a clean, clear tone. It also has a lot of "oomph" with a good amount of lower mid-range that makes the guitar really cut, and rounded out highs that never get too shrill.

Features on the Carbonized Pine San Dimas are a 2-piece pine body, a carbonized 1-piece flamed red maple neck with a San Dimas profile and gunstock oil finish, 25.5" scale length, 1-11/16" nut width, 22 jumbo frets, maple dot inlays, brass side dots, a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the neck with a Custom 5 in the bridge, a NOS brass tremolo, brass dome knobs, low friction toggle switch, and Legacy tuners.

Old Growth Pine Body:
The Amoskeag Mill complex was built in the 1840s using native White Pine and other species from the upstream virgin forest. Once cut it was floated down rivers and milled on site to build what became by mid century the largest mill complex in the world. In 1990 the mill closed and stood vacant until purchased and repurposed. In 2008 some of the buildings were deconstructed and the native first-growth white pine beams were transported and stored until the tonewood grade beams were sold in 2010. Instruments produced from this wood include high-end archtop and acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and the bodies for this run. Although they are titled 160 year-old bodies they are in actuality much older as the wood grew from early colonial times, some dating back as early as 1600 in the natural pre-industrial forest.

Carbonized Maple Neck:
Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks.

Due to the scarce supply of the reclaimed Pandora Mill White Pine, it is 1 of only 12 instruments built for this extremely limited series. This shopworn instrument has small impressions in the wood by the knobs and some light pick marks between the pickups. It is otherwise in great shape and ready to shred.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized Black Ash San Dimas Electric Guitar
The guitar has evolved. The new high performance is not in the pickups, not in the bridge, or the strings. It's in the wood. Our Carbonized Natural Series uses a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the tonewood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. Building on the superior foundation of the Music Zoo Exclusive Charvel® San Dimas® Natural Series - stripped down, no-frills guitars originally designed for maximum tone and playability - the Carbonized Natural Series takes high performance to an exciting new level.

Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks and bodies.

After the carbonizing process, the hard and light wood mills beautifully. The builders at Charvel were extremely excited about how clean and smooth each cut was, and how that translated ultimately to the feel each neck was going to have. In addition, we all noted that the wood had a nice “smoked” aroma about it too; an added bonus. Not all woods react well to this process we are told, but luckily maple does which is of course perfect for our neck. The bodies are done using black ash, which is highly favorable in guitar making. It has excellent acoustic properties, and sounds even better plugged in and cranked up to 10. The grain patterns in these bodies look fantastic and really allow you to appreciate the natural beauty of the wood.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. Our prototypes literally scream. The stability and quality of the wood through this process are on their own ideal for building, but the functionality and sound of the end product is the part we are extremely pleased about being able to offer to our customers.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized Black Ash San Dimas Electric Guitar
The guitar has evolved. The new high performance is not in the pickups, not in the bridge, or the strings. It's in the wood. Our Carbonized Natural Series uses a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the tonewood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. Building on the superior foundation of the Music Zoo Exclusive Charvel® San Dimas® Natural Series - stripped down, no-frills guitars originally designed for maximum tone and playability - the Carbonized Natural Series takes high performance to an exciting new level.

Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks and bodies.

After the carbonizing process, the hard and light wood mills beautifully. The builders at Charvel were extremely excited about how clean and smooth each cut was, and how that translated ultimately to the feel each neck was going to have. In addition, we all noted that the wood had a nice “smoked” aroma about it too; an added bonus. Not all woods react well to this process we are told, but luckily maple does which is of course perfect for our neck. The bodies are done using black ash, which is highly favorable in guitar making. It has excellent acoustic properties, and sounds even better plugged in and cranked up to 10. The grain patterns in these bodies look fantastic and really allow you to appreciate the natural beauty of the wood.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. Our prototypes literally scream. The stability and quality of the wood through this process are on their own ideal for building, but the functionality and sound of the end product is the part we are extremely pleased about being able to offer to our customers.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized Black Ash San Dimas Electric Guitar
The guitar has evolved. The new high performance is not in the pickups, not in the bridge, or the strings. It's in the wood. Our Carbonized Natural Series uses a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the tonewood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. Building on the superior foundation of the Music Zoo Exclusive Charvel® San Dimas® Natural Series - stripped down, no-frills guitars originally designed for maximum tone and playability - the Carbonized Natural Series takes high performance to an exciting new level.

Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks and bodies.

After the carbonizing process, the hard and light wood mills beautifully. The builders at Charvel were extremely excited about how clean and smooth each cut was, and how that translated ultimately to the feel each neck was going to have. In addition, we all noted that the wood had a nice “smoked” aroma about it too; an added bonus. Not all woods react well to this process we are told, but luckily maple does which is of course perfect for our neck. The bodies are done using black ash, which is highly favorable in guitar making. It has excellent acoustic properties, and sounds even better plugged in and cranked up to 10. The grain patterns in these bodies look fantastic and really allow you to appreciate the natural beauty of the wood.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. Our prototypes literally scream. The stability and quality of the wood through this process are on their own ideal for building, but the functionality and sound of the end product is the part we are extremely pleased about being able to offer to our customers.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized Black Ash San Dimas Electric Guitar
The guitar has evolved. The new high performance is not in the pickups, not in the bridge, or the strings. It's in the wood. Our Carbonized Natural Series uses a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the tonewood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. Building on the superior foundation of the Music Zoo Exclusive Charvel® San Dimas® Natural Series - stripped down, no-frills guitars originally designed for maximum tone and playability - the Carbonized Natural Series takes high performance to an exciting new level.

Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks and bodies.

After the carbonizing process, the hard and light wood mills beautifully. The builders at Charvel were extremely excited about how clean and smooth each cut was, and how that translated ultimately to the feel each neck was going to have. In addition, we all noted that the wood had a nice “smoked” aroma about it too; an added bonus. Not all woods react well to this process we are told, but luckily maple does which is of course perfect for our neck. The bodies are done using black ash, which is highly favorable in guitar making. It has excellent acoustic properties, and sounds even better plugged in and cranked up to 10. The grain patterns in these bodies look fantastic and really allow you to appreciate the natural beauty of the wood.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. Our prototypes literally scream. The stability and quality of the wood through this process are on their own ideal for building, but the functionality and sound of the end product is the part we are extremely pleased about being able to offer to our customers.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop Exclusive Carbonized Black Ash San Dimas Electric Guitar
The guitar has evolved. The new high performance is not in the pickups, not in the bridge, or the strings. It's in the wood. Our Carbonized Natural Series uses a revolutionary process to stabilize the moisture content of the tonewood, significantly lightening it, making it more resonant, and stabilizing it against atmospheric changes forever. Building on the superior foundation of the Music Zoo Exclusive Charvel® San Dimas® Natural Series - stripped down, no-frills guitars originally designed for maximum tone and playability - the Carbonized Natural Series takes high performance to an exciting new level.

Kiln-drying is an age-old technique used to season wood for use in building instruments, but this new process takes kiln-drying a step further. The wood is essentially cooking in a pressurized kiln in its own moisture and gasses as they escape. Much of the hemi-cellulose is cooked out, similar to what happens as wood ages. Cooked wood resembles 100+ year old wood in this respect. Loss of hemi-cellulose lightens the wood and reduces the damping factor so that it has a crisper, longer ring time, losing more weight than stiffness so that the stiffness to weight ratio is increased. The lignin (glue) undergoes a hardening process, making the wood less flexible. The loss of hemi-cellulose and hardening of lignin collectively increase the stiffness to weight ratio by 15% to 25% depending on species. Most of the cellularly bound water is driven off or combined into larger, more stable molecules. This characteristic makes the wood significantly more stable in use, and locks the moisture content around 10 percent. This means that the wood will not take on moisture nor release moisture during its life, which keeps it from being susceptible to climate and humidity changes as the seasons change or as the guitar travels from city to city. This equals fewer neck adjustments and playing issues over the lifetime of the instrument. The release of this moisture also greatly reduces the weight of the wood, making for lightweight and ultimately more resonant necks and bodies.

After the carbonizing process, the hard and light wood mills beautifully. The builders at Charvel were extremely excited about how clean and smooth each cut was, and how that translated ultimately to the feel each neck was going to have. In addition, we all noted that the wood had a nice “smoked” aroma about it too; an added bonus. Not all woods react well to this process we are told, but luckily maple does which is of course perfect for our neck. The bodies are done using black ash, which is highly favorable in guitar making. It has excellent acoustic properties, and sounds even better plugged in and cranked up to 10. The grain patterns in these bodies look fantastic and really allow you to appreciate the natural beauty of the wood.

We decided to build these out with two direct mounted pickups, crown head tuners, a light oil finish and your choice of Floyd Rose or NOS tremolo. Our prototypes literally scream. The stability and quality of the wood through this process are on their own ideal for building, but the functionality and sound of the end product is the part we are extremely pleased about being able to offer to our customers.

Charvel® and San Dimas® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop San Dimas Mahogany Natural Electric Guitar
Tone, Feel, and Performance. What else do you need from your axe? The Charvel® Natural Series San Dimas guitars created by The Music Zoo deliver all three in spades. This exclusive line of USA-Made Custom Shop Charvel® San Dimas guitars is designed to deliver huge bang for the buck, starting at just $1,595.00. Read on for the whole story behind the Music Zoo Naturals:

In 2006 The Music Zoo's owner and vintage Charvel aficianado Tommy Colletti got on a plane to California and sat down with The Charvel Custom Shop to talk about a guitar he wanted to build. The idea was simple. No paint but instead a hand-rubbed, oil-finished body. One pickup, one knob. No frills, all business, and a world-class level of quality that The Music Zoo's customers would demand. Charvel had recently joined forces with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and the build quality of the new Charvel product was stellar. Plus, we were all excited that Charvel guitars were once again being produced with the famous Stratocaster headstock, just like the Charvels from the late '70s/early 80s. The new Charvel necks, with an 1 11/16" nut width, and the skunk stripe on the back look and feel the part of their vintage predecessors. The time was right, and the San Dimas Natural Series from Charvel and The Music Zoo was born.

The bodies of the Natural Series guitars are what gives them monster tone. We spec'd high-quality Mahogany, Swamp Ash, or Koa; all three are fantastic tonewoods. Without thick layers of paint, the wood can breathe and resonate, resulting in a louder guitar acoustically, and a more responsive guitar plugged into your amp. The hand-rubbed oil finish is durable and brings out the beauty of the wood, and brings down the cost of the guitar to boot. The solid brass volume knob is another throwback to the original San Dimas.

The performance: Depending on your needs, the Charvel Natural Series San Dimas comes with either a vintage-style NOS brass tremolo or a rock-solid Floyd Rose with locking nut. The single pickup is a Seymour Duncan Custom 5, a versatile pickup that shows off the expanded frequencies of the oiled bodies while still providing enough gain to melt faces. After the initial run of Naturals was such a success, we expanded the original "one pickup/one knob" concept to dual humbucker configurations, often a Seymour Duncan Custom 5 at the bridge and a Jazz at the neck, and Hum/Single, this guitar with a Quarter Pounder in the neck. These configurations still keep it simple with a just single volume knob and a 3-way toggle switch.

Charvel®, San Dimas® are registered trademarks of FMIC under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel Custom Shop San Dimas Mahogany Natural Electric Guitar
Tone, Feel, and Performance. What else do you need from your axe? The Charvel® Natural Series San Dimas guitars created by The Music Zoo deliver all three in spades. This exclusive line of USA-Made Custom Shop Charvel® San Dimas guitars is designed to deliver huge bang for the buck, starting at just $1,595.00. Read on for the whole story behind the Music Zoo Naturals:

In 2006 The Music Zoo's owner and vintage Charvel aficianado Tommy Colletti got on a plane to California and sat down with The Charvel Custom Shop to talk about a guitar he wanted to build. The idea was simple. No paint but instead a hand-rubbed, oil-finished body. One pickup, one knob. No frills, all business, and a world-class level of quality that The Music Zoo's customers would demand. Charvel had recently joined forces with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and the build quality of the new Charvel product was stellar. Plus, we were all excited that Charvel guitars were once again being produced with the famous Stratocaster headstock, just like the Charvels from the late '70s/early 80s. The new Charvel necks, with an 1 11/16" nut width, and the skunk stripe on the back look and feel the part of their vintage predecessors. The time was right, and the San Dimas Natural Series from Charvel and The Music Zoo was born.

The bodies of the Natural Series guitars are what gives them monster tone. We spec'd high-quality Mahogany, Swamp Ash, or Koa; all three are fantastic tonewoods. Without thick layers of paint, the wood can breathe and resonate, resulting in a louder guitar acoustically, and a more responsive guitar plugged into your amp. The hand-rubbed oil finish is durable and brings out the beauty of the wood, and brings down the cost of the guitar to boot. The solid brass volume knob is another throwback to the original San Dimas.

The performance: Depending on your needs, the Charvel Natural Series San Dimas comes with either a vintage-style NOS brass tremolo or a rock-solid Floyd Rose with locking nut. The single pickup is a Seymour Duncan Custom 5, a versatile pickup that shows off the expanded frequencies of the oiled bodies while still providing enough gain to melt faces. After the initial run of Naturals was such a success, we expanded the original "one pickup/one knob" concept to dual humbucker configurations, often a Seymour Duncan Custom 5 at the bridge and a Jazz at the neck, and Hum/Single, this guitar with a Quarter Pounder in the neck. These configurations still keep it simple with a just single volume knob and a 3-way toggle switch.

Charvel®, San Dimas® are registered trademarks of FMIC under license to JCMI.
Guaranteed Low Price:
Charvel®, San Dimas®, Dinky™ and the distinctive headstock design commonly found on Charvel® guitars are registered trademarks of FMIC under license to JCMI.
The Music Zoo  •  55 Lumber Road   Roslyn, NY  11576   516.626.9292
Home  •  Site Map •  Contact  •  About Us  •  Privacy Policy  •  Blog