Spec highlights include a basswood body with scalloped lower back bout, caramelized maple neck and fingerboard, DiMarzio pickups and gold hardware
(Image credit: Charvel)
Following its initial unveiling at NAMM earlier this year, Charvel has officially launched the Angel Vivaldi Signature Pro-Mod DK24-6 NOVA. It follows the virtuoso’s existing Pro-Mod DK24-7 NOVA seven-string model.
The Pro-Mod DK24-6 NOVA boasts a Dinky basswood body with a scalloped lower back bout and sculpted shredder’s cut heel, and a bolt-on caramelized/roasted maple neck and fingerboard. It comes in a Lucerne Aqua Firemist finish with a color matched reverse Fender Stratocaster headstock.
On his decision to roast the guitar’s neck, Vivaldi explains: “[Firstly, it minimizes] the contraction and expansion of the wood so that it is a lot more stable, which is very helpful when you have a non-locking system.
“Secondly, [it achieves] this smoothness that you really only get after breaking the guitar in after many, many years of playing.”
Vivaldi also details the design of the guitar’s neck shape. “I really had to reimagine it from scratch because one thing I learned is that doing a six-string version of a seven-string profile, it just doesn’t translate like you think it would, mostly because the width to the thickness ratio has to be just right,” he says.
“I tried a bunch of different profiles and we created this incredible neck shape, which to me is the apex of what a six-string really should feel like. It’s full, robust and fits seamlessly in the grasp of my hand, making it very comfortable to play and very ideal for alternate tunings.”
(Image credit: Charvel)
Electronics-wise, the guitar sports a pair of DiMarzio humbuckers – an Air Norton in the neck position and Tone Zone in the bridge – controlled via master volume and tone knobs and a five-way selector switch.
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Other features include a 24-fret fingerboard with cascading black dot inlays and Luminlay side dots, heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel, Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut, Gotoh Custom 510 tremolo bridge, locking tuners and gold hardware.
“Like most guitarists I started out on a six-string and wound up moving to seven-strings, almost exclusively in 2003, for the main purpose of eliminating the need to tune down or reset up my guitars,” explains Vivaldi.
“However, as you grow and evolve and change as a musician, it’s also really important to maybe change and re-examine the gear you use in order to do so. Enter this devastatingly gorgeous instrument.”
The Angel Vivaldi Signature Pro-Mod DK24-6 NOVA is available now for $1,599. For more information, head to Charvel.
Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
