As I Lay Dying’s chief songwriter and riff master general Phil Sgrosso has released his own Charvel signature guitar, the snappily named Phil Sgrosso Signature Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 1 H FR E.
With its Silverburst finish and black anodized aluminium pickguard, Sgrosso’s Mexico-built signature cuts a suave metal silhouette, and accordingly, it’s built for speed, with a number of tweaks to the model’s rear.
Key among these is a scalloped lower back bout, as well as a sculpted shredder’s cut heel. Removing large chunks of the mahogany body streamlines the model for the kind of death-defying, frantically picked riffs Sgrosso is known for.
Latest Videos FromGuitar World
Those clean lines may take cues from Jim Root’s no-nonsense Fender and Charvel models – as Sgrosso notes in the video above, the Slipknot guitarist inspired him to reach out to Charvel in the first place – but the As I Lay Dying man goes one further, stripping his So-Cal back to a single active bridge humbucker.
There’s more than meets the eye, however, as said humbucker is Fishman’s cutting-edge Modern PRF-MHB-AB1 alnico bridge pickup, with switchable voices accessible via the solitary – and rather PRS-looking – push/pull speed knob, which also handles volume duties.
Playability-wise, the guitar continues the go-faster theme, sporting a bolt-on maple neck with graphite reinforcement and a hand-rubbed satin urethane finish on the back, teamed with a 12”-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard with rolled edges and 22 jumbo frets.
There are some neat touches elsewhere: Luminlay side dots and the heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel are always welcome, while the Floyd Rose 1000 Series double-locking tremolo system promises typical whammy thrills.
Finally, the Charvel ‘toothpaste’ logo appears on the Strat-style headstock, with Sgrosso’s signature gracing the rear.
The – deep breath – Phil Sgrosso Signature Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 1 H FR E is available now for $1,549. Charvel Guitars has more info.
