Charvel and Sean Long have expanded his signature guitar collection with a limited edition Neon Pink version of his Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1.
This is ostensibly the same electric guitar as the hotrodded Charvel S-style that was launched in 2022, with dual EMG humbuckers (a 57 in the bridge, 66 at the neck), a stripped down set of controls (just a volume and 3-way blade style pickup selector switch, thanks), a hard-tail and no messing. He kept the aesthetic details to a minimum, with the gloss Black finish and the maple fingerboard, sans inlays.
And it was a success; the people loved it. It was just what Long needed for his day job in metalcore stalwarts While She Sleeps. He loved it so much he got a Neon Pink one from the Custom Shop and then that got everyone talking. People wanted this thing in pink. Crazy.
Long is nothing if not a man of the people. You asked. He listened. And luckily he found a sympathetic ear at Charvel.
“The only reason that this guitar is even in existence is because of you guys,” says Long. “Two years ago, after my first signature guitar released, I started posting pictures of my custom pink I’ve been playing live, and you guys fuckin’ loved it and you wouldn’t stop asking me to ask Charvel to make it. So I did.”
Again, the fundamentals stay the same. There’s the black hardware, the Charvel-branded locking tuners, the tidy Charvel HT-6 hardtail bridge, the knurled metal volume knob. Charvel has carved the body out of alder.
The San Dimas Style 1 is kind of like a secret code for “Fender Stratocaster” – c’mon, that’s where the design DNA is coming from, and the bolt-on maple neck with the actual licensed Strat headstock betrays this influence (Fender owns Charvel so these brand synergies make perfect sense).
And if you’re wondering why Long favours this souped-up Strat-style guitar then it is all kind of Freudian; it goes back to when he was a kid playing a Squier guitar.
Not that he really felt like that Strat was his identity but it left a mark. It only took him 20 years of making music professionally to realise that “it was the Strat all along”. Though this is not your granddaddy’s 1954 hardtail.
There’s no V profile neck. This one’s carved into Charvel’s svelte “Speed” and has rolled fingerboard edges for that upscale feel.
It also has glow-in-the-dark Luminlay side markers – some compensation for the lack of inlays on the ‘board itself – and jumbo frets, plus that 12” to 16” compound radius is not the sort of thing you would find on your common or garden variety Strat.
As with its predecessor, the signature details are really the spec itself. You’ll find a decal of the While She Sleeps logo on the back of the headstock.
Otherwise, it’s a low-key signature model. Practical, too. The neck is reinforced with graphite, and you can make quick setup tweaks via the heel-mounted truss rod adjustment wheel.
And it’s competitively priced. To give it its full name, the Limited Edition Sean Long Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HH HT M is priced $1,099/$1,469. For more details, see Charvel.
