“Grin-inducing playing feel and performance”: Charvel drops the Super-Stock DKA22, a limited-edition stealth bomber shred stunner

Charvel has initiated goth mode with its latest Super-Stock model, which it’s releasing via a limited-edition run. The Californian guitar firm, played by the likes of Guthrie Govan, Slipknot’s Jim Root and Zeal & Ardor's Manuel Gagneux, has always sought to bridge the gap between high-performing and intuitively modern guitars with fairly modest prices. The Super-Stock doesn’t look like it’ll buck that trend.

The Super-Stock DKA22 HH 2PT EB features an arched alder body and comes in a blacker-than-black gloss finish. Its bolt-on, caramelized neck is built for speed, making it “an ideal instrument for dazzling high-speed playing”.

The neck boasts graphite reinforcement, a silky-smooth hand-rubbed urethane finish to ensure you can shred for hours. It’s topped by a 12-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard with hand-comforting rolled edges, 22 jumbo frets and dotted inlays.

Follow the strings up the fretboard and you’ll find a fully-licensed Stratocaster six-in-line headstock, complete with old-school “toothpaste” Charvel logo. A chrome top mount Gotoh 510 tremolo bridge with vintage saddles and a whammy bar holds them in place at the other end. 

The rest of its hardware, which is also chrome, includes a three-way blade switch for its HH pickup configuration and heavy knurled dome-style knobs for tone and volume adjusting.

Sitting beneath the strings are two Seymour Duncan humbuckers. There’s a ‘so good they named it twice’ Custom Custom in the bridge pickup and ’59 for warm and rounded neck tones. Both feature chrome covers to maintain that guitar’s stealth bomber aesthetic.

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Says Charvel: “The limited-edition Super-Stock DKA22 boasts scorching sound, stunning style and grin-inducing playing feel and performance.”

It follows in the footsteps of the classy Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 1 HSS FR. Despite that being something of a mouthful name, it was dubbed the "king in a world of Superstrats" in our guitar review late last year. We're expecting the same quality and tonal versatility with the Super-Stock. So, no pressure.

If you want to get your hands on one, you'll need $1,599.99 to spare, which is fairly modest for this kind of spec. It also comes with a gigbag to sweeten the deal.