CHARVEL JIM ROOT SIGNATURE PRO-MOD SAN DIMAS STYLE 1

The Slipknot riffer returns to the original hotrod shop

- Jonathan Horsley

£1549

You need a specialised instrument when you are in Jim Root’s line of work. Slipknot demands a certain kind of sound. But just because Root needs extremity in his electric guitar tone, doesn’t mean he wants to go extreme with the aesthetic. His latest of many signature guitars, the San Dimas Style 1, reflects his tastes of classic designs rendered monochromatically.

The Stratocaster headstock here is on license from Fender, who own the Charvel brand. The doublecut body shape is instantly recognisable, and with that bolt-on maple neck, it’s clear the apple hasn’t fallen far from  the tree. The differences are largely practical. Root is more conservative than many when it comes to his guitar’s aesthetic, with this being offered in Satin Black with a maple fingerboard, and Satin White with an ebony fingerboard, as reviewed. There is no pickguard. There is no tone knob. Anything inessential is gone. Some of the most unorthodox appointments are out of sight; the solid mahogany body switching up the recipe, a neck profile that’s skinnier than your average Strat and finished in satin urethane for speediness. It is surprising that the heel isn’t sculpted to enhance upper-fret access, but then you don’t see Root up there that often, and Charvel’s contouring of the lower cutaway performs a similar function.