Charvel
Encyclopedia
Charvel is a brand of guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 originally founded in the 1970s by Wayne Charvel in Azusa, California
Azusa, California
Azusa is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 46,361 at the 2010 census, up from 44,712 at the 2000 census. Though sometimes assumed to be a compaction of the phrase "everything from A to Z in the USA" from an old Jack Benny joke, the place name "Azusa"...

 and then later, Glendora, California
Glendora, California
Glendora is a municipality in Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2010 census, the population of Glendora was 50,073....

. Charvel guitars became popular in the 1980s due to their association with famous rock guitarists such as Edward Van Halen (Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...

), Richie Sambora
Richie Sambora
Richard Stephen "Richie" Sambora is an American rock guitarist, producer, musician, singer, and songwriter who is the longtime lead guitarist of the rock band, Bon Jovi. He and frontman Jon Bon Jovi form the primary songwriting unit of the band...

 (Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...

), Warren DeMartini
Warren DeMartini
Warren Justin DeMartini , nicknamed Torch, is the lead guitarist for Ratt, a popular American band during the mid-to-late 1980s Los Angeles glam metal scene.-Early life:...

 (Ratt
Ratt
Ratt is an American heavy metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s. The band is best known for songs such as "Round and Round," "Wanted Man," "Lay It Down," "You're in Love", "Slip of the Lip", "Back For More", "Dance", "Body Talk", "I Want a Woman", and "Way Cool Jr." Ratt...

), Jake E. Lee
Jake E. Lee
Jakey Lou Williams , commonly known as Jake E. Lee, is an American guitarist best known for playing with Ozzy Osbourne in the mid-1980s and later in his own band Badlands.- Musical education :...

 (Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...

), Vinnie Vincent
Vinnie Vincent
Vincent John Cusano, better known as Vinnie Vincent, is an American guitarist from Bridgeport, Connecticut and songwriter known for his brief membership in the band Kiss.-Replacing Ace Frehley in Kiss:...

 (KISS
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...

), Eddie Ojeda
Eddie Ojeda
Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda is one of the two guitarists of the American heavy metal band Twisted Sister....

 (Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands...

), George Lynch
George Lynch (musician)
George Lynch is a hard rock/heavy metal guitarist best known as a member of the band Dokken, his own bands Lynch Mob and Souls of We.-Pre Dokken:...

 (Dokken
Dokken
Dokken is an American heavy metal and hard rock band formed in 1978. They split up in 1989 but reformed four years later. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide...

), Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth
Allan Holdsworth is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but first drew attention for his work in jazz fusion...

, Shawn Lane
Shawn Lane
Shawn Lane was an American musician. Although piano was his first instrument, he quickly became a noted player in underground guitar circles and joined Black Oak Arkansas when he was just fourteen years old....

 and others.

History

Having worked at Fender for three years in the early 1970s, Wayne Charvel originally started "Charvel's Guitar Repair" in 1974 to refinish and repair out-of-warranty Fender instruments. The shop earned a solid reputation among performing artists for its repair work, custom finishes, and upgraded parts manufacturing. When Asian companies began copying Charvel's parts and selling them at a discount, Wayne decided to begin building complete guitars. Charvel guitars were originally constructed from wood components outsourced to Boogie and Schecter bodies, and various Charvel and aftermarket hardware. Wayne Charvel sold the company to Grover Jackson in 1978, and ceased all working associations with the brand name from that point forward.

After purchasing the company, Grover Jackson tooled to produce guitar bodies, which were sold to Mighty Mite and Dimarzio
DiMarzio
DiMarzio, Inc. is an United States manufacturer best known for its revolutionary direct-replacement guitar pickups. The company also produces miscellaneous guitar accessories, such as cables, straps and hardware.DiMarzio became known for its Super Distortion model, which was the first after...

. The proceeds were used to fund an expansion into crafting necks. During this time BC Rich, SD Curlee, and Music Man
Music Man (company)
Music Man is an American guitar, and bass guitar manufacturer. It is a division of the Ernie Ball corporation.-Early years:The Music Man story began in 1971 when Forrest White and Tom Walker talked with Leo Fender about starting a company they would call Tri-Sonic, Inc...

 approached Charvel with prospects of contract manufacturing of various wood parts. The income from these sales provided the Charvel shop with additional tooling and experience that would give Grover the footing required to grow the Charvel brand into a market contender.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Charvel popularized custom revamps of the Fender Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...

 design - often consisting of a Strat-shaped body with a single humbucking pickup
Humbucker
A humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup, first patented by Seth Lover and the Gibson company, that uses two coils, both generating string signal. Humbuckers have higher output than a single coil pickup since both coils are connected in series...

 and Fender style tremolo bridge systems. This modernized Stratocaster configuration (commonly referred to as the superstrat) was particularly well suited to the heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 style of music that was hugely popular at the time. Charvel guitars became renowned for its use of creative graphics, unfinished maple necks, and various innovative appointments.

In 1980, Grover Jackson was introduced to Randy Rhoads
Randy Rhoads
Randall William "Randy" Rhoads was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. While on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, he would seek out...

, who had recently secured the job of guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's new band. They worked together to develop a guitar to complement the polka-dotted Flying V built for Randy by Karl Sandoval
Karl Sandoval
Karl Sandoval is a luthier. He is best known for making a polka dot V for Randy Rhoads, in addition to his work for Eddie Van Halen and George Lynch during the 1980s.Sandoval started in the guitar business by working at Fender in the 1970s...

. The initial prototype was not angular enough for Randy, but the second design resulted in a shape that Randy referred to as the Concorde. Grover was concerned that the radically styled, neck-through guitar was too different from Charvel's familiar 'Superstrat' theme, so he decided to label the instrument with his own name on the headstock in case the design proved unpopular. Contrary to Grover's concerns, the visual impact of this guitar would spawn the "Rhoads Model
Jackson Randy Rhoads
The Jackson Randy Rhoads is an iconic model of electric guitar, originally commissioned by guitarist Randy Rhoads and produced by Jackson Guitars....

" that would soon become iconic in the industry, and served as the impetus that inspired Grover to found Jackson Guitars
Jackson Guitars
__FORCETOC__Jackson is a renowned brand of electric guitar that bears the name of its founder, Grover Jackson.-Early years:Grover Jackson obtained ownership in Charvel's Guitar Repair of Glendora, California in the 1970s with a promise to bolster Charvel's business...

.

Charvel (and Jackson) guitars continued to be manufactured at the Gladstone Street shop in the city of Glendora, California until 1986. In 1986, the manufacturing facilities were relocated to Ontario, California
Ontario, California
Ontario is a city located in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire region, it lies just east of the Los Angeles county line and is part of the Greater Los Angeles Area...

, and the production of U.S.-built guitars carrying the Charvel name ceased shortly thereafter.

The success of Charvel in the 1980s led to Grover's planning to mass produce popular configurations in Asia. Whereas each Charvel guitar produced in California was essentially a hand built, custom instrument, the Japanese assembly line versions that appeared in 1986 would be categorized into model numbers. Grover eventually sold Charvel/Jackson to the Japanese manufacturer IMC (International Music Corporation) in 1989, and Charvel guitars were produced exclusively in Japan from 1986 to 1991.

The Japanese made Charvels that appeared in 1986 could be easily identified from the San Dimas instruments by several distinct differences:
  • Neck plates circa 1982-1986 stamped "San Dimas, CA" (then briefly "Ontario, CA") were changed to a plate that read "Ft. Worth, TX", the location of IMC's U.S. offices. This was confusing to many consumers, as all guitars with the "Ft. Worth" neck plate were made in Japan, without exception.

  • The gold logo labeled "Charvel - Made in USA" that was affixed to the headstock of the Sam Dimas era (U.S. made) instruments was changed to a white logo that read "Charvel - By Jackson/Charvel".

  • The unfinished maple bolt-on neck that was a hallmark of the U.S. instruments was replaced by a Japanese neck with a clear satin finish.

Model 4

The Model 4 consisted of a full size Stratocaster-style body made of American basswood, 22 fret maple neck with rosewood fretboard, and mother of pearl dot inlays. There was a version with maple fretboard and black dot inlays that was called the Model 4M. The Model 4 originally featured the Kahler 2300 tremolo. After 1986, the Model 4 came equipped with a licensed Floyd Rose style tremolo (Jackson JT-6) and sharkfin pearl inlays.

Model 5

The Model 5 was neck-through guitar very similar to the USA Jackson SL-2 Soloist. It featured thin profile 25.5" scale maple neck and poplar body, rosewood fingerboard with jumbo frets, and mother of pearl dot inlays. In early 1986 the guitar was offered with a Kahler 2300 series Pro tremolo with steel roller saddles, as well as Jackson J80C pickups with an active mid-boost control. Other controls include master volume and tone controls, as well as a five way switch which offered coil tapping. By late 1986 the Model 5 was redesigned with a Kahler 2315 Standard series tremolo with brass roller saddles. Larger pickup covers appeared by late 1986. After 1986, the Kahler was replaced with a non-recessed, licensed Jackson JT-6 tremolo that was similar to a Floyd Rose. The color options for this guitar were cobalt blue, red, black cherry, pearl white, and black. The Model 5 is one of the rarer Charvel imports.
Model 5A


Identical to the Model 5, but fitted with a single humbucker in the bridge position and equipped with a single volume control and no tone control.

Model 5 FX
The Model 5 FX featured the same construction than Model 6, the only differences being the scale (without shark fin inlays) and the pickups (one single coil and one humbucker). Also, some model 5FX had a slightly recessed tremolo.

The Model 5 FX were essentially Model 5A that were fitted with a neck single coil on arrival at the Fort Worth facility in an attempt to increase the guitar's market acceptance.
Model 6
The Model 6 was basically import version of the Jackson
Jackson Guitars
__FORCETOC__Jackson is a renowned brand of electric guitar that bears the name of its founder, Grover Jackson.-Early years:Grover Jackson obtained ownership in Charvel's Guitar Repair of Glendora, California in the 1970s with a promise to bolster Charvel's business...

 Soloist, but under the Charvel name, and featured neck-through construction with a maple neck and poplar body. The neck has 24 jumbo frets on a bound rosewood fretboard. The Model 6 also featured a bound neck/headstock, and shark fin mother of pearl inlays. Model 6s came with Kahler 2300 Tremolos in early 1986, as well as an extra thin neck profile. The tremolo was later replaced with a non-recessed JT-6 Jackson unit, and the neck profile became a little larger. The pickups were a Jackson J50BC humbucker at the bridge, two Jackson J-200 stacked single coils, and an on-board mid-boost (Jackson JE-1200). The control layout consists of a one volume, one tone, a control for the mid boost, and an on/off mini toggle switch for each pickup.
Other models
In 1984, Charvel made a limited run of around 100 guitars called Route 66, which consisted of a Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...

 style body in black, red, or sunburst, and fitted with chrome or black hardware and dice as volume knobs. The flashy styling and steep price tag ($1200) proved to be unpopular, and this basic style was later revived for Korean production under the Jackson brand.

In 1989, the Charvel line was expanded into a number of different series, including the Classic, Fusion and Contemporary. The Classic series included the 275, 375, 375 deluxe and 475 models. The Fusion series had shorter scale necks and included the Fusion Deluxe and Fusion Custom models. The Contemporary range included the Predator and Spectrum models. The Spectrum guitar was inspired by a Jackson guitar custom built for Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

, and was based on a Stratocaster style body, but with a reversed pointed headstock, an early 50s Fender P-Bass-inspired pickguard, wild colors, and an active tone circuit that produced a wah effect. The three single-coil pickups were in fact stacked humbucking coils. Most of the guitars at the time were equipped with Schaller
Schaller
-Surname:* Barry R. Schaller, American lawyer, judge, academic, and bioethicist* Bernhard Schaller, Swiss physician and medical researcher* Biff Schaller , American baseball player* George Schaller, American biologist* Hans Schaller, German luger...

 hardware, including a licensed Floyd Rose
Floyd Rose
The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, or simply Floyd Rose, is a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. The first of its kind, Floyd D. Rose invented the locking vibrato in 1977, and it is now manufactured by a company of the same name...

 locking tremolo. The Korean-made Charvette brand also came into being to do business in the lowest end of the market at this time.

As the 90s progressed brand fell from favor due to changes in music fashion and a drop in quality, as the Charvel name was applied to even lower quality budget instruments.

In more recent years various attempts have been made to revive the brand with higher quality Japanese and American made offerings. Today, the original late '70s to mid '80s U.S. made San Dimas models remain the most highly collectible examples of the brand.

Fake Charvels

The collectible status and escalating market prices of 1970s-80s U.S.-made Charvels have spawned a rash of fake 'San Dimas' Charvels, many of which conspicuously appear in online auction listings or elsewhere, and are misrepresented as genuine originals. These fakes are often created by swapping necks and/or "San Dimas" stamped neck plates onto Asian-made Charvels or other inexpensive guitars, and completing the project with a reproduction San Dimas era "Charvel - Made in USA" headstock decal. In recent years, the problem has become widespread enough such that it remains a frequent topic of discussion amongst knowledgeable collectors of San Dimas era Charvel guitars. Some fakes are convincing enough such that independent, expert confirmation is strongly recommended before considering the purchase of an instrument claimed to be original San Dimas era Charvel.

2002 - The Rebirth of Charvel

Charvel/Jackson was bought by Fender in 2002, and the Charvel brand entered a renaissance, with several U.S. made "San Dimas" models—so-named in order to recapture the original association of the Charvel name with high-quality, American made professional guitars.

Charvel presently offers several series of guitars, including both lower-priced Japanese and boutique-priced American made instruments, and operates a full-service custom shop. Perhaps the most notable product of Charvel's present custom shop is the Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

 signature model - a short run of which are actually paint stenciled by Eddie himself.

Current Charvel guitars

San Dimas Pro-Mods
  • Japanese built guitars in various styles and colors


USA Production Models
  • U.S. built guitars in various styles and colors


USA Warren DeMartini Models
  • U.S. built reproductions of Warren DeMartini's
    Warren DeMartini
    Warren Justin DeMartini , nicknamed Torch, is the lead guitarist for Ratt, a popular American band during the mid-to-late 1980s Los Angeles glam metal scene.-Early life:...

     original custom San Dimas guitars from the early 1980s


USA Custom Built
  • Built to order and limited run custom guitars

Wayne Charvel Since 1978

Wayne Charvel has resurfaced in the realm of guitar manufacturing with varying degrees of success several times since selling the brand in 1978.

Wayne created a namesake model offered through Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...

, the "Gibson W.R.C. Signature Model" - of which only a limited number were made, but this saw little recognition and was short-lived due mainly to a lawsuit filed by Jackson. The Gibson W.R.C. models were made from 1987–1988 and were offered in three standard colors: red, black, and white. Of several hundred produced, 200 were 'show case' models that featured Wayne Charvel's signature on the bell and were accompanied by a letter from Wayne. The WRC model came with a tan faux leather case with hot pink interior and combination locks. The earlier models were equipped with a Kahler Spyder tremolo, while later models featured a Floyd Rose Original. All featured a maple bolt-on neck with ebony fingerboard.

Today, Wayne and his son Michael own and operate Charvel Music, a full line music store in Paradise, CA, and currently manufacture guitars as a joint venture under the name Wayne Guitars.
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