Charvel
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation[1] | |
Website | charvel.com |
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Charvel is a brand of
History
Charvel guitars became popular in the 1980s due to their association with famous
.1970s
After working at
After purchasing the company name, Grover Jackson moved the business to a new location and tooled it to produce guitar bodies which he sold to Mighty Mite and DiMarzio, using the proceeds to fund an expansion into making necks. During this time B.C. Rich, SD Curlee, and Music Man approached Charvel to manufacture various wood parts. The income from these sales provided the Charvel shop with additional tooling and experience that gave Jackson the footing required to grow the Charvel brand.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Charvel popularized custom revamps of the Fender Stratocaster design — often consisting of a Strat-shaped body with a single humbucking pickup and Fender style tremolo bridge systems. This modernized Stratocaster configuration (commonly referred to as the superstrat) was particularly well suited to the heavy metal style of music that was very popular at the time. Charvel guitars became renowned for its use of creative graphics, unfinished maple necks, and various innovative appointments.
1980s
In 1980, Grover Jackson met
Charvel (and Jackson) guitars remained in production at the Gladstone Street shop in Glendora, California until 1986. In 1986, as part of a licensing agreement with IMC (International Music Corporation), the manufacturing facilities moved to Ontario, California, and production of USA-built Charvel guitars ceased.
The success of Charvel in the 1980s led Jackson to mass-produce popular configurations in Asia. Each California-produced Charvel guitar was essentially a hand-built custom instrument. However, Japanese assembly line versions that appeared in 1986 were categorized into model numbers.
In 1989, Jackson sold Charvel/Jackson to the Japanese manufacturer IMC (International Music Corporation), who made Charvel guitars exclusively in Japan from 1986 to 1991.[3]
The Japanese made Charvels that appeared in 1986 are easily distinguished from San Dimas instruments by several distinct differences:
- Neck plates circa 1982-1986 stamped "San Dimas, CA"[4] (then briefly "Ontario, CA") changed to a plate that read "Ft. Worth, TX", the location of IMC's U.S. offices. This confused many consumers—as, without exception, all guitars with the "Ft. Worth" neck plate were made in Japan.[5]
- The gold label, "Charvel - Made in USA" affixed to the headstock of the San Dimas era (U.S. made) instruments changed to a white logo that read "Charvel - By Jackson/Charvel."[5]
- Instead of the unfinished maple bolt-on neck that was a hallmark of the U.S. instruments, the imported instruments had a Japanese neck with a clear satin finish.
2002—rebirth under Fender
When
Fender now offers several series of guitars in the Charvel brand including both moderately-priced and "boutique-priced" instruments, all of which are produced in Fender's factories. The brand also operates a full-service custom shop within the Fender Custom Shop facility in Corona.[6] One of Charvel's recent and notable Custom Shop models was the Eddie Van Halen signature "Striped Series" model (marketed as the Charvel EVH Art Series), a short run of guitars paint-stenciled by the guitarist.
Guitar models
Current
Charvel currently offers a range of guitars using Stratocaster-style (Dinky, San Dimas Style 1, and So-Cal Style 1) and Telecaster-style (San Dimas Style 2 and So-Cal Style 2) bodies, all of which are produced in Fender's Corona, USA and Ensenada, Mexico manufacturing facilities:[7][8]
- Pro-Mod, the brand's core line of "hot-rodded" guitars produced in Ensenada and utilising all body shapes, including the DK22 and DK24 series' which are available in a wide range of custom colours and pickup configurations with premium hardware, and roasted maple necks on some models.
- The MJ Series of Japanese built premium models: 1999 Style 1 San Dima, 2022 ‘Guthrie Govan’ San Dimas SD24 in Sunburst, 2021 MJ Dinky DK24 HSH 2PT Natural Walnut and Streaky Ebony fretboard.
- USA Select, Charvel's flagship series produced by the Custom Shop in Corona utilising the So-Cal and San Dimas body shapes.
- Artist Signature guitars produced in both factories for .
- Custom Shop instruments built to customer specification which can be ordered through a network of Custom Shop dealers in the US, UK, and Germany.[9]
The brand also offers Limited Edition runs of guitars, including "Super Stock" models which are sometimes offered in a "relic" finish.[10]
Past
Desolation series
A Chinese-built line introduced in 2011,[11] the budget Desolation series guitars had an oiled neck and 24 frets. A number of versions were available:[12]
- Star—DST-1 FR (Floyd Rose bridge, EMG 81/85 pickups), DST-1 ST (EMG 81/85 pickups), DST-3 FR 1H (Floyd Rose, one BooHeung BO-102JB pickup)
- Soloist—DX-1 FR (Floyd Rose bridge, EMG 81/85 pickups), DX-1 ST (EMG 81/85 pickups)
- Skatecaster—SK-1 FR (Floyd Rose bridge, EMG 81/85 pickups), SK-1 ST (EMG 81/85 pickups), SK-3 ST (Passive Desolation Humbucking pickups)
- Singlecut—DS-1 FR (Floyd Rose bridge, Seymour Duncan Blackout pickups), DS-1 ST (Seymour Duncan Blackout pickups), DS-2 ST (Active Desolation Humbucking pickups), DS-3 ST (Passive Desolation Humbucking pickups)
- Doublecut—DC-1 FR (Floyd Rose bridge, EMG 81/85 pickups), DC-1 ST (EMG 81/85 pickups), DC-2 ST (Active Desolation Humbucking pickups)
Other models
- Surfcaster. Produced between 1992 and 2005. Originally a semi-hollow guitar with lipstick pickups, later versions had a solid body or added a humbucking pickup in the bridge position.
- Route 66. In 1984, Charvel made a limited run of around 100 guitars called Route 66[citation needed], which consisted of a Fender Telecaster style body in black, red, or sunburst, and fitted with chrome or black hardware and dice as volume knobs. The flashy styling and high price ($1200) proved unpopular, and the 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 Classic, Fusion and Contemporary:
- Classic series, including the 275, 375, 375 deluxe and 475 models.
- Fusion series, with shorter scale necks, and included Deluxe and Custom models.
- Contemporary range, including the Predator and Spectrum models:
- The Spectrum guitar was inspired by a Jackson guitar custom built for 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.
- The Predator guitar featured reversed pointed headstock and slanted single coil-humbucker pickup layout.
- The Spectrum guitar was inspired by a Jackson guitar custom built for
Most of the guitars at the time were equipped with
The Korean-made Charvette brand also came into being to service the entry-level. In the 1990s, the Charvel CX series was imported as a lower-priced instrument.
Fake Charvels
The collectible status and escalating market prices of early USA-made Charvels resulted in counterfeit "San Dimas Charvels" being misrepresented as genuine. These fakes were often created by swapping necks and/or "San Dimas"-stamped neck plates onto Asian-made Charvels or other inexpensive guitars,[13] adding a reproduction San Dimas era "Charvel - Made in USA" headstock decal.[14]
Wayne Charvel since 1978
Wayne Charvel resurfaced in guitar manufacturing several times since selling the brand in 1978, with varying degrees of success. He created a namesake model offered through
Today, Charvel and his son Michael own and operate Charvel Music, a full line music store in Paradise, California, and manufacture guitars as a joint venture under the name Wayne Guitars.[16] Their houses and shop burned down in the 2018 Camp Fire.
References
- ^ FMIC Brands at Fender website Archived 2014-06-30 at the Wayback Machine, 8 Dec 2014
- ^ Thomas sabo charms jewellers (June 1, 2011). "16.) Wayne Charvel History " Wayne Guitars – Custom guitars made by Michael & Wayne Charvel". Wayneguitars.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2012.
- ^ "History". Jacksoncharvelworld.net. November 10, 1978. Archived from the original on February 1, 2012. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b "Identify your Jackson/Charvel". Jacksoncharvelworld.net. Archived from the original on December 6, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
- ^ [1] Archived May 30, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "All Gear". charvel.com. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- ^ https://downloads.ctfassets.net/7qp76lh1i6tg/4oh693LC1qv94cAfbQXSq6/f14d8885029e37d53f723d5f5c14272e/2020-charvel-catalog.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Custom Shop". charvel.com. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- ^ "Limited Edition Series". charvel.com. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- ^ Premier Guitar (August 15, 2011). "Charvel Introduces Desolation Series Guitars". Retrieved March 4, 2015.
- ^ "Charvel Desolation". Archived from the original on January 31, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
- ^ "Jacksoncharvelworld.com". Jacksoncharvelworld.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
- ^ "The Ultimate Resource for Vintage Charvel Guitars". San Dimas Charvel. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
- ^ "Charvel : Gibson WRC". Museumstuff.com. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
- ^ [2] Archived November 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine