Any Charvel Lovers In Da House?

[MAXIFUNK]

GAS IS BREWING

Any of the fellow freters own or played CHARVELS?

Looking for some insight and honest assessments .
TELE & STRAT bodies hot-roded out and killer paint jobs eye candy all day long.

[deeaa*]

Ayh, I like Charvels a lot. I have half a dozen friends who also dig&own them, one neighbor of mine has about a dozen alone.

I have owned a 1 and 3 from circa '88 I guess, guitar, not toothpaste logo, and a Jackson/Charvel tele kind of job, and I have played plenty of Dinkys etc. And my main axe was built using the woods of an 80's Charvette 1st series which used Charvel woods.

All the charvels, except some of the more recent eastern jobs have extremely nice necks and I have yet to meet one that's gone bad. The Jackson/Charvel I had had the slimmest neck I ever met on any guitar, it was practically nonexistant up to the point of being painful to play chords on...but incredibly fast to solo and despite some 15 years of rough use straight as a razor still.

Same with the Charvette made custom I now play...it had a semi-thin neck I shaped into an asymmetrical V shape plus contoured the body to my liking, made into hardtail...it's nearly 20 years old and light as a feather and simply a superb guitar to play.

So yeah, I am definitely a fan of Charvels...USA made old ones are the best but even early Charvettes are superb in their woods and also some Japanese(?) made series are built with woods that totally stand the time and are very well done indeed.

Good Charvels of almost any age typically fetch around 600-800 dollars as base figure around here, excluding the cheaper eastern made models, and some USA made special models can fetch real high prices of course. BUT you can sometimes score an 80's job in rough shape for cheep; I paid 120 bucks for my Charvette wreck and I would have paid that for the neck alone.

[oldguy]

GAS IS BREWING

Any of the fellow freters own or played CHARVELS?

Looking for some insight and honest assessments .
TELE & STRAT bodies hot-roded out and killer paint jobs eye candy all day long.

Yes, I own a Model 6 from the eighties. It's in nearly mint condition except for the tiny ding you nearly always find at the tip of it's pointy headstock. Other than that it's perfect. I love it. Neck's straight and the whammy stays in tune even with the most vigorous of use. I even like the active electronics, which many people don't seem to care for. I find them quiet, and the mid boost knob helps thicken up the sound quite nicely. It's basic black.
I like it a lot.

[deeaa*]

Here's a webpage I made of my Davette project, also a pic of the Jackson/Charvel:

http://deeaa.pp.fi/Charv/charv.htm

[guitarhack]

I have a japanese made Charvel by Jackson CSM-1G from the late '80s or early '90s, which is an entry level strat-style guitar. It plays and sounds great. You can get about any sound you want out it's H-S-H congiguration. Very easy to play.

[Jimi75]

Charvel made and still makes great guitars. Especially the 80s Strats were tremendous! I dreamed of a Charvel San Dimas, but couldn't afford it as I still went to school, so I saved up my money and fell in love with this baby.....stop laughing okay

[marnold***]

I used to have a beat up Model 7. Are you talking about the new San Dimas line? Those look pretty sharp.

[MAXIFUNK]

I used to have a beat up Model 7. Are you talking about the new San Dimas line? Those look pretty sharp.

The new San Dimas & So Cal USA PRODUCTION with the Fender heads.

[marnold***]

The new San Dimas & So Cal USA PRODUCTION with the Fender heads.

I've heard nothing but good things about them and the price is relatively reasonable for a U.S.-made guitar. The original San Dimas Charvels had the Fender headstock. Since Fender took over both Jackson and Charvel they can use that headstock again legally.

They tend to be quite like Jacksons: similar pickups, compound radius fretboards, Floyds, etc. I think, however, that the Charvels are more of a full-size Strat body instead of Jackson's 7/8th size Dinky/Soloist body.

[mainestratman]

I wouldn't say "no" to an 80's "vintage" strat-style.

[Tone2TheBone]

I had an 80s Model 4 in Black Cherry and shark inlays on the fret board. Floyd licensed trem etc. Wonderful guitar the neck on it was killer. Very flat, wide and very 80s! I used to sand down the back of the neck with fine grit sandpaper to take off the satin finish cause I liked the feel of bare wood on Charvel necks. Ahhh the good old days. I miss that guitar.

[Blaze]

Here s my early 90 s Charvel Jackson active PUs ..
I had changed the vibrato for a original Floyd Rose..
I don t play it much , might go on Ebay soon..

[Katastrophe]

I had a Charvel Dinky style, with the pointy headstock. Sold it this past Christmas.

It was a cheapo import, but it was my best playing guitar.

The newer Charvels are awesome and play great.

[tunghaichuan***]

I'd love to have one of those old San Dimas models with the brass nut and strat bridge with a single humbucker in the bridge. I'm contemplating putting together a Warmoth or USACustom guitar along those lines as I doubt I'll ever be able to afford an original.