so-whats the deal with charvels and jacksons?

[blackmetalmilitia]

i mean, they were both very similar. i am refering to the non SD charvels. if i were to own a charvel, i would think that i'd get alot of "that looks like a jackson" comments. what does one respond to this? whats the history grover jackson and wayne charvel?

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: so-whats the deal with charvels and jacksons?

I'm trying to rememeber things from my guitar encyclopedia for this reply. I believe that Wayne owned a guitar shop that "souped up" Fender guitars, and Grover was an employee. Wayne sold to Grover for $40,000 I think. Correct me if I am wrong. So, Grover then carried on. He used the "Charvel" name on traditional Strat-bodied guitars, and used his own "Jackson" name on the "riskier-looking" guitars (like Randy's guitars) for fear that if they did not work out well, then the "Charvel" name would be preserved.

Jacksons became primarily neckthroughs of different shapes, while Charvels were primarily bolt-necks with traditional double-offset-cutaway bodies.

Details are sketchy in my memory, but hopefully the experts here will fill in on the stuff I missed.

[grandpa]

Re: so-whats the deal with charvels and jacksons?

Somewhere on the web is a complete history of Jackson/Charvel.
Wayne had a shop where he started hotrodding strats and then started building customs. The demand became such that he took a partner and began production. He hired Grover to work in the shop. When trouble developed in the partnership, he sold out to Grover. Grover produced Charvels until Randy wanted a custom. The Rhoads was so different that Grover called it a Jackson. There is much more to the story.

[blackmetalmilitia]

Re: so-whats the deal with charvels and jacksons?

very informative! thanks guys.

[Jim Shine]

Re: so-whats the deal with charvels and jacksons?

Times change, but when I got into this stuff, when it came to new guitars, Charvel was the import line of Jacksons. A few years later Jackson branded imports came out and changed that.

[Greg Crowe]

Re: so-whats the deal with charvels and jacksons?

In the beginning(mid-70's) there was Wayne Charvel and a little shop in San Dimas, CA that built/sold parts to replace inferior pieces on Fender Strats. Eventually Wayne started hotrodding Fenders by sticking double coil pickups in them, etc. and then later adding fancy graphics. By 77-78, Wayne and Grover were building complete guitars(Pre-pro's). Also during this time, Wayne sold out the Charvel name and shop to Grover. The shop was in bigtime debt and was not a money maker.

Grover Jackson introduced the first production/serialized Charvels in November 1978. These guitars all had strat headstocks. 1982, Fender has a problem with the headstocks and starts applying pressure to Grover to change the headstock shape. During the same time, a young guitar prodigy named Randy Rhoads comes in and has Grover design a new radical guitar(the original LTD Rhoads) with a new headstock shape. Not wanting to put the Charvel name on something so radical, Grover writes his last name in cursive script on Randy's new guitar.

1983, Grover caves in under the pressure/lawyers from Fender and changes the headstock shape. He decides to go with the Randy Rhoads/Jackson headstock shape as it has been well received. The changeover is not done all at once. Strat headstocks continue to be snuck out the door even through 1985.

After Randy's death, Grover decides to make a production neck-through "Jackson" Rhoads and show prototypes at Jan 83 NAMM convention. Production neck-through Jackson Rhoads, Soloists, V's, etc. begin in 1983. During this time, all bolt-on guitars carry the Charvel name, some with pointy and some with strat headstocks.

1985, Grover LICENSES the "Charvel" name to AMIC/Akai for use on Japanese guitars. 1986, AMIC introduces the Japanese line of Charvel's with the white Charvel logo. Grover continues to build USA Charvels(gold logos) through 1986.

1987, Charvel/Jackson USA has taken off and grown out of the San Dimas shop. A new shop in Ontario, CA is opened right next to the airport. Approx. coinciding with the move to Ontario, bolt-on guitars now all receive the Jackson name instead of Charvel and the Charvel name is reserved for import/AMIC guitars.

Late 1989, Grover has had enough and SELLS all rights to the Charvel and Jackson brand names to AMIC and turns over USA production to AMIC effective 1990.

1990, Grover is gone and the Ontario custom shop operates under AMIC with Mike Shannon, Tim Wilson and Pat McGary continuing the USA Jackson tradition. AMIC introduces the "USA Select" guitars and the custom shop starts moving away from true "custom" guitars.

1990-1998, see above 1990...... it works well, don't mess with it, things remain the same.

1999, Mike Shannon and Pat McGary have "issues" with certain AMIC management and leave Jackson. Tim Wilson is left to carry on.

Late 2002, Fender purchases Charvel/Jackson from AMIC.

2003, the Charvel/Jackson community sits and watches, waiting to see what Fender will do.

There you have it, the short history of Charvel/Jackson.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: so-whats the deal with charvels and jacksons?

Thanks Greg, that was some good reading. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]