No more USA Charvels?

[Tekky]

I see your points, but the Model series were probably the best valued guitars you could find. Adding OFRs, brand-name pickups, and a strat headstock would drive the price up.

Chances are that anyone who knows the difference between them and stock parts are qualified enough to probably make those modifications themselves.

If they're looking to keep the USA Customs around, then leaving the strat headstock for USA customs as an option is probably the best way to go.

But I digress... I don't think we've heard definitively whether either import Charvels are coming or USA Charvels are going away. Let's hope the folks at FMIC see this discussion and they put their marketing folks on it and make the best decision. Ultimately, we both want the same thing. We want the Charvel brand to not only survive, but to thrive in today's market.

[shreddermon]

Yep, agreed.

And just one more point for you (an J/C) to consider: the market niche that the Model series guitars once had is pretty much already being fullfilled by the Jackson import line. A DK2 is essentially a modernized Model 4. And SL3 = Model 6, etc. So, at best, there'd be significant overlap. More likely, they'd be "cannibalizing" Jackson import sales.

If J/C is shooting for the demographic of the people who used to buy the Model series, the import line would be doomed to failure. I'd give it 2 years, tops. No, they need to set their sights higher, and go after today's youth market. Not yesterday's. And that means going toe-to-toe with ESP and Ibanez. And, IMHO, USA-like retro-themed Charvel stratheads would be the way to go to be successful with that.

I'll STFU now.

[~K~]

Model series were an affordable well made alternative. It was the counterpart of Jackson for the most part. With the saturation of the Jackson import line it doesn't make any sense. What would make more sense is to make each line diverse with little overlap. For instance ..

SL3 has a recessed trem ...made it;s charvel counterpart with a non recessed. Give different options etc ..

Model series were well made guitars and I'll never dispute that but to state the are equivolent to the USA series is off base imo. Their woods had a much different density that the USA Charveys and it was the biggest reason I never bought any.. i never found a model series charvey that felt as good as my usa's ....

With that said if the reintroduced the model6 at a "competetive" price I'd be quick to check it out and maybe purchase one ... but it would have to be more cost effective than say a used SL2

[RR05xx]

yeah its a bolt on strat with a very specific neck that could be ordered at the time as well...lol...d.m.

LOL! Its a little more than that as well, but hey, from that point of view, who cares anyway. Lots of bolt on strats out there to chose from.

[mattsmusiccenter]

They don't need to do an import line for Charvel, they already have plenty of Jackson imports. The original plan was to leave Charvel as a high end USA hot rodded guitar and that's what it should continue to be. If they would just stop screwing with prices, policies and straighten out QC problems the brand would do well. Too many cooks in the kitchen because FMIC is such a large corporation. Focus on one direction already! You don't see Suhr or Anderson doing import guitars and these are the guys Charvel is competing against. Granted they're different animals, but they're all high end USA made bolt ons.

[Tekky]

Good point. Very good point.

[shreddermon]

I was going to state that goes without saying. ...But maybe it hasn't.

[diablomozart]

i believe it was 93 when you could start getting either logo again to be honest...and yeah one of my buddies ordered a charvel in 85 and it came with a jackson logo...he was irked to say the least...lol...around 95 i guess when i started talking to amic they said they could pretty much copy my old stratheads to the t but they would have to have pointy heads (not stratheads) and they'd put the old charvel logo on them instead...just didnt advertise it...only drawback was they had no charvel plates at the time to use so it would have to have jackson plate...so maybe i should restate...you could get a really accurate replica if you had an old charvel for them to copy...lol...d.m.

oh and rr?...to me the reason i play these is mostly the feel of the neck...always has been...nothing else feels quite the same...the inports were cool but i liked the wider flatter stratheads you'll run across every once in a while...like the 1 3/4" nut width...even the original usa pointies, while good, were not quite the same to me...of course now my main guitar is a custom shop soloist so what do i know?...lmao

[~K~]

around 95 i guess when i started talking to amic they said they could pretty much copy my old stratheads to the t but they would have to have pointy heads (not stratheads) and they'd put the old charvel logo on them instead...just didnt advertise it...only drawback was they had no charvel plates at the time to use so it would have to have jackson plate...

Sure it wasn't before that .. the SD reish series was in 95 and used etched charvel plates

Back in 86 the reason for the Jackson logos was simply because they ran out of ChArvel logos and with the import line did not plan on continuing ... they probably never figured that people would care about a logo

[Joe_Steeler]

They don't need to do an import line for Charvel, they already have plenty of Jackson imports. The original plan was to leave Charvel as a high end USA hot rodded guitar and that's what it should continue to be. If they would just stop screwing with prices, policies and straighten out QC problems the brand would do well. Too many cooks in the kitchen because FMIC is such a large corporation. Focus on one direction already! You don't see Suhr or Anderson doing import guitars and these are the guys Charvel is competing against. Granted they're different animals, but they're all high end USA made bolt ons.

Bingo!!
Agree 127.5%

[diablomozart]

Sure it wasn't before that .. the SD reish series was in 95 and used etched charvel plates

Back in 86 the reason for the Jackson logos was simply because they ran out of ChArvel logos and with the import line did not plan on continuing ... they probably never figured that people would care about a logo

trying to remember...im an old fuck ya know...lol....if it was earlier it wasnt much more than a year or two...i had a stone soloist that they installed a floyd nut on for me and a rhoads they repaired and refinned gold metalflake (bought thru mail order from daddys junky music)...hmm...the ua selects were out but only for maybe 2 years at the time i contacted them?...to be honest i cant even really remember how i got their phone numgber way back then...i DO remember talking to them about ordering charvels thru a friend in canada and getting around the strathead copyright isssue tho...and it was a while after that they sold me the blue marble prototype charvel re-ish that i ended up selling to lerxst...they gave me a great deal on it just so i could give them opinion on how it compared to old ones...werent all that happy when i told them it didnt feel like any of my charvels...lol...great guitar tho...so yeah maybe as early as 92-93?...wish i still had my old long distance bills and i could tell you...lol...d.m.

[Predator1]

Things must be really F-up over at Charvel. I just spoke with another very prominent dealer who has decided to drop the Charvel line. He indicated that they are impossible to deal with and the profit margin/ sales just are not there. I am very disappointed because they otfen had some very cool CS pieces. I was asked not to mention their name but you all will be suprised very shortly. Well maybe not suprised but this means one less dealer to shop from.

[Jeff Albertson]

Maybe this isn't new news...but I just heard some rumors from a bonfide "source". They're redesigning some stuff for another shot at the title. Contoured heels, neck profile and fretwork changes. Either that or they're training monkeys to build them. "I'm gonna name this one 'Chimpyshannon' "

[Toby]

The original plan was to leave Charvel as a high end USA hot rodded guitar and that's what it should continue to be.

Imo, that's what Charvels really are. I appreciate them to continue the brand just a high end USA hot rodded guitar. The original Charvels are built to custom order only, they were never built as production guitars. I think, most of the Charvel players prefer built to custom order anyways. And the original Charvels have never been guitars for the masses. But as long as Asian competitors put imitations to the market for the masses, maybe Charvel should get back their market share with USA production guitars. If they would really put a Japanese line to the market, they should not name it Charvel and just say "by Charvel".