Re: Can someone straighten me out on Parker and Tobias?
Oh. I thought Wayne stayed on through the Ratt era when hair metal bands were really helping them sell San Dimas models.
If I remember correctly, he didn't want the more aggressive Randy Rhoades Concorde design to potentially mess up his super Strat vintage line under the Charvel name, so he spun that off under Grover.
The brands seem nearly identical these days.
Wayne was gone by the time Rhoads came along. Grover left the Charvel name in place since it already had a reputation behind it. Grover made the call to put his own name on the Concorde to protect the Charvel name in case it was a flop.
Grover was bought out by the consultancy he hired in the mid 80s (IMC), who came up with the Charvel Model series. Grover was opposed to imports entirely, and wanted Charvel to be the bolt-on USA production line while Jackson did only the neckthrough Custom Shop products. However, the money masters won out, under the condition that Grover could train the builders in Japan personally rather than simply contracting with ESPee/Aria/Hoshino like everyone else did. IIRC he was gone before the USA production Jacksons launched.
As for Charvel and Jackson seeming identical these days, Charvel had no identity at the time other than as a logo and the fact they would do what Fender couldn't - a 22 fret USA-made Strat without a pickguard.
You'll hear things like "San Dimas neck profile", which never existed because Charvel did not establish one. He made whatever the cutomer wanted - boatneck, V, thin and round, asymmetrical, whatever. The neck profile you found on a Charvel was either precisely spec'd or left to the builder's whim, and between Wayne, Mike Eldred, Tim Wilson, Grover Jackson, and Mike Shannon, that was a lot of potential variation.
The Model series was the first Charvel to get a somewhat standardized neck profile, and even those went through changes over the years. The Model 5 and 6, as well as the 650XL, could be found with either a round profile or the Jackson "flat-spot" profile that was found on CS models, and later standard on the early USA and Pro models.
