in before the "that's not a real charvel" fanboys.
back on topic though, I haven't played any of the desolation models, but the re-release of the stars certainly did ignite a bad case of GAS. Love the San Dimas/So Cal and wildcard guitars though...they play like greased butter and sound absolutely fantastic.
I know there's alot of research I can do on my own, but can anyone give me the bullet points on how Charvel is related to Jackson?
pretty much sister companies. both owned by Fender these days. was there something more specific? I mean, much more than that and it's just opinion or a preference. for my perspective, it's sorta like the Jacksons are the higher end and Charvels are the hot-rods, but any gap between them is very slim. for example, it's not as far apart as LTD is to ESP or Epiphone is to Gibson when it comes to the quality of the materials and craftsmanship. I have a USA-made Jackson and two imported Charvels (one from the 80s and one from the 10s) and they are all fine guitars.
I know there's alot of research I can do on my own, but can anyone give me the bullet points on how Charvel is related to Jackson?
...
Charvel guitars was started by Wayne Charvel during the late 70s or early 80s as a boutique brand making custom shop super Strats out of San Dimas, California. Their clients were a lot of notable famous players (shredders, primarily) during that time. They still operate in that capacity today.
Jackson was started by Grover Jackson around the same time, doing about the same thing, albeit with more neck - through construction and less Strat like body shapes.
Someone more versed in the history of these brands can give more detail, but they were developed as two different brands making extremely high end guitars, and over the years have incorporated less expensive import models into their lineups as well.
They are and have always been the exact same company, using the same machines, templates, and workers in the same rooms of the same buildings, Jackson /Charvel Musical Instruments.
This is not exactly correct...
Charvel was a manufacturer of replacement parts first and foremost, only later did they eventuallly start offering pre-assembled instruments (The Fabled "Pre-Pros")
Grover Jackson was an employee of Wayne Charvel that eventually purchased the company. At some point in time Randy Rhoads approached him about his "concorde" design (which we know today as the Randy Rhoads model)
The reason for the 2 names is that when the Randy Rhoads model was designed, Grover Jackson felt it prudent to not risk the Charvel brand`s good reputation on such a "wild" instrument, and therefore created the Jackson brand. Had that not been done, Charvel would be known for classic superstrats AND "metal" machines.
So when you really want to get anal about it, the reality is that Jackson is the sub-brand and Charvel is the parent company.![]()
Thank you, Zerb! I knew someone who knew the history of those brands would chime in. My whole point was just to illustrate that Charvel isn't anybody's "Epiphone."