Charvel/Jackson Early History 1974-1980

California has been a hot spot for adding to American Culture for much of the 20th century until present. From Hollywood movies to the latest dieting fads there is never a shortage of firsts to emerge from the golden state. One of those trends which came to life in the late 1970's was the birth of the superstrat guitar. Which originated in a suburban L.A. guitar shop.

The superstrat guitar as it became to be called was your traditional Stratocaster body and neck equipped with a humbucking pickup in combination with single coils. Later on to include a modified tremelo system for a more diverse, aggressive use of the tremelo. Once guitarists were exposed to this design the demand for similar guitars was on fire. How the guitar design came into being was due to several circumstances and much of it grew out of a small guitar shop owned by a guitar builder named Wayne Charvel.

Wayne opened Charvel's Guitar Repair in Azusa California in 1974. Previously he was a contractor for Fender Guitars doing the refinishes which would interrupt Fenders production and repair-work out of his home. The shop allowed Wayne to continue what he was doing and additionally start selling aftermarket parts and accessories to guitarists. In about a year in Azusa, Charvel's Guitar Repair moved to San Dimas. The business needed more space although the bulk of the business was mail order guitar parts.

The aftermarket parts market was just beginning to blossom and Charvel was a leader at sourcing quality parts. They stocked brass bridges, aluminum jack plates and stainless steel trem arms, bodies by Boogie and Schecter as well as necks and DiMarzio pickups. Wayne had ads in various guitar and music magazines which brought business as getting parts, especially quality parts was difficult. There was a real DIY guitar attitude also at the time with many guitar players modifying their instruments to suit their sound.

American guitar manufacturers weren't doing anything very interesting or exciting with their electric guitars during the 70's. They were building the same tried and true models and also creating different versions of those models. Some were hits but most were misses. Quality also was at an all time low during this time which was due to a focus on large production runs of the models especially by Fender and Gibson. This had guitar players looking at other manufacturers, hence the rise in Japanese electric guitar brands, or in some circumstances taking it in their own hands and creating something all their own.

At some point a young Eddie Van Halen went to Charvel's shop and walked out of there with a guitar body and neck which he would assemble into the white with black stripes guitar eventually. Over the next few years Eddie would assemble several other guitars from parts acquired from Charvel. When Van Halen broke onto the music scene Eddie's style of playing changed rock guitar forever. So did the guitars he was pictured playing and Eddie let the world know about Charvel by giving them special thanks on the back cover of Van Halen's first album.

The simplicity of the design along with an ease to play with access to the higher frets coupled with the thicker, darker tone of a humbucking pickup and a well tuned vibrato are the elements which define a superstrat guitar. Charvel was in the position to create a new niche in electric guitars whether they realized it or not. They had tapped into a passion of rock guitar players which was fueled by the revolutionary playing of Eddie Van Halen and the radical look of a traditional stratocaster type guitar.

In 1977 Grover Jackson would come into Charvel's Guitar Repair to buy a telecaster body. Grover was no stranger to doing guitar repairs of his own and had a very good sense of business. Soon after Grover met Wayne. Eventually they formed a partnership which gave Grover a 10% share of Charvel if he could turn the company around in a years time. Which would hopefully allow Charvel to get more into the manufacturing role which is the direction they wanted to go. Building all out Hot Rod guitars.

Wayne grew frustrated with financial obligations and was having disagreements with Grover on the direction they should go with building guitars. After several months and no guitars built Wayne sold his share off to Grover and walked away from Charvel. Jackson borrowed money from his father and began paying down the companies debts. In November of 1978 Grover Jackson had full control over Charvel Guitars.

In late 1978 the demand for Charvel guitars was beginning and they were in no way ready to do any real production in San Dimas. Grover started hiring a small staff and moved out of the San Dimas shop to a larger more suitable facility in Glendora California. The first guitar built under Grover's direction was Eddie Van Halen's black and yellow striped guitar which is featured with a photo of Eddie and the guitar on Van Halen's second album. Grover also got Charvel a booth at the summer 1979 NAMM show in Atlanta where he fielded orders from Guitar Center Hollywood and Musician's Supply, (now Musicians Friend).

The guitars were Charvel San Dimas models made with ash bodies routed to take a bridge humbucker and accept a brass Kahler traditional tremelo with compound radius maple necks fretted with jumbo frets. The guitars neckplates still showed San Dimas California even though the vast majority of these guitars were actually built at the Glendora shop. However they were conceived in San Dimas.

They also built a tele styled model and an explorer style model too. They designed the Star which was modeled after Eddie Van Halen's highly modified Ibanez Destroyer. The employees took a high degree of ownership over the guitars they manufactured. Taking great care to make each guitar the best it could possibly be. This attention to detail and quality was rare for a guitar manufacturer at the time.

By 1980 Charvel was known for building quirky fast playing guitars popular with young up and coming guitarists like George Lynch, Warren DiMartini, and Steve Lynch. Then Randy Rhoades approached Grover about building him a guitar. Randy had just gotten the role of guitarist for Ozzy Osbournes Blizzard of Oz. Randy wanted something different in shape but still fairly traditional in finish. Through trial and error Grover and Randy came up with what was called the 'Concorde' an offset V styled guitar with sharp points, a set neck and pointy headstock. Taking a cue from Randy's white Les Paul custom the finish was a pearl white with gold pinstriping.

A very radical departure for the guitars coming out of Charvel. Grover was leery of alienating Charvel customers and opted to hand paint his name on the headstock. It was also a neck through body guitar and all the Charvels were bolt on neck guitars. This would become a distinction between Jackson and Charvel guitars. Charvel's would have the bolt on neck while Jackson's would have neck through construction. Later renamed the RR1 for Randy Rhoades first Jackson, the guitar would become one of the brands most popular models.

While Wayne Charvel wasn't part of the company when they rode the wave of popularity their guitars created, his ideas and inspirations to build a Hot Rod guitar were the catalyst to become what his namesake guitars became. Wayne had a real talent with custom graphic finishes, he is likely the first to paint flames on a guitar body imitating a hot rod. One of the things Charvel guitars became known for was the outrageous graphics gracing the guitar bodies in the 80's. Wayne Charvel had an idea and guitar shop which enabled him the freedom to put together outside the box guitar ideas. Grover when handed that ball ran with it and made Charvel a world known name in electric guitars.