Charvel Japanese Guitars 1986-1991

Guide to the first Charvel imports from Japan

ARTICLE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
...more coming soon.

Here's your chance to date and verify any of the the legendary Japanese made Charvel guitars, built for the Jackson / Charvel company by the Japanese Chushin Gakki factory back in 1986 thru 1991.
Why focus on this era and these guitars? Because they were the very first Charvel imports and they have become legendary due to their build quality vs. price ratio in the second hand market. These guitars have proven themselves to be a fantastic alternative to the higher priced USA Jacksons and Charvels and having owned or played both, you realize how great these vintage Japanese guitars really are. The history of the Charvel import guitars is included in the Jackson Professional History article.

Is it original?

Verification of guitars is often difficult, mainly due to people modifying their axes. The Model Series Charvels is a good example of this. It is one of the most modified and hotrodded series of all times, making it difficult to really know what you're looking at when searching for used vintage Charvel import guitars.

This article will help you determine the year of production of any of these guitars and show you both their original configuration and the evolution they went through. This is primarily powered by the catalog scans database online here, but special comments on features and evolution not found in the catalogs, will also be disclosed in the following. Beware that some catalog pictures show guitars with features never seen on the street, so to speak. They were prototypes, photographed for the catalogs, apparently before Charvel had fully decided on the specifications for each model. Stressful times, I'm sure.

Charvette?

On this page, I will focus only on the first stint of Charvel guitars that was built by the guitar luthiers at the Chushin Gakki factory in Japan, covering a six year span from 1986 till 1991. The Charvette brand were Korean made and therefore outside the scope of this article. See the Charvette line of guitars in the catalogs.

Article is under construction. More coming soon...