Steve Stevens Glow Charvel #4790

[Emerald]

Bump!! Anybody notice the guitar case?? I had this guitar at my old house for two months to research and write an article on it. It was Steve's idea to loan it to me.
How exciting is that. If my web page for it will not come to come to fruition yet but I have been dying to tell the story and it may here be for JCF readers!!
Emerald

[euronymous]

Cant wait to see this

[4koa]

damn work filters.. hate little red X's... going to have to wait till i get home

[Emerald]

Last year I was privileged enough to be lent Steve's most famous guitar and my personal favorite, his historic Charvel San Dimas 1986"Glow' Dinky Strathead with the famous neck that Steve still loves so much.
I wanted to write a magazine article about the guitar, which was Premier Guitar but they turned me down as it wasn't in their niche, ect.
Their loss, I drove non-stop to North Hollywood in a torrential downpour/flood the whole way there and back, picked up the guitar and got back in my car to drive back again.
Steve had offered to ship it to me but I couldn't afford that so I drove to get it.
St.Patricks Day 2012.
I ended up with it for approx two months then Steve wanted it back immediately.
I had a meeting with Charvel Project Manager Mike McGregor to show them the guitar and learn what else I could from them.
This meeting was last May at Fender's swanky main HDQ in Scottsdale.
They called Mike Eldred who runs the Fender Custom Shop to come to the office wo weigh in on the guitar.
It turn's out he was the one who painted the guitar it's glow in the dark finish.
He said they were in a rush to get it finished and the paint took forever to dry.
I'm sure Mike Shannon carved the neck by hand and I had reached him earlier by phone through a mutual acquaintance.
I never had the intention of them copying it or producing and replica's ect.
I was finally given a copy of the build/order sheet 3 months later, which is a big deal in the Charvel/Jackson world these days.
Steve wanted the guitar back as soon as he heard I went to Charvel which I notified him of in advance.
I said I'm just a fan and doing research for my article on the guitar.
This guitar I saw first in 1987 during the Billy Idol "Whiplash Smile" tour and it sounded unbelievable.
Little did I know all these years later my dreams of playing it and getting a chance to examine it was beyond belief.
Thanks to Steve for the ultimate gesture from a rock legend to his fan.
Those who know me know I am more than just a fan of Steve.
I wrote the history of his brilliant Washburn Guitars without any real input from him and we had been in close communication through open posts and PM's on HRI Huge Racks Forum where Steve posts under his own name.
This guitar was on the '87 Whiplash Smile tour and record.
Also the Grammy winning "Top Gun Anthem", Micheal Jackson's "Dirty Diana" session.on a lot of Steve's session work in the late eighties and was the guitar he used to dial in the final changes on his now being produced, with help from George Metropoulos..SS100 Friedman amp.
The guitar had black SD's originally and just before Steve's solo CD "Memory Crash" he had Tim Mill's of Bare Knuckles Pickups wind a special single coil for the neck and a HB for the bridge.
The bobbins are cream colored as is the pickup ring.
Tim wound these to take in account of Steve's angling of the pickups and are absolutely killer sounding.
I didn't dare take off the neck , I would have known the builder, but the guitar is a relic and had stress cracks in the body only in the finish though from the neck heel area, so out of respect to the owner I would not risk damaging it in any way.
This was a once in a lifetime experience and one of the coolest things that has happened to me.
There have been other few cool things that I have enjoyed but this was the ultimate.
It has the original frets which are in excellent shape.
Steve considers the guitar 'beat up' by his standards but I can assure you it isn't like a Fender Relic or anything.
The neck is the coolest part of the guitar as Steve wanted all his later builders to replicate that nect.
Both Hamer with the SS-3 and Washburn with their SS 80 and SS 100.
Having an exact Hamer SS-3 replica built from specs of the actual guitars and my two dynamite SS 80's which both were built for Steve but never delivered to him.
These necks are damn close to the Charvel but the Charvel is the ultimate San Dimas profile and Charvel Strat heads are pretty rare and anyone who has played one of the mid eighties necks knows what a delight they are.
The head stock end of the walnut skunk strip the wood had settled down slightly that you could feel with your hand.
I had living history in my hands and was excited as much if it was a Hendrix guitar or a Jeff Beck instrument!!
I am preparing all my research about the guitar which is basswood and am not sure how I will release pictures ect.
This is the most un - photographed guitar that Steve has.
There only exist maybe 20 or so live with Billy Idol shots, some pics with Adam Bomb, but that's it.
Google search and try and find some pics.
She now rests securely back in Steve's Batcave or storage facility.
I was really nervous about having such an irreplaceable guitar at my house!
We were in the middle of short selling my last home and my world wasn't in a good place but this did cheer me up.
Unfortunately those who know me know that I suffer from psoriatic arthritis and I didn't have my supply of injectable medicine at the time I had the guitar so my left thumb was swollen and extremely painful, so I really couldn't play the guitar properly when I had it, bummer :cry: :cry:
Things have become strained between Steve and myself, I can't tell you why as I have always been his greatest supporter.
I took it to Guitar Center one time and the girl checking it in had no clue what I was talking about how famous the guitar was, but that's GC for you.
More soon

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/davida54/Glow Charvel/157126c2.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/davida54/Glow Charvel/84f41cc4.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/davida54/Glow Charvel/62e754a7.jpg

Emerald

[Emerald]

Let me clarify some things I said as that was a late night early am post..Overall Steve has been extraordinary in his treatment of me over the years. Back in 2011 when we finally met in person, his very kind wife Josie who is his manager as well, arranged for VIP passes and free tix for my wife and I at the Phoenix Idol show on their mini West/Southwest tour.
I brought my quilted top Washburn SS 80 to show to Steve as it was built for him and he never received it as is the black SS 80 I ordered in 1993 which was built to his unique artists spec. So I am lucky to have two Washburn's actually made for Stave.
My friend Charles Carter in Australia bought the #1 production SS 100 Frankenstein and the SS 80 Barbarella guitar painted by Jim O'Connor designed by Steve with built in ray gun. See my Washburn story at this link

http://www.vintagewashburn.com/Electrics/SteveStevens.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7gXNPQRBEo

At the show Steve and the band were running late and Steve had promised me a stage tour of his rig. This didn't happen due to the late hour and the stage at the Phoenix Fairground had no stage curtain,ect.
I did get to see Steve literally as he was getting ready for the show, the tour manager let my wife and I back quickly to say hello. Not many artists would let that happen immediately before the show, but Steve isn't your regular artist.
After the show we went backstage and while Josie entertained some business clients in their dressing room, Steve came out to meet us personally and took us to a sort of green room backstage and spent time he really needed to get ready to leave with us.
He signed loads of things for me including the control cavity plates for both my Washburn's and my replica Hamer SS-3. I didn't photograph Steve with my Washburn for as long as I have known Steve, it makes him uncomfortable to pick up and definitely he will not play any of his earlier guitars. This doesn't stop other fans showing up at shows with Washburn's and Hamer's as they don't know how sensitive Steve is about those guitars.
Also back to when I had the Glow in my possession I guess now that he had his Knaggs signature guitar in the works and SS was worried about his name being associated with another guitar before his announcement about Knaggs.
He did not have to worry as my whole dealing with Charvel/Fender was an info hunt with no motives. John Suhr offered me the use of his digital neck profiler to capture the killer neck dimensions. As Mike Shannon, who is a really nice guy and helped me as much as he could given the corporate structure of the current day Charvel/Jackson. But I had to get official clearance to get the order/build sheet for the guitar which Mike McGregor did eventually obtain for me with permission to post it on the Interwebs.
This time was a time of great joy and sadness at the same time, very emotional as I had promised the owner of an other Charvel forum that I used to belong to that I would get a hold of the Glow in some fashion and it did come true.
Also on a personal note I learned after all this that I have been suffering form Bipolar Disorder II since about 1999. It was diagnosed about me back then but I didn't believe that about myself. My whole nursing career would have been less stressful if I had gone for treatment. The reason I mention this is that with this condition one goes from great joy to great sadness in rapid succession so dealings I had with other people were affected by this.
Things are much better now of course I am retired on disability which was an extremely long battle in itself, lost ,my job of 10 years, lost our house facing foreclosure, was fortunate to get a short sale and to find some very kind people who found us a house to rent given our lousy credit and literal zoo of 3 dogs and one cat. The last dog we rescued from the streets with his two brothers, brought them to the shelter and the one who displayed the most history of mistreatment, I adopted him which given our situation was the last thing we needed, but I lead with my heart not my head most times.
I had tried to obtain as much measurements as I could, literally sending the guitar back as soon as I returned from Charvel/Fender.
The OFR is flat to the body literally and the action sort of low with 0.10 through 0.46 strings. The guitar just felt right and I had nothing but admiration for the build quality of the Charvel. This guitar was used to record more than it was used live, but being able to do both is the hallmark of Charvel's and Jackson's, they are players instruments.
As I stated the guitars body is basswood and the whole guitar weighs 6 pounds.
I have spoken to Grover Jackson before and back in 2012 he told me he wanted to "weigh in" about the guitar soon as he was busy at the time. Months went buy and despite repeated attempts to contact him, this was to no avail.
John Suhr had worked on the guitar as he did setups and work for Steve back then. He remembers it but not to the detail I needed being so long ago and being the 'eighties' which is hazy for many people..
I don't mean to be a tease as I desperately wanted to tell other people about having the guitar but I kept silent.
Enough time has passed so that it is more comfortable to talk about it and I have tons of pictures bordering on 'autopsy' style photographs, so if I wanted to build my own replica it would be much easier with all the studies I have of it.
I love the flat Dinky bodies and the guitar compares to the Washburn's the closest, with the Wasburn being a little thicker overall.
Steve has stated a few times in the past he was unhappy with Washburn as they couldn't match the Charvel's neck profile for him.
In my research on Washburn I learned that Steve never even visited the factory and they certainly never had the Charvel at any time to replicate that feature to be fair to them.I think they did a very good job and Steve has still to this day the SS 100 prototype, the one he plays in the 1993 VNB MTV awards video. This was the first guitar he was sent, all of his guitars were CNC'd in production but Terry Atkins who was a finisher at Hamer and went to Washburn's Custom Shop just before Steve signed on there.
This guitar has the ordinary Washburn 'script' logo with Hand Made in Chicago on the headstock and is featured in that famous ad with Steve..
Here it is pictured behind Steve's wife Josie:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/davida54/Steve Stevens Washburn and Hamer/61129_125923140792971_1259190407933.jpg

Thanks for reading, I didn't want to get into my personal issues but they are sort of tangled up in my story, good or bad.

Emerald

[Emerald]

Please don't leave me hanging here guys. I have no secrets about my health or lack of it.. as I left my 15 year career as an open heart critical care nurse, it was sad for me, but I was really burned out both physically and mentally.
Having a slight chemical imbalance in my brain is no laughing matter but it is a common ailment and my only regret is that I didn't believe that diagnosis about myself from 1999 and how much easier and less stress filled my life would have been (possibly) if I had been on medication..actually I was but it was a completely different incorrect drug so I gave up on it then.
Please feel free to comment further on this thread as it is about my exciting personal journey with one of the greatest imho Charvel Superstrats of the mid eighties.
I apologize for going off topic with my personal details, it's just this journey surrounding the guitar caused me great joy and sadness as well.
I really am doing much better and have yet to decide how to approach the publication of my article and photographs.
I do not intend to tease by just showing pictures of the case, but I must watermark the pictures that I am going to use and as I stated I was given official permission by Charvel management to publish on the net the build/order sheet.
My main computer crashed again last week, same problem turned out to be the replacement motherboard again this time fortunately the part is on a longer warranty than the labor, which was 30 days. The part gets 90 days which I was well under.
So please ask any questions you may have about the guitar and I will answer them.
I started this thread asking if anyone had an experience or story about the guitar to share.
So far this hasn't occured, but I was disapointed by Grover Jackson basically blowing me off, but life goes on.
Since he was the guy who approached SS and took his order for the geetar.
When dealing with high profile music industry people one must expect the occasional bump in the road.I try and do the most thorough research I can. For example concerning my Vintage Washburn website article on the SS guitars, Paul Hamer himself answered my email with invaluable information.
Whenever an artist leaves a company there are strained relations, I have assembled all the data I could for that article and Paul Hamer praised me for having written it well and my very detailed research, ect.
I have loads of data on this instrument and would love to share this with my fellow Charvel/Jackson enthusiasts.
Please let me hear from you all...
Thanks as always for listening and what a great forum you have here!
Emerald

[BLOOD SPLATTER]

Very cool that you got to borrow the guitar & sorry to hear about your health issues Dave....looking forward to seeing these pics & hope you are well!!

[lefty]

[QUOTE=Emerald;1588674]Please don't leave me hanging here guys. I have no secrets about my health or lack of it.. as I left my 15 year career as an open heart critical care nurse, it was sad for me, but I was really burned out both physically and mentally.


Hey, Emerald, I owe my life to a great team of open heart critical care nurses.
I can well imagine the stress of a job like that. You are welcome at my table any day!

[leftykingv2]

Cool thread Emerald! It's been a welcomed addition to the forum IMO. I am a big SS fan! I'll say a few prayers for you concerning your health issues bro! God Bless and take care!

[Emerald]

Look out all will be revealed soom just got my computer back out of the last seven months it has been in the shop 4.5 months!!
I want to water mark these rare Glow pics as they are the only pics existing in the whole world of this guitar in autopsy fashion and you can't blame me if I do not want to just to just give them away as I worked so hard to get them, virtually risking my life driving to North Hollywood and back directly in torrential rainstorms with 4 bald tires, sure they were W speed rated, ie up to 170mph equals soft compound but over 60 mph would aquaplane.
I had to creep in the slow lane and after leaving at 0600 in the am arrived home at 2300 hrs at night!!
Since my original plan was for a published article I am weighing my choices to release all my info having had the guitar to myself for two months
Thanks for your patience
Emerald

[Emerald]

Thanks lefty I had an amazing career at Arizona Heart Hospital in Phoenix, 10 years out of my 15 as an RN, CVICU at one of the Southwest's best specialty hospitals and then I got the axe for a non-patient related matter which I should have fought as I got majorly backstabbed on but moved on and now I have been disabled for over a year, being turned down the first time.
The psoriatic arthritis that ended my career I was born with and hit me just after my first year of nursing,spent 15 years playing injured and finally it all caught up with me, ect.
Back to SS's Charvel it is a thing of beauty and a rarity it being a completely custom built under Grover's supervision.
I suppose I can share a pic of her with my 1993 NOS Washburn SS 80 and my tribute replica Hamer SS-3 built for me by Matt Phillips who now lives in LA. It was copied from real SS-3 specs and dimensions and has some original Hamer parts on it.
The three guitars in sequence show how Steve wanted his Hamer then Washburn to replicate the feel of his original Glow #4790.





The pickups in the Glow are special winds by Tim Mills of Bare Knuckles Pickups and are cream , the original SD JB and SD SSL were replaced by Steve prior to his album Memory Crash which feature this guitar in it's present configuration on one track.
This is the Top Gun Anthem and MJ Dirty Diana guitar it was so cool of SS to lend it to me, I felt like I had a Hendrix guitar, well sure enough a Hendrix Charvel if he had lived until 1986!
Enjoy, I have almost over one hundred pics of this guitar.

Emerald

[Emerald]

Some more pictures of #4790:




















Pretty sweet isn't she, the guitar was in great shape overall for all the touring and studio work. Steve says it is beat up but a few chips and finish cracks are all that affect the finish. Ordinary white paint was applied to the chips non-glow paint. There are marks in the finish where the tremolo cover was, indentations of the plate. This is because Mike Eldred who painted her told me to my face that the finish was very very slow to dry..more soon.
This was the most awesome historical Charvel I will ever play or hold in my hands I was very blessed for want of a better word.
When I got my computer back the saved my pictures which would allow me larger dimension pics didn't download accurately I am working on it as Photobucket resizes them, they are all in mega size from my camera if I host them a different way, hope they are enjoyable anyway, I posted them as jpegs hoping they would be bigger but it didn't work more sooon and super big I am hoping.
I have every aspect of this guitar shot so an exact replica is possible, he he..

Emerald

[Emerald]

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[Emerald]

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[Emerald]

Emerald