Steve Stevens Glow Charvel #4790

[Emerald]

I took some glow in the dark pictures but you can barely see the guitar:








Sorry that's the best I have. It does glow when you turn out the lights but to capture this with a camera is difficult at best.
Emerald

[slo100]

This is such a great thread. I admire your dedication to detail and telling the whole story. You should format everything you have here into Wordpress or somewhere that will do all your hard work justice as opposed to simply in a forum post IMHO! If you'd like to host it on sandimascharvel.com I'd gladly donate space to you. It would fit right in. :-)

Bret

[Emerald]

Thanks for the offer Bret. PM's sent. I have a lot of web work ahead of me but there is still much of the story to tell.
Emerald

[Emerald]

Thanks for all the views so far in this thread up to 17,728!! Making another formal offer to Steve Stevens for his cooperation in definite article to be published..stay tuned.
Emerald

[Emerald]

It continues to blow my mind the interest in this iconic Charvel guitar that me a regular player got the chance of a lifetime to study and play. I promise to complete my project in one form or another in the near future and have lots to add to the story, there is so much more to tell.
After keeping the pictures private for over two years I made the decision to share with fellow Charvel lovers as I knew such a famous guitar would engender a lot of interest.
Going to Fender/Charvel HQ and meeting Mike and Mike Eldred who remembered painting the guitar was an incredible experience.
The neck on this guitar was legendary to Steve and rightly so I have not played a neck so exactly right...an incredible effort by the brilliant Mike Shannon. This guitar inspired SS's Hamer SS-3's and Washburn SS 80 and SS 100 guitars directly.
I would love to see Charvel USA reintroduce the classic Dinky shape from the San Dimas era. I know a guitar with similar specs would be incredibly popular evidenced by the huge response to this thread!
Thanks again all here.
Emerald

[Emerald]

I only just learned today in a casual phone conversation with my Florida buddy that Mike Eldred had been let go from Fender period.. Shame when I visited Fender Scottsdale he revealed that he had painted Steve's Glow Dinky and had some other useful info.
Let's hope Mike Shannon is kept on who knows with the crazy business problems at Fender..
Emerald

[CowboyFromHell]

And the government wants us to believe the economy is picking up! If Fender lets Mike Shannon go they're nuts.

[Emerald]

Please let me not be the starter of any rumours here, when I mentioned Mike Shannon I was just making a point that he holds that whole operation together, always has and hopefully will for a long, long time. Fender can't pay him enough money in my opinion...
Emerald

[Emerald]

When I met Steve Stevens at the Phoenix Fairground show in 2011. I with my wife were backstage VIP guests of Steve and Josie. Steve spent quite a bit of time with me signed all I had and was so kind and thanked me for all the help I had given over the years. I'm a lot thinner now..lol

Emerald

[Marshall2210]

Hi Emerald, thanks for the massive info you have gathered here. I think the only thing I still miss is the schematics of the pick-up circuitry. I would really appreciate if you could reveal it here. Specially interesting is what are the specs of that paper/oil capacitor? the picture is too blurred to see the text in the cap.

[Emerald]

Marshall2210 it would be my pleasure to provide more info on the guitars electronics. As you may know the original Seymour Duncan pickups which had black bobbins and were a SSL single coil in the neck and a JB in the bridge with a black mounting ring were changed for Bare Knuckles pickups specially wound for the guitar.
The potentiometers fitted to it now are an RS G1 0714 for volume and a CTS 250K 0719 for tone, with a non-inductive oil paper capacitor with Vitamin Q the value being 0.022 microfarads. The pot codes would suggest that they may have been changed when the BK pickups were fitted prior to Steve
s solo album Memory Crash.
I emailed Tim Mills the CEO and master winder at Bare Knuckles about the guitar and what pickups were in it. He was so helpful and had never seen the guitar before I sent him my pictures!
Here is the email he sent me on April 2, 2012:

Hi David


I've personally never seen the guitar in the flesh as it were but Steve asked me to make some new pickups for it probably 4 or 5 years ago.

I did make a custom pickup for the bridge of Steve's Charvel which was actually closer to our Riff Raff humbucker than our VHII and I also wound a neck coil at the same time. The neck coil is Alnico V and wound with Heavy Formvar wire to the same spec as our PAT Pend Series '59 Slab Board single coil set:

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=strats&sub=vintage&pickup=patpend1&series=patpend

The bridge humbucker is wound with 42 AWG plain enamel wire, has offset coil windings and a rough cast Alnico V magnet. He had asked for a VHII but when he described the angle the humbucker was set at we made the decision to go for a lighter wind to control the bottom end better. Steve had a very definite sound he wanted which made it very easy to sort out the right pickups for the guitar.

Hope that helps!



Kindest Regards,

Tim
--
Tim Mills
Managing Director
Bare Knuckle Pickups Ltd
United Kingdom
TEL: +44(0)1326 34 13 13
WEB: http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk
EMAIL: [email protected]

Hope this answers your question
Emerald

[Emerald]

Here are the pictures from my cell phone which I finally transferred to my computer:
http://s57.photobucket.com/user/davida54/library/Glow%20Cell%20Phone%20Pictures?sort=3&page=1




Emerald

[Emerald]

Updated new album did not transfer all the images, album is now complete. These are primarily detail photos of the wear to the geetar.
Thanks for checking my thread out!
Emerald

[Emerald]

Dave Friedman told me when I arrived to collect the guitar in North Hollywood that the Charvel is quite beat up by Steve's standards. In comparison to some of the Gibson and Fender relics the Glow is in pristine condition...
The story of that day, St. Patricks Day when I drove nonstop to Cali from Phoenix and within the hour turned right around again to return is a saga in of itself. I was determined to not risk having the geetar shipped to me from Friedmans and also wanted to finally meet Dave Friedman. Dave coudn't have been nicer and even helped me with directions while I was on the road. When I hit the 29 Palms or whatever that stretch of the 10 that has all the wind machines there, the heavens opened up and it was raining so heavily that I had to creep along at 40 odd miles an hour. This rain continued the whole time and all the way home to Phoenix!
I have a 2002 Ford Focus that has 17" wheels and some killer Kumho W speed rated tires which are so soft that they are great in the ran it's just that all four were slicks so let's say the whole trip felt like I had been driving the 24 hrs of Le Mans such was the concentration required to stay on the road and not aquaplane of of it! I don't wish to appear cavalier and that I had no regard for my safety or that of the guitar because that isn't true.
There was a window I had to go there and torrential downpours were not on the original flight plan.
Plus I had to stay in the slow lane thus being passed by everyone especially semis which was breathtaking to say the least. Had my eyes in the rear view both directions of the journey.
Dave Friedman was glad to meet me and he gave me a little tour of the shop. I spied a Peavey Wolfgang on the wall that was purple and had an unique method of securing the strap shall we say. So I asked was it and yes it was, given to Dave by Ed!
For a guitar and gear guy I was seriously geeking out. When it was time for me to get the Glow it was almost a religious experience, not that Ed's guitar wasn't exciting but to me the Glow is the ultimate in Strat head Dinkys with it being a very special custom order as they all were back then but this particular one in very special indeed.
I couldn't wait to feel that legendary neck and it did not disappoint in any way! In fact the end of the skunk strip had settled in to it's cavity slightly at the headstock end from playing wear and shrinkage. One could also see on the back where the tremolo cover had been fitted with the paint not quite dry yet, it leaving an indentation around the cavity.
When I visted Charvel in Scottsdale with it, Mike Eldred popped in telling me that he had painted the guitar back then and the glow in the dark finish took forever to dry he remarked.
Of course the original Seymour Duncan's had been replaced with custom wound Bare Knuckles in creme. This was an attractive look in contrast to the original black bobbins and pickup ring that were originally fitted. The pickups had been a JB in the bridge and an SSL in the neck. Tim Mills of BK pickups had done an outstanding job with these custom winds which compensated for the angling of both pickups. Above I have included the email that Tim sent me in reply to my inquiries.
He was excited to see the guitar as he had not seen it previously.
Having the Glow enter my life which happened at a time of great turmoil and uncertainty of my personal life, loss of job, facing short sale of house, health issues, ect. So that glimmer of light as it were was the brightly glowing guitar. I had dreamed and hoped that one day I would be able to hold it in my hands and play her which SS magnificently made possible to me the great fan and I will always be very grateful for this supreme act of kindness as I know how much this particular guitar means to Steve.
It speaks volumes for the kind of guy he is!
I kind of wanted to fill in the back story of a huge bucket list item that I had always hoped in my heart that would come true and it did. My perseverance paid off and I will never forget my 3-4 weeks with the guitar.
Even having issues with my left hand at the time, swollen thumb joint couldn't dampen my enthusiasm.
Once I took it to a Guitar Center in Scottsdale and told the girl at the door that it was a famous rock stars guitar and some of the huge records it has appeared on including a Grammy award! She really didn't know much about the history but it was my secret and I at least felt special carrying her around. I treated the guitar with great reverence the whole time as I was aware of how old she was and handled her with the utmost of care. Taking of the neck to check the neck pocket was totally out of the question. I slightly detuned the guitar before I shipped her back and used my method of double boxing: a regular electric cardboard box inside a larger acoustic sized box thus affording the best in protection. The guitar arrived overnight in perfect condition and I was glad for that.
I'm sure it's every players dream to be able to play and keep for awhile the guitar of their hero and with Steve Stevens this was exactly the case!
Steve knew how much it meant to me as when I first met him at the Phoenix State Fair gig, I brought my Washburn Steve Stevens SS 80 quilted top guitar to show Steve as it had been made for him just never collected after he left.
My original SS 80 which I had ordered from the factory in 1993 has a story to go along with it.
Steve held the Quilt guitar back stage and he remarked that he liked the neck. I was able to go back stage quickly before the gig and of course after when Steve signed my control cavity plates and lots of SS related memorabilia.
In my Internet article on Steve and his Washburn guitars I tell the story of how I used a Strat I had as a down payment for the black SS80 as well as a credit card. Not to sell my '57 Reissue Strat but to use as collateral!
Here is my article: http://www.vintagewashburn.com/Electrics/SteveStevens.html
So my black factory ordered SS80 was built for Steve as well it turned out. My order went in so fast that mine has a March serial # the earliest one I have ever seen in all my research.
All along my plan had been to provide my story of the history of SS and Washburn through a guitar magazine. I tried for Premier Guitar but Rebbeca Dirks told me it was not exactly the best fit for them. I sort of knew this and went with my friend Darren who helped by formatting the article for me.
Back to the Glow as it is the pivotal guitar in the birth of Steve's bolt on necked SS-3 and then the Washburn SS80's and SS100's later, the Glow is the bond between the other two later guitars:
I took pictures side by side to show the progression of the guitars from Charvel to Hamer and then Washburn:

http://s57.photobucket.com/user/davida54/library/GOODBYE%20GLOW%20GOODBYE%20GOLDIE?sort=3&page=1

I hope my story has been of interest to everyone, I wanted to get the back story on paper as it were and some may question why I choose to place this all on a forum. Well I had held onto my story and pictures for several years and believe me I wanted to share them with everyone and I finally decided to do so, no watermarks, ect.
Thanks for reading
Emerald

[Emerald]

Here is a copy of the original invoice for 4790 thanks to Fender/Charvel:

Sort of closes the chapter on one of the most documented Charvel rock star guitar special builds! Grover was supposed to 'weigh in' his words, on the guitar but he never got back to me after repeated attempts to contact him.....
Emerald