1986 Gary More Charvel Red single EMG

[Stew]

Well I thought I should write and defend my red charvel a little bit. No it certainly isnt an exact replica. No one ever said it was. It looks similar and that's good enough for me. End of the day its a modified charvel that plays well and sounds good. That's what charvels are for isnt it? OK, maybe not a lovely custom shop. Also, no one will ever make an exact replica of Gary Moore's charvels unless they get their hands on his old guitars and pull them apart to see exactly how they were configured and built in the first place. Anything else is assumptions.
That white custom shop isn't exact either. Its been said the obvious points are the nut and volume knob. To me the major one is the neck is nowhere near as figured as the original. But who cares? Its a beautiful guitar and I'm sure the owner loves it and from what I've heard it plays and sounds fantastic! That's my 2 pence (cents for the overseas) worth.

[Stew]

That's not the correct pickup used by Gary.
Emerald

In the white one, correct. The red one was a 58. Though later replaced with an 81 IIRC

[4koa]

Humm got to thinking.. Moore inspired Replica on a budget

Start with this...Under $500 street price

http://www.jacksonguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=2913051576

Swap out the pickguard for a single humbucker EMG setup and you have the look of his 88/89
White version withe the Jackson neck

[Stew]

Humm got to thinking.. Moore inspired Replica on a budget

Start with this...Under $500 street price

http://www.jacksonguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=2913051576

Swap out the pickguard for a single humbucker EMG setup and you have the look of his 88/89
White version withe the Jackson neck

Funny you say that. That is what I was going to do but the red one came up so I took that

[Emerald]

Well I thought I should write and defend my red charvel a little bit. No it certainly isnt an exact replica. No one ever said it was. It looks similar and that's good enough for me. End of the day its a modified charvel that plays well and sounds good. That's what charvels are for isnt it? OK, maybe not a lovely custom shop. Also, no one will ever make an exact replica of Gary Moore's charvels unless they get their hands on his old guitars and pull them apart to see exactly how they were configured and built in the first place. Anything else is assumptions.
That white custom shop isn't exact either. Its been said the obvious points are the nut and volume knob. To me the major one is the neck is nowhere near as figured as the original. But who cares? Its a beautiful guitar and I'm sure the owner loves it and from what I've heard it plays and sounds fantastic! That's my 2 pence (cents for the overseas) worth.

Stew it is possible to exactly copy both the red and white Charvel's. I have pics of the original (donor) guitars, they are both top moumted with side output jack. The white one has a black anodized R2 nut as on the original. The white guitar was a double hum route and the vol control is mounted closer in a different position than the red one. The internal cavities, especially the neck route add to the resonance of the guitar. The EMG electronics and 9V battery are mounted where the tone controls were previously.That is one of the major differences with the tone between the two guitars. The white original Charvel had a pickguard ao a special 11 screw single ply white guard was fabricated with the cut out and holes for the EMG to be pick guard mounted.
Both of them were originally top mount Floyds.
The red one appeared to be a triple single coil guitar with pickguard originally. Both are San Dimas vintage and these may well have been the ones that Gary handpicked the body wood on according to Grover and Mike Eldred. Or that scenario may have been a slightly earlier visit.
The red rosewood board Charvel in the Live at Stockholm video used that guitar the whole show. I have seen other bootleg videos where Gary uses the white Charvel almost exclusively, switching to his white Jackson Soloist, the one Gary is pictured in his ad for Jackson!
Your guitar I have no criticism of, it is very cool and has the WF vibe.
But make no mistake these guitars can be fairly 90% duplicated without the originals. To be true the original routes need to be placed or opened up in the case of the EMG/circuitry/battery placement.
My choice is for the white one with the maple board as I love the brightness of the finger board wood and the aforementioned extra chambering from the space where a pickup had been mounted.
I am not sure if I will order it from Charvel or have it privately built.
It is possible to have Charvel build it as they two guitars were not built the same as when they left San Dimas. Yes Gary was a Jackson/Charvel endorser, but in that ad he is shown with the Jackson Soloist.
It's a shame I cannot locate Keith Page globally to ask him questions, but along with SS's Glow these two Strat heads were amongst the most iconic Charvels of the mid eighties arguably.
One day I will build/have built the White maple version.
Gary loved those two guitars and were his favorite SuperStrats I believe. It is somewhat difficult to find a donor current prod Charvel that has the football side mounted output jack and all top mount electronics, correct me if I am wrong.
I have a friend who will be building me an exact SS Glow Charvel and that is one guitar I have major specs on.
Just received my Metropoulos True Replica angled basketweave 1982A model with the 100 logo in the top left corner. The best part is that she is loaded with the brand spanking new Celestion Creambacks G12H-75's and George broke them in for me/
They sound incredible and blow away the Handwired cabs and speakers that I long ago sold,
Stew, I don't want to appear to be criticizing your red Charvel.
It looks great and plays well and that is what matters. I hate it when people criticize any of my guitars that I have actually improved for the better, my two, well one now Heritage Gary Moore models.
Best of luck with the guitar.
Emerald

[Emerald]

Gary's guitar 'disappeared on an international flight and Interpol found it in Germany!
Gary also had a '62 reissue with a bridge hum bucker fitted and a Daphne Blue '57 reissue Strat with a maple board.
Emerald

[Emerald]

Would the Custom Shop recreate extra routes in a body, ect to recreate the white Strat Charvel? It is essential for it to be top loaded as was the red one and the Strat volume tone pot area holds the EMG circuitry and 9V battery.
As the guitar wasn't built at the factory there shouldn't be any restrictions as far as duplicating a Charvel built endorser guitar,..no?
Emerald

[Stew]

Would the Custom Shop recreate extra routes in a body, ect to recreate the white Strat Charvel? It is essential for it to be top loaded as was the red one and the Strat volume tone pot area holds the EMG circuitry and 9V battery.
As the guitar wasn't built at the factory there shouldn't be any restrictions as far as duplicating a Charvel built endorser guitar,..no?
Emerald

Is it known for certain that these guitars were double hum routed? The red one must have had H-S-H or H-H-H or a swimming pool layout as it had 3 single coil pickups originally. That being the case, the batteries could sit in the spare pickup well. As none of us have seen under those pickguards, we don't 'actually' know what was under there. KP could have heavily modified the bodies to suite Gary's playing style at the time for all we know.

[Rupe]

If it had ebony, I think I'd die....

From the horrible harsh high end that it imparts on an electric guitar's tone?

[4koa]

This is interesting

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1333711

[Emerald]

From Facebook Gary states the double hum San Dimas donor Strat for the white one was the mirrored pick guard guitar he had.....

About one of his main guitars on the Run For Cover tour.

"It's a Charvel. Well, actually it's made up of all different pieces of other Charvels I had before! It's a Strat shaped body which used to have a chrome scratchplate on it and two pickups. Keith Page, my guitar roadie, chopped it up, put a new scratchplate and an EMG pickup on it. The pickup is a single EMG humbucker; they're very good and don't make too much noise. It's still got the Floyd Rose tremolo on it; and we put the neck on last week. That was off a different Charvel. Keith put it together in about two days - I just fell in love with it and started using it in the shows!"

(Gary Moore - Guitarist magazine, November 1985)

Emerald

[ALZ]

wow , great pics , now this thread rules imho , i am a huge fan , see ya , alz / 2013

[Stew]

From Facebook Gary states the double hum San Dimas donor Strat for the white one was the mirrored pick guard guitar he had.....

About one of his main guitars on the Run For Cover tour.

"It's a Charvel. Well, actually it's made up of all different pieces of other Charvels I had before! It's a Strat shaped body which used to have a chrome scratchplate on it and two pickups. Keith Page, my guitar roadie, chopped it up, put a new scratchplate and an EMG pickup on it. The pickup is a single EMG humbucker; they're very good and don't make too much noise. It's still got the Floyd Rose tremolo on it; and we put the neck on last week. That was off a different Charvel. Keith put it together in about two days - I just fell in love with it and started using it in the shows!"

(Gary Moore - Guitarist magazine, November 1985)

Emerald

What is laughable is I probably used to have that magazine! My dad used to get it every month for about 20 years. I may look and see if it is still at his house. I'm in the midst of doing a white charvel similar to Gary Moore's white one. It wont have the matching headstock, but it is a White/White with EMG81 and chrome hardware aside from the Nut. And the volume will be in traditional charvel san dimas positioning. I much prefer this than right next to the pickup as Gary had his.

[ALZ]

well all i can say is imho he kicked ass , i have a great boxset , i think he was such a great guitarist , rock on all , see ya , alz / 2013

[Emerald]

Some shots of both the red and white Charvels. The white one definitely had a double hum route under the pick guard according to what Gary says about the donor guitar:
[IMG]http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/davida54/Gary%20Moore%20Charvel
/523150_463802123643990_739394645_n_zps541a21f7.jpg[/IMG]





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Emerald