FMIC to *mothball* the Charvel brand?

[speed monkey]

Don't know if anybody else heard this, but I was told by a reliable source that FMIC is looking at pulling the Charvel brand and putting it on the shelf for a while??? Same source, who is a Fender / Jackson dealer, was told that after Charvel has changed their ordering process to basically 'everything is a custom order' that orders have basically shrunken to zilch....lead time on a custom order had gone from a year to 45 days now due to nothing being in the shoot to clog the process up....

It would suck if this is the case.


Steve E

[neilli]

..... 'everything is a custom order' that orders have basically shrunken to zilch....lead time on a custom order had gone from a year to 45 days now

It would suck if this is the case.

Everything has been a custom order for a while now. For me, a 45 day turnaround would be awesome news, but somehow I doubt it....

[danastas]

That's very odd considering that there's a custom run ordered by Matt (Charvel Red Strathead). 45 days?

I always assumed it was the same crews making both Jacksons and Charvels.

Plus look at all the runs being sold all over the place, naturals, zebras, hot rod flames, etc.

[Jack Napalm]

If that is the case then I should see my Strathead any day now! WOO HOO!

My guess the price increase would have some effect on the number of orders coming in and not just the fact that they are custom order only. Seems odd since the are releasing the 'vintage series'. Stranger things have happened.

[speed monkey]

If that is the case then I should see my Strathead any day now! WOO HOO!

My guess the price increase would have some effect on the number of orders coming in and not just the fact that they are custom order only. Seems odd since the are releasing the 'vintage series'. Stranger things have happened.

I agree, it sounded odd to me too. Apparently the Charvel line was pulled from the Charvel/Jackson and / or Fender reps - there will now be one person dealing specifically wth the Charvel line and the forcast was for low numbers...

I'm pretty sure the 45 day window refered to single guitars and not runs like you guys mentioned of multiple guitars. A teacher at this same store ordered a basic Strathead last year and it took a full 12 months to deliver....he placed another order middle of this January with far more details and got it this last week - and they screwed it up...he decided to keep it because if he was to reorder it would be another $1000 additional for the same guitar due to the price change.

I'm sceptical too, the purpose of this post was not to stir sheeeit up - just to see if this was info other people had recieved as well.

Steve E

[skorb]

sounds like someone piling on at the other forum.

but yeah I would bet custom orders have shrunk significantly given the comments here about poor quality and with the price increases.

it's kinda like watching a train wreck.

[shreddermon]

Sounds like more miscommunication leading to net-rumor-ville. These things seem to start with a small piece of truth, but get mis-interpreted and/or extrapolated into a much bigger and wrong event. Possible reasons...

Charvel eliminates the USA Standard line (custom order only now) somehow gets mis-translated into "they're mothballing the brand".

And a possible order stoppage - like what happened last summer - and/or somewhat lower orders from the recent price increase gets mis-translated into "orders have shunken to zilch". Put the above together with this, and a "mothballing" misunderstanding seems even more likely.

The 45 day turnaround sounds most like total BS. I ordered a guitar around the end of Dec/early Jan, and it ain't here yet. Maybe this is a goal to turn around work orders within 45 days? Not guitar orders. As far as I've experienced, the work order situation has seemed to actually improve recently. Could be the source of that one.

All just MHO and speculation. Anything's possible. But not probable, IMHO.

[Predator1]

I still want my 2 CS Charvels. I have tried to order them twice over the past month and was told no go by 2 dealers. I did find one dealer that would place the order but they wanted close to list price. This sucks I have been looking foward to doing this for over a year and now that I have the $$ I can't get them.

[Jack Napalm]

The 45 day turnaround sounds most like total BS. I ordered a guitar around the end of Dec/early Jan, and it ain't here yet. Maybe this is a goal to turn around work orders within 45 days? Not guitar orders. As far as I've experienced, the work order situation has seemed to actually improve recently. Could be the source of that one.

Thanks for raining on my parade!

Although I agree with your entire post.

[daisp]

I've had a Charvel custom on order for months now...latest update was still months away.

[sakeido]

Thats weird because for the first time ever I saw a couple San Dimas Charvels in a store locally here. Stratheads too, they were about $2400 a piece.

[mattsmusiccenter]

The line has been pulled from outside reps (the guys that serve as liason between dealers and FMIC) and all custom shop Jackson/Charvel stuff has been centralized and taken "in house". As far as I understand it this has been done in an effort to iron out some of the wrinkles in the system.

[neilli]

"wrinkles" - nice way of putting it Matt :ROTF:

[hammer84]

all custom shop Jackson/Charvel stuff has been centralized and taken "in house".

What the hell does that mean. Dealers can't take custom orders ?? That would be a real screw job if that is the case.

[toejam]

What the hell does that mean. Dealers can't take custom orders ?? That would be a real screw job if that is the case.

From what I was told by one dealer, only a select handful of dealers can do custom orders now.