2009 Charvel USA Production Guitars

[shreddermon]

Did that thread title get your attention? Sorry, no, I don't have any inside information on what may be in store for them next year.

However, assuming the line is a success so far, I got to wondering about what the Charvel guys might be able to do to expand upon it in 2009? And what we (the consumers) would like to see done?

Remember, we're talking about a mass-produced product line. So simplicity and scale of production are requirements to apply to the production guitars being talked about here. They just aren't going to do any custom shop-like options, such as reverse headstocks, custom graphics, or other snazzy stuff. If they can't/won't do that stuff for Jackson USA Select guitars, it really has no shot whatsoever on the Charvel USA production models.

...But they might think about doing things like this:

- Changing the 2009 "base" color from black to white.

- Adding a production Star body model.

- Adding a production Dinky Strat body model.

- Maybe doing certain of the quarterly "rotations" with rosewood fretboards. Maybe mix it up, so they do half maple / half rosewood in total for the year.

- Maybe doing some of the production models with pointy headstocks. (Star body with pointyhead, please. )

- Doing a hardtail Tele model. (Charvel-ized Jim Root model, anyone?)

- Adding the option for a hardshell case.

What do you think?

[skorb]

white standard color = 100% it would make me buy one

star = I'm indifferent, I know it's Charvel, but...

dinky = no, stay with full strat bodies please (you can buy a Jap one like that now)

rosewood boards = yes 100% (a white two hum SD with rw board would be insane)

pointy hs = ok

hardtail Tele = yes but with Tele headstock after they count their pennies from this year's runs' wild success and can afford the different hs

hardshell case option = a must have, I mean it's $80 if done right.

[metalchurch79]

+1 for White as the base color, or atleast an option on the imports.
+1 for cases for the imports as well.

The Star body might remain a CS or limited run body option for now, but it would be nice to rival that ESP Gus G. copy and put it in it's place.

[shreddermon]

+1 for White as the base color, or atleast an option on the imports.
+1 for cases for the imports as well.

Imports? We're talking Charvel USA Production models, dude.

P.S. - Just remembered another that I had thought of...

- Maybe do one or two of the quarterly runs in sparkle colors. Candy sparkle red or purple anyone?

[Grandturk]

I'd like to see more "regular" colors - i.e. right now all the special colors are "candies." I'd like to see Ferrari Red, Lambo Yellow, Hugger Orange - stuff like that - still hot rod, but not candy - to me, these are more classic colors.

+1 to white - good lord, gimme white!
+1 to rosewood boards (my only concern is the quality of rosewood at the price - sometimes you get that real light stuff)

Love to see a 3 TITE model, but that's probably not going to sell enough.

Hum-S or Hum-S-S top loaded would be pretty sweet

[Newc]

It's less expensive to produce a 1-piece maple neck/maple board than to add a rosewood board, so that's probably not going to happen for that reason.

While they do have a Star template, it takes more wood to make than a Strat or Tele, which means more expense, which means no.

Jackson has the pointyhead. After all the fussing from folks about Stratheads on Charvels, I doubt they're going to combine the two brands.

Dinky Strats - Again, that's more of a Jackson thing, even though the contours between a Dinky and Dinky Strat are different.

If the bodies are CNC routed for bridge and pickups, it's more expensive to change to another bridge and pickup route during a run. They would have to do an entire run of all 3 models and all 4 colors in the other bridge and/or other pickup options to make it cost-effective and still deliver them at the same $1000 MSRP.
While that looks great to a handful of people on an internet forum, it isn't as attractive to dealers and the majority of their customers.
If there's not enough people who want the Fender options (Tele head, SSS, hardtail/v-trem), the dealers will be left with tons of unsellable gear, and will not order again until those are sold.


Then there's the whole "directly competing with Fender" issue.


White as the base color for all models: while I'd love to see that, I've always heard it takes less black paint than white paint to get a good coat and not let anything show through, even if you're using lighter/white primer underneath. That said, if you can use the same dark primer under the other 3 colors, and you dip them rather than spray them, you're saving a ton of expense.

I haven't chipped any of mine, so I can't say if they're using white primer like they did for many of the San Dimas originals (at least regarding the SD Jacksons I've owned) or black.


Not trying to be a downer, but you do have to consider the reality of the business.

[shreddermon]

Newc, aren't you the guy that asked about doing limited runs with reverse headstocks, etc for the production models?

Come on dude! They can do Mexi-strats with rosewood boards, but it'd cost too much for a USA Charvel production guitar? White paint will cost too much vs. black?

And, for the love of god, people - there were Charvel Dinkys well before Jacksons even existed! The only reason Dinkys are considered "more of a Jackson brand thing" is because the Charvel brand was effectively dead for decades! So there were only Jackson Dinkys during that period. Granted, there weren't a ton of them made back in the day - but Dinky Strats were originally Charvels. ...Should we not build Jackson Star bodies because that's a "Charvel thing"? That's just kinda silly.

[vondran]

My thoughts:
1. It's certain they will continue with solid colors for at least the short term.
2. I would imagine white will get into the rotation at some point. Maybe a white pearl as a limited quarter's color.
3. They need to keep the Charvel look and features unique from Fender strats. Floyds, 2 hums, no tone control separate the two brands. I'm certain we won't see 3 singles on a USA production Charvel because of this. If they start offering a different pu offerring, I imagine we'll see a single hum as the first offerring beyond 2H.
4. I would guess they'd offer a star replacing the tele in a future run, maybe just for one quarter.
5. I've been wondering if we'll see limited run graphics thru select dealers like we saw with Jackson DK2Ms.

[Newc]

Newc, aren't you the guy that asked about doing limited runs with reverse headstocks, etc for the production models?

Come on dude! They can do Mexi-strats with rosewood boards, but it'd cost too much for a USA Charvel production guitar? White paint will cost too much vs. black?

And, for the love of god, people - there were Charvel Dinkys well before Jacksons even existed! The only reason Dinkys are considered "more of a Jackson brand thing" is because the Charvel brand was effectively dead for decades! So there were only Jackson Dinkys during that period. Granted, there weren't a ton of them made back in the day - but Dinky Strats were originally Charvels. ...Should we not build Jackson Star bodies because that's a "Charvel thing"? That's just kinda silly.

Yes, that was me. No, those options were not possible.


A Mexi-Strat can have a rosewood board because of the cheap labor. Adding that to a USA guitar incurs more USA-priced labor.

White paint itself is not more expensive, it simply takes more white paint to cover dark primer than it does for darker colors (anything darker than white, like red, green, gold, black).
As well, if they're dipping the bodies rather than spraying them, that means they have a tank of dark primer and for each color, but not an extra tank for light primer AND a tank for white paint.

Even if they're spraying both the primer and the colors, the cleanup required to switch between dark primer and light primer eats into the production time, which increases the cost.


Charvel may have been first on the block with Dinky Strats (Lynch, etc) but as you said, since Charvel was dead for so many years, Jackson now owns that turf, and it's not likely to change.

[piranhaguy2002a]

I'd like to see something along the lines of the model 4 (H-S-S), or maybe the return of the predator (H-S with reverse pointy headstock). Maybe even a return of the Fusion (24.75 scale neck with H-S and 24 frets). Definitely would like to see a pearl white or snow white as a color option.

[dg]

Doubt it'll happen, but a tele headstock on the SD2 would sell out every time, imo. The idea of pointies is interesting as well. Part of the allure of stratheads has always been that they were hard to come by. Now that they aren't anymore, I bet pointies might sell just as well. IMO, the reasons the '05 - '06 pointies didn't sell well were price point, too much rosewood, V-trems that almost nobody wanted, and the clearcoat issue on so many of the headstocks.

[6string40]

Just as a lot of others have pointed out...more options = higher cost. While the price jump is excessive, that's what the custom shop is for. I've wanted a Charvel for years, but couldn't afford $2600 for what I was looking for.

Whether everyone likes or dislikes every spec of these USA Productions is obviously a matter of opinion. For me, they are essentially exactly what I was looking for at the right price. Just before I found out these were coming out, I bought a candy blue 2004 American Strat and modded it with a flat black p/g and zebra duncans to get an old-school Charvel look. When the USA Productions came out, I sold all of my ESPs (that I've been playing for years) and bought 2 of them. I'm still doing some mods to them, but dual humbuckers, a floyd, one volume, 3-way toggle and all maple neck/fb with a strat headstock were the essential selling points for me.

I would like to see a switch in base color to white for a period of time, but I doubt that will happen, not for the cost issue that Newc pointed out, but more likely because of the potential for a Jake signature.

I would also like to see a hardshell case as standard. I don't think many consumers would mind a price difference of $999 to $1049 if a hardshell was standard.

[surfreak]

The only option I'd like to see is a vintage-style tremolo.

[Staticroute]

+1 on the hardtail, but I would prefer it on a strat body.

[JediHalen]

WHITE BODY! Nuff said