How do you identify the model of Jackson or Charvel guitars?

[60srocker]

I'll bet there are some good threads on this already! I looked at some used ones this week, and none of them had a model name or number that I could find anywhere, just either Jackson or Charvel written on the headstock. I ran out of lunch hour and had to run and wasn't able to do a really close inspection, but I didn't see anything on the fretboard or back of the headstock.

[xenophobe]

Re: How do you identify the model of Jackson or Charvel guitars?

Well, body style, neck thru, what might be written on the truss cover, pickup arraingement, fretboard markers or inlays, serial number, neck thru or bolt on, etc... are all important to determining a model.

Give us some specifics, and we can probably tell you what you're looking at...

A good way to start would be to go to the Jackson site and browse their models, and check out ebay too.

[Gpops]

Re: How do you identify the model of Jackson or Charvel guitars?

I didn't see anything on the fretboard or back of the headstock.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Your right, theres nothing that indicates what model it is on the headstock or anywhere else, the closest would be the style of the logo, i.e. the charvels with the guitar logo, and the charvels with the script logo.

[toejam]

Re: How do you identify the model of Jackson or Charvel guitars?

Some older Jacksons do have the model name inlayed on the truss rod cover, but the name can rub off over time or people can replace them with blank covers, or sometimes the cover gets lost altogether.

[Black Mariah]

Re: How do you identify the model of Jackson or Charvel guitars?

General order of progression is...

Body style
Type of logo
Neckthru or bolt on
Serial number
Trem or fixed bridge
Pickup and control layout

By this time you can make a good guess as to what model it is. A neckthru H-S-S with Duncans and "Made in the USA" on the headstock is gonna be an SL-1 most likely. If none of those bring up anything, you're down to just not knowing what the hell you have on your hands so you need to bust out the old catalogs and start looking.

Or just post a pic of it here and someone will tell you in about 20 minutes time. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Newc]

Re: How do you identify the model of Jackson or Charvel guitars?

I usually start with the serial/logo, so I can determine if it's USA or import, and if it's an import, what year it was from (approximate).
If it's got features I don't like (pickguard) I don't care if it's a one-off Custom Shop, I probably won't go near it if there's an early import in the same shop with features I DO like. [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Newc

[RacerX]

Re: How do you identify the model of Jackson or Charvel guitars?

Originally posted by xenophobe:
and check out ebay too.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Err, that's not always foolproof...when we find lying or ignorant sellers all the time in Efraid! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]