Need to track some history on my charvel Jake E lee guitar

[Xubxub]

Hey guys!!
I am new to the forum so first of all i'd like to greet all the members in this forum. =D

I recently got by hands on an old charvel strat (by Jackson/Charvel) which seems to look like a Jake E Lee signature model. But as far as i have researched, i cant find if charvel actually made the signature model. I just want to know if charvel had a Jake E Lee model, and if they did what years were they in production? and what year could mine be from? and any other info i can get on this guitar. The description is as follows

Charvel by Jackson/Charvel
Serial number 344454
address: fort worth
white strat with black pick guard
1 volume pot and a 5 way pickup selector
21 frets
bullet truss rod nut

Pictures at: www.Photobucket.com/jakeelee
the guitar might seem yellow due to the lights in the room but its actually white.

[Hellraiser6502]

No such thing as a Jake E Lee Sig model...never existed.

In fact Jake's 'original' white 'Charvel' is not a Charvel at all...it is/was a re-logo'd, customized Fender Strat.

A couple of builders have made forgeries/copies of some or all of Jake's guitars....most notably GMW Guitars.

[GuerillaPete]

That looks sweet. Might be a 'replica' from the Asias. How does it play?

My GMW with an OFR twist: [logo is aftermarket by previous owner]

[straycat]

Its probably a Japan only model. None of the imports that were offered here in the states had a strat headstock.
Lets see a pic of the fingerboard.

[MetalHeadMat]

Definitely a replica, but I'm trying to be an optimist and trying to figure out which Charvel the neck is from. I have heard of people picking up Fender's and making them into the Jake strat like he did.

[jacksonaxes]

I've never seen a bullet trussrod on any model.

[dg]

They did make a Jake replica for the Japan market. No idea on the year(s) these were made. Our man in Japan, Quantumrider, may have some info on them. Here's one on the Japanese J/C fan site:

http://www.jacksonguitar.org/gall/gall141.html

[j2379]

looks like we have a winner... thats cool. i always liked the Jake pickup setup but just cant do hardtails.

They did make a Jake replica for the Japan market. No idea on the year(s) these were made. Our man in Japan, Quantumrider, may have some info on them. Here's one on the Japanese J/C fan site:

http://www.jacksonguitar.org/gall/gall141.html

[xenophobe]

Yes, that's a MIJ Japanese J.E.Lee model made in the early 90's.... somewhere around 91-93-ish. Those are pretty rare and really nice. Late 90's import stratheads don't have the skunk stripe. If you scored that for under a grand, you did pretty well. I've only seen like 3 of them, including yours, my whole time here for 12-13 years and on ebay.

Not sure if this was a small production run, a limited batch for a Japanese Jackson dealer or if they did a few custom one-offs. Either way, great score. The Japanese factory was putting out stuff as good or better than USA at that point.

[Hellraiser6502]

D'OH!!

You'll have to excuse my ignorance...

I'm a USA C/J snob.

I have given ZERO attention to anything outside the USA made stuff.

I stand corrected.

[Xubxub]

i payed 400$ for it. I know for a fact that this guitar was imported from japan to my country as the hardcase has a shipping sticker that has details when and how it was imported here. i'll try making a video of the guitar later this week with sound demos for the guys here.

[xenophobe]

At $400 you got a steal. I think it'd sell for maybe double that on ebay. Economy is rough so you won't get full value if you tried to sell it now unless there was a bidding war. It's definitely one of the rarest imports you'll ever see, however rare doesn't always mean valuable, but in this case it kinda does. In the early '00s, this guitar would easily have hit $1000+. I knew at least one other bidder other than myself back then that would have gone higher. These were basically identical reproductions of 21 fret SD Stratheads, bathtub route, correct pickguard screw placement for SD strats, etc... just made in Japan.

[Xubxub]

Oh your GMW looks EPIC!!!
the neck feels really good on this guitar and the sound is awesome too. i just need to give it to my guitar tech to rewire the pickups but apart from that, its a great bang for the buck.

[xenophobe]

Oh your GMW looks EPIC!!!
the neck feels really good on this guitar and the sound is awesome too. i just need to give it to my guitar tech to rewire the pickups but apart from that, its a great bang for the buck.

Yeah, you lucked out. It's easily the equal to the Pro Mods in quality and I'd value it as much as a USA strathead. Some people would die for that 21 fret neck.

[BGSU1989]

What were the neck and middle pickups on this?
I have one but the pickups don't appear to be original.