Rating the Charvels

[Hired Goon]

Hey guys. Just got back into Charvel guitars after a long run of playing nothing but Les Paul style guitars. Child of the 80's and I've got the bug again. Putting in some time learning some of those cheese/hair metal solos - gotta love Youtube.

Have a Model 2 from the 80's in perfect shape and still plays amazingly. Have a couple of MIMs - 2016 SoCal and 2016 San Dimas. Also picked up USA select in Satin Plum - love it. The MIM's are a bit on the heavy side I notice, and yes the fret ends are rough up here in the Canadian winters.

Hoping to add to the collection a little bit. Looking at another model series - 3/4/5/6 or possibly 550/650/750XL. Planning to stay clear of the Charvettes - mostly plywood/budget stuff as I understand it. I might try the Fusion series or the 275-575 deluxe range but probably not. There's a couple of wild cards I like - the green one and the grey one. Not quite ready to splurge on a custom yet, as I'd like to get my hands on a Suhr first.

In all likelihood it's going to be 650/750 vs Model 3/4 vs one of these Wild cards. Any comparisons? My preference would be to have H-S-S as I've got the humbuckers well covered. I think that might rule out the 750.

[ed]

650/750 are neckthrough and very high quality. Also you will have to pay top dollars for a 750 especially if its see through colour. Also 650/750 375 475 550 series have the schaller trem and the model series have the Jackson JT-6 mostly. Model 2 to model4 are bolt on and model 5 and 6 are neck through.

I would personally go for 375 475 650 or 750 just because i like the schaller more than the JT-6. But there not much else quality wise in difference between the model series and the toothpaste logo series(275-750). Also if you like the 24.75 scale length the fusions are very nice guitars as well.

Also if you find one the Jackson pro series from the early 90s are very good in quality.

[Number Of The Priest]

Since you're Canadian, if you browse the https://www.jcfonline.com/forums/16-E-fraid-of-E-bay forum you'll notice I track the Canadian market for good-to-amazing deals on guitars found in Canada. Look for posts with the label "Deal alert" in the title. Useful for price comparisons and seeing what kinds of guitars can be found for various prices.

After watching and tracking the Canadian market on a daily basis for nearly two years, I've noticed these trends:



Charvel Model Series

1) The bolt-on Charvel Model Series (Models 1 thru 4 and all their sub-variants) tend to be the most plentiful and least expensive. This is probably where it's easiest to find the best "bang for the buck" value in the Charvel brand.

2) The neck-thru Model Series (Models 5 & 6 and all their sub-variants) are less common and tend to command premium prices; they are essentially the very first "Japanese Jackson Soloists" with Charvel logos on the headstocks.



Charvel "toothpaste logo" Series

3) The Charvel Classic Series ("toothpaste logo" bolt-ons with model numbers ending in x75, including the 275, 375, 475, and 475) are similar in "bang for the buck" value to my #1 trend above but not as common in quantity of listings.

4) The Charvel Professional Series ("toothpaste logo" neck-thrus/set-necks with model numbers ending in x50, including the 550, 650, and 750) are the cream of the crop. They are seldom, if ever, seen in Canada, and command high prices.



Charvel Wild Cards

5) The Charvel Wild Cards are seldom seen. They were a limited production. I probably don't have enough data on these being tracked in the E-fraid of E-bay forum. I've only seen two of them in person, one of which was overpriced to me and the other was tracked/discussed here: https://www.jcfonline.com/threads/14...se)-Yay-or-nay



Alternate considerations

The Japanese Jackson Pro Series and Jackson MG Series of the 2000s decade are another great "bang for the buck" value. They are frequently available in Canada for CAD$300 as a ballpark figure; they often go lower than this (browse the E-fraid of E-bay forum to see for yourself).

If you're looking for an HSS pickup configuration, the 2000s Pro Series DK2 happens to be one of the most common guitars, and often seen at CAD$300 or below. The other DK2 variants include the DK2FS (Firestorm), DK2S (Sustainer), and DK2FF (Flame Fretboard), but they are not as common and tend to go for higher prices compared with the normal DK2.

From the early 2000s until about 2006, the DK2 had chrome hardware and Duncan Designed pickups. From 2006-2011, the DK2 had black hardware and Seymour Duncan pickups. Construction quality should be the same between the two "sub-eras", but given a choice, I would try to get a 2006-2011 one with the better pickups.

[Hired Goon]

Great info you guys.

I had posted a wanted ad on Kijiji Edmonton. Someone responded with a Magenta 650XL in good shape and wants $950 Canadian for it. I'm considering it. The other is that Turquoise 750xl for $1300 and I believe you made a posting of. There is also a red model 3 for$1100, which to me is overpriced

[Hired Goon]

I'll have to educate myself on Jackson's bit more. Certainly if consider one.

[ed]

1100 for a model 3 is overpriced even if canadian dollars. 950 canadian dollars for a 650xl is a pretty good price if its in good condition.

The 750xls are very high priced these days. And attleast for me are the holy grail guitar. I owned 1 roughly 15 years ago and still think it was one of the best sounding guitars i ever had. And i can say that i would gladly pay over 1000 euros for one in good condition but they are so rare and noone wants to part with them if they own one.

[charvel750]

Great info you guys.

I had posted a wanted ad on Kijiji Edmonton. Someone responded with a Magenta 650XL in good shape and wants $950 Canadian for it. I'm considering it. The other is that Turquoise 750xl for $1300 and I believe you made a posting of. There is also a red model 3 for$1100, which to me is overpriced

Many have found the non see through 750's are not in the same league as the flamed maple tops. The tone is different (in a bad way) and the sound suffers as a result.

[ed]

Yep I had the yellow transparent flame maple one is it amber or whats the colour. I havent tested any of the solid colour ones.

Oh and i put the 750xl as a neckthrough but they were setnecks.