Stolen Vintage Jackson/Charvel guitar

[Beezelbub]

Hi, My name is Stu from NYC. This is a wild hail Mary pass but here goes. Here is a pic of me with my Jackson guitar that was stolen from me around 1992. I ordered it directly from the catalog around 1986. I ordered it at the old Sam Ash on 48th st NYC (all gone now of course). I picked the design and the color. For whatever reason, I ordered from what I thought would be a Charvel but the guitar arrived with the Jackson logo. It had one Jackson humbucker and one single coil with a Fender style knife switch. It had an original Floyd Rose system. From what I heard, it was sold to the store right across the street from Sam Ash that bought used gear. I still have the original bill of sale somewhere in my house. I have to dig it out because I'm sure it has a serial on it. I have absolutely never seen another Jackson from this era with this design or configuration. For all I know, this was a one off. I attached a link to the Jackson/Charvel catalog. They have this exact design only with purple stripes. I ordered my guitar from this catalogue:

https://assets.ctfassets.net/4jcppgetbqrc/4rOWwtJO7Y6SMMS4oCuk66/bb88e21141d0bc4dd99b8523090f4dcb/CharvelJackson-1984-catalog.pdf

Lord knows, over the years, people butchered their guitars. They repainted, routed, added pickups, anything you can imagine so this guitar may not even exist in one piece anymore. I have a faint hope that since the guitar looked so cool, it wasn't molested. My other hope is that since it's so unique, someone will recognize my long lost prize. It cost $1,200 in 1986 to order a custom Charvel from the catalog. That's over $2,700 scaled up to today's money. a LOT of money for a broke metal head to save up back in 1986. Thanks fellow enthusiasts and if anything. I hope my post starts an interesting thread!

[DonP]

Cool guitar, but I've never seen it before.

[shreddermon]

Hi Stu, welcome to the forum and very cool guitar. Can't say I've ever seen it, so can't help with a possible recovery.

As to the logo, though, they stopped producing USA Charvels during 1986. So everything after then came with a Jackson logo.
Since you ordered in 1987, sounds like your dealer either wasn't aware or didn't inform you at the time.

Good luck trying to find it, hope you're successful.

[Johnnyryche]

Cool star but haven't seen that one before. Good luck with the search.

[neilli]

Yeah, that looks very cool, but again, I've not seen it before.. I assume you don't know the serial number?

[DonP]

Not yours, but this might be the closest you can get. Odd that it was just posted today.

https://www.jcfonline.com/threads/158848-2006-USA-Charvel-Star-Black-with-original-case

[Catharpin]

What color is it?

[Beezelbub]

Hi and thanks everyone. The color was black all over the sides and back of the body. The back of the headstock matched the neck, all maple, which was a super thin profile. Also unique on the neck is there are simple dot inlays and not the famous shark fin inlays. The stripes on the body were black and white. I believe the name for it from the factory was "fat and skinny stripe". Michael Anthony had this bass around the same time and either they did that paint job for him or Jackson was inspired by this design.

[Beezelbub]

Hey shreddermon, thanks so much for that info. I never knew that. I actually dug deeper and I actually ordered the guitar in 1986. However, that must be the exact time they switched the logos to Jackson. I remember having nothing against Jackson at the time but so many great players at that time were using Charvel and the tone was so great. However, when they took it out of the box at the store, I was blown away and didn't care about the name on the headstock. I actually ordered a white body with that design on the front. I realized instantly how bad-ass the black looked and wondered if they did that on purpose lol. Also, another surprise was the Jackson hand-wired humbucker it came with. I still remember the exact tone it had which was amazing and very unique. Had some boost in the mid-range that gave it almost a "wah" tone. Very strong output and yet clear as a bell. No noise problems or uncontrolled feedback. Cleaned up like a dream with the volume pot. I have been looking for those pickups on line and they ain't cheap. I'm thinking of doing a project Star with those pups in it.

[Beezelbub]

Hello DonP. Yes that is quite a cool guitar. It even originally had a single coil in the neck position like mine had. This guitar has some unique properties. A fender style trem instead of a locking system. The pickup selector is like a Gibson and it's placement is odd. If you want to quick change pickups during a solo, imagine having to bring your hand to the absolute furthest place on the guitar to do it lol! Still, this guitar looks totally sinister in all black. Thanks for even reading my post and responding. I appreciate everyone here and hope to post more pics and perhaps even buy or project build a new star in the near future.

[Beezelbub]

Here's 2 more pics of the guitar. The EMG's did not last long.
[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

[dannyr]

Cool guitar! Good luck tracking it down.

[DonP]

it would be awesome if you could find it and it was in the same shape. I read this happened to the Smashing Pumpkins guy - got it back after 27 years and it was just like old friends.

I had an almost new Hohner guitar stolen in 1990 in Anaheim CA. It was a flamed burst Jackson SL1 copy with Steinburg(?) trem that could latch into a hardtail. I took it to family on Thanksgiving, got home late and left it in the trunk of a hatchback. Next morning a window was busted and the guitar was gone. Likely was the fucking druggy roommates I lived with. I think they stole other shit I had (car radio stuff).

[Beezelbub]

A friend we all hung out with was a secret crackhead. There was absolutely no outward signs whatsoever. He was studying to be a luthier and repairman. He played guitar and did small set up jobs with no incident in the past. He took that guitar and left town. He also scammed a few more close friends including the fiance of his best friend who just died in a motorcycle accident.