Eldred Flames Charvel Star

[CaptNasty]

I went on a small buying spree and brought some Charvels into my stable recently.

This guitar is a really interesting piece. This guitar is supposedly called “The Eldred Flames Star”. It is a NAMM prototype that was hand painted by Mike Eldred. Here is the kicker: this guitar was built in late 2004-early 2005 and has a strat headstock. In other words this guitar was built before Fender allowed Charvel to legally use the Fender headstock.

The documentation I recieved from the seller indicates that this guitar was a prototype that was built as Fender and Charvel were figuring out Charvel’s use of the Fender headstock.

At Summer NAMM 2005 Charvel was quietly showing this guitar around backstage. It was not for “public consumption”, but Rita Haney, Dimebag’s old lady somehow walked out on stage ay NAMM with this guitar and was photographed with it.

The guitar was used in the 2006 Charvel Catalog and in Nov 2005 this guitar was given it’s serial number and formally entered into the build log. It was used as a NAMM model at Winter NAMM 2006 were the guy I bought it from managed to purchase it.

After purchase, Charvel contacted the buyer and offered to buy back the guitar for a very large sum. He refused and kept the guitar. Apparently the headstock licensing was not finalized and the guitar should not have been sold.

[JJ119]

Congratulations!

Very nice piece of Charvel History and an interesting story.

I am digging it. The flames are nicely done, and the entire guitar is very appealing to look at!

Are you going to play it as a Home guitar or maybe display in a wall show piece?

[CaptNasty]

This guitar has been a case queen for 14+ years. I am going to keep it that way. This is a collectible piece. I will pull it out and diddle around on it probably a couple times a year, but it will see no significant playing time. The thing is mint and I want to keep it that way.

[metalhobo]

mike eldred always had the best flames . excellent score! nice palindromic s/n, too!

[pianoguyy]

I love that advertising gimmick ---- Fender giving Charvel permission to use the headstock.

[freedom's door]

That is a cool piece of Charvel history.
I understand you not wanting to play it too regularly, but I don't think I would be able to resist

[CaptNasty]

mike eldred always had the best flames . excellent score! nice palindromic s/n, too!

Thanks!

I like the serial # too. I will be posting a Charvel Model 6 I recently aquired next, it has a serial number of 6006660.

[CaptNasty]

That is a cool piece of Charvel history.
I understand you not wanting to play it too regularly, but I don't think I would be able to resist

Thanks!

I have some really great guitars to play on, so I guess it makes it easier to let this guitar just “be”.

[Razor]

That is total bad ass and being documented like that is killer.

[CaptNasty]

That is total bad ass and being documented like that is killer.

Thanks Razor!

[Bert]

That is an outstanding guitar.

[Number Of The Priest]

If there was a perfect Charvel Star that I could dream up, that would be it!

Any photos of Rita with the guitar? I tried a Google Image search and found nothing. Interestingly, this topic comes up as one of the top hits!

[CaptNasty]

If there was a perfect Charvel Star that I could dream up, that would be it!

Any photos of Rita with the guitar? I tried a Google Image search and found nothing. Interestingly, this topic comes up as one of the top hits!

I do have a grainy pic. Trying to see if the seller has the digital version of the photo

[Burnin_Up!]

What was that serial? The hot rod flames guitar I posted has the same screen printed logo and has a jackson serial number of 7502, on a jackson airport dr ontario neck plate.

I've been trying to figure it out.

[CaptNasty]

What was that serial? The hot rod flames guitar I posted has the same screen printed logo and has a jackson serial number of 7502, on a jackson airport dr ontario neck plate.

I've been trying to figure it out.

My serial is C7007. Entered into the build log in Nov ‘05... but it was at NAMM in July ‘05.

The hang tag in the pic on my original post has the s/n on it.

Here is a Charvel build log: http://weber.de1.cc/charvel/7500-7999.html

There is not an entry for 7502. That does not mean the guitar you are looking at is not legit. It could be a Jackson with a Charvel headstock and thus would not appear on the Charvel build log. It could be a prototype, promotional, or endorsement guitar and was not offered for sale.

Sometimes an instrument with artwork could also get pulled and not released due to licensing/legal/approval issues with an artist/copyright owner.

Another possibility is that it is a blemished instrument that made its way out of the shop. Check out this post.

There is precedence of Jackson mixing up a Jackson headstock with a Charvel neck plate. The “Jack Butler” guitar used in the Crossroads movie was a Jackson with a Charvel neck plate.