Introduction and help with ID...

[TexasTwang]

Hey guys! I've been lurking for quite a while, but just now joined up. I'm looking at about 6" of snow in my yard here outside of Dallas. I've been around almost 50 winters, and can't remember this much snow.

I've owned a Jackson DK3 for many years and love it, and it's the main reason I've been reading this forum. But... I also picked up a Charvel TE Custom...of sorts. I've seen a few of these, with a couple of exceptions. One, it has a Fender Strat headstock. The other issue is no push/pull tone pot. The tuners are labeled "Gotoh/Charvel", and the neck plate says, "Jackson/Charvel" in tiny letters. I'm sure it's Japanese made, with the serial number 381901. I got this from the original owner. He said he had a roommate that worked at the Jackson/Charvel warehouse in Ft. Worth in the early '90's. His roomie told him they had a "custom" guitar that they couldn't sell through retail, but he could get it for him directly through the warehouse (?). It was not played at all, and is immaculate and included the OHSC. I took it to my luthier (Don Bell of Bell Custom Guitars), who really set it up for me. I love it, and can't seem to put it down.
Anyway, any insight/help would be greatly appreciated! Keep Jammin'!
TexasTwang

[dg]

Some oddball things have come out of Ft. Worth in the past. Sometimes they were prototypes, sometimes they were guitars meant for foreign markets, and sometimes they were parts from different things put together. For the most part, any time you see a strathead on anything with "by Jackson/Charvel" on it, it was for the foreign market only due to Fender's trademark of that headstock shape in the US. Do you have any pics?

[TexasTwang]

Some oddball things have come out of Ft. Worth in the past. Sometimes they were prototypes, sometimes they were guitars meant for foreign markets, and sometimes they were parts from different things put together. For the most part, any time you see a strathead on anything with "by Jackson/Charvel" on it, it was for the foreign market only due to Fender's trademark of that headstock shape in the US. Do you have any pics?

I do have pics, but can't seem to be able to post them in this thread. Any idea's?

[Glave]

Welcome and let me be the first...

[Glave]

Put the pics on a hosting site like photobucket or flickr then hit the button that looks like a pic of a mountain and put the link to the pic in there.

[dg]

Here's an example of a foreign-market TE Custom with a tele headstock that someone here found in Sweden recently:




I haven't seen any with strat headstocks, but you never know.

[TexasTwang]

DG, mine is gorgeous ash with a burst finish, definite Strat head, and heavy chrome volume/tone knobs. I can't send PM's yet. Thanks!

[dg]

Tex, I got your PM & sent you my email addy. I should be on & off here for a while tonight.

[dg]

Here are the pics:












Very nice! It's in awesome condition, and you gotta love ash.

[TexasTwang]

Thanks for the help! I'm just curious what you guys think? I don't care about the value, but more the history (or background) of it.

[dg]

Body-wise, it looks just like the ash version of either the TE Custom, or the TX Custom which came out in '92 - '93. Here's the catalog page with the TX Custom:

http://audiozone.dk/cm/displayimage.php?pid=779&fullsize=1

I've seen overseas strathead versions of the ST models from that timeframe, so maybe they put stratheads on overseas TX models too. So my best guess as to what you have is a TX Custom made for the Asian (or possibly Euro) market.

[RacerX]

Welcome TT! I'm not into Teles, but that is an interesting one ya got there!

[TexasTwang]

Welcome TT! I'm not into Teles, but that is an interesting one ya got there!

Thanks! It kind of fell into my lap. I couldn't pass it up. I heard about it from a friend who knew the owner. He lives pretty close to me, and has 4 boys ages 6 months to 8 years old! Poor guy....Anyway, every time I open the case, I feel like (and probably look like) Travolta in "Pulp Fiction" when he opens that brief-case. LOL! With that 5-way switch and three SC's, I'm already wondering what a set of strat "Texas Special's" might sound like...