First post, and a couple of questions about my Charvel!

[King Loudness]

Hey guys,

My name is Will, and I'm a fifteen year old guitarist from Eastern Canada. Recently, I picked up a 1988 Charvel Model 4M in a trade, and I have a few questions about it. Firstly, I've heard that the 4M's were only made for one year (1988), but yet I've seen a catalog scan from 1986 showing a Model 4M as well. What's the deal with the 4M as far as rarity goes? Also it's in need of electronics (pots, switches, and the JE1200 preamp, I have the pickups). Would the electronics from a Charvel 475 fit this guitar (aside from the blade switch) and serve the same function as the originals? Lastly, how does having the stock pickups and (close to stock) electronics compare value wise to having all replaced ones?

Cheers.

[dg]

The 475 electronics will match right up, except for the 5-way switch as you mentioned. Swapping out pickups on the guitar won't really affect the value much one way or the other. Put what you like in there. I usually hang on to my originals & offer them with the guitar if I resell, but in my experience it's not a big deal on imports. Keeping all the original parts can be very important for resale on the old USA guitars, though.

In your situation, the J50BC bridge pickup will sound OK without the preamp (it's not a great pickup either way, imo), but the J200 stacked hums don't work well at all without it, and it even says in the electronics catalog not to run them without it. The midboost is kinda cool but not really that great, and I'd personally save the money that'd go toward sourcing an old preamp and put it toward some Duncans, DiMarzios, or an EMG set if you're into that. It all depends on whether your goal is to return the guitar to stock or to get your best tone out of it.

The 4M was definitely only offered in '88 to the USA market, and the only maple-boarded models in '86 were the Model 1 & 1A, afaik. Is it possible that you saw a Japan-only '86 catalog or sales brochure? Seems like they always had some different stuff over there.

As for how rare the 4M was, they never released any numbers for how many they made, but since they only made them for a year and still offered the rosewood / sharkfin version, they're obviously more rare than lots of other Model Series guitars. Does that make them really valuable? Not really, but people love the maple fretboards and that helps with the value.

[MetalHeadMat]

In '86 they would've had Kahlers anyways, same with the cars and fire hydrants

[SteveK]

Ireckon, get a Seymour Duncan JB fitted in the bridge and a couple of Hot Rails/Cool Rails for the other positions, season with some CTS pots and black knurled knobs, and for the final touch fit an original Floyd Rose (although I've been using the JT-6 whammys for 20 years without a hitch).

Voila! One World beating Rock guitar.

[Glave]

Like Steve said, throw some electronics in and fire that up. BTW, you'll need a nut too. Kahler locks lock the strings, but they don't act as a nut also like the Floyd ones.

[King Loudness]

Thanks for the input guys! I actually have the nut for it, it just wasn't attached in the picture.