Charvel Model 5A

[contilon]

I've been lurkin' for a while. I want to thank everyone for an awesome forum. I recently bought a model 3 and got the fever. A few months ago, I wlaked into a little pawn shop in NH. They only had 2 guitars. 1 of them was a Model 5A. I ended up paying $175 with a case. It had a chrome OFR already on it and an EMG 89. The 89 sounded horrible and the frets were grooved.

So, I decided to do a fret relevel and totally chrome it out. The original blue paint is faded a little and is looking a little greenish. Not my favorite color, but it is growing on me. There was one dent through the paint on the front. I bought a spare neck plate and machined out the logo to make a custom emblem to hide the blem. I also custom made the polished aluminum pickup ring. It fits the new EMG 81 perfectly. I added the new EMG wiring with volume and tone.

I bought this for the case, thinking I can sell the guitar and get the case for free, It sounds so awesome with sustain that I have never had before, that I think that I have to keep it. From my investigating, it looks like 1 of 400 built. Pretty rare.

[DrDestruction]

Yeah. 5As are some neat guitars. I've had my 5A (dark metallic purple with black hardware and original Seymour Duncan Heavy Metal Live Wire humbucker) since I was in high school- nice low action, and it sounds like a beast.

[rjohnstone]

I love my 5A.
Mine was Pearl White when I got it but it was too boring.
I had Mike Learn work his magic on it.

[contilon]

Well, that's 3 of them accounted for. It's cool that you had the paint stripped off of the neck. The paint is kind of sticky. I waxed mine and I'm getting used to it. The low action pared with my releveled frets makes the guitar play so much faster and smoother than anything I've tried. They are around .040in. tall. I think that they are originally around .050. I guess that it is time to practice before I strip the 3A.

It's black paint is kind of trashed. I'm going to paint it 2003 50th anniversary Corvette Burgundy. I also bought a mint neck off of ebay along with a set of 3 S.D. blackouts and a new Gotoh Floyd.

[straycat]

5A's rock I love em!

[toejam]

Yeah. 5As are some neat guitars. I've had my 5A (dark metallic purple

That would be called Black Cherry. I had one in that color, and it was pretty neat. I sold it or traded it, and someone else here eventually wound up with it.

[SATCH1967]

They are cool guitars, I have had two of them, one in metallic red, bought her brand new around the same time i bought my model 88 from the music store i worked at. got a good deal on the 5A since it was sitting in the store for a while. Both guitars came stock with a jackson J95 pickup. and screamed. the red 5a got stolen from my house, and later bought a marykay pink one that i sold to a member here. great guitars and would not mind grabbing another one along with a model 88.

[Trussrod]

Looks like an OFR with a Kahler nut. Could this be a mutt--neck and body from different guitars?

[toejam]

Looks like an OFR with a Kahler nut. Could this be a mutt--neck and body from different guitars?

Kinda hard to do that when it's a neck-thru. They came with the Jackson JT6 trem and Jackson's behind-the-nut lock that's similar to a Kahler. An OFR will fit in place of the JT6 just fine.

[Habanero]

I've also got a pearl white one of these, though it's now yellowed with age. It's still got the JT-6 trem, but the pickup has been replaced with a SD Custom Custom. The sustain is phenomenal.

I agree that contilon's original post pics show a modded example, as the trem has been replaced, there's an additional tone(?) control, and I don't think that's an original colour either, though this could just be a photo issue.

[Trussrod]

Kinda hard to do that when it's a neck-thru. They came with the Jackson JT6 trem and Jackson's behind-the-nut lock that's similar to a Kahler. An OFR will fit in place of the JT6 just fine.

I saw the wood where the paint was removed on the other guitar and thought it was a bolt on. I had a Kahler with that type of nut and have to wonder why Jackson would use that design.

[Habanero]

I saw the wood where the paint was removed on the other guitar and thought it was a bolt on. I had a Kahler with that type of nut and have to wonder why Jackson would use that design.

I could be very wrong, but I thought the bolt-ons all had a neck joint plate, whereas the neck throughs had the serial number stamped into the fretboard?

[pro-fusion]

You got that for $175??? Holy crap. Where are all those good deals around here? I never see 'em.

[Trussrod]

...I thought the bolt-ons all had a neck joint plate...

That's true of all the bolt ons I've seen. I was pointing out why I mistook the one guitar pictured in this thread for a bolt on...

[rjohnstone]

That's true of all the bolt ons I've seen. I was pointing out why I mistook the one guitar pictured in this thread for a bolt on...

The funny part is, the one with the unpainted neck (mine), has a real Floyd nut on it.