First Post - Spruced up Charvette

[badanimal]

Hello everyone. This is my first post since joining so i hope i get it right.

This is my guitar bought new for me by my Pa in '89. Good or bad i could never sell it.

Recetly I felt it was time for a spruce up and altered it a bit. It is a Charvette. It had a black headstock with a toothpaste logo, but I changed it to red with a tin of car spray (it's Rover Flame Red), and i managed to get the pointy head logo made for me.




It's a JT-6 trem that works great still after all these years. It used to go out of tune untill i removed the plastic nut and replaced it with a floyd style locking nut. I allways fancied a D-Tuna but they didnt fit the JT-6, untill now
I drilled and tapped the trem and put a floyed tuning screw in, now it works fine.


It's had a big brass block conversion. It's all been done on the cheap. I know Charvettes aint considered any good, but it's what i got

[BigE13]

That is a sweet crackle! Hey Charvettes are not bad. Upgrade the pups and they are nice players. Better than alot of junk being made these days. All that matters is that you love it! Rock on bro!

[Devotee]

That is indeed a nice crackle! I dig those dot inlays too.

[Ward]

Thirded on the crackle. It's almost like a reverse crackle compared to what you usually see.

Also, nice work on the D-Tuna mod! I don't have any JT-6s or D-Tunas, but that looks like a great work-around.

[badanimal]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. I was a bit worried i'd get less complimentary because it was a charvette, and not a charvel.

I've only just done the dot inlays, they were a few quid (dollars) off ebay. Had to chip a bit of rosewood off an old neck to fill in at the 7th and 19th frets as they were singles before, but it came out smooth.

Not sure about the brass block though, i realise now i've lost it, how much i liked that 'thin' 80's sound , though i've thrown in an extra toggle to switch the humbucker to single coil, and it does sound a bit 'stratty', great for picking. The whole thing was done on the cheap (due to current economic conditions and work situation). I've put the price in dollars because this looks like a predominantly USA site

Costs-
Red Headstock paint $6 (car shop)
Charvel decal $14 (but that came with another i ordered for another guitar)
Floyd Tuners $3 (ebay)
Fret Markers MOP $3 (ebay)
D-Tuna $48 (ebay)

I've had the Charvel strap since i got it (along with a pile of Charvel Picks).

Oh yeah (i have a patient missus, because that the living room), the HH amps came of ebay this year at around $50 each because they are all UK '70s amps with a lot of broken pots, so about $20 of new pots sorted them out. And any one of those little combo's can blow that H&K 4x12 out of the window. So i recon they were a bargain.

[guitarguy2237]

4thed on the crackle, Like bigE said, charvettes are great with better pickups.

[badanimal]

Thanks again Glad i posted now (held off for a bit out of embarresment).

Any advice on what would make good replacement pickups ?

[guitarguy2237]

Depends on what you wanna play,id say if youre a metalhead like i am, i put a bareknuckle warpig in mine and it rips faces off,for the bridge,at least. for the neck i put a S.D. stacked humbucker in there,for more output than the stock jackson single coils that were in my fusion.

[badanimal]

I guess im a bit of a metal head, allthough i just turned 50 I like 80's shredding, pantera, Disturbed etc

and I was going to say anything with the name 'Warpig' sounds good, then i noticed there from over here in England ! where have i been ........ Thanks for waking me up

[straycat]

Nice job on the headstock those can be great guitars.
Rigs are nice too.

[guitarguy2237]

I guess im a bit of a metal head, allthough i just turned 50 I like 80's shredding, pantera, Disturbed etc

and I was going to say anything with the name 'Warpig' sounds good, then i noticed there from over here in England ! where have i been ........ Thanks for waking me up

Even better, if you order the pickup form their website,you can customize it oy your preferences,like colors.

[sixx_ gunner]

Nice work! Great to see someone put some time and a few bucks into these lower end version and see some good results. What is the body wood? I have read plywood.

[RacerX]

You logo faker you

[MarkThomas]

Thanks again Glad i posted now (held off for a bit out of embarresment).

Any advice on what would make good replacement pickups ?

Embarrassment? Naw! You got that as a starter guitar from your Dad...and, apparently, it worked, you are still playing. And you still have your original guitar and it is still delivering for you. That is ALL GOOD stuff!

[Force]

I use to think Charvette was a joke as they were the poor mans Charvel but I was young & stupid.

Now I feel old & stupid because I didn't buy one. Yours is beautiful.

80's shred calls for EMGs.