Seeking help in identifying two Charvel Guitars

[nollies1]

Greetings to all,

When time allows please aid me in my quest; your input would be so much appreciated, thanks in advance for reading/chiming in...

*The notes presented below correspond to each of two Charvel Guitars which I am hoping to confirm their model, respectively*

1) Guitar 1
This guitar was purchased at the local music shop I'm guessing in 1991, my memories recall a sign over it such as 'list $1300, sale $1199'. I do know that I saved up all summer as a kid for that thing, thus making it my 3rd electric guitar at the time and by far the best electric I had in my arsenal :p.

In hindsight I figure (albeit based on my distant and often failing recollection), that nonetheless it was likely a 1990 year model, put on sale to make room for the new ones that came in.


Guitar 1... what is known:
- Color: some type of white
- Serial No: unknown/ not visible on the outside at least
- Pickups: HSS format, all covered, Jackson signature, active (confirmed slot for a 9V underneath etc.)
- Sharkfin pearl inlay
- 24 frets
- Volume and two tone knobs; 5-way switch
- Neckthrough
- Wood type of body/neck: Unknown (painted all over); the fretboard I think (?) is rosewood (it's a very dark brown, kind of a 'cappuccino' color'... are these things stained or it this natural color?)
- Charvel/Schaller Floyd Rose licensed trem, block style string lock at bridge, etc.
- Toothpaste logo with "R"

Working conclusion:
I'm not 100% certain but the information gathered suggests this is fairly close to the 1990 model 650 Custom. Or, a 650 XL from the previous year (although I believe for 1989 they were bolt-on necks, but I could be wrong on that).


Not sure what the pricing would have been back then either, hence another reason I cannot truly be certain what model this is.


---------------------


2) Guitar 2
This guitar was purchased in 1997 from some sketchy paganist dude (true story) who lived a couple doors down, said he grabbed it from one of his pagan society ish friends and a few months later decided he didn't want to learn how to play. I remember he specifically noted that the guy he got it from said it was 'old and dated dude, like 10 years old', and so figuring it was an outdated old hunk of junk, we had both agreed to a price of $75. lol. I still smile over that deal... it needed a slight neck adjustment and after that, was my workhorse for the next decade.


Guitar 2... what is known:
- Color: Black
- Serial No: 227521; neck plate has the Made in Japan stamp; Charvel signature with the "TM"
- Pickups: HSH format, all covered, Jackson signature, active (confirmed slot for a 9V underneath etc.)
- Dots w/ pearl inlay (not the white dots version)
- 22 frets
- Volume and two tone knobs; 3 on/off toggle switches
- Bolt on neck
- Kahler 'original' model 2300); has "TM" and Made in USA; brass roller, etc.
- Has the 'guitar shape' style Charvel logo, with "TM" and 'By Jackson/Charvel' below it


Working conclusion:
The above information suggests that this could perhaps be an 'early 1986' model but I have no confidence at present in what specific model it actually is. The closest I came so far is, I once had thought this could be some variant of the model 4, but I've yet to confirm if any were made with the HSH layout, nor have I seen any of them with 'covered' pickups... since then, I've basically been unable to correlate any single model factory built with the particular combination of features listed above.


Any insight would be awesome.


Feel free to comment on/ ask me anything I may have missed that would help us out on this journey of sorts.


Best,
-n

[kamanda]

First off, pics would be a MASSIVE help. But going on what you put so far:

Guitar 1 - 650 of some sort
Guitar 2 - I suspect it may be a japan market model, will have to look a bit.

FYI the pickups themselves are passive but have an active boost.

[nollies1]

Thanks for offering to look into this! And yes, thanks also for clarifying active boost.

Also - I'll snap some photos and aim to post them in the morning. -n

[nollies1]

As requested... pictures below... thx!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1z6bldr88JRRmE4Vng5MFNIdGs

[Number Of The Priest]

Your first guitar does look like a stock Charvel 650XL, other than the chrome volume knob. kamanda guessed the model number correctly. http://charvelusa.com/charvel_models...1990_1991.html

Your second guitar is a Charvel Model 4 that looks to be modified for a neck humbucker. It was clever for Charvel to design the HSS pickup layouts on Model Series guitars to move the middle single coil closer to the bridge, thus allowing space for routing of a humbucker in the neck position; once routed, the middle single is perfectly spaced between the neck and bridge humbuckers. Why do I suspect your guitar has been routed? The neck pickup ring has sharp corners while the bridge pickup ring has rounded corners, suggesting the neck humbucker was added later. Maybe you might confirm my suspicions by removing the neck pickup ring and checking the wood underneath compared to the wood under the bridge pickup. It could be obvious that it's an aftermarket job... but it could also look professionally done...

[nollies1]

Cool, I'll go and do that; will see what what we gots...

[kamanda]

NOTP Nailed it I think. Definitely looks like a modded Model 4. Take that pickup ring off and you'll see. Snap a couple pics when you do!

Great looking guitars BTW.

[nollies1]

Thanks you two, very much appreciated. And thx on appearance too, have always tried to keep my stuff in good shape so your comment meant a lot

So - Guitar 2 definitely looks as predicted, i.e. neck pickup likely a mod. I will post some pics later when I'm on/near my computer, but wanted to pass along. The cuts are visibly different when comparing the one for the neck-HB to that for the bridge HB, albeit both do look professionally done imo.

i try to go into the back as well in a bit and see if I can discern pickups etc. for fun.

-n