Desolation Soloist DX1 FR

[schizotronic]

Really, really sorry if this has been posted already. I swear I searched through the JCF and throughout the web. I got a few scattered and non-reliable info. To make things easier, I'll put up 3 questions:
1- Name of this series is Charvel Desolation Soloist, right? When it started? Has it finished yet?
2- Most important (to me): which country and FACTORY?
3- In the US, what's the second-hand price you guys know about?

Here is a link to a local ad (it's a kind of Brazilian e-Bay).

Thanks in advance!

[Number Of The Priest]

I'm not well-informed about the Desolation Series but I will try my best.

3999 Brazilian Real = USD$1036.49 which is far too expensive anywhere in the world. Check the pricelists on the Charvel website (http://charvel.com/support/catalogs-and-pricelists/) and you'll see why this is too expensive. This price is within price range for second-hand Made in USA Jacksons/Charvels in North America.

The Desolation Series were made in China. If I rely on the above-linked pricelist page, they were available 2012-2014 (since they appear in the 2012 catalog, 2013 pricelist, and 2014 pricelist). At a glance, I am unsure if they were available before 2012.

[schizotronic]

I'm not well-informed about the Desolation Series but I will try my best.

3999 Brazilian Real = USD$1036.49 which is far too expensive anywhere in the world. Check the pricelists on the Charvel website (http://charvel.com/support/catalogs-and-pricelists/) and you'll see why this is too expensive. This price is within price range for Made in USA Jacksons in North America.

The Desolation Series were made in China. If I rely on the above-linked pricelist page, they were available 2012-2014 (since they appear in the 2012 catalog, 2013 pricelist, and 2014 pricelist). At a glance, I am unsure if they were available before 2012.

Yeah, man... that's how life is in Brazil... actually, we get the price in dollar, multiply by ten and we have the price in Brazilian Real... I'm totally aware of how expensive things are here. It's not something that one can get used to. Everything is pretty expensive. I had to sell one lung and one kidney for my beloved King V KV2T with Ghost Flames...

VERY NICE you know and shared the period of availability of the Desolation Series. I remember years ago, Anderton's had a sale off; they said the Desolation series was not a success. But that's the first time I see a SOLOIST by Charvel, made overseas... very curious about the factory. I guess they're not made by Weibo... or Samick. Maybe Cort?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR INPUT!

[Number Of The Priest]

You might be right, the Desolation Soloist might be the first true named production model Soloist from Charvel. "Soloist" is usually a Jackson model designation. Charvel has made several Soloist-style production model guitars but they were never explicitly called Soloists. They were the Model 5, Model 5A, Model 5FX, Model 6, 550XL, 650XL, and 750XL (though the 750XL had a set-neck instead of neckthru like a true Soloist). There may be more production models I am forgetting, not to mention there could be any number of undocumented Charvel Soloists made by the Custom Shop.

You are welcome. Let's investigate further. I know that the current Indonesian-made Jacksons have serial numbers that begin with the letters and numbers ICJ15 which correspond to Indonesia, Cort factory, Jackson, 2015. This is from my 2015 Jackson SL3X.



For that Desolation Soloist, if we apply the same logic, the serial number starts with CJC12 which should mean China, a factory that starts with J, Charvel, 2012. That serial number is seen in the Brazilian local ad you shared. If we can figure out the name of the Chinese factory that starts with J, then we will have deciphered the most important parts of that serial number.

[schizotronic]

You might be right, the Desolation Soloist might be the first true named production model Soloist from Charvel. "Soloist" is usually a Jackson model designation. Charvel has made several Soloist-style production model guitars but they were never explicitly called Soloists. They were the Model 5, Model 5A, Model 5FX, Model 6, 550XL, 650XL, and 750XL (though the 750XL had a set-neck instead of neckthru like a true Soloist). There may be more production models I am forgetting, not to mention there could be any number of undocumented Charvel Soloists made by the Custom Shop.

You are welcome. Let's investigate further. I know that the current Indonesian-made Jacksons have serial numbers that begin with the letters and numbers ICJ15 which correspond to Indonesia, Cort factory, Jackson, 2015. This is from my 2015 Jackson SL3X.


For that Desolation Soloist, if we apply the same logic, the serial number starts with CJC12 which should mean China, a factory that starts with J, Charvel, 2012. That serial number is seen in the Brazilian local ad you shared. If we can figure out the name of the Chinese factory that starts with J, then we will have deciphered the most important parts of that serial number.

Well thought, Number of the Priest. The serial number thing that you've pointed is dead on. I own King Vs made by Harmony (India) and a Dinky Natural made by Weibo (China). Quality on India's is way better (was - they quit). But I worked on some Cortek Jackson guitars and their quality is quite good.

That's why I got shocked - the Soloist name. Everybody's aware of Charvel never using the name of Jackson products in their own; the Desolation series, one that did not succeed is a shame, I mean, the guitars are absolutely fantastic and they sport several features and hardware above average. And the Soloist is part of this series. Again, a surprise to me, specially being a J/C fan. I will post more as soon as I talk to some friends. Besides, I'll keep trying trading something for this Soloist. I do have lots of stuff to sell, but damn seller didn't reply yet.

[Number Of The Priest]

I have seen a few Desolation guitars appear in my Canada-wide and USA-wide daily ad searches. They seem to carry prices higher than I am comfortable paying for a Chinese-made guitar, especially when Japanese-made Charvels and Jacksons are great deals when seen at USD$300 or under (which happens frequently; look at all the examples in the E-fraid forum: https://www.jcfonline.com/forum/equi...fraid-of-e-bay and notice I have never seen a Desolation at a justifiably low enough price to consider sharing in that forum). I suspect the high grade components such as EMGs and Floyds help the Desolations be perceived as fancy, expensive guitars, with a high accompanying price relative to other Jackson/Charvel imports (especially the Japanese guitars).

The real, unbiased thing to do is to evaluate a guitar on its own individual merits. If it sounds good, plays well, inspires creativity, and is a comfortable price for you, then I consider it a good guitar. I will happily own a Desolation if it meets these criteria. But I have never personally encountered one that has. By comparison, the Japanese Jacksons/Charvels often greatly surpass these criteria.

[schizotronic]

I have seen a few Desolation guitars appear in my Canada-wide and USA-wide daily ad searches. They seem to carry prices higher than I am comfortable paying for a Chinese-made guitar, especially when Japanese-made Charvels and Jacksons are great deals when seen at USD$300 or under (which happens frequently; look at all the examples in the E-fraid forum: https://www.jcfonline.com/forum/equi...fraid-of-e-bay and notice I have never seen a Desolation at a justifiably low enough price to consider sharing in that forum). I suspect the high grade components such as EMGs and Floyds help the Desolations be perceived as fancy, expensive guitars, with a high accompanying price relative to other Jackson/Charvel imports (especially the Japanese guitars).

I couldn't agree more. The components and the fancy stuff, resembling LTD/ESP try to justify the price. I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE E-FRAID SECTION!!!! Thanks a lot for ruining my already empty pocket.

The real, unbiased thing to do is to evaluate a guitar on its own individual merits. If it sounds good, plays well, inspires creativity, and is a comfortable price for you, then I consider it a good guitar. I will happily own a Desolation if it meets these criteria. But I have never personally encountered one that has. By comparison, the Japanese Jacksons/Charvels often greatly surpass these criteria.

Yeah, you're right. I know the one I found is expensive by any standards... but that is what I said, anything down here is... specially these days. But I'll wait for a better one. For this price I can find a Charvel MIM or even a MIJ. Thank you very, very much for your attention.

Anyways, one question remains: WHICH FACTORY IS IT MADE AT?

[greatmutah]

I've played a couple of the Desolation guitars, and an old bandmate had a Desolation Soloist. Black, hard tail model. MIC/Chinese made guitar and I was expecting to hate it. Except I didn't. It played great, the neck felt awesome and the action was stupid low without any buzzing. The EMGs sound like EMGs. Didn't care for the over abundance of abalone on the inlays and such but otherwise it was a great guitar.