Help Identifying Charvel

[CivilE]

First post, and of course, it's an "I need help" post... I have read through the sticky above (links are dead) and poked around on the forum looking for answers. I have also looked through old catalogs to try and identify this model, but with no results. I had a friend give me this guitar after I mentioned that my youngest daughter and I were considering taking lessons. From what I can tell, I believe that this is an import and possibly from 1992, but that's about it. I don't know anything about electric guitars and am just trying to figure out what I have and what parts it consist of.

I am wondering though, if the owners manual provided (copyright 1990) may not be original to this unit based on the logo? Any guidance is appreciated!

:cheers:

CivilE

[Number Of The Priest]

Charvel Model 3A, made in Japan, from either 1987 or 1988. The Model 3A also existed in 1986 but that variant had front-loaded electronics with pickguard, and had a Kahler bridge. Yours is 1987-88 because in those years the model was rear-loaded, no pickguard, and had a Jackson JT6 bridge.

So you can compare with your variant, here's what a 1986 variant looks like: https://reverb.com/ca/item/6959233-1...lectric-guitar

The dice pickup switch is obviously not original to your guitar, but I wouldn't worry about trying to get "an original pickup switch" if your goal is accurate restoration. The knobs are also supposed to be black in stock configuration, but I wouldn't worry about these too much either.

Aside from the harmless wear on the finish of the bridge and the neckplate screws, and a few tiny chips on the headstock edge, the overall condition of your guitar looks superb especially for its 30+ year age. The paint itself looks spotless. You and your daughter will really enjoy learning music on this. Getting a guitar from a friend is always nice; getting a guitar this good is even better.

Further reading: http://charvelusa.com/japanese_charvel_1987.html

[CivilE]

Thank you, Number Of The Priest ! The 3A was the closest thing, visually, that I could find in the catalogs, but the copyright on the owners manual was throwing me off. Now I will start diving off to learn more about it, and what (if anything) I may need to do prior to plugging this thing in.

[Startingline]

FYI that headstock logo is 88' and older, they went to the toothpaste logo in 89' that's one way to get a ballpark on Charvel years.

[Number Of The Priest]

Model names also changed with the onset of the toothpaste logo, thus also helping to make it easier to identify specific models and (like you said) narrow down the range of dates. 😊

Can almost think of the Model 3 evolving into the 375, Model 4 to 475, Model 5 to 550, and Model 6 to 650.