Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

[BetaCAM]

Hi,

I've decided to end up my friendship with my Jackson Dinky after a lot of thinking,
It just wasn't my taste.

My biggest mistake was buying it without having a friend who plays guitar and know a lot about it, I'm a musician and a sound engineer but I don't know a lot about Guitars.

I've trained since then and my ears got better and I got this Charvel Guitar at a local store.

It says Fort Worth TX 76113 U.S.A and its serial number is 330704.

It's a dark metallic green color on the Body which has a Dinky like body.
It has a maple neck and fretboard, I was told it's once piece maple neck.

It has Passive Jackson electronics, 1 tone,
1 volume and 5 way selector.
It has the Schaller licensed Floyd Rose Bridge,
I think it's a JT580.

It's got really an open funky like and punchy sound and it's very versitle.

I was told it's a 475 model.
My question is: Is it American? or is it assembled in Japan using American parts?
What year of production do you estimate it to be?


Thanx!

BetaCAM.

[diablomozart]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

any charvel with a texas address is an import...that, however, shouldn't stop you from getting it if you like it [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ...d.m.

[Grandturk]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

Sounds more like a 375. I believe all 475's were rosewood boards with sharkteeth and active electronics. 375's were available with maple boards and had no active controls. Production would be 90-91.

These are all made in Japan. I'm not sure if Jackson's electronics were made in Japan at the time these guitars were made.

[BetaCAM]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

Hi again,

Thanx very much for the info...

Btw, if it's japanese then why put american stamp on it? was it assembled with American parts or just the electronics?
It has 22 frets, it seems I've forgotten to mention it...

Someone told me that there aren't american made Charvels except the San Dimas, is this true?

How does Model 6 compares with this guitar in terms of sound?

Thanx again very much!

BetaCAM.

[joe web]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

i own a 375 and a 475 right now, and both are very good guitars.
i don´t know how they compare to a model 6 (except the bolt-on neck thru thing), because i never played a mod.6

[joe web]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

i would although say it is a 375dlx and not a 475.
MIJ around 1989-1992.
the 475 have 3 knobs with active JE-1200 midboost (vol/boost/tone) and the 375 have two knobs (vol/tone).

[fuel0707]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

Originally posted by BetaCAM:
Hi again,

Thanx very much for the info...

Btw, if it's japanese then why put american stamp on it? was it assembled with American parts or just the electronics?
It has 22 frets, it seems I've forgotten to mention it...

Someone told me that there aren't american made Charvels except the San Dimas, is this true?

How does Model 6 compares with this guitar in terms of sound?

Thanx again very much!

BetaCAM.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There are/were a lot of Charvel guitars built in Japan. The Model series (Model 1-6) were the first ones. As for the Fort Worth location on the neck plate, several guitar companies in the '80's did this, I believe, to confuse buyers and make them think that they were buying a US-made instrument. Kramer was another big name that put a US location on their neckplates (Neptune, NJ in the case of Kramer). The reason that the Fort Worth location is on the neckplate of the guitar that you are looking at is that Fort Worth was the US headquarters for the parent company of C/J. In fact, when I lived in the DFW area, I met a guy who helped to head up the C/J facility in Fort Worth and he said all they ever really did there was warranty work and setups on some of the imports from Japan.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

The Model 6 is a sweet guitar bit it's more like a 475 than the 375 because of the J1200 mid boost.
The neck on the Model 6 is probably one of the best necks from th emodel series. At least mine was. I still miss it. Good thing its at work [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Anyway. The Model 6 also has the three mini switches for pup selction. VS the 5 way blade switch of the 475 and 375. But dont let that stop ya. I almost like the three switches better.
The model 6 is maple neck thru, rosewood board, and basswood (maybe poplar as mine was pretty heavy) body wings.
hope that helped a little.
Gil

[86mod5]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

jacksonfreak - I'm pretty sure that the Models 1-4 were were bolt-on maple necks with basswood body wings, while the Models 5 & 6 were maple-thru necks with poplar body wings.

[fwguitar]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

hey whats up - i am new to this board. i am glad i found it though. i worked at the C/J guitar dept in ft.worth during alot of the 90's.

the only usa charvel made and sold in the usa at that time were the san dimas reissue series..which the necks were made with the original san dimas jigs and etc. i had the prototype for the san dimas I lacewood series. awesome guitars (except for the funky headstocks, IMO). they were shipped with dimarzio evolution pup's which were vai's signature pups that went into the ibanez's..ooops did i say that. lol. i never got to the bottom of that deal but from what i heard j/c got a great deal on those pup's.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: Help required in identifying this Charvel guitar

86mod5.... Yeah i think thats what i said. Bss wood on bolt ons and poplar on the 5 and 6. But i wasnt sure, thanks for the clearifaction.
Gil