Tweet
Large pics ahead!
It's 6 days since I have got my first Charvel, a Model 6.
It wasn't in minty condition, but I pulled the trigger and bought it. I live in England, so Charvels in general, and Model 6s are pretty durn rare.
The price offered was £300 which is roughly $580 as a straight conversion.
As you guys probably know though, we can't get Charvels in the UK or Europe for some of the US Ebay prices, it seems to be more like if a guitar goes on Ebay for $400 it'll go on UK Ebay for £400. So maybe I paid too much, as I see minty ones on US ebay for around those prices, but again we're in Europe where Charvels are not so common.
Anyhow I know you guys like pics. So here's some BEFORE the cleanup.
They are the shots the dude sent me when I saw the ad. I've since stripped it down and drowned the seized and rusty parts in WD40, which cleared most of the surface gunk. Still has surface pitting on some parts.
(for kicks, a big hair poster:
My photobucket site also has the other guitars I have, as well as pics of my two conversion projects, a fretless conversion and a scallop project.
The specs:
Serial is C702434, which makes it an '87?? (right/wrong?)
It also has a behind the nut Locking system, which from my reading here suggests a Kahler trem? This was taken off and replcaed with an OFR. The state of the OFR was not great, some saddles rusty. I could not remove three of them as the saddle bolt hex thread were stripped.
It's stll got the midboost intact, and it took me a little bit of time to actually work out what switch toggles what. The two stacked buckers are there still but the bridge is replaced with an Duncan Invader. With this pickup selected alone, and for rhythm parts (power chords
) it sounds great (and I only have a 30W solid state Marshall...) but trying to solo with the pickup is different. Sounds really thin and bright, to me. I like the thick humbucker tones of Vai and Satch for instance.
Maybe the pot value is mismatched? Or is the Invader known for being pretty bright?
How I found the guitar is pretty odd. I was watching an Ebay auction for a Model 6 body in the US. I was quickly checking the status of it at my workplace PC but had forgotten to save it/have it as a watched item. So in google I typed like, "Charvel Model 6" and it came up with the normal stuff, Harmony Central links to reviews etc.
Then after more searching I saw an ad to a craigslist type site with this guitar for sale. The date it had been added was the 19th March, the same date I was looking at the ad. I did a double take...wasn't sure if the date was wrong, if it said that because it WAS the 19th.
After I got over the suprise, I emailed the guy, he sent pics and I went down to his place next night to pick it up. It felt like a no brainer really.
The dude had two Engl amps, one of them a stack about as big as me. I could have tried to bring the price down on account of the rusty parts but thought otherwise. I got it home in one piece, avoiding commuters and even pretty large snow flurries. (I'd brought trash can bags for that purpose: taped em over the case as I knew that might happen) even so I did the taping after having to run down a train platform through said snow to shelter...
All in all the guitar is a beaut to play. I'd love if some of the dings were not there, of course. I'm thinking of maybe changing the bridge pot if need be, or the pickup.
It's weird, I've wanted a Charvel for about a year and it got pretty bad the more I read on here and the more I scoured ebay in vain for UK based items. And then I end up with a top end one! Maybe I paid too much, but I'm happy with it.
One last question though: How do you guys shine or clean or buff your guitars? I know very little about this, and the guitars I see sometimes on Ebay are supershiny. Do you use special products or something? I ask because the Model 6 has swirls like most guitars and just could look better I guess.
Lastly: big thanks to the guy I bought it from. He knew of the jcfonline but I forgot to ask his username. Also,thanks for letting me post this big long post to, and for being such a good resource for lovers of pointyheadstocked, high end, rockin' guitars!
It's 6 days since I have got my first Charvel, a Model 6.
It wasn't in minty condition, but I pulled the trigger and bought it. I live in England, so Charvels in general, and Model 6s are pretty durn rare.
The price offered was £300 which is roughly $580 as a straight conversion.
As you guys probably know though, we can't get Charvels in the UK or Europe for some of the US Ebay prices, it seems to be more like if a guitar goes on Ebay for $400 it'll go on UK Ebay for £400. So maybe I paid too much, as I see minty ones on US ebay for around those prices, but again we're in Europe where Charvels are not so common.
Anyhow I know you guys like pics. So here's some BEFORE the cleanup.
They are the shots the dude sent me when I saw the ad. I've since stripped it down and drowned the seized and rusty parts in WD40, which cleared most of the surface gunk. Still has surface pitting on some parts.
(for kicks, a big hair poster:
My photobucket site also has the other guitars I have, as well as pics of my two conversion projects, a fretless conversion and a scallop project.
The specs:
Serial is C702434, which makes it an '87?? (right/wrong?)
It also has a behind the nut Locking system, which from my reading here suggests a Kahler trem? This was taken off and replcaed with an OFR. The state of the OFR was not great, some saddles rusty. I could not remove three of them as the saddle bolt hex thread were stripped.
It's stll got the midboost intact, and it took me a little bit of time to actually work out what switch toggles what. The two stacked buckers are there still but the bridge is replaced with an Duncan Invader. With this pickup selected alone, and for rhythm parts (power chords
) it sounds great (and I only have a 30W solid state Marshall...) but trying to solo with the pickup is different. Sounds really thin and bright, to me. I like the thick humbucker tones of Vai and Satch for instance. Maybe the pot value is mismatched? Or is the Invader known for being pretty bright?
How I found the guitar is pretty odd. I was watching an Ebay auction for a Model 6 body in the US. I was quickly checking the status of it at my workplace PC but had forgotten to save it/have it as a watched item. So in google I typed like, "Charvel Model 6" and it came up with the normal stuff, Harmony Central links to reviews etc.
Then after more searching I saw an ad to a craigslist type site with this guitar for sale. The date it had been added was the 19th March, the same date I was looking at the ad. I did a double take...wasn't sure if the date was wrong, if it said that because it WAS the 19th.
After I got over the suprise, I emailed the guy, he sent pics and I went down to his place next night to pick it up. It felt like a no brainer really.
The dude had two Engl amps, one of them a stack about as big as me. I could have tried to bring the price down on account of the rusty parts but thought otherwise. I got it home in one piece, avoiding commuters and even pretty large snow flurries. (I'd brought trash can bags for that purpose: taped em over the case as I knew that might happen) even so I did the taping after having to run down a train platform through said snow to shelter...
All in all the guitar is a beaut to play. I'd love if some of the dings were not there, of course. I'm thinking of maybe changing the bridge pot if need be, or the pickup.
It's weird, I've wanted a Charvel for about a year and it got pretty bad the more I read on here and the more I scoured ebay in vain for UK based items. And then I end up with a top end one! Maybe I paid too much, but I'm happy with it.
One last question though: How do you guys shine or clean or buff your guitars? I know very little about this, and the guitars I see sometimes on Ebay are supershiny. Do you use special products or something? I ask because the Model 6 has swirls like most guitars and just could look better I guess.
Lastly: big thanks to the guy I bought it from. He knew of the jcfonline but I forgot to ask his username. Also,thanks for letting me post this big long post to, and for being such a good resource for lovers of pointyheadstocked, high end, rockin' guitars!
Comment