Which Japanese Factory Built the Model Series Charvels?

[RacerR]

Does anybody know which Japanese factory was producing the Model series Charvels? I'm particularly interested in which factory the 1987 Model 4 and Model 5 (with the JT-6 Trem) were produced.

Thanks in advance, any info is appreciated.

-R

[Norton]

Are you gonna buy the factory?

[VitaminG]

all the Japanese Jacksons & Charvels are/were built in Jackson's own plant

[dg]

Jackson/Charvel opened their own factory in Japan rather than subbing out the building of their imports like most other companies.

edit- in other words, what Gary said.

[CharvelRocker]

For the record, doesn't the plant that built model series build Caparison now?

[RacerR]

Right.

This is the information I've found, which I'm trying to confirm. From 1986 to 1994, Jackson had a contract with a company called Kyowa-Shokai, which used its factory Chu Shin Gakki in Nagano to build these Charvels and Jacksons. I know that the both the Ibanez's that I own and my 1985 Fender Jap Strat were made by Fujigen Gakki - which is also in Nagano Japan. All the information I've been able to find supports that Jackson contracted to have guitars built by Chu Shin Gakki from 1986 to 1994.

If anybody has anymore info on this, I'd like to hear it.

Thanks

-R

[dg]

According to this post at the Caparison forum, there is definitely a Chushin Gakki / Caparison connection, but I don't know what factory is building the Caparisons, or if the post is 100% accurate:

http://www.caparisonforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=256&postcount=2

The poster is the main guy at the Caparison forum and seems to know his stuff, but it also seems like he's kind of connecting dots without any real confirmation from Caparison. One of our Japanese bros, QuantumRider, has stated pretty much straight up that only Jackson & Jackson Stars are made at the factory:

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1005059&postcount=3

[dg]

Did a little digging this morning, and found some info & great pics from a guy who toured the Caparison factory:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=4316968&blogID=334844773

http://www.guitarsatbmusic.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4786&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

The sign on the building says "Iida Musical Co., Ltd.", fwiw

[Racerx2k]

Wouldn't that make this a "Caparison comparison"?

[RacerR]

Nice -
It looks like that facility could be more than 20 years old... would you think that is the same place the Charvel Model series guitars were built?

I have read that the Caparisons are being built at the same location as the old Charvels, but I'm not sure that is correct.

-R

[nhspike]

nice reading here:

http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/jackson-professional-history.htm

[jackson1]

nice reading here:
http://audiozone.dk/index-filer/jack...al-history.htm

To the best of my knowledge, that article is correct. Thanks to QuantumRider and Jackson Guitars to name a few sources.

Just recently I read the 2007 post at the Caparison forum and it seems to pretty much match QR's article and my article above from late 2006 almost 100%.

The following quote from my article is what Jackson Guitars wrote here on the forum about 1-2 years ago, more or less:

"Some say that Jackson owned the Japanese facility and still do, but it’s safe to say that today, the Chushin Musical Instruments company makes guitars for the American Jackson Guitars company exclusively and that include the import Jackson and Charvel guitars and the Jackson Stars Series, where the latter is made for the Japanese market only."

Note the inclusion of Charvel guitars above. Jackson Guitars would not confirm that they own or did own the Chushin Gakki factory. They just stated the above, which is evasive and clearly points to the sub-contractor "theory".

To answer the Subject: Which Japanese Factory Built the Model Series Charvels? To the best of my knowledge, Chushin Gakki did. Subcontracted by the trading company Kyowa-Shokai. Ordered by Grover Jackson.

[RacerR]

Thanks for the info.

Does anyone know of any photographs of the Chushin Gakki factory?

I'm working on a project that involves collecting information on the origins (country, city, factory) of the guitars I own, and I need some photos of ChuShin to complete it.

Thanks again, any info is apprecieated.

-R

[z1n]

Great thread! This history is great reading, thanks for sharing insights/info/links you guys.

[CharvelRocker]

There aren't any I can think of off hand, but Henrik has a picture of Grover standing by what may be on the factory on his page on Jackson Professionals.