Відео

@@jaqueartistry5493 The reality is the brand would have died had it went anywhere else. The pre Fender company was never really profitable. It never generated enough money to pay everyone plus enough extra to keep it modern. You can mark previous major updates to times the company was exchanged to new owners. The factory as it stood in 2003 was almost 20 years behind. Not only did it need the update, but it needed to not be relied upon to bring in money right away. It took many years for the brand to get to a point where new models were in demand. Had anyone bought it in 2003 with expectations of it being self sufficient would have been in for a rude awakening. The used market was its own worst enemy. The values were so low most had no reason to buy a new one. Could Gibson have saved it? Yes. But outside of that, not too many others could have done it and not just made it strictly a label. You can point the finger at the slip in QC with the modern selling model. Buyers shop by price, most modern discount dealers do whatever it takes to keep expenses low. The dealer was always the last step of QC. Now, they just act as a drop shipper. And all of the issues that previously were tended to before going in to the customers hands are being passed on to the buyer. FMIC needs to adjust this modern mindset, even if it means they have to charge extra.

@guitarcheology Thank you for the insightful reply, I totally agree with you. I think the fact the Grover Jackson bought Charvel in late 70s was a great move but that overextended already suffering production. The drop shipping analogy is accurate however what I was referring to is US 2.5k+ models being shipped out with factory faults, warped necks, cracked ebony fretboards and sprouting frets (and that's just one visit to 3 guitar centres in Colorado), Fender high end instruments are no better though. The quantity over quality has become a norm for Fender and all its subsidiaries.

@@jaqueartistry5493 The dealer is supposed to deal with those before you the customer ever see them. I worked at music stores back before the internet, and that was part of how we earned our money. Each guitar came out, was inspected, and those with manufacturing flaws went back for exchange. The customer never saw them. A shop hanging them as is is not doing their job. I can recall times in the early 90's rejecting entire shipments of Gibson guitars. Usually warped necks. Now people consider that to be a good era, better woods. Or the dozens of messed up G&L's. Not even on most peoples radar now because only a few slipped by lazy dealers. Now, they just get hung up or shipped out. The dealers are not being the final stage of QC like they are supposed to be.

@@Raidogen I have them made as I need them at a sign shop. I have the good fortune of owning the factory camera ready art for them to use. But you can do it by generating the logo you want in Photoshop and having it done.

Would you consider selling one of yours? It would be a plain black logo with the made in usa mark.

@@epasternak4206 well, the reality is it probably would have been out of business by now. I can tell you on the employment side employees at least feel some sense of stability under Fender. Under the prior ownership most expected to show up and find the doors chained and out of business signs in the window since the mid 90’s. This is a tough business with low profit margin. This is why fewer and fewer truly small companies are left.

Great story.

At the end of the day, Eddie’s guitars were all just pre CBS partscaster clones, & so it’s fitting that Fender now owns both the EvH & Jackson/Charvel brands. Grover didn’t rip off Eddie anymore then it ripped off the mother of invention Leo Fender out of necessity. Charvel provided EVH his early guitars in the late 70’s & so it’s real a shame that Eddie had no loyalty to the Charvel brand, like him had just been a small US manufacturer struggling to survive in California, that helped Eddie in the late 70’s. Surely Charvel would have blown up bigger & created many jobs in the U.S. with Eddie as a parter, like Kramer did for a bit in the mid 80’s with its cheaper foreign manufactured guitars. With Eddie’s endorsement Charvel might have grown into a bigger dominant force that was abled to remain in San Dimas as a U.S. manufacturer of guitars, if Eddie had any sort of vision or business sense, he could have eventually bought Charvel, when his money finally started rolling in during the 80’s. Eddie must have been mad when his rival Randy Rhoads helped grow Jackson guitars into a thriving company, while Kramer collapsed in the early 1990’s, & then Eddie jumped over to Music Man before developing the EvH brand, when he could have dominated the guitar market for decades with Charvel, had he stayed loyal to their brand, with a vision on the long game & had never played the victim, & turning his coat so quickly, in retreat from what he’d previously championed, while jumping ship, after Charvel had initially assisted him. Loyalty is a virtue, that has its own rewards…🎸

Yeah, that era can be tough to date as serial number plates were dumped in a large bin and picked at random. Sometimes you can get lucky and find a date inside. Other times you are looking at subtle specs and try to guesstimate its age.

I still have mine too. 85 white soloist with a kahler and ssh pick-up configuration with the 3 toggle switches.

I suspect they needed a line to target the BC Rich Platinum/Kramer Aerostar/Ibanez EX/Cort/Dean Hollywood rock bottom market.

I grew up in Connecticut. We had to travel to New Haven or Danbury to even potentially see one. I remember asking to be called to let me know when one came in used, and was informed that not only was it uncommon for a used one to show up, the wait for a new order was so long that the demand for used was strong enough to where the savings wouldn't be enough to sit around and wait for. It took several years before I encountered my first used one on a rack. It was extremely exclusive. I saw guys trading vintage Fender's and Gibson's plus cash for them.

I have been buying items from former employees for over 20 years now.

I worked there as warrantee repair in 86-87. I worked at both shops. Musta just missed you

@@shasba It was Ontario, California. I only was never in the assembly area except to clock in and clock out. I stayed in the wood shop the whole time.

Did it for cheap labor that's why

Neither. You got your guitars, they never knew you existed and continue on.

Thats a great story, great friend too

Awesome Story!!!!

Best part of story is the friend and his gf..

Yeah, they are around. I see more speaker cabs than amp heads. Usually trashed. There was a period of time I was looking for a clean looking pair to add to my Charvel/Jackson collection, but it was hard to find a clean set someone would ship.

I am hoping to get some more tapes. Of the few that were made, it appears barely any survived. There is more to this one, but it is all salesman stuff.

While I agree he put the brand "on the map", he didn't introduce these folks to success. Charvel was the most in demand new brand on the market when Randy walked in the door.

@@guitarcheology just stop it....nobody cared about a company that mostly did repairs. Jackson himself said the company was on its last legs. Rhoads burst on the scene...everybody sees hes playing something called a Jackson, the way he played, his look, the look of the guitar was all stunning, cutting edge stuff at that time,,,and over night, EVERYBODY was suddenly playing Jacksons. Its wasn't the name on the headstock, it was WHO WAS PLAYING THAT GUITAR. Man, just be honest, geez. Id like to know how rich those guitars made Grover Jackson....btw, last week, at the MTV Music Awards....2023, 41 years after his death, SHAKIRA was playing a Jackson RR....not a Charvel. Case Closed...P.S....quit being silly about this....

@@randallrhoads3271 ​ @randallrhoads3271 You obviously don't understand the history. Wayne's days of the repair shop cobbling guitars together out of parts ended November 11, 1978. Grover was producing Charvel guitars in house by mid 1979, and was building them in volume by 1980. Jackson experimentation began when Charvel's were in full production and there was a 6 month waiting list. Jackson wasn't even its own brand until 1983, after thousands of Charvel's had been made. The reality is: The Jackson brand was launched after the major success of the Charvel line.

​@@guitarcheology correct me if I'm wrong but weren't the RR guitars the first to have the Jackson name, because Grover was afraid it was too far out there and didn't want to do any potential damage to the Charcel name?

@@mikeglazier5993 it isn’t a clear cut answer. The first Jackson branded guitar was Randy’s Concorde, but it was technically a Charvel instrument, as Jackson did not exist as a brand yet. Randy even called his Jackson’s “Charvel’s”. Shortly after Randy’s guitar was made, a set neck Dinky was made with a Jackson logo for Spacy T. There is another set neck Dinky like Spacy’s out there. Then there was Randy’s second V and a bunch of other guitars made (like Vinnie Vincent’s). I would guesstimate before the Jackson brand became official in 1983, they made around a dozen to twenty Jackson branded guitars. All with hand painted logos, technically Charvel’s. So while he may have wanted to test the waters, he certainly was selling them to anyone that asked. I think Randy’s death just drove up demand to the point where he couldn’t plan a full line. He had to get the V’s out and work on the rest later. The gist of what I am saying is: they were making Jackson branded guitars 2 solid years before they launched it as an official brand. Any indecision was very short lived. A couple months tops. By the summer of 1981, they were really working hard on dialing in manufacturing techniques and the final specs, which appeared upon launch

I am focused on the Charvel/Jackson factory. The closest I get to the outsourced guitars is I have a few of the mid production (never completed) USA Soloists they sent Chushin in the very beginning as guides to make the neck through model series models. Chushin used them to copy the shapes of the heels, neck carves, and such.

@@guitarcheology Thank you. That's pretty awesome. I have a 1988 Model 5Fx and it's near mint. It was my H.S. graduation present from my parents in 1990, so it was 2 years old when I got it,but I've taken amazing care of it as I do all my gear. I just want to know more about it. I know it was originally a Model 5A, that got sent to the TX factory to get a slanted single coil put in the neck position. Some got a tone knob as well. So mine has the slanted single coil neck pickup, the tone knob, and 3way toggle switch. One of my favorite guitars in my pretty decent collection

Delicious insight!!! Thank you.

That is so true. In 1985, if it was a neck-thru, it was a Jackson. If it was bolt-on, it was a Charvel. I'm sure there might have been exceptions as the decal was put on after the woos shop.

Yeah, as I recall at the time, momentum was gaining for the Jackson line. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, etc. They attempted to use some of that momentum to push the no longer trendy Charvel brand by making it the discount Jackson line, right down to the style of the logo. Naturally they had more success when they finally launched the Jackson branded budget models. Those first couple year import Jackson’s have long been collected and these early toothpaste logoed Charvel’s are just starting to fire up.

@@guitarcheology Those early 90's Jackson professional series(MIJ) were incredible guitars. Some say as good as the USA made? I played a DK1 and a Soloist XL and they were impressive! They had the real MOP inlays and the workmanship was really good on the ones i tried. for me at the end of the day nothing touches a old original Charvel pre 1984.