Eddie Van Halen, Warren Demartini, Randy Rhoads, Vinnie Vincent, Richie Sambora, George Lynch, Jake E. Lee and even Billy Gibbons were, and often still are, players of the brand.

Charvel are one of the most important and influential innovators in the history of guitar making.  Starting off as a repair, parts and customisation shop, Wayne Charvel was one of the first luthiers to provide exotic and adventurous finishes for guitarists not satisfied with the plain sunbursts and solid colours offered by the major manufacturers at the time.  Wayne Charvel was a hotrod enthusiast, and brought the hotrod flames over to guitars, customising some of ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons’ fender guitars with a hotrod flame finish.  The original charvel shop also sold high quality parts, at a time when the big makers had definitely let their standards drop.

But it’s as the originators of the “superstrat” that Charvel really had their biggest impact on the electric guitar.  A young Eddie Van Halen bought a stratocaster style neck and body from the Charvel guitar shop, and put a humbucker in the bridge, using a nail to fix it to the body, and painting it white with black stripes.  When, under Grover Jackson, Charvel started making their own guitars, this guitar was the template that they took for their superstrat.  This guitar had a similar body shape to a Fender Stratocaster, but had a humbucker in the bridge, and very soon were made with Kahler and Floyd Rose tremolo systems, allowing for excellent tuning stability.  The necks were made especially well, allowing fast playing and excellent access to the upper frets.  They also featured rear routed electronics cavities, instead of the pickguards contained on the traditional stratocaster, making for a better tone with no plastic right underneath the strings, not to mention a more tasteful and streamlined appearance.

Charvel also introduced the compound radius neck.  This is a neck that with a lower radius near the headstock than near the body.. meaning that the neck felt rouder at the nut, making chord work and riffs much easier to play.  Up high though, the neck was flat and wide, making it easier to play leads and to bend notes.

The original Charvels are known as “San Dimas” Charvels, named for the neck plates which contained the words San Dimas, though only the companies PO Box was in San Dimas, while the actual production was in Glendora, California.  The first runs of japanese Charvels were also exceptional quality instruments.. these being known as the “model” series guitars because they were named Charvel Model 1, Charvel Model 5 etc.  These are some of the most original and innovative guitars made, offering superb tone and breathtaking styling, along with extremely high quality parts and manufacture.

Unfortunately, while the original non-american guitars were as good as the San Dimas Charvels, the company started cutting costs aggressively and making some absolutely abysmal instruments.  By the end of the eighties, Charvel had gone from being a custom luthiery workshop into an extremely well recognised brand, with their guitars featured on the album covers and in the music videos of many of the defining bands of the era.  As happens way too often, once a guitar brand becomes well known and sought after, it becomes possible for them to produce substandard instruments and sell them purely on the strength of the name on the headstock.  This certainly happened with Charvel.. by the time the grunge revolution hit music and superstrats were no longer fashionable, the brand no longer had its reputation for quality to rely on.  Charvel guitars are now owned by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and are produced in the USA again, with many of the original Charvel employees working on them.  The original 80s instruments are also still available on the second hand market, and more than 20 years later remain excellent instruments.

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