Charvel Model 1

ok i havent had my charvel for long. i got it from my dad about 2 years ago. by the way i'm 13. i do know that it's got a kahler bridge, 22 frets, a v-shaped neck, and it's probably made in the late '80s. it's solid black and has a great sound. i love to play ozzy and AC/DC songs on it. it has been a great guitar for me since i am still a beginner.

i like to play heavy metal and it fits that style pretty well. i usually like to play with tons of distortion and which makes it pretty loud. i really love its tone. it has a real cool sound to it.

i like the way the pick ups are set up. i have another guitar with 3 single coil PUs and the middle one usually gets in the way of where i like to strum. it doesnt seem to hav ne flaws but im just a kid and i havent owned many guitars

well i have really banged it up a lot since i got it and it hasnt gotten any thing done to it except the few scratches that were already there when it was given to me.i would use it in gigs without backups because it is a good guitar and i love it.

i have been playing now ever since i got it ( 2 years) and it has always been easy to rock out with. it is really good compared to other guitars ive played, including some SG's and rhoads models. the only thing i really hate about it is that the whammy bar wont bottom out. it really pisses me off sometimes but its bearable.

I bought my Charvel Model 1 new in 1988. It has the Ft Worth Tx plate and after some research I have learned that all Charvels after 1986 until 2002 (When Fender bought Charvel/Jackson) were made in Japan. The model 1 was the basic Strat style body, 24 fret, 1 Humbucker, 1 knob guitar. It had a stock Humbucker and Tremblo. Mine is black with a maple neck. Then the guitar rocked... About 6 yrs ago, I had the stock trem removed and a Kahler installed. Just 2 yrs ago I installed a Seymour Duncan Screaming Demon pick-up. Now it destroys....over 20 years old and still looks new and screams.

I play mostly rock and metal and that is what this thing does. I have a Crate Blue Voodoo and the way this thing performs is off the chart. I use minimal effects, the rest is the instrument.

The guitar was set up perfect and the stock pick-up served its purpose. It did go out of tune but that was expected with a standard trem.

This is the AK47 of guitars. You can toss a hand grenade on it then pick it up and play it. Over 20 yrs and never a problem.

Never had to deal with them, except for the history.

I have owned everything from a Jackson V to a Gibson, from a B.C Rich to a Peavy Wolfgang. This is hands down my favorite Guitar.

OK so the Charvel model 1 i own is an 1987 according to some research i did, i got it in '92 and have been playing it most of this time with the exception of a few peroids where i just played my les paul. Strat type body, painted fire engine red which came with a fender strat style bridge (has since been replaced with multiple licensed floyd rose bridges and finally now i have a real floyd on it) and a single passive jackson humbucker controled by a single volume knob. kind of basic but i used to call it the Van Halen special cause it looked like something eddie would play and it was built to shred on for sure. Jackson tuners (grovers?) non locking but decent. 22 fat shredable frets and maple neck and finger board.

Even though there is only one tone that you can get on these badboys they sound great with everything they came with, although there is still quite a bit that can be improved on. The original pickup is decent, very good for rock, hard rock, and metal, though IMO seemed to be kind of lacking in the highs and over all output. The guitar was never noisy, never buzzy, never hummed. The factory bridge of course left plenty of opportunity to get out of tune especially when using the vibrato. Very basic though, but a great playing guitar to start adding to and improving on.

Didn't buy it new so i cant say about the factory setup, although i suspect that it wasn't played much for the 5 years the original owner had it, and im pretty sure that the factory setup was still on it when i got it. And that is the first thing you notice about these guitars the action and the frets and neck radius all make for a very easily playable and very fast playing guitar, perfect for shredding leads. I have seen many over the years and they have all seemed to be very free of any flaws in workmanship and function.

I've found these guitar to be very reliable and durable, bolt on neck built pretty much like a fender except with a two piece angled head stock. Good quality parts and hardware on these guitars, seem to be as good as any. Good finish, nice and durable. only about half as thick as some mexican fenders i've seen though. Very dependable, can't say i would go with out back up but if i did i would rather have the charvel than my les paul (nothing against les pauls, but with the floyd and everything there is a lot smaller chance of string breakage and tuning issues, oh and the two piece neck\headstock will probably survive falling over, like off a stand or something, with out breaking like a les paul)

never used it or needed it.

I've been playing for almost 17 years, right now i just have the charvel and a les paul as far as guitars but i have owned so much and many different pieces of gear i can't list them all or let alone remember each one. I would certainly have to find another one of these if i lost this one. I love the action, playability, and speed of the neck. I don't like the original trem setup. These guitars would compare very simialr to an ibanez or jackson of course. I choose this one though because i got it for $200 bucks with a marshall practice amp (reverb 12) and a very bad soundiing digitech two channel distortion pedal (sold it right after that though)

One Humbucker pup, and one tone knob. Pretty simple setup, but it's amazing how such a simple setup can sound so good. The pickup is extremely hot, but it's not the active EMG type of hot. It doesn't have that "bright" sound to it. It's a true chunk pickup. You can play screaming solos or groovy rythms; this baby handles everything.

Because of the hot pickup, you can pretty much only play rock and bluesy overdrive sounds, but once you find out how good this guitar sounds on rock, you won't want to play clean. The sound is just perfect. I play Hendrix, EVH, and Ted Nugent mostly and this thing handles everything. This guitar actually plays Hendrix well. I don't play very loud, so the humbucker takes care of distortion that the Marshall plexi head created on 10.

Would be a 10 if the guitar stayed in tune better. I greased the nut a bit, and it stays in tune perfectly. Also, DR strings help this thing stay in tune. Those D'addario's just slide right out of tune.

Action is perfect.

She's a rock

Been playing for 5 years now, and I've spent thousands of dollars, and this guitar, which I got for $200, beats everything. Just a high-quality guitar.

My Charvel Model 1 was made in Texas. The body is solid (Ibelieve it to be basswood) The finish is red though an artists has painted this body to look like a box of Cap'n Crunch cereal. The neck is maple, the fingerboard is also maple with 22 jumbo frets. It has a very flat radious as most charvel/jackson's do. Plays liike a dream. The body style is strat shaped. The only thing stock about this guitar is the body, neck and the standard strat style trem bridge. I installed black Sperzal locking tuners. The electronics have all been replaced down to the wiring and output jack. The pickup is a single Duncan Invader wired to a Torres Engineering 2 meg ohm potentiometer and then straight to the output jack, which is made by Switchcraft. All wiring is shielded wire.
Basically I got a deal on this guitar from SaM Ash back in 1988 who had over purchased this model. I never played it. As soon as it arrived I took it completely apart and built my own guitar out of it. To call this guitar a Charvel model 1 is a bit of an injustice.
The guitar has Shaller strap locks which were installed in an ingenious way by my roadie becausase I was ripping the screws out of the guitar body! I've never heard another Charvel model 1 that could hold a candle to this instrument. This guitar has survived the road and it's still cranking out nasty tone!

This guitar is strictly a heavy metal instrument,
My main amp is a Marshall JCM2000 TSL and my clean amp is a Roland JC120 AB/Y'D It is not in the least noisy.
It has tremendous low end and a crisp top end.
The tone is Rich. It stays in Dropped Double D tuning.
For what this guitar is used for good luck finding another that sounds like this one sounds! I adore this guitar.

Umm the factory had little to do with how this guitar plays or sounds.
The frets were re finished, crowned and polished. I threw all of the stock electronics and parts into the garbage.

See above, I built this guitar, Charvel had really nothing to do with it. I merely used their wood. It's been up and down the road and it still screams. I'd never play live without a back up. In my opinion, this would be very stupid.

I own besides this guitar, a '72 Fender strat (ash body-natural)
A Fender Tom Delonge model which is now almost exactly the same as the model 1. A Fender Fat Strat, A Taylor model 310 acoustic. A beater acoustic strung up for Nashville tuning to use as ear candy when recording. The model 1 is the perfect guitar for metal but then, I built the damn thing myself and I'd suggest the above mods to anyone who wants a metal guitar. I wouldn't sell this guitar for 2 grand.

This was manufactured in Japan in the late 1980s. It has a bolt-on maple neck and rosewood fretboard.......22 jumbo frets.........Kahler locking tremolo........Jackson hardware.....a single Jackson humbucker........and I believe the body is basswood. Basically a stripped-down shredding machine.

I mostly play classic rock and metal. This has long been one of my favorite guitars. Plug it into a good tube amp and it will scream. Great for lead playing. It just begs you to crank out some old Kiss and Poison riffs. It gives you that great chunky high-gain sound but little else. Not real versatile but what it does.....it does well.

I bought this one used and it was setup fine.......very low action. The neck is thin and very fast. Neck joint was tight. The fretwork is well done and the finish a beautiful fire engine red. No noticeable flaws. Seems pretty well built for having been manufactured overseas.

I own several old Charvels and I love them all. They've held up real well over the years and can take a real beating. These things are real road warriors. You can pick these up used real cheap these days and they are a bargain.

N/A

I've been playing for over 20 years and own many guitars but there is just something cool about these Charvels. They play like a dream and can shred with the best. For you beginning metal players out there.......before you drop a lot of money on a more current instrument, consider one of these. You can get them cheap in pawn shops or right off ebay. They are real screamers. You won't be disappointed.

This is a 1981 with 22 frets, maple neck, one pickup and volume model. I got it from the manager of a guitar center who took it in on trade from an abusive kid. He took it home and gave it a full work over and sold it to me for $75. Red finish has some dings, but other than that, it's flawless. The maple neck has one of the best actions I've ever seen. That's personal taste, but I like it. It also has an EPS (Floyd Rose Like) tremolo. It's a very good one, but I prefer no tremolo.

Sounds nice. Standard rock sound. Electronics could use a clean up, but its not a fault of the design.

Don't know. When I got it, it was perfect.

This guitar is a tank. Very indestructable.

Been playing 28 years. I have a 96 Alvarz Yairi DY-74C, 2003 Taylor 355 12 string, 81 Ovation Legend (when they were still good), 03 mexican Strat, 2001 Ovation Custom Elite (when they sucked. I wouldn't replace. It's a great guitar but I bought for my son to take lessons with, and its served its purpose. Bought it because the price was right and I'm cheap.

Mine's a Japanese model, strat body, probably made around 1987.I found it in a music shop, and it had been there untouched in it's factory case for about six years. All that was done was an inventory inspection, and back to the stockroom it went. They had three, and I picked a red one. I paid about $180 for it!

It's got 22 medium-jumbo frets, and the standard Charvel flat/wide/thin neck profile. Mine's a maple neck (as they all are) w/ a maple fretboard, bolt-on...nice satin finish on the neck...not sticky at all. Pointy headstock, "Jackson" tuners which seem pretty nice to me...It's got a solid basswood body, w/ one humbucker, one volume, and output jack. The small amount of wood that's been routed out of the body for the PU and volume pot came painted w/ conductive paint to shield noise. This guitar came w/ a graphite nut and Fender-style trem bridge.

Like my previous Charvel (a model 4), the playability was great, except for the usual minor tuning problems due to the trem. The Jackson (passive) PU was a high-output model w/ a ceramic magnet. It sounded ok, but a little harsh to my ears.

I made a few changes to the guitar. I replaced the stock trem w/ a Schaller floyd rose and locking nut. The guitar tech did a nice job and countersunk the bridge, maintaining the clean, flat surface of the body as much as possible. I replaced the Jackson PU w/ a Seymour Duncan parallel-axis Trembucker, the distortion model, and replaced the (100k ?) volume pot w/ a 1M pot. I'm not sure the pot makes any difference.

It stays in tune for weeks, almost plays itself, and sounds kick ass!

I give it a "2" for features...it doesn't have any besides the bare necessities, but that's why I sought it out. Beautiful simplicity.

I play mainly 80's type rock and metal...just a hobby, nothing serious or professional. For this, it's perfect. I don't think it could be improved on. It has an almost perfect action, very, very low
and no string buzz anywhere that I can remember. It's a very loud guitar, and probably not suited for everything, but who knows?

I use a Boss Metal Zone to boost my Marshall Jubilee (100W), and a Quadraverb. Played loud, there's some noise, probably due more to the pedal and the amp than the guitar, but a lot quieter than my buddy's Les Paul and SG. I always keep the volume pot full on. It's pretty much a on/off switch, not much tone variation between all the way off and all the way up. It's probably the pot; I'm not sure if it's linear or audio-taper, but it makes no difference to me.

The guitar has a very well-balanced sound. I think the warmth (mushiness?) of the basswood body is nicely complemented by the snap and brightness of the maple neck and fretboard, and the Duncan PU seems to be well-suited to the light body. (I think it sounds a little better than my Model 4, which was the same except for it's rosewood fretboard and more extensive body routing.) I use a good amount of gain, and I have plenty of sustain, controlled feedback at will, nice harmonics all over. It has punch yet is very articulated.
Unplugged, I notice that the guitar really resonates on Db, which is cool since I tune it down a half-step...but I'm not sure if it matters plugged in. What else can I say? I've played it for years and I love it. I give it a 10 for sound, but it deserves even higher.

The factory set-up was flawless. It had a very low, easy action w/ no string buzz. The stock PU seemed adjusted fine but didn't last long, as I replaced it soon after purchase. As I mentioned before, Charvel/Jackson's "satin" neck finish is totally "transparent"...you never notice it's there. The neck fits square and solid in it's slot, no movement. The frets and fret ends were filed nice and smooth (no binding). I have never seen any separation between the fretboard and the neck, and never had a problem w/ the pointy headstock...but I baby this guitar. The only thing I have ever encountered was that the nut on the output jack comes loose once in a while. If I can remember to, I'll loc-tite the thing.

The body was painted red, and I've never noticed any flaws in either the body or the paint. I sweat on it a lot, and have never seen it affect the paint. The trem cover on the back still fits flush after I had the countersunk floyd installed. I give Charvel a "10" for this one...great job!

I have never played this guitar live, though I may be doing so in the next year or so. It seems like it would handle it just fine...it's simple and solid. It looks like new once cleaned up...there's hardly any pick scratches on the top. The finish seems to be durable. The strap buttons are those big Charvel ones...hard to get the strap on, but I've never had it come off. Again, I've babied this guitar, and never played it in a live setting, so I may not have much to add on this, but it is my only guitar and would be confident to play it live w/o a backup...except I'd worry about broken strings (floyd) but then again I have never once had one just break on me. And I do play the shit out of it. For this, I'd give it a cautious but optimistic "10" anyway. For what it's worth.

I've never dealt w/ Charvel. I'm not sure it even exists anymore. I've owned this guitar for over 10 years, and the only thing I've ever had to do (besides have the floyd installed) was have it set up.

I can't rate on Customer Support.

I've been playing for about 22 years, and like anyone else, searched for the right equipment and sound for myself. With this guitar, and the Marshall gear, I have had absolutely no need or interest in any other gear. I'm 110% happy w/ it, and it just seems to get better as I get better. I love it! The guys at Altel Sound were always great w/ me, and cut me a nice deal on this. This guitar was meant to be mibe...if it were stolen or lost, I don't know what I would do. Don't even want to think about that. But I suppose I would stick w/ the same basic design if I ever were to buy another guitar.

In the years since I bought this, I think I've played two other guitars, a Les Paul and an SG...both thru my amp. The old LP sounds and plays great even though it's been put through a speaker cabinet and crudely repaired...the SG plays nicely but the JB in it doesn't seem quite right for it. I like the clean "playing surface" on the top of this guitar, and it has all the features I need or want. I'd recommend it enthusiastically to anyone who wants a simple, great sounding and great playing guitar. Value? Hell yeah. For the $180 I paid for it (new), $200 for the floyd, another $200 for the installation, and about $100 for the PU, I've got possibly the perfect guitar. For me.

I believe '89 this was made in Japan no doubt, 22 frets, bass woood w/gloss black finish. One vol. knob and one pickup SD-JB. The neck is a burly maple (nice) w/rosewood fret board. Only one prolem, the headstock had a crack in it through the low E peg. It has a Floyd Rose which was the main thing I looked for. It came w/original case but only 2 latches. Jumbo frets an a nice low action. Simple, flat out in your face guitar...

This is a METAL born guitar and nothing can ever match it. I have 2 Les Pauls, but You will always need a CHARVEL. '83 Marshall JCM800 rodded full stack vintage '60's set up w/Egnater mods (gain, density and 2 effects loops), Roctron Intelliflex, Morley little alligater and bad horsey, and a MXR flanger. Don't need distortin pedal or overdrive, the amp has heaven high GAIN that no pedal can touch. This guitar is made for this set up, just as my Les Pauls. This guitar will do all the metal I need and then some. It is a METAL made guitar PERIOD...

The action and set-up is unbelievable. Everthing is in order, who ever set it up knew what they were doing, I don't have to do a thing. The headstock is the only thing that has a problem, but it looks to be well repaired.

This guitar will outlast anything if taken care of. It is a tank and you dont't have to worry about it. Les Pauls are different thing, worry, worry , anfd worry.

Don't need it

I have been playing for over 3 years, but I have been researching and know a good sound and guitar when i see one. I learned quick, don't buy cheap shit, research and buy the best. The only thing that bothers me was the crack in the headstock, but if the owner would of told me I would have not bought it. I am glad I did, the neck is premiun grade and I don't foresee a problem w/it. One guitar w/one pickup to do one thing...PLAY METAL

My Model 1 was made in Ft. Worth, Texas I have no idea when it
was made. Late 80's is my guess.
The neck is maple and has 22 jumbo frets.
The body is strat shaped and constructed oof basswood.
The guitar came with one Jackson humbucker, which was quickly replaced with a Seymour Duncan Invader. The controls are simple
one volume pot. I replaced this with a 2meg pot which further boosted the output level. All stock wiring was replaced using
shielded wire.
The bridge is standard strat style but, I replaced the bridge
saddles with Graph Tech units which greatly aid in tuning
stability. The nut is also Graph Tech Graphite.
Tuning keys were replaced with Sperzel locking tuning keys.
Though the "features" are few; one p/u, one volume pot, this
suits my use perfectly!
wire.

For Metal/heavy Rock I have not played a better guitar.
I rarely use effects prefering the sheer "Crunchiness of
My Marshall rig. The guitar is not noisy at all.
The Duncan Invader and 2 meg pot give this guitar an explosive
crunchiness. Single notes just scream and sustain forever.
Harmonic feedback is easily coaxed from a mere vibrato. The guitar
is not very good for anything but heavy type music now.
Love every minute of playing this guitar, it is my favorite!

The factory set-up was o.k. but my roadie made a few adjustment
and wow!
I never played the stock pickups once, it was replaced quickly!
Standard Fender style bridge plate and routing was perfect for me.
No flaws in finish. All fittong are in black and still look great!
My Model 1 is Red and the face of Cap'n Crunch was painted
between the heel of the neck and the bridge. The words
"Cap's Crunch are painted where my right forearm rests. The finish
work was done by hand by a dear friend of mine.

This guitar is road-worthy and has been used numerous times
live, too many to count. Finish is quite durable.
The stock strap buttons were replaced with modified Schaller locking
units. My roadie made them bullet-proof. I kept ripping the screws
out of the body!
I depend on this guitar, it is guitar number one!
I have backup, but rarely use it.

never called once.

Too much gear to list. My amp is a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL
Find me another Model !!!
I give it an 11!