Charvel Model 4

active electronics,1 Humbucker, 2 single coils, nice neck, 3 mini switches and a kahler pro tremelo.

It sounds decent. I love the neck!

Like I said, I love the neck!

I recently got this guitar out of storage after about 7 years. the pots are all crackly and because of this I can barely play it. I also hate the kahler. I've been looking for a replacement non tremelo kahler bridge and cannot find one. Because of the big hole that's left from routing it specifically for the kahler, no other bridge will do. I've decided to take it apart and sell the parts (body, kahler, etc)But I will keep the neck and look for a replacement body. If anyone would like to buy the body or the kahler, let me know.If you have a body that will fit the neck, also let me know.

Jackson/charvel has the worst customer support I've ever experienced. I emailed them eons ago to ask if they could reccommend a replacement body for my neck and I've yet to recieve a reply. Nice. I also called them and could not get a tech on the phone, so I left a message and never got a reply. What a bunch of losers! I bet if I wanted to order a custom guitar they'd be kissing my ass.

It was my first quality electric. I'm more of a Les Paul man now, but like I said, I love the neck and am on a mission to find a replacement body.

1985 colbalt blue with kahler flat tremelo the trem is great but now im needing parts like string saddle and T IM LOOKING FOR ALSO A NUT FLIP LOCK MADE 10 TO 12 YEARS AGO PLEASE HELP

GREAT

GREAT

ALWAYS THERE

DONT KNOW WHERE TO FIND THEM

IT THE BEST I HAD SOME OF THE BEST BUT THE OLDER MODEL 4 WORKS FOR ME

Bought it back in England in 1987 I think. The serial number is 252262. It's a beautiful bright red with S/S/H pick-up configuration. However, unlike the other reviews on this page, mine has dot inlays and not the nasty shark fin fret markers. The pick-ups are Jackson...Well at least that's what it says on the plastic covers. The electronics are active with 3 small toggle switches for pick-up selection, a volume control, treble, and bottom controls. I have no idea what wood the body is made from, but it is stratocaster in shape with a pointy headstock. The tremelo is Floyd Rose.

I have used this as my main instrument for 14 years. It has never failed me (except for the occasional catastrophic tuning string break) even under the harshest environments. The choice of sounds is unbeatable..everything from jazz to metal, funk to fusion. I fell in love with this guitar in 1987 and it's still my main squeeze. Any guitar that can sound good in Los Angeles, London, and Narvik Norway can't be all bad.

The action is fast, low and accurate. The workmanship is first rate. The only issue I've ever had is with the cap head screws that secure the strings at the bridge. They wear out too quickly.

First rate reliability.... Compared to my old Strat , this is a gem.

Never had to deal with them.

I doubt that I will ever own a better made or more reliable instrument.

The Charvel Model 4 was my first guitar, back in 1987. I didn't know anything about guitars, but I saw an ad in a bunch of guitar magazines stating it was "guitar of the year" for two years straight. All my favorite 80's bands were playing 'em, so that was enough for me. Obviously, I made a good choice, because I didn't buy a second guitar until 1999. It's a S/S/H config on the pickups, which are Jackson (licensed by EMG, I believe), active electronics with an on/off switch
for each pickup. The trem is a locking Jackson, licensed by Floyd Rose, and the damn thing never goes out of tune. Well....

Nice, FAST, rosewood neck with the nifty Jackson sharkfin inlays. Put on some rouge and Aqua-net, and you're good to go. Hehehehe.

This guitar is also a hell of a lot heavier (and I mean weight) than anything I've acquired since.

I started out playing things like Crue and Ratt, and you just couldn't beat the humbucker on of this thing, 13 years ago. It screamed then, and it does now. The neck pickup was great for some of those Yngwie-style leads, and also good for those clean, arpeggiated intros that all 80's style power ballads are loaded with.

Sometimes it's difficult to get a screaming pinch harmonic out of a guitar. That is not a problem with this guitar.

I have a very lame 50 watt Laney combo amp that I also got in the late 80's. I'm not too impressed with the distorted sound I get with the guitar straight into the amp. A friend of mine had a Marshall half-stack back then, and the guitar rocked through it. I'm somewhat of a gear-head anyway, so I rarely pay attention to what a guitar sounds like straight into an amp.

The action was extremely high off the rack, but that's just me. I happen to like the action just low enough that you don't get fret buzz. Otherwise, this thing was and is solid. I had to adjust the truss after a year, but again, this is due to my obsession with ridiculously low action.

My Model 4 has taken more abuse than I'd expect. If I was this guitar, I would have grown legs and run away from me a long time ago.
I dropped it in the studio MANY times, the most notable being a six foot drop off the top of a stack. Though it did carry away a few battle scars on the body, nothing broke, and nothing had to be adjusted. I did have to replace the output on it entirely after about four years, as it went dead, and lately when you flip the humbucker on, you get nothing. This is corrected by cursing, flipping the switch off, and then back on. This is how most musical gear is fixed, by the way.

Since this is the only guitar I owned for over 10 years, I had no choice but to use it without a backup. It never failed me.

The screws holding on the plastic covers over the bridge springs and the battery compartment, have, for the most part, fallen out. The guitar is old, and I didn't exactly baby it, so I'll chalk it up to that.

Never dealt with Charvel. Nothing happened I couldn't deal with myself.

As previously stated, I've been playing since 1987. Aside from this guitar I own a Jackson Dinky Reverse, and a Fender Standard Strat. I still play through my lame Laney 50 watt combo (though this is going to change in the very near future). I've owned numerous effects pedals and multi units, currently still using a Digitech RP-6 (which has hideous distortion, btw, and I don't mean that in a good way).
I bought the Fender because I worship Malmsteen and the neck pickup on a Strat is about as close to his lead sound as you can get without buying everything else he uses.

When I bought this guitar, I played most of the competition available, but I wasn't a good player back then, so I mainly went with what my 80's heroes were playing. If it was stolen, someone would have to die, because there's nothing quite like your first guitar, especially if it's not a Sears special and you still play it.

Made in Japan in the late 80s. Nice somewhat thin neck. A really awsome player, extra smooth. 22 frets, 1 vol, 1 tone, 1 mid boost, 3 pickup on-off switches. S/S/H Jackson (emg style) pickups. Nice electric blue finish on a strat style body. Kahler trem which I'm not a big fan of. The g-string would constantly get caught on the locking nut, i tried modifying it, but eventually just removed it.

I play many different kinds of music. This guitar is definately the most versitale guitar i own. The bridge active humbucker with the mid boost rolled up gives you a great 80s shredder sound. Also, the 2 single coils can give you a good strat sound without the hum. It gives a sterile sound, but you can get a wide range

I bought this 10 years used, but it was in perfect condition. This one is easy to set up yourself. I use really heavy strings and the action is perfect. Aside from the poor locking nut that i mentioned earlier, it's all working fine.

This guitar is heavy. I treat it pretty well, but i think it could withstand a lot. It appears to be more solid than my am std strat. Strap buttons are big (strap never falls off). I use this at gigs without a backup (even though i shouldn't, floyd rose's go out of tune badly if one string breaks)

I've been playing for 8 years now. I own a fender strat, epi lp, hamer echotone, ibanez ax90. This and the strat are tied for my favorates (even though i paid half as much for the charvel). If i lost this guitar i would definately buy another. I think for the price this is THE BEST guitar. I've played other $300 guitars and they come nowhere near this one.

I have a Charvel Model #4, It has 22 frets(jumbo), Active pickups, And a Floyd Rose(The one where you can tune from behind instead of on top, And it is navy blue.
All I can say is that this guitar was a Road-Dog in its time and I still own the thing. I have a small studio and I can get a wide variety of tones out of it and when it is destorted properly I get great sustain. It has been dropped on its neck on stage and the tip of the neck broke at the 1st tuner key, I then drilled a whole into the other side and put the tuner there, sanded and refinished the top of the neck, So unless you really look it looks like a 5 string guitar. I bought this thing in 1987 and it has been down highway after highway, dropped, kicked, drinks thrown all over it and I have never had to replace anything but the battery. They made a tank when they made this guitar, It is very solid and reliable and I recommend it to anyone who don't mind shark-tooth inlays...OUT!

It sounds great thru solid state amps(but I prefer tube now).
I played this guitar thru a peavey 60wt citation head, and a 4-12 Cab. We use to set our amps on the side of the stage, And i never heard one soundman bitch about my tone. I ran korg effects and got a sound that not many people could achieve with marshalls. I use to get people asking me what i played thru and they could not believe it.
However certain venues that had poor wireing would make the active electronics a bit noisey, So i gated it sometimes.

Good to go right out of the gate, Changed strings and lowered the action and that was it...

I have been playing guitar since for about 22yrs, I also have a Jackson, and a Takamine acoustic, I have a rackmountable Boss effects unit and other various toys in my small home studio. I have had tons of other guitars and I have chose to never let this guitar go. It is part of my life and we had some very weird times together so I owe it some rest and relaxation, It kept working for years ... I definately got my money out of it!!!!

USA made (texas) the guy that sold me this baby said he bought it new in 1991. 22 frets. Ahh voy a hablar en castellano. tiene un sistema de capsulas muy raro pero q es la raja (tiene 2 simples y 1 doblke), podi elejir muchas opciones. las capsulas son jackson standard (muy huenas). El cuerpo es como stratocaster. microafinacion Khaler con vibrato.

mi estilo es muy variado pero toco por lo general PUNk, METAL, y BLUES y es super buena pa tocar estos estilos. No es pa nada ruidosa.
Sonido bueno pero podria mejorar cambiandole las capsulas ya q la guitarra da pa mas (mas sustain).
es la raja tocarla, la encuentro parecida a una Ibanez pero mas blusera.

Exelentemente bien echa. no hay mas q decir.

no e tocado en vivo toavia pero es ovio q se puede usar en vivo.
el weon q me la vendio la tuvo como 9 a?os y me la entrego como nueva,
despues yo la cague ya q como 2 semanas despues se me cayo y se isieron unas marcas chicas en la pintura (las q no me influyen pa nada, sigue siendo la raja).
0 problemas con la guitarra.

nose

llevo poco tocando, como 2 a?os pero progreso rapido.
tengo tb una squier stratocaster q tb es super buena por el precio, es mucho mejor q hartas guitarras mas caras de otras marcas (hecha en china). Si me la robaran conseguiria otra (dificil) o me compraria una Ibanez.
Comparada con otras guitarras q e tocao es bakan (Ibanez JS 1000, Jackson Ps-3, Fender satandard amerian strato, etc)
por el precio a q me la consegui, esta increible esta wea, si teni oportunindad de comprar una la recomiendo.

The Charvel Model 4 is, I think, one of the best deals out there today. I have 3 of them, all with the old style Kahler tremelo system which I much prefer to the Floyed Rose. These guitars are "super-strats" and were built in Japan in the mid to late 1980's (don't let the neckplate which says Ft. Worth, Tx. fool you) and have a hum-single-single pickup configuration. The electronics are active, and controlled by a volume, two tone, and 3 mini toggle switches. The pickups say Jackson on them, but I don't know if Jackson really made them or not. Same with the tuners. The fretboards are all rosewood or ebony with huge, jumbo frets. I have 3 colors:Red, White Sparkle, and Black Cherry...sort of a dark purple with sparkles. I do not know what kind of wood the bodies on these guitars are made of. The necks are quite thin which makes them easy to play fast, along with the low action. The strap buttons are oversized on these Charvels, which acts as a "poor-mans strap lock" of sorts.

These guitars are perfect for the style I play, which is sort of an advanced heavy metal...old Queensryche, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc. The necks are really, really fast, and have a great feel to them. I almost never use the single coil pickups, but the humbucker absolutely screams! The sound is bright, but full, and sustains quite well. The guitar was designed as something that would get any sound you might want, and in my opinion, it does a fair job of that, but again, I don't use the singles much at all. I use these guitars almost exlusively with old Marshall amps...a plexi 50, a Mark II 50, and a 1971 100 watt.

I bought all my Model 4's used, so I don't know how they were set up at the factory. As far as I can tell, the guitars are very well made, solid, with good quality hardware. However, without fail, on every single one of mine, I have had to replace the input jack. They get very loud after some time, and eventually fail altogether. Additionally, on all 3 of them, the volume control gets very noisy, and sometimes the mini toggle switches are noisy as well. For these, you just need to make sure that the pots and connections are clean. As far as any other flaws, I certainly can't see any. Everything fits tightly, the frets are nicely filed and smooth on the edges, and overall, these guitars are well put together.

The Model 4 will definitely stand up to live playing, as I have been using one of them for 13 years for just that purpose. I purchased my first one barely used in 1987, and that was my main guitar until the mid 90's when all these Charvels began showing up in pawn shops...more about that later. The finishes are great, and show no wear, although admittedly, I am very careful with my guitars and try my best not to bang them up. I do have a few nicks on my first one that go down to the wood, but that can happen on any guitar. These guitars are very dependable, and I have indeed used mine without a backup before I had more than one of them. The strap buttons are very secure, and I have never dropped a guitar while playing...although I did knock one over onto the hard floor at a gig one time. It survived well.

I've never had to deal with the company. I don't even think you can get parts for this guitar any more, but then again...I've never needed any except for the input jack which can be purchased anywhere.

I am 36 years old, and have been playing for 21 years...so I am no beginner. I have owned literally hundreds of other guitars, and right now have around 30. Six of these are Jacksons or Charvels. I also have a large amplifier collection and have tried out many different combinations over the years. I would definitely buy another Charvel Model 4 if mine were stolen...in fact, I am looking for them all the time even though mine have NOT been stolen. One of my favorite features on this guitar is the old style Kahler locking tremelo system. If you have used a Floyed, but never tried one of the Kahlers, you are missing out. While you can't pull up very far with this vibrato, it is simple and quick to change the strings, it stays in tune beautifully, looks nice, and it is durable. In addition, you can rest your hand on the bridge without pulling the strings flat or sharp. I have never had to replace any parts on the Kahler vibratos on any of my Charvels or Jacksons. And by the way, you can find these vibratos on other guitars from the 80's, too. I recently found a Strat with one on it, and bought it just for the vibrato. Initially I chose Jackson/Charvels because I was young, and that's what all my guitar heroes of the day were playing. But now that I am older, I realize what a great guitar this really is. And these guitars are showing up in droves in pawn shops these days. You can get them for $200 and even less. I believe that they were around $800 when they were new back in the 80's, so they really are a good deal, and people don't seem to realize that at this point. And don't forget that there is a Model 2 and Model 3 which were even less expensive, and are basically the same guitar without the active electronics. I got a Model 2 the other day for $140, and it is a wonderful guitar. As I said before, the only complaints I have ever had with these guitars is that the input jacks go bad. Other than that, what a steal they are!!

I bought it new in 88 (I think it was the first year the Charvels were made in Japan, and the Jackson label was for the USA made guitars) Jackson active pickups S/S/H. Jackson licensed FR trem (more about that later) Basswood body, maple neck with a rosewood fretboard.

I just loved the sound of the guitar! The Jackson active pickups were very flexible. Everything from Blues to metal sounded great.

The action fit and finish on this guitar was just awsome... really I just loved everything about it.

The active circuitry took a dump on my about 5 years down the road. I replaced the humbucker with a duncan destortion and it just killed the guitar.
Now to the stupid tremlo bar. (or is that a stupid player?) I was doing a Steve Vai thing -- shaking the guitar holding the guitar by the neck and tremlo arm and busted the damn thing. I was not able to find a replacement for it so I ended up blocking the tremlo.

No Clue

I just loved this Guitar.. I want another one, or maybe a 80's era Jackson. One of the best neck designs of all time.
I sold it to a friend who was a far better player than me. Now I want it back and he is not gona let me have it.

I purchased this guitar new in 1986. It is black with a maple bolt-on neck and rosewood fretboard and sharkfin inlays. 22 Jumbo size frets, and the classic wide-thin type Jackson neck. Strat shaped body with pointy headstock. Made in Japan. I've kept it in good condition and it still plays fast and easy. A true 80's shred machine that has some cool strat-like tones as well. At the time, the features compared very well against American Strats in terms of playability and sound choices.
It has active EMG-like pickups s-s-h. Three mini-toggle switches give you all the combinations of each individual pickup, each pair, and all three. Toggle switches are a little strange to use if you are used to a finder 5-way or a Gibson 3 way, but easier to deal with than a PRS-style rotary knob since you can look down and immediately see which configuration you have. I also like that you can have all the pickups "off". This is great in high gain situations.
Electronics controls are volume, tone, and mid-boost. The mid-boost has quite a noticable effect and adds a lot of sonic variety to each pickup configuration. These are quiet pickups and sound good for most purposes. Uses an internal 9 volt battery that is accessable by unscrewing a rear plate
This guitar has a Floyd Rose locking system. This is effective in allowing wild use of the tremelo without going out of tune, but the need for hex tools makes it a pain if you break a string live. The tremelo arm is a push-in type, but it has a slight amount of "play" that diminishes the ability to make pure and accurate tremelo bends.
I received a hard shell Charvel case when I bought this.

The main reason I bought this was I was impressed by the variety of sounds I could get. It still is one of the most flexible guitars I own. I play Rock, Jazz, and Blues and this guitar was my main axe for about three years. I've been able to get a number of other guitars over the years, but I still find myself picking up and playing this guitar on a regular basis.
For power rock, (maybe metal), the active humbucker really screams in high gain settings, and adding or subtracting the mid-boost adds a lot to the sound.
A quick switch to the neck pickup and backing off the mid-boost gives some very bluesy sounds.
The "in-between" sounds of the neck and middle, and all three pickups together sound very sweet. Adding the mid-boost to taste also adds a lot to this pickup combination.
Like many active pickups, you get a little of the sterile but very clear sound many people attribute to EMG's. I'm ok with this, and use different guitars when I want a different set of sounds.
Overall I continue to be impressed at the sound quality of this guitar. Others have complained about these pickups, but I haven't had any problems or need to replace them.
It's no '57 Les Paul, but I give the sound a 7 overall.

This guitar has consistantly been a great player from the day I bought it. The combination of the Jackson style neck and jumbo pickups has a very confident feel.
Everything on the guitar was tight, and has remained so with just a little bit of care on my part. I've had to clean the pots a few times, but the finish and parts have held up well.

I played this guitar every night for about three years after I first got it... Three nights a week playing out, the others in our rehearsal area. It never let me down.
No strap locks, but oversized "top-hat" style strap buttons have worked out well.
I always have a backup, but this is vital with this guitar because of the Floyd Rose.
I expect this guitar to still look and play well for many more years.

I'm lucky, I never had to deal with any support issues on my guitar.

I've been playing for over 20 years. I also have a couple of new American Deluxe strats, a LP Standard, a PRS Standard 24, a Carvin AE-185, and several other guitars.
I've put the Charvel away for a few months over the years, but I always have fun playing it again when I get it back out. If I ever have to play live in a setting where I don't want to bring my more "high-end" guitars, it's the Charvel that goes with me.
It's a little strange to play blues or jazz on a "pointy head" shred guitar from the 80's, but I have gotten a few compliments on the sound when I've used it in these settings.
I think these guitars are great "pawnshop prizes" and if you come across one in nice condition, pick it up and play it. I think you may find it to be a cool sounding, easy to play guitar. I've seen them used for $100 - 300, (the American Charvels are the only ones that have any real collectable value), but the Japan made ones are still nice.