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My Charvel reissue overhaul

#21
markjazzbassist said:
i'm confused, it's a fender headstock, PJ, and fender body. what makes Charvel unique? looks like a fender clone. this is an honest question, i'm a child of the 90's, i wasn't around for the crotch rock era.
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The original Charvel guitars had Fender shaped headstocks until they got slapped by Fender. Now they're owned by Fender so it's a tip of the hat to the early ones.

The 'super strat' and similar bass design of the 80's featured the cut outs of the classic shape but without the big rounded radius of the original Fender designs. That's why these have 'edges' rather than the softer curves of Fender instruments. They also removed the pickguards and did all rear-routed controls. So this design is a throw back in those ways.
 
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#24
bikeplate said:
Thought id start a thread about a bass I bought recently on a whim. Being a child of the 80s, Ive always loved the original charvel guitars and basses. Ive owned a few in my life but currently have none. I often think about doing a custom tribute build with a classic graphic design I could gig in one of my bands. Earlier this summer I saw Charvel reissues were being built. The green with the creme pickup covers caught my eye. I scoured the web for a light one. A dealer claimed they had one at 8.5lbs. Bought it and upon receiving it discovered it was closer to 9lbs. Not the end of the world so I kept it. Plugged it in to discover one of the nosiest basses of all time! I figured the preamp was un giggable and the bass had no shielding. Upside was the neck felt great and could be setup with low action. Bridge and tuners seemed fine, also. Fret ends were sharp and the nut a bit suspect. I contacted my friend Nino at Valenti basses. He said to send it to him and he'd go to town on it!! Im one of Carey Nordstrands artists and ordered his 2 band preamp with VTC and a set of PJ pickups. Nino massaged the fret ends, did some work on the nut and fully shielded the bass. I also asked him to remove the hideous string retainer and install a classic round one. He filled the holes and colored them. Cant hardly tell at all!! He then installed the pickups and preamp. Carey doesnt have creme covers available so we used the covers that came on the DiMarzios. He lastly added Straplok buttons. He setup the bass and did the intonation. Wow! Came out great, looks killer, and sounds fantastic. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!!View attachment 4372033View attachment 4372034View attachment 4372035View attachment 4372036
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Love the looks! Looks like it's capable of a variety of sounds also. Excellent choice on the cream pups.
 
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#27
Yeah, that reminds me of the time I got my good friend Mike Lull to redo one of my Squier Jazz basses. I called up my other good friend Dave Boonshoft to send me DCB-J pickups and a OBP-2 preamp for it because I wanted more tonal control. While I was playing it, I thought the bridge could be upgraded, so I texted my buddy Jeff Babicz and he sent me a FCH bridge. My other good friend, Mark Dronge sent me a year's worth of Hi-Beams for it. Mike did all the work, and man, that Squier is fantastic!

Good times.
 
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#29

The who-made-what between Wayne Charvel and Wayne Jackson stays a fuzzy subject for me, but I've often thought that overlooked in the 80's 'hair band' days was the the neck-through 'Dinky Strat' that came along back then. One hell of a distillation of a lot of mods from then: Neckthrough, 24 frets, upside down head stock, HSS layout, and by then, a Floyd that was relatively reliable, not easy with the first ones with no nut clamp or the fine-tuners at the back end. Often with real EMG's.
kirk hammett ESP.png

ESP Japan Kirk Hammett Signature.

I think they're overlooked and a real advance for those cats in that style, and not given their due. the general layout survives to this day, both from them and others, especially ESP. They often give off a certain vibe like a military piece, not especially pretty, function first, form second, and a certain vibe that just means business.
 
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#30
Mechanical said:
Yeah, that reminds me of the time I got my good friend Mike Lull to redo one of my Squier Jazz basses. I called up my other good friend Dave Boonshoft to send me DCB-J pickups and a OBP-2 preamp for it because I wanted more tonal control. While I was playing it, I thought the bridge could be upgraded, so I texted my buddy Jeff Babicz and he sent me a FCH bridge. My other good friend, Mark Dronge sent me a year's worth of Hi-Beams for it. Mike did all the work, and man, that Squier is fantastic!

Good times.
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If you say Leo hand carved the neck I'm gonna call bs ..
 
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#35
My 5 string Charvel is dead silent, however, the wiring inside the control cavity is a sloppy mess. I bought an Audere 4 band preamp that I'll be installing in it when time allows.

My local dealer also has the green 4 string in stock. That particular one is quiet also, but if I end up buying it, I'm going to just go ahead and put an Audere in it also.
 
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#36
Ryan L. said:
My 5 string Charvel is dead silent, however, the wiring inside the control cavity is a sloppy mess. I bought an Audere 4 band preamp that I'll be installing in it when time allows.

My local dealer also has the green 4 string in stock. That particular one is quiet also, but if I end up buying it, I'm going to just go ahead and put an Audere in it also.
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I'd love to read an update about this, and would equally love to see the wiring after all was said and done. While I don't hate the preamp in my JJ-V, it could certainly use improvement and the Audere did look like a good choice to me
 
#40
superheavyfunk said:
I'd love to read an update about this, and would equally love to see the wiring after all was said and done. While I don't hate the preamp in my JJ-V, it could certainly use improvement and the Audere did look like a good choice to me
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I actually haven't done it yet. I've got the Audere sitting here in its box, but still haven't installed it. I've been gigging the bass stock.

I've also recently bought the new P/J 5 string Charvel, and it's the same sloppy mess of wiring that my JJ is. It'll probably get an Audere transplant also (which I'll do before summer gigs start, in both basses).
 
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