Charvettes are amazing, especially the Japanese ones. I played an 80s custom Jackson for 25 years, and my Japanese Charvettes are almost as good. The bridge is the weak point, but I don't use the whammy so I don't care. I have Japanese and Korean of the same model - HSS. The Korean has slightly different knobs, different switch tip, is plywood, has more rounded angles on headstock, body shape is a little more blocky, slightly hotter pickups, wider dots at 12th fret. But the necks are the same, and that's the best part of a Charvel/Jackson/Charvette. The humbucker has great high overtones and note clarity. They aren't super high output.
Yeah there is a lot to love about these guitars! Always nice to hear from other owners and their experiences! Would love to have you subscribe if not already!
I had a Charvette, bought it in the late 80s. The whammy only had 2 springs and didn't stay in tune. I replaced the springs with 2 metal plates that I screwed into the body. It not only worked, it improved the sustain by a lot. I didn't use the whammy bar anyway.
Got mine in 91 or 92, “Royal Blue”. Swapped out the hum bucket for a Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell, not knowing it was intended to be a neck humbucker. I was 16 and had no idea what I was doing. Lol. Still have it, some chips showing the plywood body underneath, and needs a full fret redo, the guitar case slammed shut on the neck once and dented the frets leaving some dead notes above 12th fret. I thought it was a good guitar lol. Last year the electronics all died, the solder job I did 30 years ago finally let go and I can’t be bothered to fix it. Got an American pro strat and after 30 years I finally have a good guitar!
My mom bought me a Wshburne from the Doo Wop Shop in the early 90s but they let me trade it because I just had to have the neon yellow USA made Charvette from their rental line up. It's been all down hill from there.
I got mine in early 90's , mine has two pick ups double humbucker at the bridge and single coil, I really enjoy playing it, what caught my eye was the mod paint job, it is bone white and has black and red splatter on it kinda like blood, I got it just in time to play it a Halloween party, I remember all the guitar players wanting to play it. One thing that makes me wonder is why no tone knob, probably to keep the price low, I paid $300. I still love playing it !!
Neil! Your bedroom’s on fire! Love that show and that guitar. Had one from 92 until recently (though it did sit idle for many years), the body started getting stress fractures around the base of the neck, the string lock on the g string lost the top plate but still worked, the strap holder at the base came loose and it rusted everywhere it possibly could but man, the hours of joy that thing brought me every day for years still make it my favourite I’ve ever owned. Try taking down the pickups, you might get a little more sustain. Thanks for the trip down memory lane👍👍
I have a dark blue Charvette in excellent condition. Not a fan of the FR tremolo system on it, though. It's a headache to set up, and nearly impossible to keep in tune for an extended time. Also, the barrels have almost frozen in position. I'll never get rid of it, though. The tones of those pups through a quality amp will almost make you think you're listening to Jake E. Lee again.
Have you tried some oil? I’ve never had a problem with mine. It’s an under the radar guitar for sure! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks! 🤘🏻🎸
There are two guitars that I truly regret trading away: the first was my 2005/2006 Jay Turser Flying V clone, and my 1990 Charvette 250…. Pickups were terrible on the Charvette, but man I loved that neck…. Traded both for stupid reasons
This video brings back some memories. I started playing in the early '90s and superstrats were literally everywhere. I do remember trying to trade in a Charvel (pearl color) to a pawn shop and the owner told me that it was out of style. That was probably circa 1997. A friend had a Fender HM Strat and that was a very cool guitar. He got a Washburn KC40V in the red and black crackle after that. I tried to one up him and bought a Charvel model 3 in the light rose metallic pinkish color. It sounded pretty good...when you could keep it in tune which was not very often. Speaking of 1980's, Do you remember the Poison videos with all the neon colors? I thought "Hey, this probably what cocaine looks like under a microscope!". I could see Ozzy looking through the microscope now saying "Damn it man, I've already seen this one!"
Dude I wasn’t a big CC Deville fan but those videos were guitar porn for me. I still love having a bunch of guitars like that. I never have less than 4 neon super Strats on hand
@@DR440 One can only imagine what it would've been like if Richie Kotzen had joined the band much sooner. And no, I am not referring to him banging the drummer's girlfriend.
I have a black Charvette I picked up new back in high school. Want to pass off to the kid that is learning guitar. I assume it's the Japanese version is it has the Ft Worth Texas plate, ser No is 000757, has 22 frets and the 12 fret inlay is close together? The Lic Floyd bridge broke and was looking for a decent trem to replace it with? The bridge has the top fine tuners and not the end style. Thoughts?
These were MIJ right at the beginning. Don't know if that was a small batch, the first batch, just a few or what but I have one. Doesn't have flathead screws on the locknut. It has 3 allen bolts through 3 plates that sandwich 2 strings each. The Floyd is not what we think of Floyd these days. There are stories online that a weakness was the sprung block behind the bridge snapping and some people put wooden blocks to reduce or even to stop the trem being used. You are right on the pickups though. Should have mentioned however how good the neck on these are. There are all sorts of myths online about the 170/270 being the Japanese ones but mine is a 250 and still has the very aged "Made in Japan" sticker on the neck heel. Also has the twelth fret dot markers closer together rather than spaced out like yours. I'll have to open mine up and see if the MIJ early ones are also plywood. Its pretty heavy for a "dinky." Not worth selling on (atm.) They are cheaper than a bent neck Wuhan offering to buy second hand. Bad rep and all that. I like mine though. Has a bit better sustain than yours but that might be the time I spend getting the action low as F.. Long lost the original wammy bar though and has a secondary market thinner push fit one now.
This is such great information- thank you for sharing! Yeah - the neck really is great! It spoiled me for super shredders that came after! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! What color is yours?
@@GearGasms Mine is all black and the 250 where yours I think is a 270. Definitely MIJ though so there is a lot of misinformation out there. People want to hate budget guitars a little too much. I bought mine solely for the Jackson headstock pointed the correct way like yours :) I loved Jacksons but they were much more expensive and I got mine for £75 in a beaten up old hard case circa '95. Was pretty small money and a bargain at that price. These days the prices are rising! You can still find them cheap in the £120 region but many are now selling for more. Who knows.....10 years time. lol I should add that straight after watching your vid I got it out, dusted it off (not touched it for 5 or more years) and rigged it up to the Zoom G5. Who needs a good guitar when you have an effects board. lol. Thanks for the inspiration :D
i have bought a black 270, i think it's made in Korea but i'm not to much concerned about that. I wonder how i can figure out where the body is made from?
@@lvhuis I don't think you can really tell other than the "vintage" MIJ sticker on the heel of the neck. Unless someone put that sticker on back in the 90s. The information on the web about is being only the higher model being made in Japan is obviously wrong and I daresay there are a mixture of good wood and plywood models made in the short Japan spell as well. I wouldn't worry about it too much if it plays nice and the necks on most of these just need the fret ends filing if they stick out slightly. Then necks themselves are ridiculously nice to play. Remember this is the back end of the era where Fender USA had to up their game because the"lower" MIJ fenders were better than the US ones.
I have the Red w/ Black crackle 170 and the Desert crackle 270. One is solid wood and one is plywood, they both sound excellent but the solid wood 88' does have the better sustain than the plywood 89'!
I have one of these. It looks almost exactly like yours except it has 22 frets, silver tuners and knobs and no scoop in the lower cutaway. I had a Floyd Rose installed many years ago and I can't remember what type of bridge it had before that......
@@GearGasms So this guitar was given to me by an acquaintance 25 years ago, and I have no idea what he paid for it or anything else about it (and I'm no longer in touch with him). It had been my only electric until six months ago when I bought an EVH Wolfgang Standard. (I'm strictly an at-home hobbyist.) The odd thing is that I think the Charvette overall sounds better and plays better than the EVH. The bridge pickup in the EVH is really the only one through which I get good tones, whereas the Charvette pickups sound good in positions 1, 2 and 5, and definitely sounds better with the clean tones. The neck pickup alone gives me a very good strat-like tone too, which is a nice bonus. I'm playing through a Boss Katana 50 and I use various standard effects pedals or sometimes the onboard effects on the amp. It seems odd because the Charvette is supposed to be a cheap piece of crap and it gets heavily criticized. I haven't had the guitar professionally set up in the last 15 years, nor have I modded it other than installing the Floyd Rose....
@@GearGasms I have never actually played any very high-end guitars, but I've played many cheap ones, and my Charvette is not at all like those. I wonder whether it's just one of the better models or if I just got lucky with this particular guitar...
Yeah they’re an odd duck! I was in a music store this afternoon retelling the story of getting this one! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks!!
Bringing back memories. I'm a big fan of The Young Ones. Hair Metal was becoming passe around of the time Charvette's run on the market. Sludge Metal and later Grunge eleclipsed Hair Metal. Flying Vs and Explorers also fell out of favor then as well as anything that looked Hair Metal. One notable exception was Donita Sparks(L7); she played and still plays a Flying V. Back then fluorescent strats or superstrats and any Explorers, and Vs where considered "douche" guitar.
@@real_fjcalabrese Agreed, their timing was off by a few years. 1989l was at the tail end of the gunslinger guitarist era. At least market wise for that type of instrument. Charvette was around 6 years late to the party.
just some infos: not all charvettes have plywood bodies, the models 170 and 270 have basswood bodies. though most of them are made in korea, some were made at chushin gakki in japan. if you have one with a 6 digit serial number and narrow inlays at the 12th fret, congrats, yours is a japanese made one. the on you have there in the video is a korean made. still absolutely great guitars for the money. the "singlecoil" pickups aren't actually singlecoils, they're stacked 2 coils, kinda like the fender noiseless pickups.
That explains why I don’t like them lol! I hate hate hate the V3 noiseless pickups! Great info- I knew there were Japanese ones and that mine was not one of those but it’s decent! Thanks BF!
Hey Dude. Looks like you found my guitar from middle skool. Give it back! Haha. I miss it, tbh I traded in an MIJ Charvel model 1 for a neon orange one with the floyd. Haha I was stupid but that's life. IIRC my Charvette was a great but then we went punk and it was the uncoolest guitar ever.
Yeah this one didn’t age well, at least into the 90s. Lol. Glad to meet a fellow Charvette warrior from back in the day! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks Mason! 🤘🏻🎸
That guitar is worth way more than that SG would be... lots of SG gibson guitars out there. I have only seen ONE Charvette... Corvette.... Charvette. .. I think I am onto something.
lol - yeah they fetch up $175 on the used market. Your joke reminds me of a buddy of mine in high school whose parents gave him a Chevette. He used to ask girls if they wanted to see his Vette, lol.
Awesome Charvette! Reminds me of B.C. Rich ST III, a Kramer Striker 600 and a Washburn G5-v. Are you going to feature a Washburn PARALLAXE or Kramer in the future?
I bought a Charvette model 270 in 1990, used it for gigging for 10 years. I have it repainted and fitted with seymour duncan pickups, its similar to your 275 except the Tremolo and locking nuts, the 270 has the locking nuts with the allen key tightening and has a genuine Licensed Floyd Rose Tremolo which is stamped on it and is the very same Tremolo which is featured on Floyd Rose website. Your trem is not a licensed product and looks like a bad imitation of a Floyd Rose. They say the 270 was made in Japan along with the 170 and that might account for the cheaper parts on the 275. But still they were a great guitar for their time. and although I gig now with PRS guitars I do use the Charvette every now and again for sentimental value, albeit for only one song and hence the change in pickups.
Yeah the bridge is Jackson branded and weird but I can’t say it hasn’t been stable. Never gave me a moment of trouble! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! 🎸🤘🏻
I actually learned on my friend Matt's red Japanese Charvette 170 he had installed a Screamin Demon in. For years I always wanted my guitar to play and sound as good as that one. I have lots of great playing and sounding guitars now, but I actually just ordered a blue Japanese Charvette 270 last week for next to nothing. Can't wait to get it in and get it all set up.
That’s crazy - and yes I can’t say it doesn’t play well! I’ve never regretted having it instead of the Kramer and with the 3 pickups very versatile! Let me know when you get it and would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks Sean! 🎸🤘🏻
also you can see on yours and others how they shaved cost, one switch and one pot, that loses 2 pots and wire from each guitar in that run, it adds up, however the tuners are sub grade they almost all are failed by now, very inexpensive, cheapo licensed FR and or 6 pt trems.. thats where they shaved cost, plastic nuts... however many had good necks and good bodies and a decent finish, medium jumbo or jumbo frets.. Japan knew back then what they were doing, if they offered this budget guitar with select components easily upgradable very cheap then MAKE those parts in a better quality and function then and sell them separately they are getting into another niche, the sale of guitar parts, and so they did, allparts, hosco, gotoh, domo so forth offered all sorts of parts to upgrade your charvette when you were ready.. so they focused on making the platform as good as they could for the budget allowed, and they did just that... the japanese are STELLAR woodworkers, best in the world by a fair margin no jokes, go to japan and see for yourself..not only that they have a phenomenal work effort and pride.. especially after WW2 when they wanted to remove that stigma as greedy commies who wanted to take from others they set out to restore their pride and respect, and so far they have done a great job.. the effort was huge in the 70's and 80's to restore Japanese pride in the workplace and regain their place on the world market.. CBS went to them skeptical to help out fender but they proved fender big wigs wrong.. they also motivated Leo himself to get back into the guitar making world after he saw their work, and he created two more companies, each better then the next.. music man and G&L.. and his commitment just like the Japanese shows in his work back then.. these charvettes were no different, to the Japanese a budget guitar didn't mean a junky guitar or cheaply made, it meant scrape off the fat and create a platform to build on that's as good as any out there, and so they did.. also in the day and even today many folks liked to throw around words they knew nothing of, like you are here calling it a "plywood" body .. it's NOT a plywood body, it's a LAMINATE body, which is more stable than plank wood by a FAR stretch.. however the fact that it was purchased at a lesser cost in an effort by wood retailers to keep the cost of whole wood at a premium laminate wood was very affordable but is nothing like the "plywood" on your homes roof.. for one it's a HARD WOOD, birch, or alder, maybe even aspen or ash, any white hard wood that grows fast and can provide a quick harvest rate is what was used, or white hardwoods that were smaller and do not provide adequate dimensions they will use aswell... HOWEVER the difference is you don't see 2" plywood used in construction so nobody made it.. so this laminate had to be custom made dimensionally, the guitar world had no use for a 4x8 sheet 2" thick, no one made it so it was custom made in bulk using special glues and finishing processes.. animal glue as it was far more affordable than the new wood glues being used for construction laminates and animal glue was proven.. I shouldn't even be saying this cuz each time I open my mouth and spread the truth these instruments seem to go up in cost, I'm not done collecting myself but truth should be told.. laminate bodies are WAY better than ANY of your typical alder or ash plank bodies today.. reality is some of these laminate bodies are made of alder or ash, maybe a hybrid of? also the bodies were typically a lot lighter as well.. tonally perhaps not as resonant due to the extra layers of glue but stability wise? 10 times better, if you haven't noticed all your laminate bodies stay in tune forever, cuz that laminate body moves none.. if you think I am full of shit, go to your local exotic lumber supplier and say hey, how much is a 2" x 2' x 2' chunk of laminated ash, or alder or birch or aspen? any white hardwood? he'll laugh at you and say welp, best I can do is sell you a 4x8 or 4x4 sheet of 3/4" birch and you can laminate 3 sheets together yourself, a sheet of 3/4" laminate birch is about $200 today, so laminate 3 together and you have a $600 4x4 slab, you can get 4 bodies out of it... so the 1 wood body alone will cost you $150, thats after you do the laminate work.. my guess is if you want a mill to do the glue up for you the 2" sheets they would then become about $1800 each for a 4x4 slab, each body blank subsequently costing upwards of $450.. so in essence that's what you are getting today, a $450 laminate body BEFORE any routing, shaping, or finish work.. today that's another $600 .. so to get a laminate body ready to go in today's money and market is around $1200.. don't believe me? have someone make you one and find out the cost for yourself? the reason they were so affordable back then is because nobody wanted this wood, it was an inbetween wood, not applicable for rough construction, yet not hard enough for fine construction, stair cases, cabinets so forth.. so they shaved it up cooked it and made laminate out of it for speaker cabinets and other millwork stuff, back then it was extremely affordable and easy to harvest and mill.. today its not as readily available and most of it is used in other more demanding applications, even paper so forth, marine and even now being used in cabinetry and of course INSTRUMENTS and that's why the cost has skyrocketed.. no one was using that species for instruments in the day save maybe speaker cabs... I'll take all the 1.75" ash, birch or alder laminate bodies you have, I mean if they are junk taking up space, what like $10 a body work?
Nice story and guitar. Sad how music store screwed you over. What year was SG? Funny now most nice guitars are made overseas. we showed them how and they took over. price of brand names shot through the roof. Well firefly and few other new types good quality, but lacks great pickups but still work. you pay though the nose for good Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio.
@@GearGasms I did a seller remorse with Jem floral pattern but got it back might have lost some money but guitar worth it great condition. Story- I bought from friend long time ago he kept pestering to buy back. I needed money for a ring so I got money and a SG reissue. I was sad cause i did not marry & lost the Jem guitar more sad cause i lost guitar lol so i pester him. He saw a nice Gibson something rare so i buy back Jem. I keep SG. Trade cash and his first guitar Vantage LP copy wine red 40 years old. I have been looking for another vantage ever since. :) I bought many of his guitars. :) so i am happy and little sad due loss of vantage, but at least me best friend got his first guitar back and a Gibson he wanted.
Whoa... so you traded an SG for a Charvette???!!! Do you realise that Tony Iommi would strangle you if he ever found out about this?😳 In any case, that guitar has 80s all over it. It's funny how the mind works; just one look at that guitar and you know what's up!😁
Angus was always playing an SG; that’s the only cool person that NEEDED to be playing one. Ouch, man. I’ve been there with deals like this before and they sting.
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Charvettes are amazing, especially the Japanese ones. I played an 80s custom Jackson for 25 years, and my Japanese Charvettes are almost as good. The bridge is the weak point, but I don't use the whammy so I don't care. I have Japanese and Korean of the same model - HSS. The Korean has slightly different knobs, different switch tip, is plywood, has more rounded angles on headstock, body shape is a little more blocky, slightly hotter pickups, wider dots at 12th fret. But the necks are the same, and that's the best part of a Charvel/Jackson/Charvette. The humbucker has great high overtones and note clarity. They aren't super high output.
Yeah there is a lot to love about these guitars! Always nice to hear from other owners and their experiences! Would love to have you subscribe if not already!
I had a Charvette, bought it in the late 80s. The whammy only had 2 springs and didn't stay in tune. I replaced the springs with 2 metal plates that I screwed into the body. It not only worked, it improved the sustain by a lot. I didn't use the whammy bar anyway.
Cool- this one stays in tune really well
Got mine in 91 or 92, “Royal Blue”. Swapped out the hum bucket for a Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell, not knowing it was intended to be a neck humbucker. I was 16 and had no idea what I was doing. Lol.
Still have it, some chips showing the plywood body underneath, and needs a full fret redo, the guitar case slammed shut on the neck once and dented the frets leaving some dead notes above 12th fret.
I thought it was a good guitar lol. Last year the electronics all died, the solder job I did 30 years ago finally let go and I can’t be bothered to fix it. Got an American pro strat and after 30 years I finally have a good guitar!
You definitely got your moneys worth!
My mom bought me a Wshburne from the Doo Wop Shop in the early 90s but they let me trade it because I just had to have the neon yellow USA made Charvette from their rental line up. It's been all down hill from there.
lol sad to hear that 🤓
I got mine in early 90's , mine has two pick ups double humbucker at the bridge and single coil, I really enjoy playing it, what caught my eye was the mod paint job, it is bone white and has black and red splatter on it kinda like blood, I got it just in time to play it a Halloween party, I remember all the guitar players wanting to play it. One thing that makes me wonder is why no tone knob, probably to keep the price low, I paid $300. I still love playing it !!
Yeah that finish sounds cool! I’ve thought about getting mine swirled
"Kinda like Stryper, but without the Jesus" That's when I spilt my bong water, thanks.
Glad you liked it! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks! 🎸🤘🏻
I had a charvette, I wish I still had it.
It’s pretty nice!
Aww man! I actually miss these! Maybe try and fine myself a nice, gently used Series 10.
A friend of mine had one in the early 90's. the crackle one. after that I never saw one again.
Yeah I’ve seen that finish around quite a bit.
My first ever guitar in like 1995 was one of those. Sad I don't have it anymore.
Do you know if it was Korean or Japanese made?
Neil! Your bedroom’s on fire!
Love that show and that guitar. Had one from 92 until recently (though it did sit idle for many years), the body started getting stress fractures around the base of the neck, the string lock on the g string lost the top plate but still worked, the strap holder at the base came loose and it rusted everywhere it possibly could but man, the hours of joy that thing brought me every day for years still make it my favourite I’ve ever owned.
Try taking down the pickups, you might get a little more sustain. Thanks for the trip down memory lane👍👍
Hey that’s a great tip! Hands up who likes me? Lol- would love to have you subscribe if not already!
I have a dark blue Charvette in excellent condition. Not a fan of the FR tremolo system on it, though. It's a headache to set up, and nearly impossible to keep in tune for an extended time. Also, the barrels have almost frozen in position. I'll never get rid of it, though. The tones of those pups through a quality amp will almost make you think you're listening to Jake E. Lee again.
Have you tried some oil? I’ve never had a problem with mine. It’s an under the radar guitar for sure! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks! 🤘🏻🎸
There are two guitars that I truly regret trading away: the first was my 2005/2006 Jay Turser Flying V clone, and my 1990 Charvette 250…. Pickups were terrible on the Charvette, but man I loved that neck…. Traded both for stupid reasons
Yeah Jay Turser made surprisingly good and affordable guitars!
My dad has a blue one in mint condition, great guitar
Yeah they’re pretty overlooked in the used market . Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks!
This video brings back some memories. I started playing in the early '90s and superstrats were literally everywhere. I do remember trying to trade in a Charvel (pearl color) to a pawn shop and the owner told me that it was out of style. That was probably circa 1997. A friend had a Fender HM Strat and that was a very cool guitar. He got a Washburn KC40V in the red and black crackle after that. I tried to one up him and bought a Charvel model 3 in the light rose metallic pinkish color. It sounded pretty good...when you could keep it in tune which was not very often.
Speaking of 1980's, Do you remember the Poison videos with all the neon colors? I thought "Hey, this probably what cocaine looks like under a microscope!". I could see Ozzy looking through the microscope now saying "Damn it man, I've already seen this one!"
Dude I wasn’t a big CC Deville fan but those videos were guitar porn for me. I still love having a bunch of guitars like that. I never have less than 4 neon super Strats on hand
@@GearGasms I agree! As far as CC Deville goes, he has never done anything that amazing (in my OPINION) guitar wise.
@@DR440 One can only imagine what it would've been like if Richie Kotzen had joined the band much sooner. And no, I am not referring to him banging the drummer's girlfriend.
I have a black Charvette I picked up new back in high school. Want to pass off to the kid that is learning guitar. I assume it's the Japanese version is it has the Ft Worth Texas plate, ser No is 000757, has 22 frets and the 12 fret inlay is close together?
The Lic Floyd bridge broke and was looking for a decent trem to replace it with? The bridge has the top fine tuners and not the end style. Thoughts?
Just drop a Floyd Rose special in it and it should be great!
Cool🤘I have a 300, its a nice Japanese model
Great vid🤘🤘
Seems like so many people had the Japanese models!
That first pic of the red and black crackle finish is the same as mine, ya hoo. First ive ever seen apart from mine
Yeah that’s one you see here and there
@@GearGasms Not here in Wales, UK. Lol. The land of no Charvels or Charvettes 🤣🤣 Like the land that time forgot 🤣
Here and there but not everywhere, with all due apologies to Sir Paul! Lol
These were MIJ right at the beginning. Don't know if that was a small batch, the first batch, just a few or what but I have one. Doesn't have flathead screws on the locknut. It has 3 allen bolts through 3 plates that sandwich 2 strings each. The Floyd is not what we think of Floyd these days. There are stories online that a weakness was the sprung block behind the bridge snapping and some people put wooden blocks to reduce or even to stop the trem being used. You are right on the pickups though. Should have mentioned however how good the neck on these are.
There are all sorts of myths online about the 170/270 being the Japanese ones but mine is a 250 and still has the very aged "Made in Japan" sticker on the neck heel. Also has the twelth fret dot markers closer together rather than spaced out like yours.
I'll have to open mine up and see if the MIJ early ones are also plywood. Its pretty heavy for a "dinky."
Not worth selling on (atm.) They are cheaper than a bent neck Wuhan offering to buy second hand. Bad rep and all that. I like mine though. Has a bit better sustain than yours but that might be the time I spend getting the action low as F..
Long lost the original wammy bar though and has a secondary market thinner push fit one now.
This is such great information- thank you for sharing! Yeah - the neck really is great! It spoiled me for super shredders that came after! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! What color is yours?
@@GearGasms Mine is all black and the 250 where yours I think is a 270. Definitely MIJ though so there is a lot of misinformation out there. People want to hate budget guitars a little too much.
I bought mine solely for the Jackson headstock pointed the correct way like yours :) I loved Jacksons but they were much more expensive and I got mine for £75 in a beaten up old hard case circa '95. Was pretty small money and a bargain at that price.
These days the prices are rising! You can still find them cheap in the £120 region but many are now selling for more. Who knows.....10 years time. lol
I should add that straight after watching your vid I got it out, dusted it off (not touched it for 5 or more years) and rigged it up to the Zoom G5. Who needs a good guitar when you have an effects board. lol. Thanks for the inspiration :D
Awesome! Lol and I agree about the pedals!
i have bought a black 270, i think it's made in Korea but i'm not to much concerned about that. I wonder how i can figure out where the body is made from?
@@lvhuis I don't think you can really tell other than the "vintage" MIJ sticker on the heel of the neck. Unless someone put that sticker on back in the 90s. The information on the web about is being only the higher model being made in Japan is obviously wrong and I daresay there are a mixture of good wood and plywood models made in the short Japan spell as well.
I wouldn't worry about it too much if it plays nice and the necks on most of these just need the fret ends filing if they stick out slightly. Then necks themselves are ridiculously nice to play.
Remember this is the back end of the era where Fender USA had to up their game because the"lower" MIJ fenders were better than the US ones.
I used to have a neon orange one of these 🤟🏼🕶🤟🏼🎸🍺🍺🍺🍺 mine had a vintage type trem though
Did you like it? What became of it?
Haha. I had the same. It was pretty nice but it immediately went out of tune if the vibra was used.
i still have a Blue one, but it has the fine tuners at the top of the trem and also the nut has allen key screws
I think that may be the Japanese one? They are supposed to be better! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks Sukhpal!
great guitar...i had the same in black but mine are made in Japan.....
Nice!
I have the Red w/ Black crackle 170 and the Desert crackle 270. One is solid wood and one is plywood, they both sound excellent but the solid wood 88' does have the better sustain than the plywood 89'!
Yeah that’s crazy that they did them with plywood- I only found that out recently! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks! 🎸🤘🏻
I have one of these. It looks almost exactly like yours except it has 22 frets, silver tuners and knobs and no scoop in the lower cutaway. I had a Floyd Rose installed many years ago and I can't remember what type of bridge it had before that......
Cool!
@@GearGasms So this guitar was given to me by an acquaintance 25 years ago, and I have no idea what he paid for it or anything else about it (and I'm no longer in touch with him). It had been my only electric until six months ago when I bought an EVH Wolfgang Standard. (I'm strictly an at-home hobbyist.) The odd thing is that I think the Charvette overall sounds better and plays better than the EVH. The bridge pickup in the EVH is really the only one through which I get good tones, whereas the Charvette pickups sound good in positions 1, 2 and 5, and definitely sounds better with the clean tones. The neck pickup alone gives me a very good strat-like tone too, which is a nice bonus. I'm playing through a Boss Katana 50 and I use various standard effects pedals or sometimes the onboard effects on the amp. It seems odd because the Charvette is supposed to be a cheap piece of crap and it gets heavily criticized. I haven't had the guitar professionally set up in the last 15 years, nor have I modded it other than installing the Floyd Rose....
Yeah mine has never given me a minute of trouble!
@@GearGasms I have never actually played any very high-end guitars, but I've played many cheap ones, and my Charvette is not at all like those. I wonder whether it's just one of the better models or if I just got lucky with this particular guitar...
not all are made in korea, many corvettes were made in Japan as well, budget all the same but made in japan, nippon gakki
you can rewire and set em up
The Japanese ones are better from what I understand!
had one for 30 years ;)
Yeah they’re an odd duck! I was in a music store this afternoon retelling the story of getting this one! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks!!
Bringing back memories. I'm a big fan of The Young Ones.
Hair Metal was becoming passe around of the time Charvette's run on the market. Sludge Metal and later Grunge eleclipsed Hair Metal. Flying Vs and Explorers also fell out of favor then as well as anything that looked Hair Metal. One notable exception was Donita Sparks(L7); she played and still plays a Flying V. Back then fluorescent strats or superstrats and any Explorers, and Vs where considered "douche" guitar.
Did you have one of these?
@@GearGasms My main high gain guitar is an Explorer. I remember playing and inspecting a Charvette, and it was a disappointment.
You could have done what my guitar player did and Chop up his SG to put a Floyd Rose in it and Paint it Purple.
I hate Floyd’s on Gibson guitars unless it’s a factory like Alex Lifeson’s and even then ...
@@real_fjcalabrese Agreed, their timing was off by a few years. 1989l was at the tail end of the gunslinger guitarist era. At least market wise for that type of instrument.
Charvette was around 6 years late to the party.
just some infos: not all charvettes have plywood bodies, the models 170 and 270 have basswood bodies. though most of them are made in korea, some were made at chushin gakki in japan. if you have one with a 6 digit serial number and narrow inlays at the 12th fret, congrats, yours is a japanese made one.
the on you have there in the video is a korean made. still absolutely great guitars for the money.
the "singlecoil" pickups aren't actually singlecoils, they're stacked 2 coils, kinda like the fender noiseless pickups.
That explains why I don’t like them lol! I hate hate hate the V3 noiseless pickups! Great info- I knew there were Japanese ones and that mine was not one of those but it’s decent! Thanks BF!
@@GearGasms you're welcome. thank you for making an interesting video on these seemingly forgotten gems. 😊👍🏻🤘🏻
Hey Dude. Looks like you found my guitar from middle skool. Give it back! Haha. I miss it, tbh
I traded in an MIJ Charvel model 1 for a neon orange one with the floyd. Haha I was stupid but that's life. IIRC my Charvette was a great but then we went punk and it was the uncoolest guitar ever.
Yeah this one didn’t age well, at least into the 90s. Lol. Glad to meet a fellow Charvette warrior from back in the day! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks Mason! 🤘🏻🎸
I remember an ad I. Guitar world where you could win one ,Craig chaquico of starship was in the ad
That guitar is worth way more than that SG would be... lots of SG gibson guitars out there. I have only seen ONE Charvette... Corvette.... Charvette. .. I think I am onto something.
lol - yeah they fetch up $175 on the used market. Your joke reminds me of a buddy of mine in high school whose parents gave him a Chevette. He used to ask girls if they wanted to see his Vette, lol.
I used to have a friend with one of those. Lol
It was the Charvel Chevette
Christmas Ape love your screen name! Do you use it all year? Lol
@@GearGasms Christmas Ape works one day a year. .. so lucky he is. .
Awesome Charvette! Reminds me of B.C. Rich ST III, a Kramer Striker 600 and a Washburn G5-v. Are you going to feature a Washburn PARALLAXE or Kramer in the future?
I have one Washburn video - I only can do guitars that I own but I have been looking at Kramer again! Would love to have you subscribe if not already!
such a pleasant tone, i bet you could get some jazz fusion tones out of that thing
No more sweet talking out of you mister! 🤘🏻🎸😜
Buenas noches
Es un Charvette 270 MIK (24 frets) Hss
Si mio es uno como eso
How much do you think this is worth?
Honestly I have no idea!
Enjoyed the video but actually my neighbor across the street has one so I can say I’ve seen one 👍
That’s crazy - there’s not many of them out in the wild! I was having trouble even getting a picture of them on Google
Top Show Alan
Thanks G3!!
I bought a Charvette model 270 in 1990, used it for gigging for 10 years. I have it repainted and fitted with seymour duncan pickups, its similar to your 275 except the Tremolo and locking nuts, the 270 has the locking nuts with the allen key tightening and has a genuine Licensed Floyd Rose Tremolo which is stamped on it and is the very same Tremolo which is featured on Floyd Rose website. Your trem is not a licensed product and looks like a bad imitation of a Floyd Rose. They say the 270 was made in Japan along with the 170 and that might account for the cheaper parts on the 275. But still they were a great guitar for their time. and although I gig now with PRS guitars I do use the Charvette every now and again for sentimental value, albeit for only one song and hence the change in pickups.
Yeah the bridge is Jackson branded and weird but I can’t say it hasn’t been stable. Never gave me a moment of trouble! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! 🎸🤘🏻
@@GearGasms ✔👌
Thanks brother!
I actually learned on my friend Matt's red Japanese Charvette 170 he had installed a Screamin Demon in. For years I always wanted my guitar to play and sound as good as that one. I have lots of great playing and sounding guitars now, but I actually just ordered a blue Japanese Charvette 270 last week for next to nothing. Can't wait to get it in and get it all set up.
That’s crazy - and yes I can’t say it doesn’t play well! I’ve never regretted having it instead of the Kramer and with the 3 pickups very versatile! Let me know when you get it and would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks Sean! 🎸🤘🏻
also you can see on yours and others how they shaved cost, one switch and one pot, that loses 2 pots and wire from each guitar in that run, it adds up, however the tuners are sub grade they almost all are failed by now, very inexpensive, cheapo licensed FR and or 6 pt trems.. thats where they shaved cost, plastic nuts... however many had good necks and good bodies and a decent finish, medium jumbo or jumbo frets..
Japan knew back then what they were doing, if they offered this budget guitar with select components easily upgradable very cheap then MAKE those parts in a better quality and function then and sell them separately they are getting into another niche, the sale of guitar parts, and so they did, allparts, hosco, gotoh, domo so forth offered all sorts of parts to upgrade your charvette when you were ready.. so they focused on making the platform as good as they could for the budget allowed, and they did just that...
the japanese are STELLAR woodworkers, best in the world by a fair margin no jokes, go to japan and see for yourself..not only that they have a phenomenal work effort and pride.. especially after WW2 when they wanted to remove that stigma as greedy commies who wanted to take from others they set out to restore their pride and respect, and so far they have done a great job.. the effort was huge in the 70's and 80's to restore Japanese pride in the workplace and regain their place on the world market..
CBS went to them skeptical to help out fender but they proved fender big wigs wrong.. they also motivated Leo himself to get back into the guitar making world after he saw their work, and he created two more companies, each better then the next.. music man and G&L.. and his commitment just like the Japanese shows in his work back then..
these charvettes were no different, to the Japanese a budget guitar didn't mean a junky guitar or cheaply made, it meant scrape off the fat and create a platform to build on that's as good as any out there, and so they did..
also in the day and even today many folks liked to throw around words they knew nothing of, like you are here calling it a "plywood" body .. it's NOT a plywood body, it's a LAMINATE body, which is more stable than plank wood by a FAR stretch.. however the fact that it was purchased at a lesser cost in an effort by wood retailers to keep the cost of whole wood at a premium laminate wood was very affordable but is nothing like the "plywood" on your homes roof.. for one it's a HARD WOOD, birch, or alder, maybe even aspen or ash, any white hard wood that grows fast and can provide a quick harvest rate is what was used, or white hardwoods that were smaller and do not provide adequate dimensions they will use aswell...
HOWEVER the difference is you don't see 2" plywood used in construction so nobody made it.. so this laminate had to be custom made dimensionally, the guitar world had no use for a 4x8 sheet 2" thick, no one made it so it was custom made in bulk using special glues and finishing processes.. animal glue as it was far more affordable than the new wood glues being used for construction laminates and animal glue was proven..
I shouldn't even be saying this cuz each time I open my mouth and spread the truth these instruments seem to go up in cost, I'm not done collecting myself but truth should be told.. laminate bodies are WAY better than ANY of your typical alder or ash plank bodies today.. reality is some of these laminate bodies are made of alder or ash, maybe a hybrid of? also the bodies were typically a lot lighter as well.. tonally perhaps not as resonant due to the extra layers of glue but stability wise? 10 times better, if you haven't noticed all your laminate bodies stay in tune forever, cuz that laminate body moves none..
if you think I am full of shit, go to your local exotic lumber supplier and say hey, how much is a 2" x 2' x 2' chunk of laminated ash, or alder or birch or aspen? any white hardwood?
he'll laugh at you and say welp, best I can do is sell you a 4x8 or 4x4 sheet of 3/4" birch and you can laminate 3 sheets together yourself, a sheet of 3/4" laminate birch is about $200 today, so laminate 3 together and you have a $600 4x4 slab, you can get 4 bodies out of it... so the 1 wood body alone will cost you $150, thats after you do the laminate work.. my guess is if you want a mill to do the glue up for you the 2" sheets they would then become about $1800 each for a 4x4 slab, each body blank subsequently costing upwards of $450..
so in essence that's what you are getting today, a $450 laminate body BEFORE any routing, shaping, or finish work.. today that's another $600 .. so to get a laminate body ready to go in today's money and market is around $1200.. don't believe me? have someone make you one and find out the cost for yourself?
the reason they were so affordable back then is because nobody wanted this wood, it was an inbetween wood, not applicable for rough construction, yet not hard enough for fine construction, stair cases, cabinets so forth..
so they shaved it up cooked it and made laminate out of it for speaker cabinets and other millwork stuff, back then it was extremely affordable and easy to harvest and mill.. today its not as readily available and most of it is used in other more demanding applications, even paper so forth, marine and even now being used in cabinetry and of course INSTRUMENTS and that's why the cost has skyrocketed..
no one was using that species for instruments in the day save maybe speaker cabs... I'll take all the 1.75" ash, birch or alder laminate bodies you have, I mean if they are junk taking up space, what like $10 a body work?
This is like a whole book on the history of cheap guitar making! Would love to have you subscribe if not already! Thanks
Haha yes as do I.
Nice story and guitar. Sad how music store screwed you over. What year was SG? Funny now most nice guitars are made overseas. we showed them how and they took over. price of brand names shot through the roof. Well firefly and few other new types good quality, but lacks great pickups but still work. you pay though the nose for good Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio.
The SG was an 81 or 82 I think
@@GearGasms I did a seller remorse with Jem floral pattern but got it back might have lost some money but guitar worth it great condition. Story- I bought from friend long time ago he kept pestering to buy back. I needed money for a ring so I got money and a SG reissue. I was sad cause i did not marry & lost the Jem guitar more sad cause i lost guitar lol
so i pester him. He saw a nice Gibson something rare so i buy back Jem. I keep SG. Trade cash and his first guitar Vantage LP copy wine red 40 years old. I have been looking for another vantage ever since. :) I bought many of his guitars. :) so i am happy and little sad due loss of vantage, but at least me best friend got his first guitar back and a Gibson he wanted.
i have one. Says its made in Japan.
Cool there are some Japanese Charvettes out there that are well regarded and worth more. What color is yours?
Mine I got off Ebay years ago. It's a teel type colour. I have a 1984 fender strat from Japan and it's very similar.
Cool - I remember when EBay was a place that you could find cool stuff.
I bought a really nice Jackson guitar off Ebay once. It arrived and the headstock was broken in half :(
Had mine since 89, Mine has a tone dial also. FR trem on mine is a load of crap not like that one.
Oh that’s a bummer. Yeah this one with the barrel fine tuners is the only one I’ve seen like that. Glad to meet a fellow Charvette owner!
Tremyulo?? No fuckin way 😂
Way!
@@GearGasms hahaha love the channel man! been watching for a few years now 🤘
Oh man glad you enjoyed! Please spread the word! Thanks
Whoa... so you traded an SG for a Charvette???!!! Do you realise that Tony Iommi would strangle you if he ever found out about this?😳
In any case, that guitar has 80s all over it. It's funny how the mind works; just one look at that guitar and you know what's up!😁
Yeah it was the worst trade of my life but nothing was going to stop me from getting my dive bomb on! 🤓
Angus was always playing an SG; that’s the only cool person that NEEDED to be playing one. Ouch, man. I’ve been there with deals like this before and they sting.
And the years later punchline- I just bought a new Gibson 61 SG a couple of weeks ago and it’s a smoke show! Was not looking to buy one but it got me.