page_title: Charvel
section_title: 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: Charvel / History / 1970s
caption_attribution_description: Charvel So-Cal Style 1 HH Candy Plum Charvel So-Cal Style 1 HH Candy Plum Original Floyd Rose Tremolo System, DiMarzio Tone Zone and Evolution Pickups
context_page_description: Charvel is a brand of electric guitars founded in the 1970s by Wayne Charvel in Azusa and headquartered in Glendora, both cities in California. Presently it is owned by Fender.
context_section_description: Having worked at Fender for three years in the early 1970s, Wayne Charvel started "Charvel's Guitar Repair" in 1974 to refinish and repair out-of-warranty Fender instruments. The shop earned a solid reputation among performing artists for its repair work, custom finishes, and upgraded parts manufacturing. When Asian companies began copying Charvel's parts and selling them at a discount, Charvel decided to begin building complete guitars. Charvel guitars were constructed from wood components outsourced to Boogie and Schecter bodies, and various Charvel and aftermarket hardware.  Wayne Charvel sold the company to Grover Jackson in 1978, and ceased all working associations with the brand name from that point forward.
  After purchasing the company, Grover Jackson tooled to produce guitar bodies, which he sold to Mighty Mite and Dimarzio. He used the proceeds to fund an expansion into making necks. During this time BC Rich, SD Curlee, and Music Man approached Charvel to contract manufacture various wood parts. The income from these sales provided the Charvel shop with additional tooling and experience that gave Jackson the footing required to grow the Charvel brand.
  Beginning in the late 1970s, Charvel popularized custom revamps of the Fender Stratocaster design - often consisting of a Strat-shaped body with a single humbucking pickup and Fender style tremolo bridge systems. This modernized Stratocaster configuration (commonly referred to as the superstrat) was particularly well suited to the heavy metal style of music that was very popular at the time. Charvel guitars became renowned for its use of creative graphics, unfinished maple necks, and various innovative appointments.
caption: Style 1 HH Candy Plum.
exif: {}