Charvel Model 6
Jackson Soloist Equivalent?
In 1978 Grover Jackson bought Charvel’s Guitar Repair from his boss Wayne Charvel. The shop was located in Glendora, CA. At that time their main line of service was as a parts supplier producing bodies for Mighty Mite and DiMarzio.
The Charvel brand did very well going into the 1980s and accelerated significantly in the early 1980s. Then it downright blew up when Grover started the Jackson label to market the Jackson Randy Rhoads which went into production in 1983.
Despite the success of Charvel/Jackson, relentless money woes forced Grover Jackson to license both labels to International Music Corporation (IMC) in 1985. A year later he sold a majority interest to IMC and they moved all Charvel production models to Japan. Jackson models went to Ontario.
Over time, IMC eventually appointed the higher end models to Jackson and left the medium and entry level guitars in the Charvel brand family.
However, the factory contracted for production, Chushin Gakki, is an excellent guitar manufacturer and has been making guitars since the 1950s.
Prior to 1986 Charvel was essentially a custom shop and the new corporate owner needed a model naming convention that wasn’t really in place before. Hence the new line-up that year included the sophisticated nomenclature, Models 1 - 6.
Models 1-4 sported a bolt-on neck, while models 5 & 6 were a neck-through.
The highest end offering was the Model 6 featuring two Jackson J-200 dual coil pickups and a humbucker made for their active electronics circuit.
In the dual coils, the wound bobbins are stacked on top of each other to create a humbucking effect, but “eliminates” the single coil noise.
The pickups may have been made in the USA for the first year, but certainly by 1987 the pickups were being produced in Ontario. There is a pretty legit claim that Charvel/Jackson was the largest pickup producer in the world by the late 80s.
Though Grover Jackson retained a 12% equity position in Charvel/Jackson he sold out completely in 1989. That was after another cost cutting move in which most of the Ontario staff was laid-off and nearly all Jackson branded guitar production was also shipped to Japan.
1986 Model 6 Specs: Poplar body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, sharkfin inlays, two J-200 dual coils, and 1 J-50BC humbucker, 1 volume, 1 tone, and 1 EQ, three pickup toggles, Kahler 2300 Pro tremolo
Thanks for reading and have a great Friday. “See you” Monday!
Best, -David