CHARVEL

 ln 1974 Wayne Charvel set up a guitar repair business in Azusa, Californ'a, and began supplying hardware replacement parts, a line that expanded to include bodies, necks, p ckups and, ultimately. complete guitar kits. In 1978, after moving to nearby San Dimas, Charvel sold his company to employee Grover Jackson.

ln 1979, Jackson introduced the first Charvel-brand guitars. One of the early efforts was seen under the fast-moving fingers of a rising guitar star, Edward Van Halen. Then, at the start of the 19805, Jackson launched a new line under his own name. The Charvel brand was reserved for bo ton-neck guitars with essentially Fender-style bodies and necks-as well as Gibsonor Vox-inspired alternatives and an original four-point "star" shape. During the 19805, Charvel became a lead’ng builder of "superstrats," some featuring through-neck construction, slimmer-horned bodies, and pointy headstocks as well as humbucker pickups and vibratos. It began to manufacture in Japan and Korea, only restarting U.S. production in 1994.

The acquisition of Jackson/Charvel by the Japanese electronic musical instrument company Akai in 1997 temporarily marked the end of Charvel-brand instruments, but in 2001 the ' brand was bought by Fender, which restarted Charvel production in the United States. It now produces a range of Stratand Tele-based models, called San Dimas and So-Cal, closely modeled on the instruments of Charvel’s heyday.