S P E E D
B Y E R I C K I R K L A N D
BUILT
FOR
How a small California guitar parts and repair facility kick-started the guitar custom shop revolution
and became the premiere maker of superfast guitars for everyone from Eddie Van Halen to Steve Vai
to Warren DeMartini. Guitar World celebrates the storied history and glorious renaissance of CHARVEL.
80GUITAR WORLD
gu i ta r wor l d 81
Neil ZloZowerEddie Van Halen with the
yellow-and-black-striped
Charvel built for him by Grover
Jackson; (opposite) current
Charvel employees in the
Corona, California, facility
Wayne Charvel unwittingly spawned
a guitar custom shop revolution when he
opened Charvel’s Guitar Repair in 1974,
in Azusa, California. The shop per-
formed aftermarket customizations and
sold parts that allowed guitarists, includ-
ing an early customer named Eddie Van
Halen, to build their own instruments.
At the time, the major guitar companies
didn’t offer custom work to the public,
and they typically turned over artists’
modification requests to independent
luthiers, such as Charvel. In that respect,
Gibson, Fender and the other big firms
helped independents like Charvel pros-
per. Ironically, the poor quality of those
companies’ guitars during that era drove
more business to the doors of Charvel
and its ilk, as players sought competent
luthiers that could turn their mediocre
instruments into something special.
It didn’t take long for Southern
California guitarists to appreciate the
Charvel shop’s hot-rodded electron-
ics and the superior playability that its
modifications provided. By the late Sev-
enties, when Charvel began to build its
own guitars, the company’s aptly dubbed
“superstrats”—with their flat, unfinished
necks and large fret wire—had become
synonymous with the rising trend of
shredding. As the Eighties gave rise
to virtuoso shredders, Charvel guitars
could be seen in the hands of players
like Steve Vai, Jake E. Lee, Warren De-
Martini and George Lynch. But Charvels
weren’t exclusive to metal players.