Charvel Model One

Recently I rediscovered the Charvel Model One in my search for an old Kramer Guitar. I had bought an EVH Frankenstein humbucker pickup after Christmas because a lot of stores were out of stock and I was worried about future availability. After considering installing it into another one of my guitars it was decided that the other pickups wouldn't get much use. So the search started for a one humbucker guitar of good quality, and it started with looking for a Kramer like Eddie Van Halen used in the 1980's.

The problem with the Kramer was that many of the lower end models were plywood, and the maple fretboard I wanted was not an original option. Even putting the guitar together out of parts was difficult as there are a lot of later model or copy parts out there. An original guitar is what I wanted to start with, but the Kramer Baretta or Pacer were the only options. The original Barettas and Pacers have a large following and can be pricey. The price wasn't as much an issue as the difficulty in finding one with a maple fretboard.

Charvel got my attention since it was where some of the original Van Halen guitars originated and Eddie put out an art series with them a few years back. The Model 1 with it's single humbucker and one volume knob looked to be what I was looking for. Upon further investigation I found the Model series was the first import series by Charvel. The build quality rivaled the American Charvels and it had the maple neck and a basswood body.

Searching Ebay I found that the old Charvels are reasonably priced guitars and a lot of them are in good shape. I finally settled on a 1987 model in red that looks like it is new and unplayed. The prices averaged a little over two-hundred dollars which is more than reasonable for a good guitar. I picked up mine for $225, and like I said it is in perfect condition.

My Charvel is light and the neck is different than my strats and I find it more comfortable for my tastes. The single volume and pickup simplifies things too, as I spend more time playing and getting sound out of what I have instead of tweaking. The original pickup had Dimarzio markings and actually sounded pretty good and brown, but the EVH pickup was what the guitar was purchased for.

Within one day of delivery the guitar and pickup were at Meyers Guitar to be installed and set up. After getting it back it was incredible, easy to play, great tone and sustain. It is difficult to determine whether the guitar, pickup or the combination make it sound so good. This is now my favorite dirty guitar to play and it achieves the brown sound I was looking for with a lot of different guitar and pickup combinations.

For those who are looking for a Van Halen style guitar that isn't thousands of dollars this is a good way to go. The lower end Charvels were much better than the low end Kramers, and cost a lot less.