They worked together to develop a guitar to complement the polka-dotted Flying V built for Rhoads by Karl Sandoval. In 1980, Grover Jackson met Randy Rhoads, who had recently joined Ozzy Osbourne's new band as lead guitarist. Charvel guitars became renowned for its use of creative graphics, unfinished maple necks, and various innovative appointments. 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. 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.īeginning 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. During this time BC Rich, SD Curlee, and Music Man approached Charvel to manufacture various wood parts. After filing for bankruptcy, Wayne Charvel sold what was left of the company to Grover Jackson in 1978, and ceased all associations with the name.Īfter purchasing the company name, Grover Jackson moved the business to a new location and tooled it to produce guitar bodies which he sold to Mighty Mite and Dimarzio, using the proceeds to fund an expansion into making necks. Charvel guitars were assembled from wood parts made by Boogie Bodies and Schecter, with various Charvel and after-market hardware. When Asian companies began copying Charvel's parts and selling them at a discount, Charvel decided to begin assembling complete guitars on the advice of Grover Jackson.

The shop earned a solid reputation among performing artists for its repair work, custom finishes, and upgraded parts manufacturing. After working 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.

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