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Friedman guitars: any opinions?


Travis

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9 hours ago, bubs_42 said:

As far as the Grover/Friedman guitars, he is man in charge, keeping the processes and QC in check with others doing the hands on building. 

 

If I was going to buy a super strat an you wanted it done in small shop by one or two guys it would be a Wayne.

I have one I got in 2013. Best playing out of the box I’ve ever gotten. 
I hope they are back or will be soon, they’re awesome. 

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3 hours ago, RobB said:

Is Wayne Charvel back in business? His house/shop burned to thre ground last year in the Paradise, CA fire.

He is not at this time, I have been a huge fan for a long time. I was sad to hear of him loosing his place, and all that history. 

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Grover did not have kind things to say about Wayne and his son making guitars. He didn’t say anything bad, he refrained which I respected. He just declined commenting too much. At least on the podcast I was listening to...

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1 hour ago, cynic said:

He failed to meet his Go Fund Me goal.

Makes you wonder why some people cheap out on insurance...

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Nothing at all against Wayne and family; I certainly don't know any of these guys personally. But my reading of Charvel (and Jackson) history tells me that during the time Wayne was active, the shop did mostly repairs, artist builds from factory parts for Fender, and parts sales.  IIRC, they didn't even try making any necks until after Wayne had sold out to Grover.  Not that Wayne was unable to figure that out, but the concept we know as the superstrat with novel bodies, necks,  and graphic finishes was born out of the Charvel shop that Grover Jackson and a core group of employees built using a loan from Grover's dad.   Wayne Charvel has virtually nothing to do with the image Charvel is synonymous with, just as Gary Kramer had almost no influence on what Dennis Berardi made into the '80s Kramer brand.  Kudos to Wayne for adopting a successful approach to a post-Wayne evolution of his namesake brand.  The pros who play Wayne guitars are obviously very pleased with them.  Like Chris, I cannot fathom why he didn't have an appropriate GCL policy.

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34 minutes ago, Biz Prof said:

Nothing at all against Wayne and family; I certainly don't know any of these guys personally. But my reading of Charvel (and Jackson) history tells me that during the time Wayne was active, the shop did mostly repairs, artist builds from factory parts for Fender, and parts sales.  IIRC, they didn't even try making any necks until after Wayne had sold out to Grover.  Not that Wayne was unable to figure that out, but the concept we know as the superstrat with novel bodies, necks,  and graphic finishes was born out of the Charvel shop that Grover Jackson and a core group of employees built using a loan from Grover's dad.   Wayne Charvel has virtually nothing to do with the image Charvel is synonymous with, just as Gary Kramer had almost no influence on what Dennis Berardi made into the '80s Kramer brand.  Kudos to Wayne for adopting a successful approach to a post-Wayne evolution of his namesake brand.  The pros who play Wayne guitars are obviously very pleased with them.  Like Chris, I cannot fathom why he didn't have an appropriate GCL policy.

I’ve read a few different accounts and they seem based on which camp someone seemed to side with, so I take them all with a grain of salt. 

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4 hours ago, scottcald said:

I’ve read a few different accounts and they seem based on which camp someone seemed to side with, so I take them all with a grain of salt. 

I'm with you.  I think both guys have made the guitar world better...

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21 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

NICE!!! What's the amp behind it? Is it purple, or is it just my computer screen?

It's a combo cab I ordered from Mojo about ten years ago.  I have a modified JMP Marshall in it and it's been in storage for about seven or eight years.  The Deluxe is a '59 with just the speaker re-coned.  It's killer.  The desert island amp...

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5 hours ago, black magic said:

I wish Grover Jackson owned Jackson Guitars instead of Fender. Grover designed the Soloist and iconic Jackson Headstock, so i really admire him. The Soloist is my favorite guitar as is the headstock.

I heard for a while Dave Mustaine was in the running to buy Jackson guitars.  I have no idea what the ownership structure was like though. I thought Grover did own it outright after buying out Wayne Charvel and the Charvel name. Then at some time he apparently sold it to a company called IMC, who then sold it to Fender.

"After gaining popularity during the hard rock era, Grover Jackson sold the Charvel/Jackson brand to the International Music Company in 1989 and left the company in 1990"

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12 hours ago, jisham said:

Love my Friedman Metro D and my Friedman JJ Junior with cab.

 

 

 

IMG_3772.jpeg

I was looking at those metro D’s. Any fair comparisons to other similarly built guitars?

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On 9/30/2020 at 8:34 PM, Travis said:

I was looking at those metro D’s. Any fair comparisons to other similarly built guitars?

I have owned and gigged more Gibson LPs, Hamer Monaco Elites, Dean Solteros etc than I can even remember.  The Friedman definitely hangs with all of them. The pickups are outstanding and Grover and Dave just tweaked a few things here and there I really like. The neck joint for one. Neck shape feels a hair bigger than a 60s LP and the 10-12” compound radius is icing on cake. I know many do not relic’d guitars but I do. I keep telling people this one is like your favorite pair of well worn jeans — just feels like I’ve had it forever. 

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