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Anybody know their ‘80s Charvel values here?


cmatthes

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Trying to help a friend - he’s not looking to sell, but wants to get a better idea of the current value for his 1984 Charvel San Dimas - with EVH “Bumblebee” style graphic.   
 

Anybody have an idea?   Thanks much!

 

41A058D3-4C40-483A-91E4-CC76B61CC468.jpeg

451ECE0A-3C9C-4B2B-B06A-734D63E2BA08.png

B8E948A1-396C-4F80-8E52-9D869893B6FF.jpeg

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The most recent sale I've personally seen of a comp to that one (factory graphic, brass trem, pointy head) ended at $2.2k, but that was before EVH's passing, of course. I think an older, original Strat head would easily go for over three grand due to rarity and desirability. I'd say $2,500 to start.

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Obv a good time to list it.   Only issue.  that logo looks correct.  Is it blurry so you can’t see made in usa or does it not have that?     Usa charvels has some better detail on logos.    

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The San Dimas USA Charvels had that 3+3 logo without a “made in USA”. The later Charvel by Jackson/Charvel logo was near identical but had a 6-inline headstock logo. So, looks correct to me. 
 

from what I’ve seen, if it’s in good shape, $2,500 would be a minimum. Would most likely get more given the events of this week. 

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21 minutes ago, Travis said:

from what I’ve seen, if it’s in good shape, $2,500 would be a minimum. Would most likely get more given the events of this week. 

Agreed. The bumblebee graphic is not necessarily rare for a Charvel, but it's rarer than a solid color and Ed's passing adds instant desirability. 

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That above-pictured version replaced the preceding limited run of B/Y strats that had a Fender headstock and round, brass string tree. EVH and Fender both had a shitfit and pushed Charvel to stop making them; EVH because they didn't ask him and Fender because of the headstock. I think I read that Ed took possession of all of the not-shipped, strat-head guitars as part of the action.

A good friend just sold an excellent 1980, shell pink Charvel (single h/b, brass trem, Strat head) for $8,000. The older ones are going for big bux!

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17 hours ago, RobB said:

That above-pictured version replaced the preceding limited run of B/Y strats that had a Fender headstock and round, brass string tree. EVH and Fender both had a shitfit and pushed Charvel to stop making them; EVH because they didn't ask him and Fender because of the headstock. I think I read that Ed took possession of all of the not-shipped, strat-head guitars as part of the action.

A good friend just sold an excellent 1980, shell pink Charvel (single h/b, brass trem, Strat head) for $8,000. The older ones are going for big bux!

Rob, was that Chris Cobb's  Charvel?  If so, that was a beauty. 

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Chris's friend should consider that current or near-term values are most likely going to represent a temporary bump upwards instead of a permanent step up, due to reaction to recent events.  Long-term trend is still probably going to be downward as the boomers and Gen X who care about guitars in general and experienced the 70's-80's in particular continue to retire, downsize and die off.

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1 hour ago, Jeff R said:

That's a $3,000-plus example before this week's developments.

Totally trust your opinion on this topic, Jeff. Is the graphic, age, and condition that put it over $3k?  I've simply not seen the same fervor over early pointy heads as we've witnessed for Strat heads and pre-pros, although I do realize certain graphic finishes garner greater desirability. There's a graphic banana head Explorer-body on Reverb right now for $4,500, and that combo is a shit-ton rarer than most other early Charvels.

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Unmolested EVH Black/Yellow with the original brass trem, maple neck with Pointy headstock; yeah, $2.5k for sure, currently $3k wouldn't surprise me. Strathead version, phew, it's been a while since I've seen one of those in the wild and I would suspect you could likely double the price.

Honestly I've stopped paying attention to the vintage Charvels, a few big guys started to grab them all up and the prices inflated to ridiculous levels. I've owned a few as well as really early Jacksons, that 0.75 at the 1st fret does them all in for me.

Very cool axe, I would not sell that thing, no chance. But I'm a fan. 😉  If you were looking to make money, now's the time...

 

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8 hours ago, HamStd said:

Rob, was that Chris Cobb's  Charvel?  If so, that was a beauty. 

The same. He gave me first shot at it. “Your FACE! My god, you should see your face right now”, Chris said as he told me the for sale price. 

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9 hours ago, mrjamiam said:

“...as the boomers and Gen X who care about guitars in general and experienced the 70's-80's in particular continue to retire, downsize and die off.”

Well aren’t you the light of joy and optimism in the darkness.

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40 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

Well aren’t you the light of joy and optimism in the darkness.

I better sell of the rest of my s**t right away! 😁

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19 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

Totally trust your opinion on this topic, Jeff. Is the graphic, age, and condition that put it over $3k?  I've simply not seen the same fervor over early pointy heads as we've witnessed for Strat heads and pre-pros, although I do realize certain graphic finishes garner greater desirability. There's a graphic banana head Explorer-body on Reverb right now for $4,500, and that combo is a shit-ton rarer than most other early Charvels.

Elaborating on what Drew said a few posts ago, there simply aren't enough clean, unmolested original prepro strathead EVHs for the world market. Keep in mind Europe and Japan collectors wants theirs too and they are paying dearly to get them.  This example is the next best thing and "good enough" for many buyers with deep pockets. It is currently a $5K guitar in lieu of this week's developments IMHO. Keep in mind, vintage "markets" are misleading because it only takes one buyer, one deep pocket, and in this case one depressed fanboi wanting his EVH Grail.

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2 hours ago, topekatj said:

I hadn’t heard the term pre-pro before regarding Charvel and had to find out what it meant. There’s some interesting reading here, leading off with Grover Jackson’s buyout of the Charvel shop and the early association with Schecter and Boogie Bodies.

http://www.usacharvels.com/history/pg1.htm

AND you discovered one of the big buyers through your search... Tracy has some crazy number of Charvels, like 300, many very desirable early examples. This used to be a great guitar forum, then those with deep pockets found it and our $1k Charvels ballooned to $2k-4k pretty quickly. I sold mine and my stuff off but for the one Strathead I still own. I wish I'd kept my Jackson badged Strathead, built right at the buy-out...

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16 minutes ago, Drew816 said:

I wish I'd kept my Jackson badged Strathead, built right at the buy-out...

Talk about a rare bird.  Have a photo of that one?

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