The remains of Charvel's home and workshop |
Wayne and his some Michael shared a business building guitars in Wayne's home workshop.
Michael Charvel says his own home was also destroyed in the fire, as were the homes of his brother, sister, and his uncle.
The remains of Wayne Charvel's home and workshop |
In the online Popular Mechanics article, Michael describes the chaos and fear that he faced when he realized that he could have been killed by the fire if he stayed at his home.
Thankfully the family is well connected to those in charge of the town of Paradise, since Wayne's son-in-law is their fire chief, All made it out alive, and are staying with friends and kind people..
After all people were evacuated, Charvel's residence and workshop were checked by the fire chief, and they were told everything was destroyed. This included all the templates, jigs, custom routing bits, vintage tools, and vintage 1940's Bridgeport milling machine. Wayne built many of his own tools that he will not be able to replace.
Michael says he is grateful that he and all of his family made it out alive.
Wayne Charvel |
For anyone unfamiliar with Wayne Charvel, he is a legend in the guitar industry building guitars for Eddie Van Halen, ZZ Top, and Deep Purple. In fact he list of performers he has built custom guitars for is far too numerous to list here.
Vintage Charvel |
Wayne Charvel is ostensibly the inventor of the super-strat. His guitars fueled the needs of many of the 1980's and '90's rock and metal bands.
Les Paul and Wayne Charvel |
Charvel at a NAMM show |
Boogie Bodies |
At first he used unfinished Schecter, and Boogie bodies and necks for his guitars.
Charvel later built his own pin routers and built his own bodies and necks.
Charvel and a young Billy Gibbons |
He also built his own parts to fit Fender and Gibson guitars. Charvel also created custom guitars for Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Topp.
Eddie Van Halen asked him if he could stop DiMarzio pickups from squealing. He did this by soaking them in hot wax. He advertised this service in guitar publications. No other company was doing "pickup potting" at the time.
EVH Charvel |
Wayne Charvel also worked on Eddie Van Halen's main guitar, and built him another one that was black with yellow stripes.
Grover Jackson |
Wayne Charvel teamed up with Grover Jackson for a while, and eventually sold the business to him. Many Charvel and Charvette guitars were made in Asia during these years.
In 2002 the Fender Musical Instrument Company purchased the Charvel brand name. They sold Eddie Van Halen "EVH" guitars for a few years.
Michael Charvel |
Charvel's pin router |
Michael says that CNC machines are great for large companies building many similar instruments, but since Wayne guitars are hand made, they still rely on a pin router.
Wayne working on a guitar |
If anyone would like to donate to the Charvel family in their time of need, you can contribute to their GoFundMe page or send money via PayPal at charvels@sbcglobal.net.
Click on the links under the pictures for sources. Click on the links in the text for more information.
©UniqueGuitar Publications (text only)
3 comments:
My brother's best friend from high school also lived in Paradise. He and his wife lost everything too.
I am so sorry to hear that Terry. They must be devastated.
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