Jackson Neck Details
Charvel - Strat Headstock
- Early Charvel necks had a Fender Stratocaster style headstock. Occasionally other shapes (tele, etc) appear.
- Explorer headstocks are sometimes seen on early Explorer and star body Charvels.
- Sometime in 1982 Charvel was sued by Fender for infringing on the trademark Strat shape. At this point most guitars were built with the "pointy" (Jackson shaped) headstock. The occasional strat headstock appears from '83-'86 on endorsee guitars, employee guitars, guitars that were shipped overseas, (or if Grover needed to pay the rent and you could talk him into making one!). Beware of fakes - it is very easy to put a decal on a strat-head neck! Check for other features (and consult the pages in my "links" section)
- Strat headstock necks were 21 fret until sometime in 1982. At that point the fingerboard was extended beyond the neck allowing for a 22nd fret. Not many 22 fret strat-head necks exist, the headstock shape was changed soon after going to 22 fret necks.
- Just like on the early Fenders, early maple Charvel strat-head necks were 1 piece (no separate fingerboard) and had a "skunk stripe" (the brown stripe on the back). This was the channel where the truss rod was inserted. The stripe should start between the 1st and 2nd frets.
- 22 fret strat-head necks have a separate fingerboard but still have the skunk stripe.
- Truss rod adjustment was done from the body end of the neck on strat-head necks.
- The position of the 12th fret dots is very consistent on Charvel necks. Make sure the spacing is not far apart like it is on some other brands.
- String trees were used on the strat-head necks to keep the strings seated properly in the nut. There are a couple of variations.
- Strat head necks with the Floyd Rose locknut have a retainer bar installed. This prevents the locking pieces from pulling the strings out of tune when tightened.
- Early necks were hand shaped so profile will vary all over the map.
Charvel Guitar - Pointy Headstock
- After the Fender lawsuit, Charvel switched to the just-developed Jackson style headstock (patterned after Randy Rhoads' white V w/ pinstripes). Again, this was sometime in late 1982.
- All pointy-head necks are 22 fret with a separate maple or rosewood fingerboard.
- Pointy-head necks have no "skunk stripe" - the separate fingerboard made it possible to install the truss rod from the top.
- Early pointy-head necks had painted headstocks. Sometime in 1983 Charvel switched to a thick plastic cap to eliminate the need to paint.
- No string trees were used on the pointy-head necks. The angled headstock eliminated the need.
- Truss rod adjustment moved to the headstock. The truss rod is adjustment is covered by a 3-ply (b/w/b) pyramid shaped plate. Adjustment is done with a 1/4" socket.
- Floyd Rose locknut necks have a special fingerboard extension to seat the locknut. This is a good way to tell if that Floyd on your guitar is factory or was added later. If your guitar started out life with a vintage tremelo, the fingerboard ends at the nut. An added Floyd locknut won't be sitting on the fingerboard like the factory one in the picture.
- Pointy-head necks are all very similar in profile - if you like one, you will probably like them all.
- Necks were unlacquered and usually had an oiled finish.
- As with everything Charvel, special orders were common. Ebony fretboards, bound necks, lacquered necks, painted headstocks, etd. appear from time to time.
- If you are suspicious of the neck on a guitar, call it in! The Jackson Custom Shop kept records of almost every guitar. They can usually tell you if that strat-head painted to match the body is a factory job (it usually isn't!).
Jackson Guitar Necks
- All USA Charvel's were bolt-on neck guitars. The first Jackson (Randy Rhoads white V) started C / J's venture into neck-thru body guitars. I think of the early Jackson's as "high end" Charvel's. That may not be the best analagy but initially it was simple- Charvel's were bolt-on and Jackson's were neck-thru.
- In 1986, Charvel production moved to Japan and neck-thru models were offered. When USA Charvel production ended, Jackson began producing a bolt-on line of guitars (essentially USA Charvel's with a Jackson logo). The Jackson neck-thru's continued as well. So at the end of 1986 we have neck thru Charvel's and bolt-on Jackson's (confused?).
- Bolt-on Jackson necks are nearly identical to the pointy-head Charvel's described above. They are 22 fret (with the fingerboard extension) and have a similar feel.
- Jackson neck-thru's initially came in two basic varieties- "custom" and "student". The customs had an ebony fingerboard with pearl sharkfin inlays. They were bound and had a bound headstock. Student's had rosewood fingerboards with dot inlays and were unbound.
- Most Jackson neck-thru's were 22 fret. This includes Rhoads, Kelly's, King V's. Soloists were 24 fret. The neck-thru design allowed the Soloist to be designed with greatly improved access to the upper frets. The body joins the neck at the 20th fret on the bass side (as opposed to the 17th fret) and the 24th fret on the treble side (as opposed to the 21st). Compare the Soloist to a normal bolt-on (better yet play one) and it's easy to see why it was so popular.
- Randy Rhoads black V was the first Jackson to have the now-famous sharkfin inlays. This guitar was basically a prototype for the production Rhoads guitars. The inlays on this guitar were considerably smaller than those used on production Jackson's (the small inlays were copied on the Rhoads PCS Reissue).
- Some of the very early Jackson neck-thru's (Rhoads for example) have a 3 piece neck. There were then 2 pieces glued on to form the body and 2 glued on to form the outer edges of the headstock (the headstock is 5 pieces). If you look very carefully at the back of an early guitar you can usually see the glue joints through the paint. This only applies to the very early ones (pre '85 or so). The paint on the early guitars seemed to be much thinner than on the later ones. BTW, this is also a good way to tell if your early Jackson has been refinished- usually the glue joints cannot be seen under a refin. Later guitars had a 1 piece neck. My J0353 Soloist has the 3 piece neck while my J0484 Soloist has the 1 piece neck.
- One last note on necks, all of the early Rhoads guitars I've played had HUGE necks. Nothing like the thin necks common to later Soloists and other Jackson's.
