Yestergear: Charvel Spectrum

Back in the 80’s, Charvel/Jackson guitars were one of the go axes for any respectable metal band.  They were pointy, stripped down, hot rodded, and they looked freaking great.  Towards the end of the decade the company was sold and soon production instruments were manufactured overseas.  The quality and the brand went down hill in the early 90’s but in it’s final good year, Charvel produced one of the cooler guitars of the decade.

The Charvel Spectrum

The guitar was part retro while still maintaining a lot of that Charvel cool.  Offered in a variety of colors from pink, to surf green, to Desert Crackle, the guitar looked somewhat familiar yet decidedly different.

The Spectrum came standard with three hum cancelling single  coils, a Floyd Rose Licensed tremolo, a reverse headstock, and a vintage inspired half pick guard.  The coolest feature of the guitar and the source of its name no doubt, was the active mid control. This was essentially a wah built into the guitar. You could dial in that Michael Schenker cocked wah sound when activated and go nuts on Lights out in London.

I owned one of these for many years. It was basically a backup instrument but it still got a lot of use. I regrettably sold it a few years ago in some house cleaning.  I just wasn’t using and I figured it would be better suited in the hands of someone who would love it.

As of this writing I could not find any auctions on Ebay. I guess if you have one of these babies you aren’t selling.