1989 Charvel Spectrum

Details

Some time ago, I was spending a Saturday afternoon checking out some local music stores and I happened across this guitar, labeled a “Charvel 51 Style” at a Sam Ash. This was around the time that Squier had released the "pawnshop series,” so that was likely in the back of someone’s mind as they labeled and priced this Charvel. At the time I knew a lot less about vintage guitars, but I did know that this was something pretty unique so I plugged it in and played around with it. It had extremely thick and worn acoustic strings on it, the bridge was at a steep forward leaning angle, dirty all over, and the toggle switch seemed to do nothing, but I was in the mood for a project.

I went home and grabbed my ‘89 Kramer XL1 and took it back to the store the next day and traded that guitar in on this one for really, a bit of a steal. It also came with a brand new Roadrunner ABS case that was a bit nicer than the SKB Freedom case I had traded away the XL1 in. I immediately brought this home, disassembled, and cleaned it. The pickguard is overly scratched (intentional) and the body is smudged and scratched, but now years later it has held up quite nicely compared to other guitars I’ve had pass through my hands since. Inside, I replaced the 9V battery and learned of just how great the Jackson JE-1500 parametric EQ is. This became my go-to guitar for lighter rock tunes, such as The Cars, Huey Lewis, and others. Thanks to its 3-single layout, I could approximate most traditional Stratocaster tunes and the Jackson JT-590 Floyd Rose bridge was familiar to me and my preferred bridge compared to a strat’s fulcrum trem. The JE-1500 could be set to a great cocked wah sound, then turned on and off at will - making it really excel at playing guitar versions of synthesizer sounds or kicking it on for a cool lead boost sound - the output increased as well as the tone change when enabled.

I no longer own this instrument