| String
Trees |
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| Fender
"butterfly" style (1979 - late 1980) |
| Most early Charvels produced between 1979 and late
1980 used |
|
| a Fender "butterfly" style string
retainer. Initially, two retainers were used, both on the D/G and B/E strings. Later
examples typically have a single retainer on the B/E strings. These are identical to those
found on Fender guitars. |
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| Brass
Rectangular style (late 1980 - early 1981) |
| This style was used briefly in the late 1980/early
1981 time |
|
| frame. These were made from polished brass and had
rounded edges, one style was smooth on the top while another had two slight grooves above
where the strings were. Both had recesses for the mounting screw. Typically one string
retainer was used on the B/E strings. |
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| Aluminum
Rectangular style - (late 1981 - early 1982) |
| Nearing serialized production (October/November
1981) |
|
| another string retainer was used, this one similar
in style to the rectangular brass version, but black in color and made of aluminum. It was
smooth on top with no grooves and a bit "boxier" than its brass predecessor. It
should be noted that these black retainers appeared briefly again early in the serialized
production era (late 1981/early 1982). |
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| Round
Brass style (mid 1980 - current) |
| In mid 1980 production seemed to center around the
round |
|
| brass retainer, the same one that was carried over
into production. This is the most common style of string tree found on Charvel guitars and
is still in use today. This style string retainer generally only appeared in use on the
two high strings and was available in both black and chrome (very rare). |
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| Floyd
Rose bar style (1983 - current) |
| This style is found on Floyd Rose equipped Charvels
with |
|
| non-tilt headstocks, Strat or Tele style necks. The
Jackson "pointy" style necks have tilt back headstocks and hence do not require
the use of a string bar. Oddly, a few early factory equipped Floyd Rose Charvels with the
Jackson (pointy) style necks did have the string bar installed despite not being needed.
While rare, these examples date from 1983 at which time Floyd Rose tremolos were newly
introduced. I assume the string bar was installed out of ignorance especially since most
Charvels at that time were equipped with a non-tilt neck (Strat style) which required the
use of a string tree. |
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