Michael Charvel on His Father Wayne Charvel’s Legacy
In this episode of Electric History: Guitar Stories with The Music Zoo, Tommy Colletti speaks to Michael Charvel of Wayne Guitars about the legacy of his father Wayne Charvel and the history behind the legendary brand that gave birth to the Custom Shop electric guitar.
When Wayne Charvel founded Charvel Guitars in 1974, little did he know that the company performing repairs and supplying young guitarists with spare parts would go on to change the way the world saw electric guitars. With a long and storied career, Wayne Charvel ran Wayne Guitars with his son Michael up until his sudden passing on July 12th, 2026. A longtime friend of the Charvel family, Music Zoo owner speaks to Michael Charvel about the history of Charvel Guitars and the legacy his father left behind. Watch this episode of Electric History: Guitar Stories with The Music Zoo now.
Shop Charvel Guitars Now:
Contact Us For Buying, Selling and Trading Charvel Guitars!
Contact us at (516) 626-9292 or sales@themusiczoo.com
Watch it & read it
Electric History: Guitar Stories | Michael Charvel on His Father Wayne Charvel’s Legacy · 153:03 · 25 chapters
Chapter 1 · 0:00
Electric History: Michael Charvel on Wayne Guitars and a Lifetime in Guitar Making
An opening chapter that establishes the personal relationship between Tommy and Michael and sets up a wide-ranging conversation about guitars, family, craftsmanship and rock history.
From the video
Hey, this is Tommy at the Music Zoo. For 30 some odd years, we've been selling guitars to beautiful people like yourself. Uh, welcome to our episode of
Electric History. Today, I have the pleasure of hanging and talking with a longtime friend, Michael Charvel.
Michael, how you doing, Tommy? Good to see you, buddy.
Chapter 2 · 1:49
Michael Charvel's Childhood at the Charvel Guitar Shop
The story starts with the visual side of guitar making: flames, colors and custom finishes that captivated Michael before he became a player.
From the video
the best place to start is probably the beginning. you know, the be when I say the beginning, the beginning for the
beginning for you, you know, I want to know when when when you were old enough to
visit maybe the shop for the first time and things that you things that came up for you when you would walk in the shop and your dad was working and um you
Chapter 3 · 6:07
From Plywood Mini Guitars to Playing Guitar
This chapter connects Michael's early hands-on creativity with the guitar-building skills that would become central to his life.
From the video
Well, that would be probably around when I got around 12.
Okay. because I would after school I would go to the shop and just uh work
with my dad building model airplanes and then I would he would I would drive him crazy cuz I would take 3/4 inch plywood
Chapter 4 · 8:16
Van Halen, Floyd Rose and the Birth of the Superstrat
The conversation captures the moment Van Halen became a blueprint for a new generation of rock guitars.
From the video
Um, now this now we're in the early 80s at this point, right?
Okay. So, all these long-haired dudes are coming in the shop. You know, you know the look.
And all guitar players and they're all saying one word, Van Halen. Van Halen.
Chapter 5 · 9:34
Wayne Charvel, Surf Rock and the Early Southern California Guitar Scene
This chapter traces Wayne's musical roots through surf rock, live performance and the formative Southern California guitar scene before moving into the Beatles era.
From the video
Yeah. Okay. So, he was uh prior to meeting my mother and getting married, he played nightclubs for 13 years.
uh five, six nights a week and then sometimes after shows. So, and that was in an era where he had a really good
band. Keep in mind, this is the early 60s, okay? Okay.
Chapter 6 · 15:22
Michael Charvels Band., Sunset Sound and Making a Living Playing Guitar
A look at the working-musician economy of the 1960s and the Southern California studio history surrounding Wayne Charvel.
From the video
Yeah. The Insects. As a matter of fact, when they recorded their first album, it was at um Oh, I've got three hours of
sleep last night. The famous studio Sunset Sound. Sunset. Wow.
Yeah. And that's where the the Dupy Brothers and Van Halen eventually recorded in that same studio with Beach Boys were recording there as well. Yeah. I mean, as people.
Chapter 7 · 19:50
The Reality of Being a Wedding DJ and Live Music Entertainer
The story offers a funny but revealing detour into the business side of live entertainment and why wedding gigs were harder than they looked.
From the video
they didn't tell me, they left the details out. It's extremely extremely stressful gig. And the reason why it's
stressful is because the bride and groom have one shot at the wedding. So you better not mess anything up, right? Because they can't redo it.
Sure.
Chapter 8 · 25:23
Why Guitar Becomes More Than an Instrument
This chapter broadens the conversation from guitar hardware to the emotional reasons people become obsessed with guitars and music.
From the video
like how the guitar is connected to so many things even from you know you'd have to admit that at some point when
you started playing the guitar besides the fact that it was cool and that like you were hearing the the name Van Halen And you just like there was the reason
that you were getting sucked in. There had to be a little portion after you were playing a year or two going I might meet a girl this way too. You like absolutely.
Chapter 9 · 31:10
Lost Recordings, the Charvel Family Band and Analog vs. Digital
A personal story about lost music becomes a discussion of recording technology and why musicians still value the tactile process of analog recording.
From the video
They're not They're still playing. Um but they're not gigging or recording. I think See, when they were in the fire,
they had I think it's 12 or 13 complete albums of original music they recorded. Wow.
Cuz that's all they did was play. That's that's what they did. They played music um gigging and writing songs, but they burnt when the fire they lost all the masters and everything.
Chapter 10 · 33:17
Kevin Shirley, Wayne Guitars and a $32,000 Tape Machine
This chapter blends guitar-dealer history with studio gear, illustrating how valuable analog recording equipment could be in the era before modern digital workflows.
From the video
When I had Wayne Guitars, this guy calls me up and I'm just a young I'm a young guy when I when we started Wayne Guitars,
right? This guy calls up and um he goes, "My name's Kev Shirley." And I at this time I have no idea who this is, right?
and he I have a he I have a studio out here in the Hamptons and he's all I'd like a couple guitars and I'll trade you
Chapter 11 · 34:59
Eddie Van Halen, Grover Jackson and the Charvel Guitar Boom
The chapter places Wayne Charvel's work inside the larger story of the 1980s hard-rock and metal guitar boom.
From the video
unfolded for Grover, right? Like the the the uh success of Edward and his playing, right? His just like just
meteoric guitar playing, right? that band and then within a year and a half or two years meeting Randy
and then like the whole hair band thing with Rad and War D Martini and you know all these people and you've sold them guitars and made guitars for them.
Chapter 12 · 36:22
Eddie Van Halen Visits Charvel and Orders Seven Guitars
A firsthand account of Eddie's visit provides rare insight into the personal and technical relationship behind the guitars.
From the video
Yeah. He flew up and we um he spent a couple days at the house and the shop and we picked him up at the airport and
uh he flew into the Chico airport, the little tiny airport and um okay, he had his red and white uh famous sneakers on. I remember his the
Converse. So, but any rate, he came for a couple days and we just talked and jammed with him. my brothers, my dad,
Chapter 13 · 41:15
Recreating Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstein Neck and Stripe Guitar
This is one of the most technically specific chapters in the interview, detailing how an iconic EVH guitar was recreated from firsthand information.
From the video
Yeah. And we ended up doing that was the black and white one which I did because Ed was telling me how he built that how he did that guitar everything.
He was telling me how he thinned the neck because we're going to we're going to clone it, right? So who better to ask like well how did you do this? How did you put the paint on it? What kind you
know all this stuff? I'm I'm taking notes to to you know to get it as accurately as possible because we have all we have is the neck. We don't have the body.
Chapter 14 · 45:31
Why Charvel Turned Down a Major Eddie Van Halen Guitar Run
The decision illustrates the tension between explosive demand and the realities of small-batch custom guitar building.
From the video
calm and and so his decision after after speaking back and forth with Edward and Ed wanted to go and do a run of guitars, right?
Yeah.
At ramp up. And your dad's decision was Well, we just it just dawned on both of us. It's like he's Eddie Van he's Eddie
Chapter 15 · 51:02
World War II, P-51 Mustangs and the Charvel Family Story
A surprising family-history chapter that reveals another side of the people and experiences behind Wayne Charvel's work.
From the video
he got stationed at Duxford, England and then he was flying missions in Germany and um he's you know those guys never
talked about the war at all or any of that stuff but um he would tell like you know stories about guys playing cards or whatever but the thing Then I remember
this is the thumb how this all relates is they would send these guys up, you know, to fly and they had missions or whatever. And he said that at one point
Chapter 16 · 59:40
Movie Props, P-51s and the Charvel Connection to Hollywood
The story highlights the hands-on model-making and fabrication skills that ran alongside the family's guitar work.
From the video
Before C before CGI and computer work, he would make, you know, these really intense locomotives and airplanes and boat miniatures for the movies,
right? And the reason why he had access to those planes, his dad was a really high ranking um pilot. He flew a P-38
Lightning, which is a rare also very cool.
Chapter 17 · 61:00
From Guitar Retail to Building Custom Guitars
This chapter bridges the family's early repair business with the custom-guitar operation that followed.
From the video
You guys be and take me through the progression because before you had the shop and you started building guitars,
you had a retail store. Yes, I had a we had a retail store and in the back of the store we had a shop with all my
dad's tools and and whatnot. So, he was basically doing repairs, okay, guitar guitar repairs in the shop and
Chapter 18 · 76:01
Leo Fender, Charvel Paint Jobs and Custom Guitar History
A key piece of Charvel history centered on paint, finishing technique and the craftsmanship that made the shop stand out.
From the video
his um booth at the NAM show, Leo Fender came up to him and said, "Man, those paint jobs are just incredible. What are
you doing?" Cuz that was painting. And when you build guitars, the most frustrating thing to do is is the paint department, right?
Because paint Yeah. I mean, a little nat or something lands on it or or it the maybe the the active reducer went bad
Chapter 19 · 84:57
The 2018 Paradise Camp Fire and Losing the Charvel Shop
The interview turns deeply personal as Michael explains what was lost and what it meant to lose the tools and objects connected to a lifetime of guitar building.
From the video
what it was. And it's hard I think it's hard to wrap your head around until you hear it like firsthand from somebody
kind of accounting it and then you go I can't even imagine something like this unfolding in my town or whatever. So it was in 2018.
Yes. 2018. 2018. And it was called the campfire. That's what what it's called.
Chapter 20 · 95:00
After the Fire: Finding Shelter and Starting Over
This chapter focuses on the aftermath rather than the fire itself: displacement, logistics and the slow process of starting over.
From the video
Okay. And it took a long I remember I remember it took a long time way longer than it would normally had been because
of the traffic all the there was you know um volunteer uh police and firefighters and they would be like no
you can't go down this road you've got to go down this road and so normally I ended up in Chico but normally it would
Chapter 21 · 108:17
Wayne Guitars, Truss Rods and the Road Back to Guitar Building
The conversation shifts from loss toward the possibility of a new chapter for Wayne Guitars.
From the video
Yes. like high quality, you know, just supplying supplying the who's who of guitar building.
Um, but I can't help but go, you have to do this again. You have to
I do I I I Yeah, you're preacher to the choir, man. I have to you have to build guitars. And I and I cuz it's cuz it's there's there's so
Chapter 22 · 120:13
Why Wayne Guitars Played So Well: Setup, Craftsmanship and Eddie's Legacy
This chapter gets into the hands-on philosophy behind Wayne's setups and why those guitars can remain exceptional decades later.
From the video
whole corporate thing. I think people are just going to still do what they do and buy what they buy. It's it's really music that's going to dictate what
guitars are selling and what isn't. I think um and not necessarily just like some corporate action or whatever. You
know, the the reason that your dad had gotten so popular and someone like Edward Van Halen's walking into his shop
Chapter 23 · 131:00
Wayne Charvel's Final Days and Michael's Loss
A deeply personal chapter about family, loss and the end of Wayne Charvel's life.
From the video
and um I don't know like I just I knew he took care of himself and I knew like everything seemed fine and last time I
see everything was fine and just you know. Absolutely. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. It um basically he um his he was 85 years old and his doctor said
Chapter 24 · 144:07
Resilience, Boxing and Moving Forward After Tragedy
The interview closes on resilience, persistence and the mindset Michael has carried through the fire, loss and rebuilding process.
From the video
you just don't stop. And um that kind of learning that early in life is it teaches me like okay you went
through the fire all right just you know okay let's go let's go through the fire you know you just reminded me of something
there's a um for anybody that's a fan of the Rocky movies right like obviously major major fan
Chapter 25 · 148:04
Guitar World, Wayne Charvel's Legacy and the Next Chapter
The final chapter looks forward, connecting Wayne Charvel's legacy with Michael's hope to return to building guitars on his own terms.
From the video
interject if it's okay. Um Chris Gil from Guitar World magazine. I just got this magazine.
Okay. And uh if you haven't picked one up, pick it up. He's got the thing dedicated to my father, but I I just got it and I read it and because
my dad's had interviews and this is not an interview. He just Chris apparently went online and but he wrote an incredible
