Out of the Case: 1980 Charvel 'Pre-Production' Star

Around the world and back stateside again, this is an extremely rare one-of-one 1980 Charvel Star from the 'pre-production' era!

Inspiration strikes in many ways and comes in many different forms. That could be said of the 1980 Charvel Pre-Pro Star pictured below. This early example of a Charvel Star in Blue burst adorned with its original Dimarzio X2N and Vintage tremolo. The inspiration? It was custom ordered by a young Swiss guitarist who traveled all the way to California with the dreams of ordering a custom Charvel guitar. He asked if Charvel would alter the headstock of his Star to something a little less mainstream, and pictured is the result. Could this have been the inspiration for the Jackson headstock that we know today? As far as we can tell, this is the first example of the headstock on record in the form that most resembles the current Jackson headstock.

The Music Zoo recently acquired this holy grail guitar recently and it sure is a head-turner. The neck shape is what we’d recognize as an early Charvel with a wide flat feeling, almost “D shaped” profile. True as well to the early days of Charvel and much like we've seen on others from that era, this Star has an early phenolic nut and the brass control mounting plate under the hood.

-Tommy Colletti

1980 Charvel 'Pre-Pro' Star Specs

• Flame Maple Body
• Birdseye Maple Neck 
• 25.5" Scale Length
• DiMarzio X2N Humbucker
• Brass Tremolo Bridge

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