Charvel Guitars vs. Wayne Guitars?

[Rev]

I know that many of you rave about the Charvels and I agree they are great guitars. Does anyone here own or tried Wayne Guitars? I would like to know the differences?

 

[Gainfreak]

I know that many of you rave about the Charvels and I agree they are great guitars. Does anyone here own or tried Wayne Guitars? I would like to know the differences?

I have both. I have an Early Wayne guitar that I absolutely love but I prefer the Charvels. The Necks on the early Waynes varied a lot IMHO. My friend Ganiac on this site used to be a Wayne dealer so he can also tell you that the Waynes were extremely inconsistent. Im not sure how the new ones are but Id be lying if I said that I liked the new headstock LMAO. Elf shoes come to mind

 

[~Abstract~]

I know that many of you rave about the Charvels and I agree they are great guitars. Does anyone here own or tried Wayne Guitars? I would like to know the differences?

I have both. I have an Early Wayne guitar that I absolutely love but I prefer the Charvels. The Necks on the early Waynes varied a lot IMHO. My friend Ganiac on this site used to be a Wayne dealer so he can also tell you that the Waynes were extremely inconsistent. Im not sure how the new ones are but Id be lying if I said that I liked the new headstock LMAO. Elf shoes come to mind

Is he making Caparisons?

edit...just saw the headstock...looks like elf shoes. Upside down elf shoes.

 

[Gainfreak]

I know that many of you rave about the Charvels and I agree they are great guitars. Does anyone here own or tried Wayne Guitars? I would like to know the differences?

I have both. I have an Early Wayne guitar that I absolutely love but I prefer the Charvels. The Necks on the early Waynes varied a lot IMHO. My friend Ganiac on this site used to be a Wayne dealer so he can also tell you that the Waynes were extremely inconsistent. Im not sure how the new ones are but Id be lying if I said that I liked the new headstock LMAO. Elf shoes come to mind

Is he making Caparisons?

edit...just saw the headstock...looks like elf shoes. Upside down elf shoes.

Yeah, I guess I was no help LMAO!!

To compare the two......... The New Charvels are pretty spot on to the Older mid 80's Charvels. the Waynes not so much. The Waynes have beefier necks, Vary in consistency and are almost twice the price with a FUGLY headstock LOL
I guess that's a bit better

 

[Motorpud]

Im not sure how the new ones are but Id be lying if I said that I liked the new headstock LMAO. Elf shoes come to mind

still better than the ballsack GMW one

What could be better than that?

 

[Anonymous]

I have both. I have an Early Wayne guitar that I absolutely love but I prefer the Charvels. The Necks on the early Waynes varied a lot IMHO. My friend Ganiac on this site used to be a Wayne dealer so he can also tell you that the Waynes were extremely inconsistent. Im not sure how the new ones are but Id be lying if I said that I liked the new headstock LMAO. Elf shoes come to mind

I agree. If you find a good Wayne though, they are every bit as nice as a Custom Shop Charvel. You also don't have to get the "elf shoe" headstock - they'll make any guitar with the old "bottle opener" headstock as well...

Steve

 

[Khoi]

I had a Wayne and a production Charvel San Dimas

The tonally, the Wayne destroyed the Charvel, no question, bigger, thicker, monster tone and feel. The Charvel sounded thin in comparison, I A/Bed the two in a recording (I really wish I kept it), and it was like night and day.

The Wayne did have a thicker neck though, and the floyd on it was superior to the Charvel (recessed German FR as opposed to the non-recessed Korean FR the Charvel used)

 

[thiswaythatway]

I know that many of you rave about the Charvels and I agree they are great guitars. Does anyone here own or tried Wayne Guitars? I would like to know the differences?

I have both. I have an Early Wayne guitar that I absolutely love but I prefer the Charvels. The Necks on the early Waynes varied a lot IMHO. My friend Ganiac on this site used to be a Wayne dealer so he can also tell you that the Waynes were extremely inconsistent. Im not sure how the new ones are but Id be lying if I said that I liked the new headstock LMAO. Elf shoes come to mind

Is he making Caparisons?

edit...just saw the headstock...looks like elf shoes. Upside down elf shoes.

Yeah, I guess I was no help LMAO!!

To compare the two......... The New Charvels are pretty spot on to the Older mid 80's Charvels. the Waynes not so much. The Waynes have beefier necks, Vary in consistency and are almost twice the price with a FUGLY headstock LOL
I guess that's a bit better

But that Wayne you have sounds pretty good, i liked the tone of it more than your GMW, but i avoid bright guitars so that's just me.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Looking at a ballsack and grabbing the long neck it's attached to.........mmmmmmmmmm.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I had a Wayne and a production Charvel San Dimas

The tonally, the Wayne destroyed the Charvel, no question, bigger, thicker, monster tone and feel. The Charvel sounded thin in comparison, I A/Bed the two in a recording (I really wish I kept it), and it was like night and day.

The Wayne did have a thicker neck though, and the floyd on it was superior to the Charvel (recessed German FR as opposed to the non-recessed Korean FR the Charvel used)

I would have to believe your statement. I have a couple of the newer production Charvels and I really like them but depending on how far you go with them, they are still kind of balsa/formica-ish. I had five different ones and I now have the two that really are great players for me. The necks still do vary on these as well. I bought at least four different ones until I found a good one. I will own another custom shop again when the time is right and I find one that I like, no more ugly butcher block table tops or flat ass black.

You can always find examples of certain guitars that just sound like poo poo. I remember when i was sportin a $2400 Suhr and it got pissed on by a $400 Ibanez RG3120. Nobody on TGP believed me. Seriously though, it did happen, actually a Jackson, a PRS, and some LP's also smoked it. I wasn't happy.

 

[Mailman1971]

I never owned the new 'san dimas' or so-cal Charvels.
I did own one of the 1st Wayne guitars made. Think it was serial # 15? or so.
It was a Demartini Crossed Swords and it FN Killed!
Everything was perfect from the neck to the tone.

But alas.......it got sold off with the rest of my collection back a few years ago.

Fuck it......its only gear.

 

[Gainfreak]

I had a Wayne and a production Charvel San Dimas

The tonally, the Wayne destroyed the Charvel, no question, bigger, thicker, monster tone and feel. The Charvel sounded thin in comparison, I A/Bed the two in a recording (I really wish I kept it), and it was like night and day.

The Wayne did have a thicker neck though, and the floyd on it was superior to the Charvel (recessed German FR as opposed to the non-recessed Korean FR the Charvel used)

I will have to agree that you might have had a great souning guitar that smoked the Charvel but here is the deal...It's all about luck of the draw if you get a good sounding piece of wood or not and to be honest with you, I bought a production Charvel off of E-bay with upgrades for $734 shipped, with a d-tuner, a floyd rose big block that is every bit as good tonally if not better then my Wayne . For the Price of the Charvel Id rather buy two of them ,take a risk and a they will be way easier to sell then a Wayne any day of the week.

I also agree with Steve that if you get a good Wayne they are every bit as good as a Custom shop Charvel but A) good luck finding one and B) Ive had great success with the Charvels and they are less then half the price used...currently (all that will change!!)

In closing id have to say if you want a GREAT bang for the buck guitar the Charvel Production guitar is tough to beat and the two I have rival my GMW's and Wayne (maybe luck I know!). If you want a Custom Shop Charvel but you don't want to spend $3000 the a Wayne might suite your needs but the old ones vary more then any other guitar Ive seen IMHO.

 

[Rev]

Wow some good discussion on this topic. Since I live in Cali I could easily visit the Wayne production site and try out a few to see which ones suits my tastes. I don't think it will be a blind purchase with out trying it.

I have played some Charvels that were the tits and others that kind of sucked. I have also play a couple Surhs and PRS's that played and sounded like garbage. The Charvels that were stellar were over at Squid Music.

So it seems like taking my time on picking up one is the best way to go. Those paint jobs on the Wayne really kick ass.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow some good discussion on this topic. Since I live in Cali I could easily visit the Wayne production site and try out a few to see which ones suits my tastes. I don't think it will be a blind purchase with out trying it.

I have played some Charvels that were the tits and others that kind of sucked. I have also play a couple Surhs and PRS's that played and sounded like garbage. The Charvels that were stellar were over at Squid Music.

So it seems like taking my time on picking up one is the best way to go. Those paint jobs on the Wayne really kick ass.

Hey another OC'er!

You got a long drive (or short flight) if you want to test out a Wayne -the shop is up in NoCal... I just buy 'em online and send 'em back if I don't like 'em...

Steve

 

[Chubtone]

I have played some Charvels that were the tits and others that kind of sucked. I have also play a couple Surhs and PRS's that played and sounded like garbage. The Charvels that were stellar were over at Squid Music.

Yeah, but that's only because those guys at Squid totally rule. Stunningly handsome too. Right?

 

[Chubtone]

I'm not sure if I have my dates exactly right here, but Wayne sold the Charvel name to Grover Jackson in 1978. Charvel was only doing repairs and building bodies and necks in 1978. They weren't assembling "Charvels". They weren't doing bullseye and checkerboard, and Redrum, and Van Halen stripes and spider webs and all those crazy graphics then either. No one was playing Charvel guitars then either except for Eddie's original Franky but those weren't even Charvel built parts.

My point? I don't think Wayne Charvel had much, if anything to do with the specs or the designs or bringing in the big name players that made Charvel a world famous guitar company. I think that what put Charvel on the map was all because of Grover Jackson. I think it's odd to see Wayne guitars that feature graphics and designs that were never a part of Charvel when Wayne was there.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if I have my dates exactly right here, but Wayne sold the Charvel name to Grover Jackson in 1978. Charvel was only doing repairs and building bodies and necks in 1978. They weren't assembling "Charvels". They weren't doing bullseye and checkerboard, and Redrum, and Van Halen stripes and spider webs and all those crazy graphics then either. No one was playing Charvel guitars then either except for Eddie's original Franky but those weren't even Charvel built parts.

My point? I don't think Wayne Charvel had much, if anything to do with the specs or the designs or bringing in the big name players that made Charvel a world famous guitar company. I think that what put Charvel on the map was all because of Grover Jackson. I think it's odd to see Wayne guitars that feature graphics and designs that were never a part of Charvel when Wayne was there.

You really think it is odd? Makes total sense to me...

He's cashing in on the legacy that Grover built. Even though Grover had the innovations (graphics, etc...) and made it successful, it still had Wayne's name on it (at least for the great old Charvies that we love). 99% of guitarists don't know Wayne had nothing to it - they see Wayne CHARVEL guitars with custom graphics that look like the old ones and they think he's the man, when it was really Grover. Wayne wouldn't have sold one guitar (as a WAYNE) without exploiting his name to sell Grover's innovations... he knew it and that is why he did what he did... Smart move if you ask me and he makes some very nice "Charvel-like" guitars...

Steve

 

[Chubtone]

You really think it is odd? Steve

I was being....... uhm.......... diplomatic Can't burn bridges in this industry.

 

[Anonymous]

You really think it is odd? Steve

I was being....... uhm.......... diplomatic Can't burn bridges in this industry.

I see...

Steve

 

[Doubleneck]

What can I say, I'm biased!