I own the same model as the one with the floyd, have owned it since it was bought for me as a gift in 88 or so. Mine is in an even more 80's looking "splatter" paint job. It was from the first year of charvettes and was made in japan. It is solid wood as far as it's a butcher block like a mexi strat, couple of 2-3 inch wide pieces of wood glued together. I know this from working on the guitar for 20 years and from the big chunk of paint i removed by dropping it many years ago! I believe it's basswood but i really don't know for sure. Pickups are somewhere between meh and awful but it has an awesome thin neck if you like that kind of thing. It has a "licensed by floyd rose" trem on it and i've almost take several peoples eyes out with the pointy headstock on that thing. I took it out of the closet recently and all my daughter could say was "dad, really?"
Charvette Guitar Serial Number Lookup LINK
Thank you for posting photos and a description of your Surfcaster. The original Surfcasters had serial numbers in the range 365XXX through 388XXX and these had colors such as black, red, orange, surf green, etc. There were no Surfcasters in the first series that were finished in gold sparkle.
Thanks for posting your question on our site. From the serial number, we can tell that your guitar is one of the original-run Surfcasters with the single shark-fin sound-hole and the shark-fin inlays.
The link above is a pdf table that lists over 200 Surfcaster serial numbers and a brief description of each entry in the table. Please contact me at me@grahampearson.com if you wish to provide any updates to this table.
Hello,Can you help. I have a Charvel seafoam green surfcaster with the serial number 375332 made in Japan. Does anyone know anything about it? What year was it made or something about the build. Thanks.
I keep a spreadsheet of Surfcaster serial numbers with associated body colors, logo colors, pickup configuration, 6- or 12-string configuration, etc. Wherever the date of purchase is known, I also include this with the serial number. I have about 150 entries in the spreadsheet and it confirms an approximate correlation between serial numbers and dates-of-manufacture, so perhaps the barrel was not very big after all.
There has been some discussion on this site about the correlation between serial numbers and date of manufacture. The concensus is that the manufacturer, Chushin Gakki factory in Japan, had a large bin full of neck plates and they simply picked one at random from this bin for each new guitar.
Welcome aboard and thanks for sharing details of your new acquisition. I keep an off-line database of Surfcaster serial numbers and, given the serial number of your guitar, I would suggest that it was made earlier than 1996, probably 1991 or 1992.
thankyou very much ! i will keep in touch ! i love that guitar i call it my red headed girlfriend ! i am going to get the frets re serfist as open cords are not in perfect tune from being worn over the years! thanks again! does mine get added in this serial no. list ? .
hi Graham,ref; serial number 377608body is a beautiful flame fireglowback is mahoganycharvel logo is blackits a six string two pick ups with tremoloIts a fantastic guitar and I would buy anotherone if only I could find one!!Keep up the good work
Hey,I have a Seafoam green Surfcaster I bought new in 1992, serial number is 379XXX. Seems like this throws your numbering out of whack, but I am the only owner of this guitar and I have my initial receipt. My guitar has the white Charvel headstock logo, two lipstick pickups, the tremolo, and the back is painted green also. What do you think about that?Thanks!
Why is there a reluctance on the part of some Surfcaster owners to divulge complete serial numbers, i.e. 369XX rather than 36923? I can understand this reluctance for a guitar like the Fender Stratocaster that can be knocked off by some far-east cheapo shop and sold by the hundreds to unsuspecting western white boys.
CikMick:Please email pictures of your bass to donrownrocks@yahoo.com. Include pics of the front and back of the body, the front of the peghead, and the neckplate with its serial number. This will help our magnificent in-house research department and dating service date your bass guitar.
ive been trying to figure out the year of my bass and came upon your site its a charvel surfcaster bass serial 379397 i bought it from a pawn shop in surrey BC Canada for 100$ and a cheap samick guitar i carved a skull into (: its still mint and the richest sounding bass ive ever played im wondering if its japanese made or made in india maybe you would know
I agree with Silversurfer. That neck plate looks quite different to mine. On mine the following areas are shiny chrome: the Charvel logo, the rectangular area used to stamp the serial number, and the frame around the edge of the neck plate. i.e. all the raised areas are chrome and the other area is black.
James, if the back of the body of your Surfcaster has a mahogany finish and it has 2 lipstick pickups, this was known as an orange figured-top model. From the serial number, I would guess it was made in 1993 or 1994.
I have a red figured-top 12-string (back of body has a mahogany finish) and the Charvel logo is white like yours, serial number 372437 (1992 ?). I suspect the pickups and electronics in the 12-string are identical to the 6-string. I use mine as a 6-string and it sounds really good. 2ff7e9595c
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