Fenders production quality went down in the ’70 and in Asia companies started to produce copies of the the iconic American guitar designs. This helped a whole lot of custom, boutique guitar builders to establish themselves, offering high quality instruments, but with a revisited classical design. Especially the head of the guitar and the painting evolved with the emergence of hard rock.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Wayne Charvel, a former Fender employee, popularised the idea of a wholly custom-made guitar for the larger public. In the late ’70 the music had generated new needs to the instruments: faster, more comfortable necks, fatter sound through humbuckers, outrageous designs to be noticed, … That gave birth to the custom shop business model.
The new guitars comprise a pair of Strat-types, the San Dimas Style 1 and the So-Cal Style 1, plus this Tele-type San Dimas Style 2. The original idea behind Charvel was to streamline and modernise Leo Fender's original designs to players' new tastes. Those guitars were made popular through many heavy metal acts like Van Halen.
Wayne was initially located with his repair and production facility in San Dimas before moving in the ’80, thus giving the name to the guitars produced during that period.
This Tele-type San Dimas Style 2 black beauty once belonged to Neal Schon. Special is that it has no neck pick-up. A great guitar from the heydays of Charvel.
