JSV Guitars - "Barbie" Guitar

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"Barbie" Charvel - (year unknown) built from parts

I built this guitar from "parts" of 2 or 3 others. The neck and body were unattached.
There was some hardware, no pickups, and some of the electronic parts.
From what I understand, all these parts were from different guitars.

1. The entire "top" was planed off this thing. It was bare wood, with the original back & sides in this funky heavy metal-flake; sort of an off-silver-pewter. I don't remember the headstock. I think it was stripped as well? I gave this to the guy that does my paint, along with a wrapper of the bubblegum I chew, and told him to match the color as close as possible. He did just that! I don't know what [these pic's] look like in your monitor, but in person it's a very "bubblegum" pink.
The logo is put on the same way as the "Ibanez" on my sabers. I have duplicates of all these stickers 'n such. The plan was to replace this experiment with newer/perfect versions and give the top a second clear-coat. (A few of these stickers have words like; "You bring out my best, Valentine!" and "Happy Valentine's Day!")

2. Not my usual trem' set-up. I have a couple of 'Floyds' made from different parts which I was going to use. This one is most of the original bridge I got with this guitar. It doesn't match the hardware on the headstock (which is black, not chrome). It's definitely not my choice of trem's, but it stays in tune remarkably well. Some day I'll likely replace it.

3. Here's another guitar that doesn't have the coil-tap option. The bridge pickup is wired for coil-tap when in position with the middle. When the top was repainted, the original holes were filled. So far, it's only drilled for; on/off, and the neck pickup switch (which again, gives the switching 7 positions instead of the usual 5).

4. It's real simple: the neck isn't finished yet! I always scallop my "maple" necks entirely. While the body ws out getting painted, I was scalloping the neck. I hadn't finished yet when it was time to do the headstock. When I got it back, I gave the frets a quick crowning, and threw it all together because I couldn't wait to see how it was going to play... WOW! This thing played like you dream about. I had a recording or rehearsals or something, and decided to see if it would stand "the test", and it did. It has a heavier-bottom tone than most of my other guitars. When I need some growl (like "D*RTY W*RDS" for instance), I put a little "Barbie-on-tha'-shrimp"!
There's another maple neck of mine getting done right now so this one is next on the chopping-block. It's scalloped from the 12th fret-up, and will have all the frets scalloped along with my standard 7-coat tung-oil finish.

This pickup combination is the usual for me; All DiMarzio® pickups: Bridge-X2N®,
Middle-(this is an option in some guitars) usually a DiMarzio® HS-2™ stack single-coil, Neck-DiMarzio® Fast Track-1™ (it fits in a single-coil mount, but it's a mini-humbucker designed to have the tonal characteristics of a single-coil) It's nice-n-loud.

A closer veiw of the switches. (Roll your mouse over pic' for details) The [lower switch] is my standard on/off. Closest to the 5-way; turns the neck pickup on, regardless of where the selector is set. Playing 'clean': you open your hand; hit the 5-way + the neck-switch (up) together, you get all three pickups at once (with the bridge in single mode). Switch to 'dirty': You hit them both (down) with your thumb, only bridge (humbucking). It's a fast way to switch between these two combo's. This switch also let's you play with the bridge + neck together when in a 'dirty' channel. Hence; 7 positions instead of 5.
(right): This was meant to be a pic' of just the headstock. I thought I'd show a veiw of the 'zebra' pattern that's on some of my cases. I made the stencil myself. My 4x10 cabs' also have this stencil on them. Some cases are sprayed in purple or pink (not white).
Click images below for bigger versions (opens in new window). We'll have some better pic's of this guitar, so check this page agian.
(left): The back & sides are the original color. The edges are slightly rounded. The top paint was planed off(?), so the top-edges are sharper. The whole thing in that 'glitter' would've been cool with me, but nothing is so obnoxious as the bubblegum-pink with all that "Barbie" stuff' all over it. This thing RAWX! (right): These bridges had a design that didn't include a center-spring. Since I still angle the springs, using the extra from the side where there's more string tension makes sense. Setting the spring in an angle helps when you like to use the trem'-fo'-trix-n-flutter-n-flix.
The guy I got this from has been a customer for many years. He's a pro engineer, successful in the music business, and always has great guitars & gear. When he told me about this, I immediately had a good feeling even though I knew it was only parts. I got it as a partial 'trade' toward what he was paying me for work I did for him. When he brought the parts to me, he was explaining the condition of the 'top' being stripped, and how he had originally planned to get rid of all the wacky glitter. He said: "Jae, if I knew YOU were going to end up with this thing, I would've left all the glitter ON it!" Well, look at it now! ...I'm glad he didn't.

-top-

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