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| Trem
Plates |
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| Plastic
Style #1 (1980 - mid 1982) |
| These tremolo covers were made from thick plastic
(shiny in appearance) and fastened to the body using six small screws. |
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| These covers have an open slot which allows the
guitar to be restrung without the need to remove the tremolo cover. This early version was
used from 1980 to mid 1982 and is found on pre-serialized and early serialized Charvels,
up to approximately the mid 1400 serial number range. Note the position of the two middle
screws, the top one is positioned closer to the butt of the guitar (or closer towards the
slot) compared to the bottom one which is positioned closer to the front (neck) of the
guitar. This is an important detail as it is the only way to differentiate between the two
different styles of plastic tremolo covers which were used. The second style had the top
middle screw positioned towards the front of the guitar while the bottom middle screw was
positioned closer towards the butt of the guitar. |
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| Plastic
Style #2 - (mid 1982 - later 1983) |
| These are identical to the original plastic style
tremolo covers except for the position of the two middle screws. This second |
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| style was used briefly (mid 1982 -1983) prior to
the introduction of the brushed aluminum tremolo covers and can be identified by looking
at the position of the two middle screws. The top middle screw position is towards the
front of the guitar while the bottom middle screw is positioned towards the butt of the
guitar (closer to the slot), opposite to the orientation of the first style. This second
style of plastic trem covers can be found on guitars in the 1400 - 1700 ish range. |
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| Brushed
Aluminum - Vintage Trem (1983 - current) |
| These tremolo covers were made from brushed
aluminum and attached with six small screws. It is interesting that the screw |
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| hole pattern is similar to that used on the
original plastic covers where the top middle screw is positioned closer towards the butt
of the guitar while the middle screw on the bottom is positioned closer towards the neck
of the guitar. Like the plastic versions, an open slot is cut into the cover to allow the
guitar to be restrung without the need to remove the cover. Note this style of tremolo
cover is still used today and is found on Charvels equipped with a vintage tremolo (1983 -
current). |
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| Brushed
Aluminum - Floyd Rose Trem (1983 - current) |
| These plates are identical to the brushed aluminum
metal plates used on vintage tremolo equipped Charvels, except |
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| that there is no slot in the cover. Unlike the
vintage tremolo, which to restring you have to feed the string through openings in the
bottom of the tremolo block, the Floyd Rose tremolo secures the string via a clamp on the
top part of the tremolo. Thus restringing a Floyd equipped guitar only requires access to
the top portion of the tremolo and as a result there is no need to have a slot in the
cover to expose the bottom of the tremolo. These covers are used on factory Floyd Rose
equipped Charvels manufactured from 1983 - current. Note; knowing the difference between
the tremolo covers used on Charvels with a factory Floyd Rose versus those equipped with a
factory vintage tremolo (no slot versus slot), can be a useful way to quickly spot
Charvels that have had their original vintage tremolos replaced with a Floyd Rose tremolo. |
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