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| Pots |
| Charvel guitars typically have DiMarizo
volume and tone pots. More specifically, 500K for humbucker pku equipped guitars and 250K
for guitars with single coil pkus. |
These pots are very useful in dating
your Charvel as the are stamped with
a code at time of their manufacture. As illustrated in the pic the code inlcudes the date
(week and year codes) in addition to code identifying
the manufacturer. |
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| Charvels made prior to 1985 used
potentiometers made in the USA and feature an EIA manufacturer and date code. This 7 digit
code breaks down like this: |
| AAABBCC |
| AAA-
3 digit manufacturer code. Typically this will be 137 (CTS), 134 (Centralab/CRL), or 140
(Clarostat). Yes, even if the pot is stamped "Dimarzio", the EIA code is correct
as Dimarzio never actually made pots, they outsourced them from manufacturers, typically
Centralab and sometimes Clarostat. |
| BB-
The last 2 digits of the year. 81, as an example, would decode to 1981 |
| CC-Week
number. 05, as an example, would indictate the 5th week of the year, the first week of
February 1981. |
| Despite the usual train of thought,
this code is NOT applied when the guitar is assembled, but when the potentiometer was
manufactured. Add up shipping to Dimarzio, the shipping to Charvel, how long they hung
around at each shop, these could be several months, maybe even a year old before they
ended up in a guitar. |
| Also typically stamped on the rear is
the value, such as 500K or 250K. Very early Charvels may also feature a part number
depending on whom they sourced the pots from. |
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