Although the Jackson name will forever be linked with the first hot-rodded “Super Strats” of the 1980s, the Charvel Surfcaster of the early 1990s was also memorable enough to be worthy of a revival at the end of the decade.

By this time both of the company’s founders, Wayne Charvel and Grover Jackson were long gone. Charvel sold his parts business to Jackson in 1978, and Jackson left the company in the hands of a Texas-based distributor in 1989. The Japanese electronic instrument company Akai bought the brands in 1997 and brought back the Surfcaster a year later under the Jackson brand.

Where the basic Charvel Surfcaster of the early 1990s had a basswood body, or else a mahogany back with figured maple top, the later Jackson version had a mahogany top and back. Also, a more powerful, more appealing humbucker replaced the Charvel’s cooler-looking “lipstick” single-coil bridge pickup.

Like the original, the revived Surfcaster had a hip nostalgic appeal that wore off quickly, and it only lasted in production for three years.