Tommy was forced to go to a young upstart Grover Jackson to make the basses. Grover was the one who introduced the trans finishes. I often asked Tommy why he didn't sue over the suspect necks and he replied "My dady didn't raise me like that".
Hello everyone! I have been bumping into Music Man quite often in my research of Charvel MFG. Here are some points that may be of interest:
Wayne Charvel sold Charvel MFG to Grover Jackson November 10, 1978. At this point they were assembling and reselling components outsourced by various vendors (Boogie Bodies, Dave Schecter, even Fender). Upon purchasing Charvel MFG, Grover changed the direction of the company from being a reseller, to an OEM. His first deal was with Mighty Mite. The idea was to get money rolling in, buy tools, start making necks, then eventually make complete instruments in quantity (in Wayne's era and this early Grover era, they made very few instruments).
Grover somehow got involved with Music Man around this time. I have not asked him directly the details on how it started, but I plan on asking someday. At first, Charvel MFG was provided with parts they had to finish and assemble. When they ra out of wood components, they simply began making them. I am not really familiar with the evolution of Music Man basses, but looking at the era this went down, it appears it may have coincided with the change from 3 bolt to 4 bolt necks.
I have Charvel factory photos from 1981 that show Music Man Stingray basses in full production. There are more Music Man bass components than Charvel in the background. The transparent finishes were very popular on the "preproduction" Charvels, so it makes sense Grover introduced them.
I have been trying to figure out when they stopped making Music Man basses. Grover wasn't really sure. He said that they stopped almost all OEM work by 1983-4 as Charvels were in demand and he really wanted to get the Jackson production up and running.
