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Commisaur
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:16 am
Posts: 269
PostPosted: Mon May 03, 2021 2:24 pm 
 

I really like this guitar I tried out recently. I thought it played really well:

https://www.jacksonguitars.com/gear/gui ... 2911000500

But before I decide to make my final purchase I wanted to ask you all for your opinions

Are Jackson’s considered good? Is the model of guitar I picked any good ?

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~Guest 1195014
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:18 pm
Posts: 227
PostPosted: Mon May 03, 2021 8:16 pm 
 

That might be one of the prettiest and most awesome looking Jacksons I've ever seen (and I already know a lot of people will disagree :lol: )

I've never had a Jackson, but to my knowledge they have a solid reputation. The specs look very good and the pickup configuration will definitely be very versatile (but then SD Distortion is a pretty classic pickup for metal). The only thing to note is the Floyd Rose - as far as I know it can be tricky to setup and work with, but I believe the 1000 is one of the higher level models. If you like the guitar and the specs, I see no reason why it wouldn't be good.

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hakarl
Metel fraek

Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:41 pm
Posts: 8816
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 3:09 am 
 

A few things I picked up
- Basswood body is usually found in some more affordable Asian-made guitars. I'm not sure where this one is made, but probably Indonesia. For that kind of manufacturing, the price is rather high. Subjectively, basswood guitars sound fine. If you like the sound of the guitar, it's not a problem. Objectively, it's a wood that dents easily, being very soft. A basswood body guitar doesn't sell for as much used as alder or mahogany. On the plus side, it's a lighter wood, making the guitar more comfortable to play.
- Floyd Rose 1000 is a lower-cost licensed tremolo, but it's supposed to be one of the better ones. I have no experience with that particular one, but let me tell you that the difference between an original and a mid-tier licensed one is the difference of wanting to play a guitar and use the tremolo, and wanting to throw the fucking thing in the nearest sea. Make sure it stays in tune when you play it, do bends, etc., because constantly retuning a guitar with a Floyd Rose is annoying.
- 12”-16” compound radius is an interesting spec. It's highly subjective how this works for you, and if you think it plays well, then that's great. For me, 12" is quite a big radius already, and going up to 16" means that fretting barré chords high up the fretboard becomes uncomfortable. Basically it means that the fretboard is ever so slightly convex at the lower frets, and gets straighter and straighter towards the high frets. Convex fretboard helps with chords, especially barré chords. The rationale for having higher radius (less convex) is that it makes bending easier, but I have absolutely no trouble bending heavily on a 9.5" radius, so... it's highly subjective.

Overall, I don't really know what explains that price tag for a basswood guitar with a licensed tremolo that's probably made in Indonesia. The finish? It looks great now, but like I said, basswood bodies chip and dent easily, and if the finish starts peeling off, you're going to be pretty disappointed. The maple neck is cool, certainly. If it plays really well and you really like it, then go for it, but it doesn't look like great bang for the buck in my opinion.

It's been a long time since I played a Jackson, but while they have had some great endorsers (Bob Vigna!), their mid-tier models have felt like toys to me. I did really want one of their Kelly models at one point, but they were very expensive.
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Invocation
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:11 pm
Posts: 164
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 7:05 am 
 

I'm going to be a bit more positive than Ilwhyan.

According to the Floyd Rose website the 1000 series tremolo is made in Korea and is supposed to be of the same quality as an original Floyd Rose:

https://floydrose.com/products/frtp1k

Now, you may be sceptical about that but FR are charging just as much for one as for an original. It's the Floyd Rose Special that is a cheaper model.

The compound radius is standard on Jacksons, so if you like it and you like Jackson guitars then there's nothing to worry about. If you don't like the feel of the neck then go with another brand. As for barré chords high up the fretboard, well Jackson are assuming you won't be doing much of that and that the flatter neck is better for lead playing.

The main thing I agree with Ilwhyan on is that basswood is a controversial choice. Even Jackson make plenty of mahogany guitars at the same price range and in the same series, so I would get one of those instead, unless you "have" to have that finish. At least try a mahogany soloist. You might find you prefer basswood because it's lighter.

The guitar will be made in Indonesia, all Jackson Pro Series are except some of the Dinky's which can be made in Mexico. I've played some of the Indonesian made Jacksons and I thought they played great though. At that price range the only other plausible options would be looking for a Korean made LTD or Ibanez, but I don't know much about those brands.

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hakarl
Metel fraek

Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:41 pm
Posts: 8816
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 7:56 am 
 

Invocation wrote:
I'm going to be a bit more positive than Ilwhyan.

According to the Floyd Rose website the 1000 series tremolo is made in Korea and is supposed to be of the same quality as an original Floyd Rose:

https://floydrose.com/products/frtp1k

Now, you may be sceptical about that but FR are charging just as much for one as for an original. It's the Floyd Rose Special that is a cheaper model.

Yeah, actually, I just looked up what Floyd Rose one of my guitars had, and it was either that or 1500, and it was good quality. So I wouldn't worry on that count. I've learned to be vary about licensed tremolos on Jacksons, but in this case it should be fine.
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Commisaur
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:16 am
Posts: 269
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 12:12 pm 
 

First off, to clarify, the Rainbow guitar I just got says “Made in China” on the back neck. Should I be worried about this? I really want to upgrade substantially from my worn and beat up crappy Chinese made Epiphone SG that is 12 years old. I sure hope what I just bought is a clear upgrade

Also, in the hypothetical event that my 1000 series Floyd Rose degrades at some point in the near future and becomes unusable, will it be possible to have a guitar tech install the German made Original Floyd Rose into my new guitar replacing the 1000 series one?

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~Guest 1195014
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:18 pm
Posts: 227
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 1:02 pm 
 

Just wanted to comment specifically on this part:
Ilwhyan wrote:
- Basswood body is usually found in some more affordable Asian-made guitars. I'm not sure where this one is made, but probably Indonesia. For that kind of manufacturing, the price is rather high. Subjectively, basswood guitars sound fine. If you like the sound of the guitar, it's not a problem. Objectively, it's a wood that dents easily, being very soft. A basswood body guitar doesn't sell for as much used as alder or mahogany. On the plus side, it's a lighter wood, making the guitar more comfortable to play.

To be honest these are largely stereotypes at this point, it used to be like this maybe a decade ago. I've seen basswood all over the spectrum, including flagship Music Man models. It's all a matter of preference, but I really don't think it's a "cheap" wood in itself, just probably the cheaper varieties of it are common in budget guitars.

Same goes for any made in Asia tags, it's hard to find guitars under 2k that are not made in Asia and again, this is in no way an indication of better/worse quality. Pretty much all non-custom shop Schecters and the PRS SE line are made all over Asia (mostly Indonesia and Korea), and have a close to stellar reputation (including three I own).

Quote:
First off, to clarify, the Rainbow guitar I just got says “Made in China” on the back neck. Should I be worried about this? I really want to upgrade substantially from my worn and beat up crappy Chinese made Epiphone SG that is 12 years old. I sure hope what I just bought is a clear upgrade

Almost certainly yes. The location where it was made matters little, what matters much more is the brand's attention to quality control. As far as I know, Jackson's reputation is pretty decent, unlike some massively overpriced companies obsessively advertising themselves with "made in USA" which I will not mention by nameGIBSON.

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hakarl
Metel fraek

Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:41 pm
Posts: 8816
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 5:25 pm 
 

Death By Wall of Text wrote:
Just wanted to comment specifically on this part:
Ilwhyan wrote:
- Basswood body is usually found in some more affordable Asian-made guitars. I'm not sure where this one is made, but probably Indonesia. For that kind of manufacturing, the price is rather high. Subjectively, basswood guitars sound fine. If you like the sound of the guitar, it's not a problem. Objectively, it's a wood that dents easily, being very soft. A basswood body guitar doesn't sell for as much used as alder or mahogany. On the plus side, it's a lighter wood, making the guitar more comfortable to play.

To be honest these are largely stereotypes at this point, it used to be like this maybe a decade ago. I've seen basswood all over the spectrum, including flagship Music Man models. It's all a matter of preference, but I really don't think it's a "cheap" wood in itself, just probably the cheaper varieties of it are common in budget guitars.

Same goes for any made in Asia tags, it's hard to find guitars under 2k that are not made in Asia and again, this is in no way an indication of better/worse quality. Pretty much all non-custom shop Schecters and the PRS SE line are made all over Asia (mostly Indonesia and Korea), and have a close to stellar reputation (including three I own).

I think basswood is used in a lot of guitars produced in East Asia since it's very common there, and it works well in guitars. Sound wise, there's nothing wrong with basswood. Sometimes, though, you want to go for a certain vibe in your instrument, and basswood might not be ideal, but if it sounds good, it sounds good. I commented it for two reasons:
- Firstly, in guitars of that price range, they tend to use something other than basswood. It might not have the same resale value as a guitar with similar specs with a more popular wood.
- Secondly, it's a soft wood that can dent easily. It's pretty unfortunate if that elaborate finish ends up being damaged because the guitar's body is prone to denting. I have personal experience.

I can't comment on the differences in prices between varieties or stocks of basswood, but I imagine it can be like that. There are relatively affordable guitars made out of mahogany, even though mahogany has the reputation of being a pricey wood. It's a pretty different kind of wood really, and the cheaper stuff is, for one thing, considerably heavier. Or so I've heard.

Even expensive brands like Fender and Gibson produce guitars under $2000 that are not made in Asia. Gibson SG Standards are somewhere in the $1500 range, and are made in USA. Whether they're better off for it, I can't vouch for that. Personally, I don't think the country of manufacturing is meaningful. It just happens that when guitar companies are looking to cut costs when manufacturing guitars, they prefer to produce them in countries where it's cheaper, and it tends to follow that the factory tolerances and quality control aren't up to par with their American, European, or Japanese made flagship series, because those are their cheaper series. They also tend to want to retain their premium specs for the more expensive series. But again, that's not necessarily true to any meaningful extent.

Gibson gets a lot of shit - deservedly - but it's good to be mindful what part of it is deserved, and to what extent. Their Les Paul Studio and SG Standard series are, from my experience, generally excellent guitars. There are some uninspiring ones out there too, but my experience is that the Studio is generally even better than the Les Paul Standard. Compared to Korean and Japanese made guitars from companies like LTD and Ibanez, they are an obvious upgrade. I would avoid the cheapest USA-made Gibsons though. They even look kinda awful.
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~Guest 1195014
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:18 pm
Posts: 227
PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2021 8:41 pm 
 

Yeah, I generally agree, I just wanted to point it out specifically that these things really do not mean the guitar has less value for these reasons (well, playing "value", maybe not specifically resale value but if the OP has mostly used one guitar for now they're probably not trading that much).

As for basswood vs. mahogany specifically, I find it weird as the two Schecters I have is a (cheaper) basswood 7-string and a (solid mid-range) mahogany 6-string, and I honestly can't tell which one is actually heavier - the mahogany feels much denser, while the basswood feels more "hollow" but it's hard to tell which one has more weight on my arm. They're just very, very different and I honestly feel the wood type is just entirely a matter of feel in electric guitars.

And as for manufacturing, that's especially what I meant with "a decade ago", because it really seems to me that guitar brands moved from making mostly budget guitars in Asia in the past, to making in many cases pretty much everything except their highest-end models these days. The 1150 price tag in the OP is pretty normal for a rock solid, tour-worthy guitar made in Asia.

I have a particular dislike for Gibson also because it's an extreme case of that "famous because they're famous" phenomenon. If they weren't riding on their brand made half a century ago, they'd be bankrupt ages ago, and the price gouging makes it particularly distasteful. They may be making some good guitars and I heard they started slightly improving again, but I'm definitely not giving them a cent with this kind of predatory business model.

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narsilianshard
Veteran

Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:22 pm
Posts: 3616
Location: PDX
PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 1:28 pm 
 

As a complete noob (drummer), all I know is that my band's guitarist recently picked up the $200 Jackson Dinky and he absolutely loves it. It's definitely an entry level guitar, but he says it has incredible action and stays in low tuning super well.
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Mykman
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 9:08 am
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Mon May 24, 2021 10:10 am 
 

I own 2 Jacksons and I loving them deeply !
I have an adler bodied dinky 6 string one with emg pickups and floating tremolo bridge. It sounds amazing to me stays in tune well.
The other one is a 7 string one with basswood body and stock pickups with fixed bridge , sounds pretty good for the price.The sustain is really loooooooong ,but I guess you should hear it yourself to make a decision. Their finish is pretty good also.

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Wrldeatr
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:13 pm
Posts: 377
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon May 24, 2021 12:20 pm 
 

It would be interesting to hear from OP how the guitar turned out to be.

Jackson has been moving these fancier finishes to China. I wouldn't be surprised if eventually all Asian guitars (Jackson and everyone elses) end up being made in China. It's rather surprising this hasn't happened yet.

There's nothing wrong with basswood. In fact, basswood isn't even all that common anymore among affordable Jacksons. It has been replaced with poplar and nato, which leads me to think that basswood isn't all that cheap anymore.

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Commisaur
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:16 am
Posts: 269
PostPosted: Mon May 24, 2021 6:55 pm 
 

Wrldeatr wrote:
It would be interesting to hear from OP how the guitar turned out to be.

Jackson has been moving these fancier finishes to China. I wouldn't be surprised if eventually all Asian guitars (Jackson and everyone elses) end up being made in China. It's rather surprising this hasn't happened yet.

There's nothing wrong with basswood. In fact, basswood isn't even all that common anymore among affordable Jacksons. It has been replaced with poplar and nato, which leads me to think that basswood isn't all that cheap anymore.


I love the guitar!!! I have zero complaints about it except for the fact that it doesn’t have the Original Floyd Rose as the German made version is supposedly supposed to be better quality. The sentiments people express online in places like YouTube in favor of Original Floyd Rose kind of irk me as I want the best for myself after using old worn out Epiphone SG crap for so long and because I mistakenly bought my current guitar thinking it had the Original; however, I’ve used the Floyd Rose 1000 series extensively on my guitar and it works just fine and I guess if the worst case scenario happens and it breaks I can just replace it with the Original Floyd Rose. But other than that nitpicking issue the guitar sounds amazing, plays beautifully and looks amazing to top it all off. I’m always super excited to play the thing

I also will likely never play with other people or play live so I’m not worried about the paint chipping or the basswood chipping due to traveling around with the guitar a lot. I’m very careful with that type of thing. I also never ever plan on selling my guitar so I don’t care if the value of it decreases due to some low quality materials that may have went into making my guitar

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AgnosticPuppy666
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2020 6:10 am
Posts: 18
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue May 25, 2021 1:35 am 
 

I've got a Jackson JS30 Rhoads V and it's amazing. It plays well, sounds great, stays in tune the overwhelming majority of the time, and feels great. Jacksons are definitely good for the price they're sold at.

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Infernalblackflame
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:40 am
Posts: 52
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2021 2:10 am 
 

Great guitar if you love fast playing and shredding. The neck is so thin ! Even if you hate the sound of the guitar (pick up), you can even remove the pickup of the guitar and replace them !

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Iron1
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:04 am
Posts: 236
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2021 6:16 am 
 

Image

I love every one of my Jacksons. From a $100 JS22-7 I heavily modded to a $1399 Pro H7 that's dead mint, they're all excellent guitars.
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Bad at Life
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2021 8:47 pm
Posts: 52
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2021 9:23 pm 
 

If you like the guitar then it's a good guitar. Jackson makes some really nice stuff. And I've had two Dinkys myself, both which I loved. The guitar you're looking at looks pretty sweet. If you like it, and you feel like it will do that you need it to, then I'd say it's a worthwhile investment.

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BirthOfDisease
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:18 pm
Posts: 58
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 8:15 am 
 

I absolutely love my JS32T King V (with a fixed bridge), feels very natural to play and I have always really liked V-shapes in the first place. I have only owned one, so I have an admittedly small sample size but from what I've heard of others that have owned more they're solid as a rock; hell, I intend on maybe getting a few more Jacksons down the line as I expand my collection.
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soul_schizm
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:55 am
Posts: 764
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 1:45 pm 
 

Bad at Life wrote:
If you like the guitar then it's a good guitar. Jackson makes some really nice stuff. And I've had two Dinkys myself, both which I loved. The guitar you're looking at looks pretty sweet. If you like it, and you feel like it will do that you need it to, then I'd say it's a worthwhile investment.


This.

If you're playing a guitar and you love how it feels and plays, everything else is secondary. I have owned guitars that are custom and very expensive and I wasn't crazy about, and more affordable foreign-built models that I liked much better.

Jacksons have a good reputation. I owned one and wasn't crazy about it. That should mean nothing to anyone but me.

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