Jackson OC1 Outcaster

During the 90s, there was a strong indie movement going on. One of the popular guitars that really took off was the Fender Jaguar. This reminds me quite a bit of that guitar, and it has a very similar vibe, too. This guitar is very good for those who are looking for that indie vibe, but it might be a bit too odd for other people. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, dot inlays, a hard tail bridge, one humbucker and one lipstick style pickup, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar had some small issues, but it wasn't too much of a big deal. The one thing that stood out was that the nut needed to be replaced. After years of changing strings and gigging, it seemed to have worn away quite a bit, and it had some tuning stability issues. The neck joint wasn't a big deal, and the fretwork was decent on this. It wasn't awesome like some of the higher end Jacksons are, but it wasn't bad. I was able to get some good action with this. The neck's finish was completely worn away, so it was a real dirty maple neck. You could see dark spots everywhere, and it would take quite a bit of sanding to take that out. Hard tail bridge had some pitting, but it wasn't too bad.

SOUNDS

The guitar had a Seymour Duncan Custom 5 installed in the bridge, but the neck pickup was stock. The guitar also had a push/pull in the bridge tone to split the bridge and give it some extra versatility. The Custom 5 in the bridge is a great pickup. It has a nice bottom end, good mids and some nice treble that doesn't sound too harsh. It can work great with high gain, but it can also do stuff like blues and other genres without any issues. The split in the tone was nice, but it wasn't exactly the best split sound in the world. The lipstick pickup was stock, and I can't say I was a huge fan of it. Then again, I was never a real big fan of them to begin with.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitar looks basically like a Fender Jaguar clone, and if you're into those guitars, you'd probably really like this guitar. If you don't, I'm sure you wouldn't want anything to do with this. The basswood aspect is a bit disappointing, but the rest of the guitar is not too bad.