Jackson USA Player's Choice Phil Collen

Phil Collen has always been known for this pretty awesome superstrat model, but he also used to have this really neat HS model with a unique cutaway and slanted neck pickup way back in the day. This is one of those guitars. The guitar features a maple body with a maple neck, an ebony fretboard with binding, 24 extra jumbo frets with shark fin inlays, a schaller floyd rose, HS configuration with one volume and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

This guitar had some weight to it, but considering it was all maple, it was to be expected. The guitar had a Schaller floyd installed on it, and these are very solid floyds. In fact, I have them on a few of my guitars, and they stay in tune perfectly fine. One thing worth noting is that they don't flutter quite as well as the original floyd rose does, and they seem to sound a little warmer overall. The pot on this was starting to go out, so that needed to be replaced. Spraying it with contact cleaner didn't fix it. The frets had some wear to them, but it wasn't a huge deal considering the age fo the instrument. Pretty solid overall.

SOUNDS

The neck pickup is probably the most unique thing about this guitar. The neck pickup itself was just a Hot Rails, but because it was shifted back the way it was, it seemed to have less output. That can be good or bad depending on what you're going for. It seemed to sound cleaner, and it also had some characteristics of the Hot Rails in the middle position. The bridge pickup was a Custom Custom that someone put in it as I don't believe that was stock. It really thickened up the maple body quite a bit, and it was a welcomed edition to the guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

These are hard to find, and not everybody likes them. In fact, I prefer the other Jacksons with the figured tops and normal configuration as well. It just seems to suit me more, but I'm more of a traditionalist when it comes to these kinds of things.