Hatsubai « A bit of a budget model »
Published on 09/08/11 at 15:02This is a fairly solid guitar Jackson makes. Its main feature is that it has an alder body instead of the basswood bodies like some of the other Stars guitars. Aside from that, it's not much of a difference from the rest. The guitar has the following specs:
Alder Body
Maple Bolt-On Neck
Bound Rosewood Fretboard with Sharkfin Inlays
Licensed Floyd Rose
Passive EMG H3 Pickups
One Volume
One Tone
Three Way Switch
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together decently, but there were some issues. I noticed that were was some filler on certain parts of the sharkfin inlays. That means the router kinda got out from under them when they were working on the guitar. It's not a huge deal, but some people might have issues with it. The frets were fairly level, but the ends weren't as beveled as I would have liked them to be. The guitar has a pretty cheap licensed floyd that's really not that great. There are better trems out there, and if you're looking to keep this guitar, you might want to replace it with something of better quality.
SOUNDS
The guitar has passive EMGs installed in it. These don't really sound like normal EMGs, so if you're expecting that awesome bite of the 81 and clarity, you'll be sorely disappointed. The H3s are kinda like baby EMGs or something. They lack the clarity, punch and compression that the normal EMGs have. This can be good to some, but I find that they just lack when compared to other passives on the market. If it were me, I'd either replace these with real EMGs or go with some other high quality pickups such as DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan. All of those manufacturers tend to make great pickups that would work awesome in this guitar.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a solid player guitar, this is something to check out. I recommend replacing the pickups and maybe even the bridge, but it's still a very good quality guitar. Be sure to look out for any potential issues with the fretwork. They're generally pretty good, but sometimes they slip up and don't finish them as well as they should.
Alder Body
Maple Bolt-On Neck
Bound Rosewood Fretboard with Sharkfin Inlays
Licensed Floyd Rose
Passive EMG H3 Pickups
One Volume
One Tone
Three Way Switch
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together decently, but there were some issues. I noticed that were was some filler on certain parts of the sharkfin inlays. That means the router kinda got out from under them when they were working on the guitar. It's not a huge deal, but some people might have issues with it. The frets were fairly level, but the ends weren't as beveled as I would have liked them to be. The guitar has a pretty cheap licensed floyd that's really not that great. There are better trems out there, and if you're looking to keep this guitar, you might want to replace it with something of better quality.
SOUNDS
The guitar has passive EMGs installed in it. These don't really sound like normal EMGs, so if you're expecting that awesome bite of the 81 and clarity, you'll be sorely disappointed. The H3s are kinda like baby EMGs or something. They lack the clarity, punch and compression that the normal EMGs have. This can be good to some, but I find that they just lack when compared to other passives on the market. If it were me, I'd either replace these with real EMGs or go with some other high quality pickups such as DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan. All of those manufacturers tend to make great pickups that would work awesome in this guitar.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for a solid player guitar, this is something to check out. I recommend replacing the pickups and maybe even the bridge, but it's still a very good quality guitar. Be sure to look out for any potential issues with the fretwork. They're generally pretty good, but sometimes they slip up and don't finish them as well as they should.