Jackson Stars NASL-j1b

This is pretty much the top of the line Jackson Stars series guitar. It features nearly everything a normal MIA Jackson would feature. About the only thing where they start skimping is on the fact that it has a flame maple veneer top instead of a normal top. The guitar has the following specs:

Arched Mahogany Body with Flame Maple Veneer Top
Mahogany Thru-Neck Design
Bound Ebony Fretboard with Block Inlays
Tune-o-matic Bridge
Seymour Duncan Pickups (JB and 59)
One Volume
One Tone
Three Way Switch

UTILIZATION

I'll go ahead and get the bad things out of the way first. The guitar has a flame maple VENEER. That means that there's a thin piece of maple on this, and it's not contributing any way in terms of tone. That said, it makes the guitar sound super fat, but it still has the looks of something that's very classy. It's a very unique combination that I find actually can work in its favor if you're looking for a very thick sounding guitar. The frets on this were nicely done, and there were very few things to complain about overall. The only other gripe I have was that this has a hard tail, but they make these with floyds too. If you're into floyds, buy the floyd one.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounds super fat, first of all. The mahogany body and mahogany neck really give this thing some strong low end. The guitar had a JB in the bridge, and it was absolutely perfect for this wood combo. The JB usually has some very strong high end frequencies that can be a bit grating, but with this guitar, the high end help give it some necessary cut. The 59 in the neck sounded so smooth, round and fat sounding. It was absolute legato and solo heaven with this thing. I honestly believe the lack of a maple top helped make this guitar sound better.

OVERALL OPINION

Normally, the veneer tops can be a real downer. However, the fact that this looks like it has a maple top but has the fatness of mahogany really made it one awesome rhythm guitar. You can get some super fat rhythm sounds that are absolutely crushing once you start adding gobs of gain to the amp. It's definitely a well kept secret, that's for sure.