Jackson STC-Shaped Guitars

Jackson Dinky Reverse, made in the USA (Ontario, California), standard series that was built only for 2 years, in 1996-97. Specs: - Bolt-on quartersawn maple neck with scarf joint. Gunstock oil finish. - A thick ebony fingerboard with no inlays (but there are side markers of course!). - Scale 25'' 1/2 with 22 jumbo frets. - 2-piece poplar body, in gloss black finish, reverse headstock, "Jackson made in USA" decal. - All chrome hardware with  Jackson JT500LP locking tremolo. - One master volume knob, one master tone knob, and a 3 way toggle switch. - I equipped her with EMGs (81 85) with metal chrome rings (original pickups were Duncan Screaming Demon B and Jazz N). - Cool details, all the backplates are made of brushed alloy, no cheapo plastics like the MIJ. No frills at all here, to keep the price rather low: no MOP inlays, no bindings, no MOP logo. But the essence of any good USA Jackson is present: excellent woods, good finish, no flaws and a great player! Only regret, since it was among the cheapest US models, the tremolo is a good JT580LP, not an excellent Original Floyd Rose. I actually replaced the JT580LP with a good OFR without problem, just removed the japanese trem, slapped the OFR in, restrung and tuned the harmonics, nothing more. So easy! And much crispier with an OFR! A classy, yet very sober look. Still, the perceived quality is far from the Japanese models, it's a real US guitar. UTILIZATION The neck is fairly wide and flat, the same as the DK-1's. Not an awful Ibanez ruler. The feel of the oiled neck is just great! It is immediately comfortable. The absence of fingerboard inlays is definitely not a problem, you get used to it very quickly. And it gives the guitar a killer look! The action is definitely no fret buzz though, the Floyd is recessed in a very deep route, and stays in tune. Access to the upper frets is good too, thanks to the heel contour, the neck plate is slanted to help reaching the upper frets. Better than what Jackson do with their Japanese models. The weight is ok, much heavier than any basswood stuff, still it can be compared to the weight of an alder guitar. It won't break your back! Unplugged, the sound is wide and rich. Great news! Added 28/06/2004: I'm getting bored with Floyd Rose equipped guitars. You can't drop tune on the fly, changing strings is long, double bend are terrible, etc. Pity for it's a great axe, highly addictive! The finish is definitely good, no flaws whatsoever, the neck is incredible, smooth, fast, the thick ebony board is pure black, no discoloration, awwww this guitar is a gem. SOUNDS I have no clue how the stock Duncan Screaming Demon B and Jazz N sound: the previous owner replaced them with DiMarzio Evolution bridge and a Fred in neck. I did not keep this DiMarzio setup anyway, the Evo is just NOT what I like (stupidely bland with too many trebles), and if the Fred is superb in bridge, it was not very convincing in neck. But with da EMGs ! Despite the EMGs, she remains quite versatile! Ok, don't expect stuff she CAN'T do, like Telecaster or P90 sounds. When you buy a Dinky, you don't expect to play in a jazz band... get a SweeTone instead! Still the clean with the 81 is not the warmest (bear in mind it's a ceramic pickup, not an AlNiCo one!), still you can use it for funk, bluesy stuff, rock. It's not outstanding, but the 81 can make it do. The 85 has more warmth, a rounder sound, still it does not go muddy. Cool even in jazzy stuff. In crunch, the 85 goes well beyond what I expected, he really has his little characters, and can cry a blues! Yes! The 81 is fine in crunch too. But yep, this setup is definitely good for high gain! In good old metal, it's a gem! The EMG 81, always sharp, even on massive palm mutes, a tad aggressive, never muddy, and harmonics come out easily! Ditto for the 85's harmonics is also remains sharp and accurate, and very singing! It's really a typical Jackson rather aggressive when you want it, a sharp sound, in your face, with that magic Jackson feel. It sounds like a dream with my Triaxis / G Major / 2: 90. I still can't believe how good they mix so well together! Added 28/06/2004: farewell Mesa, back to Engl, with a PowerBall and a 4x12 cab with V30 speakers. Wow there again, It's just purely addictive! Pure Jackson, actually. It has a grain of its own and really recognizable! Sharp without being too aggressive, big but not fat, geeezzzzzzzzzz! OVERALL OPINION Rather hard to find (2 years of production only), she's is beautiful, classy, easy to play, while remaining simple and what a  sound! No regrets, except for da Floyd (though it stays in tune hey). I kinda fell in love with her! Muhahahaha! Added 28/06/2004: I felt like selling her, not because it's a bad guitar, but because of the tremolo, I do not play her as often as I should. At one stage, I preferred my SLSMG, because this latter had a hardtail. But as soon as I plugged the DR2 again, I decided to keep her as long as I could, there's love in the air, Jackson Power!!!  Added 24/12/2005: money talked and I've had to sell her, since I was bored with tremolos and thought she had to go. Doh! I really miss her! One day, I'll get another DR2, ooooh yes, one day, I'll get another DR2

These are the bottom of the barrel Jacksons and are only meant for those who are looking for an extremely cheap guitar. They're marketed towards those who are just starting out and are not really recommended to anybody else due to the body wood that they use. The guitar features an Indian Cedro body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets, sharkfin inlays, a two point vibrato bridge, two humbucker configuration, one volume, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION This is a cheap guitar, and you can tell right away. First off, there is a huge neck joint gap on this. When I say huge, I mean huge. The frets on this were cut sharp, and they weren't nearly as polished as they should have been. When you move your hand up and down the neck, it would really grab into my palm and be real annoying. The frets themselves weren't level, and there were dead spots once you started putting the action below medium and started bending. The bridge on this is real cheap and doesn't stay in tune. The nut itself wasn't cut properly, and it created additional tuning instability. SOUNDS I should first state that this guitar didn't sound very resonant unplugged. It was very dead sounding from the beginning, and I can guarantee these awful stock pickups weren't doing it any favors. The bridge pickup was so bright and harsh that I had to turn down the tone knob, and I never do that. It sounded so synthetic that it was ridiculous. The neck pickup was also harsh and didn't have any clarity at all. Leads were very hard for me to play on this, and the guitar just didn't resonate one bit. I wouldn't even recommend replacing the pickups in this because I doubt it would do anything positive for the overall sound given how dead the body was. OVERALL OPINION If you want a good, cheap, beginner strat, look into the LTD line up or something. These guitars just aren't that good, and they are too inconsistent to really even consider. Too many issues prevent me from recommending this guitar, but the unfortunate truth of the matter is...I've actually played worse.

The JDR-94 is a unique guitar that you don't see much of. You can sometimes find these stored away in the backs of pawn shops, and it's a bit sad to see them back there considering they can be some real decent players. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with dot inlays, a hard tail bridge, HSH configuration, one volume, one tone and a five way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar had a neck joint gap, but it was nothing too big. Some of these can have big gaps, but most guitars out there have SOME sort of gap, so it's nothing to get too anal about. The bad points about this guitar are the pickups and bridge. The bridge on this is a licensed floyd that really doesn't hold up once you start doing heavy dive bombing year after year. The baseplate seems to be weaker than the original floyd rose, hence the issues that can sometimes occur. The rest of the guitar is pretty much good. Weight wise, it was a nice medium 7 lb guitar, it had some solid fretwork and seemed to play quite nice once it was set up. I needed to oil the fretboard and shine up the frets to get this thing to really play the way it should. SOUNDS Somebody installed a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and a Distortion in the bridge. The Seymour Duncan Distortion is a high output bridge pickup that works great for metal. Think of the JB, but now add a huge ceramic magnet into it. For those who don't know how magnets affect the overall sound, it basically make it tighter and helped beef it up, along with making it a bit sharper at times. The pickup worked decently in basswood, but I find it works best in either mahogany or even alder at times. The middle pickup was stock, and it didn't really sound that great. It also didn't deliver a great clean. The Jazz in the neck is awesome for cleans and decent for leads. It's a bit hi-fi for me at times for leads, but it's still a cool pickup. OVERALL OPINION If you can find one of these at a good price, I recommend you pick it up. They're very solid guitars. With a few modifications, you can have a real player for just a few hundred bucks, and it'll rival quite a few guitars out there. Just be sure you actually like basswood bodies before rushing out to your local pawn shop to try to find one of these.

The DX was an interesting series that Jackson had going on for awhile. They looked great, but the wood choices were kinda iffy. Then again, at the time, it was standard fair for what was coming out overseas. The guitar has the following specs: Basswood body with a figured veneer top Maple bolt-on neck Rosewood fretboard with 24 jumbo frets HSH configuration No binding Jackson licensed floyd rose Dot inlays Five way switch Master volume and master tone knobs UTILIZATION The guitar looks great, but considering it's one of those photoflame/veneer guitars, it should look great. The finish on this was good, but there were a few nicks. Considering that it was a used guitar, that's not really too surprising. The frets on this were pretty decent, albeit the ends could probably have used a bit more attention. The floyd on this thing is trash. I recommend replacing that with something like the original floyd rose. They tend to feel better and sound better too. Some claim this isn't true, but I'm a firm believe that the higher quality trems sound better. Also make sure to check for neck joint gaps as they can potentially hard tone as well. SOUNDS The stock pickups in this were your average Japanese stock pickups. The bridge lacked that note clarity and separation that the higher quality pickups tend to have. The basswood also wasn't helping it with these stock pickups as basswood tends to be a very picky wood. It's very middy and somewhat neutral/dark sounding, so a lot of pickups meant for alder or mahogany tend to sound very odd in them. The neck pickup got some decent clean tones, but I disliked the lead tone. I recommend replacing these with DiMarzios as they have some great models that work nicely with basswood. I can't comment on the middle pickup as I never use it. OVERALL OPINION These can be a bit hard to find today, but if you want a good gigging guitar, these can be a very good choice. They're fairly cheap on the used market, and with a good pickup swap. I also recommend replacing the floyd with an original floyd rose to help in terms of tuning stability and overall tone.

Body: mahogany with carved top Neck: neck thru body mahogany with scarf joint headstock Tuning machines: sealed die-cast tuners Fingerboard: ebony Frets: 24 jumbo frets Bridge pickup: EMG-81 Neck pickup: EMG-85 Controls: master volume, master tone Bridge: JT390 adjustable with strings-thru-body3- position blade pickups switching:Position 1 Bridge pickup Position 2 Middle pickup Position 3 Neck pickup Hardware: black MOTO piranha tooth position inlays Ivoroid binding on neck and headstock I bought my slsmg off ebay for about $500.00 it was the best purchase I have ever made Im going to keep this guitar forever. The neck through body,emgs,and the string through construction all come together for awesome sustain.The neck is very comfortable and thin so it is ideal for a lead guitarist and there is easy access to the upper frets.Also the guitars name Super Light Soloist is true this guitar unlike guitars like les puals is very light and puts little to no strain on your shoulder when playing standing up.And this guitar is great for alternate tunings because of it not having a floyd rose that constantly needs to be adjusted. The volume nob gets in the way of my hand sometimes. I havn't had any problems at all with the construction or quality other than the volume nob but its not a very big problem.construction and quality ***** The bottom line is this is a fantastic guitar and I woud reccommend to anyone. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The new Jackson X series is Giving players neck through construction for bolt on prices. These guitars are made overseas but have the same kind of construction that you would get on a USA model. This is one of the X series Soloist guitars. The Soloist is one of Jacksons most popular models so having a budget Soloist option with neck through construction should be a great seller for them. This is the natural model that has a flame maple veeneer on the basswood body. The neck is maple with neck through construction. The fretboard is rosewood with a compound radius design. It was a Floyd Rose style tremolo and a locking nut. The pickups in this guitar make it one of the better models in the X Series. This guitar comes with fully active EMG's. It has the EMG 81 and the EMG 85. Other X Series models have passive EMG's so you have to look out which model you are picking up. The controls are simple with a volume and tone with a 3 way blade switch. UTILIZATION With the neck through construction you get all the feel as if this was a USA made SL2 or something. With the neck through construction you get a super smooth feeling all the way up to the 24th fret. There is no big heel to get in your way or anything. With the compound radius fretboard you get a comfortable playability on both ends of the neck. Near the body the radius is flatter at about 16 inches. This means that you can get a lower action up there for faster playing and easier bends. Down near the headstock the radius is about 12 inches so it is a bit rounder so you can play chords more comfortably. SOUNDS This guitar is one of the better X Series models because it comes with fully active EMG pickups, pickups you would find in guitars costing 3x as much. Because it comes with these active EMG's the basswood body is less noticable. EMG's are not very wood sensitive so essentially you are getting the same tone that you would get if you had a Custom Shop SL2 with EMG's. This guitar has the classic EMG 81/85 setup. The 81 is in the bridge. It has a high end razor sharp kind of sound. The 85 is a more versatile pickup but it is not as hardcore as the 81. The 85 has a warmer tone. It doesnt have as much high end. It has a smoother sound which is better for leads and better for clean tones. OVERALL OPINION This is one of the better models in the X series as ive said. it comes with active pickups while other models in the X series come with EMG-HZ pickups which are not on the same level. If you are looking for a guitar with a good metal sound the active pickups are what you want. In this guitar with the active pickups you do not notice the cheaper tonewoods in the guitar. The construction is top notch and the same style as what you would get on a USA model. Jackson is doing a good thing with these X series guitars.

The Jackson X series is a new line of guitar from Jackson that take a lot of the construction features of their high end guitars and puts them on lower end guitars so more people can afford them. A lot of their models are neck through which you do not see much on guitars of this price. The guitar I am reviewing is an SLX but it does not look like the one in the picture. It is the natural version which surprisingly comes with a different set of pickups. The natural version has a natural finish to it so you can clearly see the basswood body attached to the maple neck. The guitar is neck through so the basswood body is just wings on the neck. The neck has a 24 fret compound radius rosewood fretboard. There is a locking nut for the Floyd Rose. The pickups are different on the Natural model. This model comes with passive EMG pickups. The control layout is typical with a volume and tone with a 3 way switch. UTILIZATION This guitar plays a lot like a high end Jackson. The neck through construction means that there is no neck joint to get in the way. It is smooth all the way up the 24 frets. The compound radius fretboard means you get a comfortable action all the way up the neck as well. On the higher frets the radius is flatter so you can get a lower action for your leads and on the lower frets the radius is more round so you can play chords more comfortably. The Floyd Rose was okay. Its not an original Floyd Rose but it is good enough if you dont plan on standing on it. SOUNDS Jacksons do not normally have basswood bodies so the tone is a bit different on this than other Jacksons. I cant think of many other guitars that have basswood bodies with neck through maple necks. At least the wood combination looks good with the natural finish. The passive EMG pickups are not the greatest. They are pretty fizzy and thin. I would most likely swap these out if this was my guitar. If you are a beginner and still have a low end amp then these pickups will work just fine for you. Some X models come with real active EMG's and some do not. I would make that a priority in picking a guitar from this line over looks and shape. Getting one of the X series guitars that come with real EMG's can save you a lot of money in the future and they are not that much more expensive than the other models. OVERALL OPINION I like the X series on the surface. The guitars are very well priced. You can get this model for 600 bucks. I just wish there was more consistantcy through the line. The green finished version of this guitar comes with Duncan Design pickups while the natural finished on comes with passive EMG's. And there is another soloist in the X series that comes with active EMG's. It is quite confusing. If you dont mine the passive EMG's and are looking for a cool looking soloist that doesnt cost and arm and a leg the SLX natural Soloist is a pretty cool guitar.

The Jackson USA versions of these are probably the best Fusion models you can get. The Professional Series are pretty solid guitars in their own rights, but it was the USA models that really utilized some of my favorite wood combos and really neat effects. This guitar has the following specs: Alder body Maple neck with an ebony fretboard 24 extra jumbo frets with sharkfin inlays Original floyd rose HSS configuration Mid sweep knob Volume knob Tone knob Five way switch UTILIZATION The fretwork on this is great. The guitar itself is showing some age, but the frets themselves are in great condition. There's very little fret wear, and the crowning was done properly. They're also fairly level. I was able to get low action without any issues of fretting out. The bridge on this is an original floyd rose, and they happen to be one of my favorite floyds out there on the market. They flutter great, stay in tune and seem to really last. The newer ones aren't quite as good as the old ones, but they're still fairly solid. The inlay work was great, the ebony was nice and dark, and there wasn't much of a neck joint gap like you can sometimes find on the lower end Japanese versions. SOUNDS This had the stock pickups in it still. These pickups have covers on them almost like EMGs, but they don't really sound like EMGs to me. The bridge pickup has a strong output, and it reminds me almost of a JB at times. It can do tons of genres, and it's very versatile. It also combines nicely with the middle pickup. Combined with the middle, you can get a great spank for clean tones and funk tones. The middle pickup is something I never use alone, but with the neck pickup, I got a sick clean tone and old school quack like on the strats. The neck could use a bit more output, but it was still good for leads and cleans. The mid sweep on this guitar allows you to really fine-tune the frequency you're looking for in your guitar. You can get that Michael Schenker tone without an issue. OVERALL OPINION These are awesome guitars, and if you happen to come across one, pick it up. I actually think the stock pickups in these are fairly solid, but there are other pickups out there that are better, honestly. Either way, you shouldn't be too disappointed if you happen to find one of these for a great price. Keep in mind that it's a shorter scale.

This guitar was made in Japan, and for the price that it went for, it wasn't a bad guitar at all. Here are the specs on it: Alder body with flamed maple top (I believe this was a veneer) Maple bolt-on neck with a bound rosewood fingerboard and 24 jumbo frets Seymour Duncan STK-1 single-coils and JB TB4 humbucker Jackson licensed floyd rose Sharkfin inlays One volume, one tone and a five way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar didn't have too many issues from what I saw. The absolute worst problem was the bridge. I'm not a fan of 99% of these Jackson bridges out there. There's one of them that's a Schaller clone, but aside from that one, most of them are trash. I recommend replacing it with an original floyd rose to get the most out of the guitar. Aside from that, the frets were pretty good. I could get low action without much of a problem. The neck joint was nice and tight. There wasn't a huge gap, and that's always good to see. The neck itself felt pretty nice; basically a standard Jackson MIJ neck. SOUNDS The guitar sounded really good thanks to it having real Seymour Duncan pickups installed in it. The bridge gave it a nice bitey sound. This bridge pickup can really work for nearly any genre you can think of. From fusion to blues to death metal, this pickup really can do it all. Some people hate it because it can be picky depending on how that particular piece of wood sounds, but it's generally a pretty good sounding pickup. The neck singles were really cool. You can get that awesome single coil sound without a problem, and the in between positions were really nice. They worked excellent for clean tones. OVERALL OPINION If you're looking for a solid Jackson without spending tons of money, check out these guitars. I'd swap out the bridge for an original floyd rose, but aside from that, the guitar is very solid. You don't even need to change out the pickups with this one.

The JDX-94 was always this kind of odd guitar that I never truly got along with. It's a fairly unique Jackson at some points, and on the other hand, it's right where Jackson usually deals their cards in other points. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with dot inlays, a unique hard tail bridge, HSS configuration, one volume, one tone and a five way switch. UTILIZATION The one thing worth noting is that this bridge is odd. It's like a telecaster bridge at times. It has this metal base plate that comes over the humbucker, and it mounts in there. It creates a unique tone, but I'll get to that point later. The guitar had decent fretwork, but there were a few high and low frets on this. It would cause the guitar to fret out with lower action no matter how the truss rod was actually set. The ends of the frets weren't bad, so no issues there. The nut needed to be redone as the last person seems to have gouged it in some way. Not sure how they managed to do that, but regardless, it needed a new nut. The rest of the guitar was typical Jackson, including the very subtle neck joint gap that you can usually find. SOUNDS This is where the guitar is the most bizarre. You have a basswood body but a telecaster style bridge. The bridge made the bridge pickup sound really...twangy almost. To hear that kind of twang come from a humbucker in the bridge was just a bit unique and frankly, off putting. I'm more of a metal guy, and while I dig the hell out of teles, I don't really like to mix the two unless I'm doing something a bit different. This guitar definitely succeeded at the different part. The pickups in this are just standard off the shelf crappy stock pickups that Jackson loves to throw in their lower end guitars, and while they can deliver decent cleans, I'm not a fan of how they sound as a whole. OVERALL OPINION The guitar needs a pickup swap, and you have to be sure you like this kind of bridge. Being a floyd guy, it wasn't really my thing. This could be exactly what you're looking for, however, and if you think this is something you'd enjoy, check it out. They're decent guitars for the money, but they can be a real pain to find at times.

The Jackson SL1 is one of the flagship models that Jackson has offered for years upon years. It was built in the 80s to serve those who want absolute performance out of their guitars. This guitar features a strat style alder body, maple neck, ebony fretboard with sharkfin inlays, original Floyd Rose, HSS configuration, a volume knob, a tone knob and a 5 way blade switch. UTILIZATION Jackson's neck-thru design is wonderful. There is absolutely no issues at all with getting to the higher frets. Those of you who had issues with the Dinky DK1 will probably be looking into either this or the SL2. The really cool thing about this is that it has a compound radius. That means that chording on the lower register is much easier to do, and big bends on the higher register won't fret out like they would on a normal radius. The fretwork on this guitar is usually really good, too. SOUNDS This is probably the most versatile guitar that Jackson offers. The guitar comes equipped with Seymour Duncan pickups, and the pickups are awesome. In the bridge, you have the iconic Duncan JB. This has a bit of a searing quality to it, and while it's not super tight, it's just tight enough to work with most any style out there. In the middle and neck, you have the Duncan Classic Stack pickups. These are very versatile single coils that can deliver nearly any tone you're looking for. While most people associate Jacksons with metal, this guitar can really do it all thanks to its versatile configuration. OVERALL OPINION If you're looking for one of the most versatile guitars that Jackson has to offer, you should really check this model out. While I generally prefer the Dinky guitars due to their bolt-on construction, the Jackson Soloist is a great guitar that should be able to do nearly any style you'd like.

2006 was the year that Fender officially acquired Jackson, and as a result, Jackson was allowed to use the original Fender headstock. This is now on all of the current Phil Collen models as that's what he originally wanted in the first place. The guitar features a mahogany body with a quilted maple top, a maple neck, 24 frets, dot inlays, an original floyd rose, HSS configuration, one volume, one tone, a five way switch and two switches for the sustainer. UTILIZATION The quilt on this wasn't quite as nice as the Pre 06 I had. It was a strong quilt, but the older one seemed to pop a bit more for whatever reason. Every guitar is different, so keep that in mind. The neck joint on this was nice and tight, so no issues there. The frets could have been leveled a bit better, but they were pretty good for most applications. The guitar has a pretty big neck on this, so if you like thin necks, you might want to look into another guitar. Aside from that, it's a pretty normal Jackson, although it weighs quite a bit considering the maple and mahogany. SOUNDS The guitar has a DiMarzio Super 3 in the bridge with an HS2 in the middle and a Sustainer in the neck. The Super 3 is another take on DiMarzio's Super Distortion. Imagine a Super Distortion, but now add more midrange and less treble. That's basically what this is. It's great for a very fat sound, but it can be a bit one dimensional at times. For the tone it does do, however, it does it in spades. The HS2 was never a huge favorite of mine, but it works on cleans. The Sustainer in the neck is super fun to play with, and you can get all kinds of cool harmonics with it thanks to the various toggle switches. OVERALL OPINION I recommend going to the store and playing these to see if you like them. They're not for everyone due to the neck and the Sustainer. Not everybody wants that feature, and you might be able to make do with a cheaper Jackson. That said, it's a pretty high quality guitar, albeit slightly overpriced new.