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Hatsubai « Old school style San Dimas »
Published on 08/17/11 at 17:10Adrian Smith used to use Jacksons in the past quite a bit. While he tends to play more brands than the other guys in Maiden, it was really necessary for him to have his own special signature guitar, in my opinion. This is a total throwback to the old school Jackson he used to have. The guitar has an alder body, a quartersawn maple neck with an ebony fretboard, 22 frets, dot inlays, an original floyd rose bridge, HSS configuration with a pickguard, one volume, tone tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The first thing you notice is that the guitar is absolutely perfect in weight. It's very balanced, and it's not too heavy. The fretwork on this is top notch from Jackson. They're usually pretty good at their fretwork, so that's no real surprise. The guitar has an original floyd rose, which I happen to think is one of the best floyds out there. There are other great ones out there, too, but this is top notch. One thing I wish this guitar had was the ability to pull up. You can slightly pull up if you set up the bridge that way, but it doesn't have the pull up of a fully routed floyd rose.
SOUNDS
The guitar has a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge with a Fender SCN in the neck and middle. The DiMarzio Super Distortion has long since been a favorite of Adrian Smith ever since the early Iron Maiden days. It's a super high output, super fat pickup that really balances itself out nicely with the wood combination. Alder with a maple neck and ebony fingerboard can sometimes get a bit bright, but this is nearly perfect for it. It's not super tight or super clean, so keep that in mind. The singles, while great, also get a bit "taken over" in terms of output by the Super Distortion.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're a fan of Iron Maiden and/or Adrian Smith, I'm sure you'll love this guitar. Even if you're not, this is a great guitar. I really enjoy some of the new guitars that Jackson seems to be putting out. I just wish that they weren't as expensive as they currently are, as I feel that's what's really hurting them at the moment.
UTILIZATION
The first thing you notice is that the guitar is absolutely perfect in weight. It's very balanced, and it's not too heavy. The fretwork on this is top notch from Jackson. They're usually pretty good at their fretwork, so that's no real surprise. The guitar has an original floyd rose, which I happen to think is one of the best floyds out there. There are other great ones out there, too, but this is top notch. One thing I wish this guitar had was the ability to pull up. You can slightly pull up if you set up the bridge that way, but it doesn't have the pull up of a fully routed floyd rose.
SOUNDS
The guitar has a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge with a Fender SCN in the neck and middle. The DiMarzio Super Distortion has long since been a favorite of Adrian Smith ever since the early Iron Maiden days. It's a super high output, super fat pickup that really balances itself out nicely with the wood combination. Alder with a maple neck and ebony fingerboard can sometimes get a bit bright, but this is nearly perfect for it. It's not super tight or super clean, so keep that in mind. The singles, while great, also get a bit "taken over" in terms of output by the Super Distortion.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're a fan of Iron Maiden and/or Adrian Smith, I'm sure you'll love this guitar. Even if you're not, this is a great guitar. I really enjoy some of the new guitars that Jackson seems to be putting out. I just wish that they weren't as expensive as they currently are, as I feel that's what's really hurting them at the moment.