Jackson PS4 Dinky

I've been playing guitar as a hobby for around 18 years. I play and listen to anything from the Ventures to Metallica to Montgomery Gentry. If its got a good melody to it, I'll listen to it and learn to play it too.

I purchased this guitar with a hardshell Charvel case in the early 90s from Musician's Friend. I believe I paid around $600 for it. I settled on it after trying numerous other electrics at several music shops and friends' gear.

The neck on this guitar is excellent; very thin with extra jumbo frets. Its double locking Floyd Rose tremolo keeps it in tune. I swapped out the stock pickups and put a Dimarzio Evolution at the bridge, a Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon in the middle, and A Seymour Duncan Distortion at the neck. I also had a wiring mod done which splits the humbuckers when the pickup selector switch is in the 2nd or 4th position; like some Ibanez guitars do. I can get a very wide range of clear and dirty tones from this guitar enabling it to cover a wide genre of music styles.

I only have 2 things I don't like about this guitar. The finish is impossible to keep clean because I chose black. It shows every finger print and smudge. I spend several minutes cleaning it before putting it away after practice. The other problem is the location of the volume knob. Heavy rhythm playing and riffing will cause your hand to hit the knob and cut the volume down. I'm looking for a push/pull knob that only works when you pull it out from the guitar body to remedy this.

I've been playing this guitar for over 14 years now and it has held up extremely well. The frets and neck in general have required no serious maintenance other than cleaning and changing strings. I can do one of those "80s" whammy bar dives and then hit an open chord and it still stays in tune. I have yet to touch the truss rod. Excellent quality and construction.

I don't think they make this guitar anymore so if ya got one, hang on to it; and if ya find one for sale...buy it.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

i bought this guitar second hand from my local music shop for £235 down from £250 I think they cost about £400 - £450 new.

The best thing about this guitar would have to be the neck, it feels like silk and plays faster than linford christie with the drug inspectors after him. Its also very very thin (depth wise) ... which is nice. Then we move onto the pickups - 2 humbuckers and a singlecoil in the middle. The humbuckers are great, theyre so powerful, I play mainly punk stuff and they sound cool but I think heavy ass metals where they'd really shine. The singlecoil has a really trebly jangly tone which sound cool for indie n' stuff. Also you can get basically any lead sound so once again, pretty versatile.

Although I think the necks actually the same width as most standard guitars it feels wider because its flatter but you can get used to it fairly easily. To me the reverse headstock feels kinda weird but if i wasz into shred metal or something it would RAWK! SHRED! and other metal comments.

One word - perfect.

The only reason I gave it 4/5 was that I've had this guitar for a few months now and although it plays perfectly it still doesnt feel quite right unles im playinj it wit a short strap ( kirk hammett fast ass lead style) or mega low n bendin over ( every metal band on the planet style) but this could just be me so, try it out n if it feels ok buy it!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

One of my favorite instrument companies has to be the Jackson Charvel lines. I pretty much lean more towards the Charvel instruments because I like the way the new San Dimas neck feels. However Jackson does have some great sounding and very comfortable guitars as well. One of their most popular models has to be the dinky guitar. This is one of the most iconic guitars that Jackson has built in from many hard rock and metal shredder guitarist this is a go to instrument for those needs.

UTILIZATION

Guitar made in Japan
24 Jumbo frets
3 pickups stamped "Jackson" configuration: MSM
Alder body
Bolt-on maple
Rosewood
Volume 1 knob
1 knob tone
A 5-way switch
Licensed Floyd Rose tremolo

SOUNDS


This guitar sounds fantastic at most medium to high gain guitar amplifier settings. This instrument features two hum pickups which really complement the alder wood that is in the body in the neck of this instrument. Not to mention the extra pointed headstock that did Jackson guitars have give your tone a little bit more beef as well. They basically have a little bit more mass then a regular Fenders headstock which translates into a better tone and a greater sustain. So if you using this with a high gain amplifier to be very pleased at the results that you're getting.

OVERALL OPINION


This particular model has been discontinued but you certainly can find Jackson Dinkys all over many guitar retailers around the world. These are great sounding instruments and if you are more at the hard rock and metal guy you really can appreciate the point at stock that most of these guitars feature. It's a cool looking and a great design and overall the necks feel very comfortable to shred and play fast solos on.

This is yet another guitar in the Performer Series that's more aimed towards those who are very low on money. The main difference between this and the PS2 is that this has an HSH configuration. The guitar has the following features:

Alder body
Maple bolt-on neck
Rosewood fretboard with 24 jumbo frets
Licensed floyd rose bridge
HSH configuration
Dot inlays
One volume pot, one tone pot and a five way switch

UTILIZATION

The guitar had a few issues with it. The neck joint on this had a fairly noticeable gap. This can severely hinder potential tone due to lack of total sound transfer. The frets themselves really needed a nice once over. They weren't properly crowned, and the edges were sharp. Fixing both of those issues would have made this guitar play a lot better. The only other real issue would be that this bridge was awful. It's some cheap pot metal licensed floyd bridge that seems to lack all sustain. A real original floyd rose would be much better in terms of stability and overall tone.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounded pretty dismal. The bridge pickup was bright, and it didn't have any definition at all. Under gain, it just completely fell on its face. The middle position was decent for tones, and it split decent with the neck and bridge, but I don't put too much attention towards middle pickup tones as I find them more for cleans than anything else. The neck pickup sounded very muffled, and it couldn't get a good lead tone to save its life. If you're going to keep this, you really need to replace the pickups.

OVERALL OPINION

You could spend a good few hundred bucks upgrading this guitar by replacing the pickups and swapping out the licensed floyd for a real one. The problem is that the wood on these models can be such a crap shoot that it's pretty much not worth the time and investment. You'll also want to get a full fret level and crowning on this given how sloppy the fretwork on these models can be.