Jackson Pro Soloist SL4

This Jackson has the following specs:

Alder body with a flame maple veneer top
Neck-thru maple neck with a rosewood fretboard and 24 jumbo frets
Standard sharkfin inlays
Two Seymour Duncan pickups in an HH configuration
A licensed floyd rose bridge
One volume, one tone and a three way switch

UTILIZATION

The guitar had some issues with the fretwork. I'm not sure if this was because it was a used guitar or if it came from the factory like that, but it needed some attention. The edges were a tad sharp, and the frets needed to be properly leveled. There were some low frets that caused it to fret out at certain parts of the neck. The truss rod was set up with 0.005'' of relief, so I know it wasn't anything related to that. The bridge is also total crap. I recommend replacing it with an original floyd rose for a better tone and better tuning stability. Don't forget to replace the posts too.

SOUNDS

The guitar didn't seem to be as resonant as some of the other Jacksons in the shop. It could have just been a fluke guitar, but who knows. The guitar had a JB in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. The JB in the bridge is bright, and it has that vintage kinda bass going on. It's great for everything from blues to heavy metal. To me, the JB is one of the single most versatile pickups out there on the market. The 59 in the neck gave it a really cool, warm sound, but it had some bite to it. The bite helps cut through the mix during lead lines, but it was a bit too bright in this particular guitar. I think it was the wood and construction that lead to this.

OVERALL OPINION

These can be hard to find, and not many of them were made. I normally see the SL3 models in the used section. They're decent guitars, but I think there are better options out there. If you're looking to buy one, try out a few first. See if you really like it enough. I also feel the SL3 is a bit more versatile, but that's another topic.