Hatsubai « EX version of the Japanese Dinky »
Published on 06/25/11 at 11:43This is yet another low end Jackson made overseas. The guitar has the following specs:
Basswood body
Maple neck with a rosewood fretboard
22 extra jumbo frets
Dot inlays
A Jackson licensed floyd rose
HSH configuration
One volume, one tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The Japanese guitars back during this day had some hit or miss things going on with them. There were some that were killer. These were the ones made with the same woods as the American counterparts. They were also built by a certain luthier. The lower end ones made with basswood don't really sound that great, and I find their quality isn't quite as good.
This guitar was about on par with all other other Dinkys of this era. This one actually had an original floyd rose installed at a later date. It didn't come with it, however, so I listed the Jackson floyd up in the specs. I highly recommend doing this mod if you're going to keep this guitar. Aside from that, the frets were average quality in terms of how much attention was given to them, and the neck joint wasn't as tight as it could have been.
SOUNDS
This one had some real Duncans installed in it, so that's what I'll be going by in this review. Even with the real Duncans, this thing didn't seem to resonate quite as nicely as some of the other Japanese Jacksons out there. I think it's because of the poor quality basswood they were using at the time. There are some really good Jacksons out there that are made in Japan, but these basswood ones don't seem to be on par for whatever reason. The Distortion in the bridge was nice, but it was a bit too middy in this guitar. Basswood is a fairly warm with tons of mids, so you have to be careful exactly what you're installing in this. I'm not sure what the single was, but the neck was a Jazz. The Jazz seemed to work out nicely for lead tones.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars seem to respond favorably to a pickup swap. That said, there are better ones out there. If you can get it real cheap on eBay, it's worth checking out. However, I'd rather buy something else, personally.
Basswood body
Maple neck with a rosewood fretboard
22 extra jumbo frets
Dot inlays
A Jackson licensed floyd rose
HSH configuration
One volume, one tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The Japanese guitars back during this day had some hit or miss things going on with them. There were some that were killer. These were the ones made with the same woods as the American counterparts. They were also built by a certain luthier. The lower end ones made with basswood don't really sound that great, and I find their quality isn't quite as good.
This guitar was about on par with all other other Dinkys of this era. This one actually had an original floyd rose installed at a later date. It didn't come with it, however, so I listed the Jackson floyd up in the specs. I highly recommend doing this mod if you're going to keep this guitar. Aside from that, the frets were average quality in terms of how much attention was given to them, and the neck joint wasn't as tight as it could have been.
SOUNDS
This one had some real Duncans installed in it, so that's what I'll be going by in this review. Even with the real Duncans, this thing didn't seem to resonate quite as nicely as some of the other Japanese Jacksons out there. I think it's because of the poor quality basswood they were using at the time. There are some really good Jacksons out there that are made in Japan, but these basswood ones don't seem to be on par for whatever reason. The Distortion in the bridge was nice, but it was a bit too middy in this guitar. Basswood is a fairly warm with tons of mids, so you have to be careful exactly what you're installing in this. I'm not sure what the single was, but the neck was a Jazz. The Jazz seemed to work out nicely for lead tones.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars seem to respond favorably to a pickup swap. That said, there are better ones out there. If you can get it real cheap on eBay, it's worth checking out. However, I'd rather buy something else, personally.