Hatsubai « HSS MIJ Dinky »
Published on 08/14/11 at 17:48This is another lower budget model by the Japanese division (when compared to the American division), but it's still a fairly high quality guitar over all, especially considering the price that you get it at. The guitar has the following specs:
Basswood body
Maple bolt-on neck with a rosewood fretboard
24 jumbo frets with sharkfin inlays
Licensed floyd rose
HSS configuration
One volume, one tone
Five way switch
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together decently, but there were a few issues. There was some fretwear on this model that needed to be looked at. A good level should fix those issues. As a result, I wasn't able to get the action I was hoping for, but considering that the guitar was used, it's not too surprising. The floyd on this is pretty bad, and I recommend replacing it with something higher quality. I'm a big fan of the original Floyd Rose, and I believe it drops right in without any modifications needed.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this aren't that good. The bridge pickup is kind of like a Duncan JB clone, but it's not nearly as clear sounding, nor is it as organic. It seems to sound a lot more linear or something. The in between position was pretty decent, but the single is quite noisy. The middle position is fairly useless to me, and I almost never use it alone. The neck and middle position got some really cool strat quack sounds, and it delivered for cleans, but I felt it lacked some dynamics. The stock neck didn't have enough output for me, and it was noisy. If it were me, I'd swap them with something a bit better.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are pretty good considering what you get, but keep in mind that they're basswood bodies. Not everybody likes that. Personally, I prefer either alder or mahogany on Jackson guitars because it's a bit more traditional. A pickup swap and maybe a floyd swap should make this a really good player.
Basswood body
Maple bolt-on neck with a rosewood fretboard
24 jumbo frets with sharkfin inlays
Licensed floyd rose
HSS configuration
One volume, one tone
Five way switch
UTILIZATION
The guitar was put together decently, but there were a few issues. There was some fretwear on this model that needed to be looked at. A good level should fix those issues. As a result, I wasn't able to get the action I was hoping for, but considering that the guitar was used, it's not too surprising. The floyd on this is pretty bad, and I recommend replacing it with something higher quality. I'm a big fan of the original Floyd Rose, and I believe it drops right in without any modifications needed.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this aren't that good. The bridge pickup is kind of like a Duncan JB clone, but it's not nearly as clear sounding, nor is it as organic. It seems to sound a lot more linear or something. The in between position was pretty decent, but the single is quite noisy. The middle position is fairly useless to me, and I almost never use it alone. The neck and middle position got some really cool strat quack sounds, and it delivered for cleans, but I felt it lacked some dynamics. The stock neck didn't have enough output for me, and it was noisy. If it were me, I'd swap them with something a bit better.
OVERALL OPINION
These guitars are pretty good considering what you get, but keep in mind that they're basswood bodies. Not everybody likes that. Personally, I prefer either alder or mahogany on Jackson guitars because it's a bit more traditional. A pickup swap and maybe a floyd swap should make this a really good player.