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Hatsubai « Crazy color and decent quality »
Published on 11/01/11 at 18:10Jackson has started releasing their new X series guitars lately. They're different from the older X series, so keep that in mind. These are meant for people who want a decent quality guitar but without the huge price tag that normally comes with it. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple neck-thru neck, a rosewood fretboard with 24 frets, sharkfin inlays, a licensed floyd rose bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was actually put together fairly nicely. The inlays were done quite well, so there was no issue there. I didn't notice any major fillers in the fretboard. The fretwork was pretty solid for the price. It wasn't perfect, but it was more than usable, and I was able to get some real low action without any issues. The bridge on this is a licensed floyd rose. It's not the best in the world, but I've played worse. It would be worth swapping it for either an original or a Gotoh version, in my opinion. The rest of the guitar was pretty much standard.
SOUNDS
The first thing I should mention is that this guitar does not have the "standard" Jackson tone woods. In fact, maple with basswood wings is pretty unique. Not many manufacturers use this combo, and I'm not sure how good it really sounds. It's kinda odd. The pickups are licensed Duncan pickups that don't really sound that inspiring. They average pickups that I think are most likely going to get replaced by serious guitarists. If you're going to replace them, be sure to get some pickups that aren't too overly bright as the maple neck-thru design can really get piercing at times if you're not careful. Then again, it depends on what kind of tone you're going for and how that particular guitar sounds.
OVERALL OPINION
I really like the color on this, and while there are features of this guitar I'm not crazy about (basswood wings, the licensed floyd and cheap pickups), the overall guitar is pretty decent for what you're getting. If you wait for these things to hit the used market, with a few mods, they'll be strong contenders if you ask me.
UTILIZATION
The guitar was actually put together fairly nicely. The inlays were done quite well, so there was no issue there. I didn't notice any major fillers in the fretboard. The fretwork was pretty solid for the price. It wasn't perfect, but it was more than usable, and I was able to get some real low action without any issues. The bridge on this is a licensed floyd rose. It's not the best in the world, but I've played worse. It would be worth swapping it for either an original or a Gotoh version, in my opinion. The rest of the guitar was pretty much standard.
SOUNDS
The first thing I should mention is that this guitar does not have the "standard" Jackson tone woods. In fact, maple with basswood wings is pretty unique. Not many manufacturers use this combo, and I'm not sure how good it really sounds. It's kinda odd. The pickups are licensed Duncan pickups that don't really sound that inspiring. They average pickups that I think are most likely going to get replaced by serious guitarists. If you're going to replace them, be sure to get some pickups that aren't too overly bright as the maple neck-thru design can really get piercing at times if you're not careful. Then again, it depends on what kind of tone you're going for and how that particular guitar sounds.
OVERALL OPINION
I really like the color on this, and while there are features of this guitar I'm not crazy about (basswood wings, the licensed floyd and cheap pickups), the overall guitar is pretty decent for what you're getting. If you wait for these things to hit the used market, with a few mods, they'll be strong contenders if you ask me.