Jackson USA Player's Choice Exotic Dinky

Jackson was never really a company to experiment with different wood combinations. They have a few models like this, but for the most part, their models tend to be the standard alder/mahogany/maple etc. combination of woods. The guitar has a koa body with a figured maple top, a bolt-on maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with offset dot inlays, an original floyd rose, HSS configuration, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar looks absolutely stunning. The figuring on the maple is great, and even the koa back is wonderful to look at. In fact, I might even like the look of the koa more than the maple. The fretwork on this model was top notch, and there were no issues to complain about. The ends were nicely beveled, and the frets were properly crowned. The offset dots are a very nice touch in terms of helping this look classy without being overly flashy like the sharkfin inlays tend to be. The guitar was also nice, weight wise. It wasn't super heavy, and that's always a good thing, in my opinion.

SOUNDS

The sound was a bit unique. However, I found it to be overall on the slightly brighter side of the spectrum. Some people like to say that this tone wood is a good mix between alder and mahogany, but I disagree with that. It's much closer to alder or walnut than anything else, I've found. The bridge pickup in this is the Duncan Custom, and it's one of my favorite bridge pickups in nearly any guitar. It can do everything the JB can do and then some. It's a little thicker, and I find it to be tighter as well. The neck and middle pickups are Duncan Stacks, and they do a wonderful job for those lead tones and clean tones. Very versatile pickup combination overall, but like I said, slightly bright.

OVERALL OPINION

This is a pretty hard to find guitar. If you happen to come across one of these and see it going for a good deal, I recommend checking it out. Not everybody will like these tone woods, and it's hard to get people to switch from the regular woods that so many great recordings have utilize, but if you're willing to change things up a bit, check this out. It might even be what you've been looking for all this time.

Jackson was never really a company to experiment with different wood combinations. They have a few models like this, but for the most part, their models tend to be the standard alder/mahogany/maple etc. combination of woods. The guitar has a koa body with a figured maple top, a bolt-on maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with offset dot inlays, an original floyd rose, HSS configuration, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar looks absolutely stunning. The figuring on the maple is great, and even the koa back is wonderful to look at. In fact, I might even like the look of the koa more than the maple. The fretwork on this model was top notch, and there were no issues to complain about. The ends were nicely beveled, and the frets were properly crowned. The offset dots are a very nice touch in terms of helping this look classy without being overly flashy like the sharkfin inlays tend to be. The guitar was also nice, weight wise. It wasn't super heavy, and that's always a good thing, in my opinion.

SOUNDS

The sound was a bit unique. However, I found it to be overall on the slightly brighter side of the spectrum. Some people like to say that this tone wood is a good mix between alder and mahogany, but I disagree with that. It's much closer to alder or walnut than anything else, I've found. The bridge pickup in this is the Duncan Custom, and it's one of my favorite bridge pickups in nearly any guitar. It can do everything the JB can do and then some. It's a little thicker, and I find it to be tighter as well. The neck and middle pickups are Duncan Stacks, and they do a wonderful job for those lead tones and clean tones. Very versatile pickup combination overall, but like I said, slightly bright.

OVERALL OPINION

This is a pretty hard to find guitar. If you happen to come across one of these and see it going for a good deal, I recommend checking it out. Not everybody will like these tone woods, and it's hard to get people to switch from the regular woods that so many great recordings have utilize, but if you're willing to change things up a bit, check this out. It might even be what you've been looking for all this time.