Jackson SLATQH Soloist

This is a guitar meant for those who prefer hard tail bridges and figured maple tops instead of the standard plain, painted tops and floyd rose bridges that Jackson seems to love to utilize in their standard Soloist line up. The guitar features a mahogany body with a quilted maple top, a maple neck-thru design with an ebony fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with sharkfin inlays, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

The first thing I noticed about this guitar was that it had a very nice weight to it. Sometimes, these guitars can get a bit heavy with all the maple going on, but it was perfect in terms of both weight and overall resonance. The nut on this was nicely cut, and I didn't experience any tuning issues like I tend to with the lower end Jacksons. The binding on this was also very nice. The quilted maple top looked stunning on this, but it was kinda pushed back due to the red color that was used. The red can be so strong that you can't really see what's going on. Frets were great, as usual. Jackson is usually pretty good at delivering quality fretwork on these USA models, although the period from around 2002 tends to be a bit iffy at times.

SOUNDS

The guitar had a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck. The JB in the bridge is great for pretty much any style of music you can think of. It has just enough of everything to excel at nearly anything you can think of. I've done everything from blues to fusion to death metal with this pickup, and it does all of well them. It can be a bit bright in the wrong guitar, and it's very picky as to what guitar it works in, but it's still a decent pickup. The 59 in the neck worked great for leads and clean tones. It's thick enough to where you can get those nice, thick lead tones, but it's also clear enough to where you can hear every single note. It's what helps make it very versatile and gives it the ability to please nearly every guitarist out there.

OVERALL OPINION

This is great if you're looking for a hard tail version of the Soloist. The fancy maple top on this helps give it some class, but it's still something that can be used on nearly any stage. It's not so gaudy that you wouldn't want to bring it to your local rock concert, and it's not to plain that you would be afraid to bring it around your lawyer friends. Be sure to buy used for the best price.