Jackson USA Select Soloist SL1

This is an American made guitar that has been under Fender ownership for some time now. It is equipped with an original Floyd Rose double locking tremolo in a chrome finish. The guitar is a neck thru body design and the neck is made of quarter sawn maple. It is topped off with a 24 jumbo fret ebony fret board and has the characteristic mother of pearl shark fin inlays. The neck is speed contoured with a compound radius fret board meaning the radius goes from 9.25 to 14 from nut to 24th fret. The pickups are made by Seymour Duncan and consist of a JB TB4 at the bridge, and a classic stack single coil sized hum bucker in the middle and neck position. The classic stacks are capable of producing single coil tone while using negative hum coil to reject noise. There are two control knobs responsible for master volume and master tone. Pickup selection is achieved through a 5 way selector switch. The guitar is a 25.5 scale instrument and the model I owned had a maple top over an alder body. The maple top only comes on transparent finishes so all other non transparent models are solid alder.

UTILIZATION

The guitar is designed to be a shredders dream so there is full access all the way to the 24th fret with no issue. The compound radius design allows for the best of both worlds. Chording on the neck remains easy on the lower register while still providing swift playability is assured towards the upper frets. The action can be set lower relative to a regular fret board without worry of fretting out of difficulty in voicing chords. The guitar has a nice overall sound to it. It is a bit more aggressive than a standard Stratocaster and has more a good articulate feel to it. The design is very comfortable against the body and is at home on a knee or over the shoulder for a long session. All and all it is a good guitar but nothing really stands out sonically in my opinion.

SOUNDS

I used this guitar with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, an Ampeg VL-503, a Peavey XXX, Amplitube 2, and Gutar Rig 3. Although the sound was quality in nature it did not suit my taste. It did have areas it was impressive in such as the playability but either the maple top or the pickup selection were not to my liking. Possibly I expected more from the instrument as many people do love it and it was not a poor sound it just did not "do it" for me. The best sounds I found on it were heavy rock and dirty lightly overdriven tones. I found my Stratocasters and Telecasters covered blues and cleans far better and I had other guitars that played metal better.

OVERALL OPINION

The thing that disturbed me most about this guitar was the quality of the parts. While the body and neck were impeccably finished I found issue with the control knobs and 5 way switch. I had originally tried a used model out and was disappointed to find the 5 way was inoperable in 2 positions as well as missing the plastic tip and the pots seemed very wiggly, as if they were in desperate need of tightening. I attributed this to the previous owner’s lack of care and ordered a new model. I was very disturbed to find within days of ownership that I was constantly opening the guitar up to tighten the volume pot in and the 5 way was already showing signs of failing, very scratchy and needed to be jiggled in and out of position to get a full contact. For a guitar of this price point there sound be no issues whatsoever in my opinion. After a week I decided the instrument was not for me and I returned it. I understand things on a guitar may need replacing or modifications applied to get the instrument the way you want it but when you are starting at a $2,000 plus price point the instrument should be a good fit for the purchaser and modifications should be something that is grown into. I really wanted to own this guitar but knowing what I know now I was not a good fit for that particular axe so take what I say with a grain of salt. If you are interested you should try one yourself before making a large monetary investment.

When I saw this guitar in the Jackson catalog, I just had to have it. I haggled with Musician's Friend over the price and ended up paying somewhere around $1150 for it with a free case!

I love the way this thing plays. The through neck, super low action, and smooth ebony fretboard make for great playability and awesome tone. The locking original Flyod Rose NEVER goes out of tune. And it's easy as hell to make this guitar scream.

There is nothing that I don't like about this guitar, except for a slight double-noting on the third string on the upper frets (16-18).

I've had this guitar for quite some time, and it's as solid as the day I bought it.

If you want a great guitar for shredding, this is the one to have. I only wish it had come with EMG's in it, the only thing I would change. All around though, a fine instrument, and it's made in the U.S., what more could you want?

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this guitar form Mississppi music about a month ago, and i have not put it down since then. It was a great price $1100.00 with all the works.I am a big fan of Megadeth so i tried the jackson and BAMM i fell in love with it.Its a lot better the my ESP Custom Expoler.

What i love about this guitar every thing the paint job blue ghost flames, which look friggin sweet on this guitar. The neck thru-body is very cool and comfy,the ebony fret board w/the shark fin inlays..ohh God i love my guitar.the neck is fast and the pickups Seymour duncan ,which i theink are better than the EMG 81's on my ESP, give the package the final touch to make it the total package.


Only the Floyd rose its a hell of a thing to take the off the put in the strings so on and so forth.

Its a neck-thru body very sweet. The quality of this guitar is pure 100% killer i have never played or seen a guitar better than this. The quility is a supreme force that towers over the rest. It is a start style which is always comfertable. The electronics are well put together and the hard ware is great.

If you have money to blow or even if you dont get this it is pure and great. But is you are not skilled it would be a waste. Plus the Floyd rose is a problem but it is better than the problem. SO GET ONE NOW our a DK-2 or SL-3 both great.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Alder body (flamed maple top on transparent finishes)
Neck-thru-body quartersawn maple
Die-cast tuners
Ebony fingerboard
24 jumbo frets
Mother-of-pearl shark fin position inlays
Bound fingerboard and headstock
Matching headstock on transparent finishes
Inlaid mother-of-pearl Jackson logo
Seymour Duncan JB TB4 humbucker (bridge) and Classic Stack humbuckers (middle, neck)
Master volume, master Floyd Rose Original double-locking 2-point tremolo
25-1/2" scale
5-way pickup switch
Black hardware (chrome on transparent finishes)
CTS pots and Switchcraft switches


UTILIZATION

Seems like these have been the prototypical "super strats" forever. Shredders everywhere pretty much agree, whether they use them or not, that these are the original deal. I have the swirl model, which I think looks pretty darn cool. The finish on these, by the way, is very very nice. And for 2k I think it should be. Jackson USA has not diminished very much in quality over the years. This is a well appointed axe. Ebony on the fingerboard feels good. The fretwork is great. Action and tension are good. I have never been a huge fan of alder bodies, but with the set thru neck it kind of works. I like the neck on these SL1's okay. It's kind of like a fender neck that has been tapered more toward the body. The compound radius is a nice touch. I wish everyone would make them like this.

SOUNDS

This is not gonna sound like a les paul guys. Thru neck or not, we are talking about an all maple body and neck with alder wings. It's gonna sound like a buzzsaw. I'm not a huge fan of the JB pickup, but in here it actually sounds pretty decent. It's not overly fat in this guitar. This tone will cut...and I mean that. No muddiness allowed here. Single coils are stacked. So you won't get any literal single coil or fender sounds out of the sl1. Kind of a bummer really. But then again, who is gonna want that with this guitar?

OVERALL OPINION

You are pretty restricted with what styles of music you can do with a guitar like this. Even in the studio it's off limits for anything other than rock or metal. I think it would benefit from a pickup change, not because the stock pickups are bad, but because I would just like something different. Build wise, this guitar is worth the asking price. No real flaws anywhere on it. I have had JAckson USA stuff that I was not happy with, but fortunately this one is flawless. I would say try before you buy. You never know what junk might come in the mail.