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tjon901 « Cool guitar crazy finish »
Published on 08/17/11 at 08:54I wish they would make this guitar a normal model. I love the features of this guitar but I am not a fan of the finish. At first I thought the finish was just an option but it seems its the only finish they make this guitar in. This is the Jackson Soloist SL1T in the Bengal Tiger finish. The T in the name stands for hardtail. The wood in this guitar is alder and it has a neck through construction. The neck is maple with an ebony fretboard with 24 jumbo frets. The neck has Jacksons famous compound radius. The pickups are in an HSS configurations. They are Seymour Duncans in all positions. The bridge pickups is a JB and the middle and neck pickups are Duncan Classic Stack humbuckers. They look like single coils but are humbuckers with stacked coils. You get a master volume and master tone with a 5 way blade switch. You do not get a locking nut since this guitar does not have a Floyd Rose but you do not need it with the tune-o-matic and string through tailpiece.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is meant to be a stripped down shred machine. Playability is the name of the game when it comes to one of these guitars. The neck is wide and thin with jumbo frets and an ebony fretboard. All this combined with the compound radius means this guitar is a dream to play. The compound radius allows the for great playability on both ends of the neck. Near the headstock on the low end the radius is 12 inches which means the fretboard is slightly more curved up there to make playing chord shapes more comfortable. Near the high end the radius is 16 inches which makes shredding and lead playing effortless. Being a hardtail guitar tuning and changing strings on this guitar is super easy. The string through tailpiece also gives better tone. A string through tail piece on a neck through guitar gives you some of the clearest tone possible on a guitar.
SOUNDS
The tone on this guitar is super bright and clear. With the alder body and maple neck the guitar was already going to be bright and clear, but with the neck through design and the string though tail piece the clarity is over the top. The JB with the stacked humbuckers give you buckets of tone and tons of options when it comes to sound. The stacked humbuckers have sort of a single coilish sound but without all the noise. The JB in the bridge is a classic bridge position Seymour Duncan. It is one of the best hot rodded PAF designs on the market. You can do anything from metal to blues with the JB. The stacked humbuckers are a great alternative to real single coils. They still retain a single coil vibe but are as quiet as a humbucker.
OVERALL OPINION
Its pretty crazy that they put out this guitar in this paint job. It would probably do alot better in a normal color. I see normal colored ones pop up every once and a while but this current run has been all Bengal Tiger stripes. Its pretty crazy. If you can handle the crazy finish you got a sweet shred guitar. I prefer hardtails over tremolos and I always recommend them. But since so many people like them its hard to find a good shred guitar with a hardtail setup. This is one of the few models like that out on the market.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is meant to be a stripped down shred machine. Playability is the name of the game when it comes to one of these guitars. The neck is wide and thin with jumbo frets and an ebony fretboard. All this combined with the compound radius means this guitar is a dream to play. The compound radius allows the for great playability on both ends of the neck. Near the headstock on the low end the radius is 12 inches which means the fretboard is slightly more curved up there to make playing chord shapes more comfortable. Near the high end the radius is 16 inches which makes shredding and lead playing effortless. Being a hardtail guitar tuning and changing strings on this guitar is super easy. The string through tailpiece also gives better tone. A string through tail piece on a neck through guitar gives you some of the clearest tone possible on a guitar.
SOUNDS
The tone on this guitar is super bright and clear. With the alder body and maple neck the guitar was already going to be bright and clear, but with the neck through design and the string though tail piece the clarity is over the top. The JB with the stacked humbuckers give you buckets of tone and tons of options when it comes to sound. The stacked humbuckers have sort of a single coilish sound but without all the noise. The JB in the bridge is a classic bridge position Seymour Duncan. It is one of the best hot rodded PAF designs on the market. You can do anything from metal to blues with the JB. The stacked humbuckers are a great alternative to real single coils. They still retain a single coil vibe but are as quiet as a humbucker.
OVERALL OPINION
Its pretty crazy that they put out this guitar in this paint job. It would probably do alot better in a normal color. I see normal colored ones pop up every once and a while but this current run has been all Bengal Tiger stripes. Its pretty crazy. If you can handle the crazy finish you got a sweet shred guitar. I prefer hardtails over tremolos and I always recommend them. But since so many people like them its hard to find a good shred guitar with a hardtail setup. This is one of the few models like that out on the market.