View other reviews for this product:
Hatsubai « A bit plain »
Published on 10/20/11 at 17:44This is one of the lower budget guitars that Jackson released for a bit. It's not one of the best guitars in the world, and it's meant more for beginners than anything else. The guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets with dot inlays, a non-locking tremolo system, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The fretwork on this was pretty bad. The fret ends were a bit sharp, and you could really feel it as you moved up and down the neck. Some work with a modified triangle file would take care of this, though. The frets themselves were not perfectly level, and it caused some issues at the higher frets once you start lowering the action. If you prefer medium to high action, you probably won't have an issue with this. The nut was bored out a bit too much, but it didn't have any tuning issues, so no biggie there. The bridge on this sucks, and it feels really bad. It doesn't stay in tune, but it's to be expected with something like this.
SOUNDS
The pickups installed in these guitars are Duncan Designed pickups. These are meant to sound like Duncans, but I found that they sound nothing like them. The bridge pickup is very undefined under high gain. It tends to lose itself and just sound harsh. Backing off the tone knob a bit just makes it sound flubby. There's like no in between with this pickup. The neck pickup is much the same. It's bright, and it doesn't seem to smooth out the way I want it, even when I roll down the tone knob. They're very linear feeling, and they don't have the touch response that other pickups tend to. If you're going to keep this guitar, I recommend that you replace the pickups with something better out there. Normal Duncans, DiMarzios, Bare Knuckles, EMGs, etc. Any of those would be better.
OVERALL OPINION
I can't say I really recommend this guitar. On the other hand, considering the price they go for, all the issues i mentioned are fairly normal with these lower end guitars, and it's almost expected. If you happen to find one in the store that sounds good, pick it up. If you want a guitar to smash, these could work, but you're probably better off with cheaper guitars. If you are a serious player, you might want to look into some of the nicer models that Jackson makes.
UTILIZATION
The fretwork on this was pretty bad. The fret ends were a bit sharp, and you could really feel it as you moved up and down the neck. Some work with a modified triangle file would take care of this, though. The frets themselves were not perfectly level, and it caused some issues at the higher frets once you start lowering the action. If you prefer medium to high action, you probably won't have an issue with this. The nut was bored out a bit too much, but it didn't have any tuning issues, so no biggie there. The bridge on this sucks, and it feels really bad. It doesn't stay in tune, but it's to be expected with something like this.
SOUNDS
The pickups installed in these guitars are Duncan Designed pickups. These are meant to sound like Duncans, but I found that they sound nothing like them. The bridge pickup is very undefined under high gain. It tends to lose itself and just sound harsh. Backing off the tone knob a bit just makes it sound flubby. There's like no in between with this pickup. The neck pickup is much the same. It's bright, and it doesn't seem to smooth out the way I want it, even when I roll down the tone knob. They're very linear feeling, and they don't have the touch response that other pickups tend to. If you're going to keep this guitar, I recommend that you replace the pickups with something better out there. Normal Duncans, DiMarzios, Bare Knuckles, EMGs, etc. Any of those would be better.
OVERALL OPINION
I can't say I really recommend this guitar. On the other hand, considering the price they go for, all the issues i mentioned are fairly normal with these lower end guitars, and it's almost expected. If you happen to find one in the store that sounds good, pick it up. If you want a guitar to smash, these could work, but you're probably better off with cheaper guitars. If you are a serious player, you might want to look into some of the nicer models that Jackson makes.