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Hatsubai « Lots of smaller options on this »
Published on 10/22/11 at 13:08This model's main selling point is that it has a lot more tonal options than the other guitars. It's still a fairly beginner guitar, but the options help bump it up a bit more than if it wouldn't have anything at all. The guitar has an alder body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 jumbo frets with reverse sharkfin inlays, a reverse headstock, a licensed floyd rose bridge, two humbuckers, two volumes, one tone, a special coil split switch and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is put together alright, but there are a few issues that I had with it. The one thing that was fairly noticeable was that there was a gap in the neck joint. This can sometimes cause tone issues with proper transfer between the neck and body, but more importantly, it can cause string alignment issues. If the guitar is hit real hard, you can potentially knock the neck slightly crooked which can cause one of the e strings to fall off the fretboard. It's not exactly a hard thing to fix if your e string is falling off, but it's a pain. The fretwork on this was very average at best, and they could have done a little better in this area. The floyd on this is also trash, so if you're going to keep this, I'd probably throw in a real floyd.
SOUNDS
The guitar had Seymour Duncan Designed pickups installed in it, and they weren't that great. The bridge pickup is supposed to be modeled after a JB or a Distortion. It has a strong output, but it's also kinda dull sounding overall. The guitar doesn't seem to lack dynamics or respond well to the volume knob. The neck pickup is much the same way in that it doesn't have much note clarity, and it can't get that singing lead tone I always try to strive for. That said, the guitar does have a really cool coil split feature. Once the pickups are split, you can get some neat single coil tones, and this works great with cleans. I was able to get a decent clean tone with this thing.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is still not the best thing that Jackson makes, and it's marketed towards the more beginner guitarist. If you're looking for a cheaper Jackson, I recommend trying to find one of the higher end Japanese ones. You'll get quality on par with the USA models but without the price. The USA models, while my favorite, aren't affordable for everyone, so these more affordable models might be just what you need.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is put together alright, but there are a few issues that I had with it. The one thing that was fairly noticeable was that there was a gap in the neck joint. This can sometimes cause tone issues with proper transfer between the neck and body, but more importantly, it can cause string alignment issues. If the guitar is hit real hard, you can potentially knock the neck slightly crooked which can cause one of the e strings to fall off the fretboard. It's not exactly a hard thing to fix if your e string is falling off, but it's a pain. The fretwork on this was very average at best, and they could have done a little better in this area. The floyd on this is also trash, so if you're going to keep this, I'd probably throw in a real floyd.
SOUNDS
The guitar had Seymour Duncan Designed pickups installed in it, and they weren't that great. The bridge pickup is supposed to be modeled after a JB or a Distortion. It has a strong output, but it's also kinda dull sounding overall. The guitar doesn't seem to lack dynamics or respond well to the volume knob. The neck pickup is much the same way in that it doesn't have much note clarity, and it can't get that singing lead tone I always try to strive for. That said, the guitar does have a really cool coil split feature. Once the pickups are split, you can get some neat single coil tones, and this works great with cleans. I was able to get a decent clean tone with this thing.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is still not the best thing that Jackson makes, and it's marketed towards the more beginner guitarist. If you're looking for a cheaper Jackson, I recommend trying to find one of the higher end Japanese ones. You'll get quality on par with the USA models but without the price. The USA models, while my favorite, aren't affordable for everyone, so these more affordable models might be just what you need.