Jackson guitar soon to arrive!

[GAD]

I thought it was the pink pickups?

Then I would recommend this Steve Vai Jem!

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

Yeah it’s the green/pink, shark fin inlay pointy headstock gawdy look of the Jackson that I’m after. I was having a moment of impatience. Thanks for talking me down off the ledge of hitting the “buy now” button.

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

Hmm, a built in handle!

 

[GAD]

Hmm, a built in handle!

It's called the "Monkey Grip".

I can vividly remember walking around a music store in 1987 and seeing one of these on display and thinking it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Actually it might have been yellow...

I do miss the '80s...

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

Me too! I think that’s why I’m getting this guitar. I’ve been getting the old 80’s skateboards lately too. All the old companies like Powell peralta, Schmidt Styx, hosoi, are making reissues. Neon and all!

 

[GAD]

Can you believe I sold this some years ago?

It was a custom shop #9 of 10 and had a gloriously fat neck.

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

Ugh so cool. I love those tiger stripe ones. I looked up those Steve Vai Ibanez on reverb and the prices are outa control!

 

[ruedi]

JEM's are cool, I never had the opportunity to play one, but I'd love to!

There's one near me, I might go check it out one day:

Ibanez JEM777L Limited Edition 30th Anniversary Steve Vai Signature Left-Handed | Reverb

Reverb is a marketplace bringing together a wide-spanning community to buy, sell, and discuss all things music gear.

reverb.com

Just look at it!

Pricey though... and I heard they have a weak point near the neck joint, need to do more research on that before I buy it.

 

[GAD]

In the ‘80s I thought the Jems were the best thing I’d ever seen. Over the years I’ve found that as much as I love some of the designs, the necks just leave me cold. Also Jacksons just crush them in build quality, IMO. Last I looked Ibanez seemed to only use their own Edge tremolo systems (that may have changed - I have no idea) and I prefer a real Floyd Rose.

 

[Guildedagain]

A Floyd can be really challenging, but when they settle in they are super stable, more tuning stable than any vintage guitar with a fixed bridge.

I just re-strung my 1998 MIJ Ibanez RG-7 (Licensed Floyd Rose Trem) with Heavy Core Dunlop 10-60 strings yesterday, getting back into my 7 string DGADGAD thing, which is actually dropped to CFGCFGC, and it took well over an hour to get it in tune and get the trem sitting flat like it's supposed to.

Maybe more like 2 hours, but I finally got it and was able to lock the nut and keep going with the fine tuners.

The TC Electronics tuner is a Godsend for this job, which is endless retuning.

By the time you get to the high E you can start on the low E again, rinse, repeat...

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

I’ve toyed with seeking out an ibanez s540 cause I’m a huge sublime fan. Haven’t yet, but not something I’d rule out.

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

So after learning that the guitar I initially ordered wasn’t going to ship until August, I broke down and ordered a different guitar. This one the Jackson soloist SLX in green crackle. I’ll be sure and post pics and let you know what I think.

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

New guitar showed up today! First the look is killer! From the pointy headstock to the crackle finish, it’s loud and gawdy looking and I love it! Played some of our basic set list songs on it; Rumble, 20 Flight Rock, and a few other random noodlings. I’m so used to single coils it took me a while to dial in a familiar tone, but then I relaxed and thought “why am I trying to get “s” tone out of an “h” guitar? That’s when I realized/relearned the beauty of humbuckers. I was a bit surprised that it didn’t come with a user manual for the Floyd Rose Special but I guess I can find that info earlier in this thread or online in general. So funny I’ve always been so set in my ways that guitars should be based on 50’s rock n roll. But hey, I’m breaking out of my mold on this one.

 

[ruedi]

Congratulations! good match with the pillow. You've done good, many of us humans don't leave the once chosen path too easily as we get older. Stay curious and innovative

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

Thanks! I’m very happy with the purchase. The quality is really very nice. It being a mass produced chinese made axe I don’t expect it to be an “investment guitar” like my Gibson Firebird or my Gretsch 6120, but that’s not why I bought it. I got it to have fun and as a way to explore the world of super-strats and Floyd rose. Speaking of the Floyd rose, it arrived pretty well in tune with some of the strings a tad flat. I simply loosened the string lock at the nut, set the fine tuners to mid point of threads and tuned it up from low E to high E. Got back to low E and it was flat. I then tuned EADGB a tad sharp and tuned high E to pitch. Low E was still a tad flat so repeated this one more time and I was in tune. Locked it down and it’s perfect! I love the smoothness of the trem arm.
Fretboard:
I’ve never had a Laurel fretboard before. It feels very smooth and I can’t even see any open grain “grooves” like I see on my other rosewood fretboard guitars. I’m not sure if this is due to the difference in wood or if they just finished it a lot smoother. Either way I like it. The inlays are cool but I definitely see some of the “filler” around the shark fins especially as you move up the board and get to the higher frets. This is to be expected at this price point though and I really have to look close.
Anyways, in my opinion it’s a very cool guitar and I’m looking forward to getting to know it better!

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

One of these things is not like the other...
Here’s a few of my favorite axes sitting on my sofa. Also a couple close ups of the smooth fretboard. Still loving it!

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

Got the pickup pole pieces dialed in last night to achieve good balance between the strings. Also dropped the height of the pickups a bit so they weren’t so hot. It now has the nice glassy chime of a strat, albeit with the typical humbucker attributes and the cool over-the-top looks of an 80’s style Jackson. So much fun! Anybody have a good trick to deal with the bits of wax that creep out as one adjusts the pole pieces?

 

[Rockabilly_Nick]

strumming away to some old cowboy music on the Jackson. I’m an old cowhand from the rio grand! Played through a Supro Tremoverb