San Dimas Kills Soloist

[Lemures]

I have two sd1 ''production models'', the candy blue & the candy red. I bought two USA SL1's over the last two years, Ferrari Red & Gloss Black and sent them both back. The bridges on both were off centered just slightly to the right & the high E would slip off the edge of the fret board between the 15th to the 24th fret as well as the 24th fret being totaly dead on the high E. Anyway so as far as these ''production models'' go I swapped out the tuners, volume knobs & floyds for real ones. I think these ''production models'' play as good as any ''USA'' Jackson I've ever played, don't get me wrong I think & know Jackson's are truly great guitars but I don't know what the deal is with the QC there. Anyway I think with a few upgrades these San Dimas diamonds in the rough are as fantastic as anything else out there as well as having the best feeling neck available at the moment. I didn't post to bash Jackson's because I know they're great but I'm just curious about other's opinions on Jackson QC as well as the greatness of these amazing (imo) ''production models''.

Thanks

[tehuk]

IMO the problem is consistency. I sold my SL1 last year because my SL3 played better. My KE2 on the other hand is an amazing guitar.

[Grandturk]

Real tuners? Real volume knobs? Do tell.

[Matt_B]

How do you define "playability"? People bandy that word around constantly but rarely if ever do they actually define what it means to them.

[Newc]

Real tuners? Real volume knobs? Real Floyds? Do tell.

Fixed, and +1

[Grandturk]

Fixed, and +1

Even I didn't want to open up that can o' worms again.

[DonP]

Well, last night at GC they had a tangerine one with the black pickguard (sorry guys, I haven't learned SD verses SoCal yet). It had Seymour pickups in it. I'm not sure if these were original or not. Played it through a KK Marshall. Sounded good. But sorry to offend, but I don't get it. It's just a strat with a thinned down unfinished neck and jumbo frets. I just don't see what's so special.

They also had a KV Pro for the same price. So I ask you - if you had to chose one, and both were the same price, which would be the better deal at the same price?

I did offer to buy both for a package deal. I've done a lot of business with this GC but I guess they aren't willing to negotiate, so I walked away, and left my phone number for when they start getting hungry.

[jmh151]

Over the years I played a few new USA Jacksons at Guitar Center. Guitar Center's not known for having guitars that play well right off the rack. The USA Jacksons I played all had very tight string tension that I didn't care for.

I eventually bought a used 1989 Soloist that needed a setup. Once adjusted it played like butter.

Then I went to Sam Ash and played a few new Charvels. Off the rack, each of them played like butter like I remember most shredder guitars like Kramers and Ibanez played in the 80's.

Comparing the Soloist to the Charvel, the Soloist sounds closer to the Charvel SoCal. The Charvel Tele Style 2 I bought has a raunchy tone. The neck/fretboard on the Charvel feels solid as steel. The Soloist has better upper fret access.

[Grandturk]

So I ask you - if you had to chose one, and both were the same price, which would be the better deal at the same price?

The SoCal - everytime. There's nothing in the world that would entice me to buy a "Pro" anything.

[K.Dee]

So Cal for me too It can deliver the goods pretty easy

[DonP]

The SoCal - everytime. There's nothing in the world that would entice me to buy a "Pro" anything.

I'll ignore your vote because you still have those strat "horse blinders" on

[Grandturk]

And I aim to keep 'em on!!! muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!


Edit - I also have an SG.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Real tuners? Real volume knobs? Real Floyds? Do tell.

Fixed, and +1

Even I didn't want to open up that can o' worms again.

+1 on all counts.

Didn't we already do this thread once, anyway? :think:

:dead:

I don't even see how you can compare the two. :dunno:

[Grandturk]

I don't even see how you can compare the two. :dunno:

Well, you can compare them, but there's a lot of differences.

Socal......................... Soloist
------------------------------
Bolt-on ...................... Neck Through
H-H .......................... H-H or H-S-S
Alder Body ................. Maple & Alder
22 Frets .................... 24 frets
Pickguard .................. No pickguard
Strat head ................. Pointy
Charvel logo ............... Jackson logo

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Yeah, there's some similarities, too.

I dunno, it seems like it's all up to personal preference to me. Is a Strat better than a Les Paul? It is to me. To a lot of guys, it's not. :dunno: