Jake E. Lee Trashes SD Charvels

[shreddermon]

There's a quick "20 questions"-type interview with him in this month's Guitar World. Someone asked him why he switched from Charvel to ESP. Remember, we're talking about SD-era stuff here. Also, someone else asked about the white Fender/Charvel. Here's a scan of what he said (in red borders):



Ummm. Alrighty then. I guess Charvel won't be doing a signature reissue with Jake anytime soon!

[dinkyjacksonman]

So the last 3 Jackson Strat style he is talking about, they are White, Natural and Gold sparkle ones?

[shreddermon]

Not sure, bro. Maybe. IIRC, those were some of the last he was seen playing.

But, then again, he said the "last three guitars sent". Maybe they were different ones, and he was never seen playing them live.

Either way...groan.

[dinkyjacksonman]

Actually He was using the White one live.
Badlands used to play bunch of times in L.A. before they broke up.
My friends used to go and see them.
I've played the Gold one and White one Jake ended up selling. They were decent playing guitars but the White one did have swimming pool rout under the pickguard and had weak sustain.Not sure of the Gold sparkle one.

[Shawn Lutz]

when you get paid to endores ESP it doesn't surprise me that he wouldnt have anything good to say about a different brand..

i'd like to see pictures of the 3 he's talking about.

[dg]

Yeah, here's how it all went down:

Jake: Hey could you please make me a few with swamp ash bodies?

Grover: No, bitch! You'll play an alder guitar and like it!

[~K~]

Ralph should come by and give some insight to the Natural Jackson Strathead from the last time video he has. That MAY be one of the guitars Jake speaks of...

I have a purpleburst that to be honest I felt sounded like ass with a JB in it..I put a custom in it and the guitar came alive so it is possible he ran into the same issues. All in all I agree though he is VERY loyal to Esp now but I'm not sure what the extent of his endorsement is ..

[Zerberus]

when you get paid to endores ESP it doesn't surprise me that he wouldnt have anything good to say about a different brand..

i'd like to see pictures of the 3 he's talking about.

+1 on both counts.... Toough I was honestly never really moved by Jakes playing anyway, for all I care ESP can have him together with the Cookie monsters...

[Joe_Steeler]

Yeah but those white boots don't suck.....
Pro musicians, with very few exceptions, are gear whores. It is who is paying me lately; insert George Lynch, EVH, etc. here.
I just trust what I like.

[sully]

eh, his complaints about the guitars are not unlike many other people's complaints about jackson in 90, 91 or so.... lotsa people don't like the post grovers.

[jgcable]

You usually don't hear a pro bashing gear. They usually don't burn any bridges because you never know what the future will bring.
Those statements are not typical and I wouldn't be surprised it they are taken out of context. The press has a knack of doing that when they post quotes.

[fuel0707]

As much as Jake may be an ESP endorser, it's interesting to note that in that same article from GW, he lists the gear he used on "Retraced". According to Jake, while he did use an ESP Ultratone, he also used a Mexi Strat, a '70's Les Paul Custom and "thrown-together Tele". But Jake says the guitar that got used the most on that disc was '65 Gibson Melodymaker.

[shreddermon]

JG, in the general media, I'd agree with you. However, you've got to remember that specialized mags like GW get a good chunk of their revenue from advertising. Probably the vast majority of it, actually. If a GW writer were to take a comment like that out of context to "sensationalize" it, he'd likely get hell from the editor and senior management for screwing with one of their biggest advertisers (FMIC) products.

The more I think about this sitch, I wonder if this is sour grapes on Jake's part. Perhaps he was approached to do a sig reissue run (ala the Dimartinis) and - for whatever reason - a deal couldn't be made? Maybe Jake got PO'd about things falling through, and this was his parting shot ...Total conjecture on my part, though. Who knows?

[jgcable]

JG, in the general media, I'd agree with you. However, you've got to remember that specialized mags like GW get a good chunk of their revenue from advertising. Probably the vast majority of it, actually. If a GW writer were to take a comment like that out of context to "sensationalize" it, he'd likely get hell from the editor and senior management for screwing with one of their biggest advertisers (FMIC) products.

The more I think about this sitch, I wonder if this is sour grapes on Jake's part. Perhaps he was approached to do a sig reissue run (ala the Dimartinis) and - for whatever reason - a deal couldn't be made? Maybe Jake got PO'd about things falling through, and this was his parting shot ...Total conjecture on my part, though. Who knows?

Good points. I didn't look at it from that angle. It makes more sense.

[Ralph E.]

Well, I had the gold one and still have the natural one which I believe are 2 of the last 3 he was talking about. Obviously it a personal opinion but I have owned over 200 guitars and the natural Jackson is the best playing/sounding guitar I have ever owned PERIOD. Anyone who has ever played it when they've been over the house (including some fellow JCF'ers) also thought it was incredible. The gold one was also really nice, I just didn't care for the finish.

I would suspect something happened that caused some bad blood between him and the company at that point. The guy (as great as he was) did end up living in a Vegas hotel shooting up heroine and since moving to ESP hasn't put out a bar of good music. What a waste...