Jake E. Lee Trashes SD Charvels

[Postal]

So the new Charvels are really just Jacksons? Damnit...I've been had!

uh... actually it is 1/2 Jackson, and 1/2 fender... Both companies work on charvels. Thankfully setup and final inspection are done by jackson!

[toddstaples]

edited.

[pinto79]

Duncan JB and the singles are Dimarzios, don't remember which model offhand...

If they are true to Jake's specs, the singles are SDS-1's...


And if anyone cares, I had a Jake E. Lee Sig ESP for a few years. Amazing playability. I'm not a huge fan of the alder being used at the time, bit played like nothing else... I sold it (Stupidly) when I went through my "gotta get an Ibanez" phase... wish I hadn't sold it.

The mid 80's short-scale Japanese Squire Strats play almost identically tho...

[bucknaked31]

I'm sure that Jake is talking about acoustical feedback and not electrical feedback. The wood certainly does make a difference here. Swamp ash will not feedback acoustically as easily as alder will. Western maple is king for acoustical feedback. At high volume settings, you can actually feel the body vibrating. That said, to complain about the difference between alder and swamp ash is kinda petty. He could have ordered swamp ash bodies if he so desired, I'm sure Jackson didn't give a rat's ass if he wanted swamp ash. I'm guessing his comments stem from a combination of him not specifying his body wood, and a bad batch of guitars from that time period. Add that to an endorsement deal with ESP and a shrinking income and viola! Just my two cents...

[jhale667]

I love Jake, but isn't one of the perks of an endorsement deal being ABLE to specify, or better yet, having your specs on file? That having been said, sounds to me like he just didn't like the last ones he got...I agree he's kinda full of it on the wood/feedback thing...and yes, Swamp Ash rules above all...

[Bert]

My solid maple bodied Jackson also feeds back really easy... I consider that a feature though. It's very sweet & sustainy and very controllable (the feeback cuts when I mute the strings.) NICE.

Not entirely sure if it's just the maple body though. I've always suspected an important ingredient in that feedback is the J90-C pickup in the bridge ... these pickups have a pronounced upper mid boost which seems to help the feedback along. I've never tried to replace that pickup because it sounds so damn good, but maybe I will for a little while just as an experiment.....

[bucknaked31]

The pickup has a lot to do with the feedback as well as the mounting method for the pickup. The more solid, the more feedback. This is acoustic feedback I'm talking about, the kind where the sound is loud enough to vibrate the body and not the kind where there is too much gain and the pickup feeds back microphonicly (sp?) I made a solid western maple tele for the guitar player in my band and he gets acoustical feedback on his clean channel! It's heavy as hell, but it sounds great. He loves it for that agressive new country stuff that we play from time to time (I know, I know, but hey... toward the end of the night, we switch and I play his Les Paul... we do AC/DC for an encore... besides that, country pays the bills...) On a side note, we get the best crowd response from the AC/DC and the occasional Van Halen...

[jackson1]

I feel the need to sort out this 'feedback' issue, as the info posted here lately seems a little off:

The good, pleasant feedback happens acoustically via sound waves. So does the bad, high pitched feedback. Both happens acoustically via sound waves. Sorted.

The good feedback happens when soundwaves (as air pressure) affect the unmuted STRINGS, primarily by hitting the strings directly and secondly by hitting the body, which then in effect moves the strings. The strings move as a result of this incoming energy and this forms a never ending circle - of good feedback. Sorted.

The bad, uncontrollable, high pitched feedback is due to a vibrating pickup or most often vibrating parts inside the pickup construction. The coil is loose (which is bad) and is microphonic (it can be moved by air pressure). That can happen over time for a pickup or with a brand new, low quality, badly wound pickup. Sorted.

[SoCal]

WELL defined!