Just got my first Jackson Rhoads!

[Ray Massacre]

I'm happy to say that I just picked up my first Jackson Rhoads on Sunday. It's a 2007, black RR3. Got it off CraigsList for $275.

I have two of the old Seymour Duncan LiveWire "Metal" humbuckers that I'm going to throw in it. I'll also be ordering a gold Floyd Rose PRO and gold tuners, knobs, lock nut, strap locks, etc, etc.

What do you guys think? Not bad for $275?????

[tomanyjacksons]

Nice guitar, I got my first Rhoads earlier this year. Traded a Shecter for it, hated the Schecter so it was an awesome deal I guess. Mine is a 2005 Trans black RR3 with chrome hardware and now has Duncan Distortion set in it. I'm wanting to do the same thing as you and go all gold on the hardware but I think I'm going to have to settle for a repaint instead (Polka dot). Nice guitar dude hope it treats you well.

[BRADSTANG]

yeah you stole that. great deal you got, i love my rr3, identical. post it with the gold, i was contemplating about the same on mine.

[Advv]

IIRC, you need to do some routing to fit the Floyd Rose PRO. Get a normal gold Original Floyd Rose. I use to have an rr3 in the same colour. They're okay guitars.

[Grahf]

It's pretty sweet but honestly I wouldn't bother spending the money to upgrade anything but the pickups. I mean the floyd rose+the tuners+ other gold hardware is gonna be more ten what you paid for the guitar in the first place.

I had a really old RR3 that I was considering doing the same thing to but I'm glad I saved that money towards my KV1 instead

[rip-rhoads]

Almost had a heart attack. I've been looking at a black RR3 on Craigslist for the past day or so now. I'm just waiting for pictures. I'm really wanting it and I thought you bought it! hahaha. We're in completley different parts of North America though so no worries! Great score and beautiful guitar! Welcome to the Rhoads club!

[RacerX]

it's pretty sweet but honestly i wouldn't bother spending the money to upgrade anything but the pickups. I mean the floyd rose+the tuners+ other gold hardware is gonna be more ten what you paid for the guitar in the first place.

I had a really old rr3 that i was considering doing the same thing to but i'm glad i saved that money towards my kv1 instead

+ 1 on that

[Ray Massacre]

Almost had a heart attack. I've been looking at a black RR3 on Craigslist for the past day or so now. I'm just waiting for pictures. I'm really wanting it and I thought you bought it! hahaha. We're in completley different parts of North America though so no worries! Great score and beautiful guitar! Welcome to the Rhoads club!

Hahaha! Thanks.

[Ray Massacre]

IIRC, you need to do some routing to fit the Floyd Rose PRO. Get a normal gold Original Floyd Rose. I use to have an rr3 in the same colour. They're okay guitars.

You know, now that you mention it, I think I had to route out the tremolo cavity on my neck through Soloist when I put a Floyd Rose PRO on it about 13 years ago. It's been a while though, and I sold that guitar about 6 years ago, so I can't go look at it. I just cant remember what the issue was.

[Ray Massacre]

It's pretty sweet but honestly I wouldn't bother spending the money to upgrade anything but the pickups. I mean the floyd rose+the tuners+ other gold hardware is gonna be more then what you paid for the guitar in the first place.

That's why I don't mind upgrading the parts. Because I got it for such a good deal. The fact that it's bolt on doesn't bug me even slightly, or make me feel as if it's substandard or a lesser guitar in any way.

I've been playing for 20 years now........I've had bolt on Jacksons, neck through Jacksons, Gibsons with glued in necks, Ibanez guitars with bolt on necks........in all types of woods you can imagine.........I know I'm probably gonna make alot of you hate me for it, as a lot of people will disagree, but I'm gonna have to say that there's no substantial (or should I say "better") difference in tone, playability or sustain from having a neck through guitar. Yes, the tone will be different, but that's because you have a guitar that's almost entirely maple when it's a neck through design. This makes the guitar sounds different, but not a definite "better".

[D-EJ915]

Wow, you're putting the LWHMET in the neck position? Never seen anybody do that before.

[Ray Massacre]

Wow, you're putting the LWHMET in the neck position? Never seen anybody do that before.

Yeah, I'm slapping one in the neck position, too. I had both of them in a Jackson Fusion EX back around '93 or '94. I LOVED it, but it was total overkill for the funk/rock band I was playing in back then. I switched to an EMG 81/85 combo for that band. I really fell in love with the EMG 85. In a Jackson Soloist (neck through) that I picked up a few years later, I used an EMG 85 in the bridge with an EMG 89 in the neck. The 85 is a very versitile pickup, and it's sounds super smooth. I like it WAY better than the 81. I'll go as far as saying that I hate the 81 compared to the 85.

One of my all time favorites though is the Duncan '59! That thing is so smooth and tight! Not much output, but TONE, TONE, TONE!

[AEK-Jackson Fan]

RR3! Thats a great price man! Jacksons are so expensive here in Europe,but still worth it though