How did it all start?

[charvel750]

Yeah, what got you into C/J's? Some of us came up during the great "guitar hero" age of technical/virtuoso players who chose these instruments as their creative tools. Others got into them much later, for the quality of the guitars and not so much for the endorsers/users. Some of us simply dig the looks, or the feel and playability. For me, it's been the fact that the playability, tone, and looks are perfect. And when I saw my first USA Jackson and was frozen in a moment of awe (and drool!)

[Lev]

Re: How did it all start?

Well I was too young to remember or live the 80's hair metal scene or anything.. I never saw anyone playing a Jackson, never had a friend who owned a Jackson.. I was just into strat shapes and wanted the most playable guitar.. ended up getting an SL-1 about 4 years ago when I was 16, been hooked on Jackson's ever since..

[Drsracing]

Re: How did it all start?

EVH, RR, Scott Ian, Phil Collen, The Ghraphics, The Shapes, Everything that is Jackson/Charvel brouht me to them

[Hellraiser6502]

Re: How did it all start?

Two words...ROBBIN FUKKIN CROSBY!

Seeing 'Round & Round' in 1984 on MTv did it for me...I was hooked. I WANTED that black flying V! Still want it....

I forgot about RATT after 1988 but i never lost that initial 'bump' of seeing that beautiful black Jackson V with the pointy head.


[img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]

[toejam]

Re: How did it all start?

I always loved the look of Jacksons in the '80s, especially the Rhoads, though I've never owned one. I got my first Jackson in the early '90s from Musician's Friend... it was a deep blue Kelly (a Standard?) It had white plastic dot inlays and a JT580LP, but I got rid of it because I didn't care for lo-pro trems at the time. I mainly got it because Marty Friedman looked so cool with one!
Then in '95 I got a Venneman's Music Emporium catalog that had a blow-out of Professional Dinky HX models (string-thru TOM bridge) and I always wanted a Jackson like that since I saw Scott Ian with a couple string-thru Soloists, so I got one in black. I finally got another one in red this year!

[Jim Shine]

Re: How did it all start?

I loved them at first sight. However, when I was a young player in the mid-late 80's, Jackson's were everywhere in the music scene. Not just the music I liked either. However, almost all of my favorite bands used them. I wanted a Jackson so bad, but they were way too expensive for me. I drooled over catalogs, and once in a while dad would drive me down to Ed Roman's store where I could see (but never touch) these awesome guitars.

In the early 90's I finally got my first Jackson, which was a Soloist. It was played hard, but at the time I was changing musically and was more geared towards old Fender guitars. I sold the Jackson eventually, often missing it.

Last year I picked up a J0900's # Jackson P style Bass. I couldn't believe how well it was made. So I decided to check out other Jackson guitars. I still have the love for these I did as a kid. After dealing with vintage Fender for the better part of the past 12 or so years, its nice to be into guitars I can justify owning, and have fun to boot. I thought I would never sell my '58 Strat, but I did that this past spring. I don't miss it. I bought all the Jackson's I have at the moment for about the same amount I sold that one, poor playing guitar sold for. I don't care about investment anymore. Investment isn't fun. Life is too short not to have fun.

So..thats where it started. Whats next? I think I may focus onto Soloists at some point as that is the guitar that caught my eye, felt the most comfortable, and has kept my interest for more years than I have actually owned them.

[ September 24, 2003, 11:29 PM: Message edited by: Jim Shine ]

[Steve]

Re: How did it all start?

the looks for me forsure and the quality of the imports and the USA line , also Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman back in the day as well as Randy . //Steve

[Drsracing]

Re: How did it all start?

I totally forgot about addin Warren and Robin, Defintaly 2 main reasons why I picked up A Charvel for my 1st guitar.

[iced_earth]

Re: How did it all start?

My first guitar was an import Charvel, received as a birthday present about five years ago. After reading as much as I could about all mass produced guitar makes (Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, ESP, etc...), I have come full circle back to the Jackson/Charvel family because no one can match their value, performance, and looks. J/Cs are simply awesome.

-Mike

[Normie]

Re: How did it all start?

Having been blessed with growing up in the 80s (graduated HS in 83) I also grew up with the era's rock/metal. All my favorite players played Jackson or Charvel.
In time, they all went on to endorsement deals, but before all the aother companies came with checkbooks in hand, they (mostly) played C/J exclusively or mostly.
Plus, some of the era's greatest metal was recorded on C/Js.

I couldn't afford one back then - Had a Gibson Les Paul/Firebrand (great axe btw).

I did the family thing and (like an idiot) sold all my gear. When I picked up the hobby again a couple years back, there was only one (ok, 2) guitars I wanted. Charvel or Jackson.

Got a DXMG and love it. Got A Model 5FX and think it can't get better. Can't wait for the custom shop Soloist to get here....someday [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Totenkopf]

Re: How did it all start?

The two guitarists from Ratt gave Jackson/Charvel major public visibility starting in 1984. Just speaking for myself, Warren was the reason I eventually bought a Charvel.

[Chuckracer]

Re: How did it all start?

I graduated in 79 and was playing full time in bands throughout the eighties, so it was Ratt, Roughcutt, Keel, etc. Anybody playing a Charvel or Jackson was cool in my book!
There were two different camps where I came from: The Charvel guys and the Kramer guys, and the twain shalt never meet! I was a died in the wool Charvel guy having bought my first one brand new in '85.

[Outlander]

Re: How did it all start?

I had been playing a strat for many years. I liked the pauls but they are a little heavy. I actually researched this quite a bit. I wanted a two hum guitar with Seymour Duncans,24 fret,OFR,neckthru with flamed top and American made. I wanted something with good sustain.
I spent a lot of time visting this forum before I became a member. My criteria narrowed the field down pretty fast. I then went to the stores and played the guitars,B.C.Rich, P.R.S. and a few others IMO Jackson beat them all in fit finish tone and playability and even cost less than most of the others. I ended up with a 2000 model SLH trans blue.
I love this guitar it will sing forever if you let it. I use this guitar for blues, country, jazz, rock and of course metal.
The only problem I have now is that I want one of each model! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Rocker8090]

Re: How did it all start?

1-Growing up in the 80's
2-Warren DeMartini
3-George Lynch
4-Steve Blaze
5-Vinnie Vincent

Need I say anymore [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Ace]

Re: How did it all start?

I wanted a Jackson ever since the first time I saw one in my guitar hero's hands. The man was Jeff Hanneman, the year was maybe 1992. I knew I had wanted to be a guitar player since I first saw Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" videos. The first tapes I bought of my own choice were Def Leppard's "Hysteria" and G'N'R's "Appetite for Destruction". I asked for an electric guitar every year for both Christmas and my birthday, but I never got one. I do know that when I was born my father was big into the Los Angeles music scene as a music attorney. He has told me tales of hanging out backstage with Van Halen, cruising Sunset Boulevard with Phil Spector, and about how he used to take Joan Jett to the Pleasure Chest(an adult store) when she was too young to go by herself(under 18). I also know that I used to share a bed with one of the Razorblades(a woman) from Venus and the Razorblades when I was just born.

When I was growing up and asking for a guitar, maybe it was either my father's alcoholism, which cost our family a lot in both stability and money, but which is totally resolved now, or my not asking enough, but I never got an electric guitar. I was given an acoustic guitar to play, and when I was 14 I was fortunate enough to have a Croatian exchange student who loved metal as much as I did, and he was 18 and had played in a metal band. He introduced me to bands like Napalm Death and Morgoth and Slayer. He also taught me a few lessons on guitar. After he left I kept practicing on my own, playing thrash on an old beat-up acoustic guitar for several years. I had three guitar books to learn from. Slayer's Reign in Blood, my favorite, AC/DC's greatest hits, which I liked, and Joe Satriani's Time Machine. My mother bought me the Time Machine book, because she knew I was a Satriani fan, and I used to just open it and laugh. That thing was WAY out of my league, and I've not seen the book in years.
When I was 17 I left my mother's house two days after graduating High School and set out to life on the streets of Venice, CA. After several months of working no more than two weeks straight, and getting into more than my share of trouble with the police, I joined the Marine Corps.
Finally about a year later when I had finished all of my schooling and had reached my first permenant duty station I bought my first guitar: a purple Jackson with a Floyd Rose and dual Humbuckers. I didn't know it at the time, but that guitar is a Fusion, and it is still my favorite guitar, though I try and keep it safely locked away, and only play it in my bedroom. The rest is history. I now have 2 Jacksons and 3 Charvels, with several more having passed through my hands.