How did it all start?

[Black Mask]

Re: How did it all start?

My experience with Jackson started about three weeks ago, when I began considering a Kelly bass as a suitable new instrument. lol... I haven't been disappointed yet!

Growing up, I've always preferred "vintage" instruments like Les Pauls, Strats and P-Basses over "80s shred" instruments, and I decided to get over my unbased predjudices and try something new. For me, Jackson is a way of branching out and playing AWESOME instruments that I haven't been exposed to before. I think I'm gonna stick around! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/band.gif[/img]

Almost everyone who has responded to this thread has grown up in the 80s, most people graduating high school about the same time I was born (1983). As a twenty year old, do you guys foresee Jackson being able to continually reach younger people? Sooner or later, YOUR generation will get too old to play. Are Jacksons timeless? I'm not taking one side or the other, just raising a hypothetical question (based on the fact you guys are all the same age and listen to the same music).

[micha]

Re: How did it all start?

Originally posted by 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!)

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">it was roope latvala for me!!
I saw a pic of my PS3T in the net-market and bought it second hand when I found out that latvala was playing rhoads on these waltari records...

well, actually I just fell in love with her, when I first saw her... [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

but I probbly wouldn't have taken a look without knowing bout roope. I never regretted... that guy has taste!! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Hamner1]

Re: How did it all start?

Well for me in the mid '80s C/Js were everywhere. Ratt, Megadeth, Rhoads, Iron Maiden, every other MTV video. I saw them everywhere. I finally saw a Rhoads at my local store and was hooked. Jackson's just had a mean and aggressive look. From that point on I wanted a Jackson Rhoads. I still do, but my other Jacksons are killer and will appease me until I get a Rhoads.

[holycross1]

Re: How did it all start?

It was a Charvel dealer in Niles Michigan called Piano's Plus. I fell in love with the model 2's and model 5's and 6's.I had made it my dream to own every one. Since then I have curved the amount of guitars I would try to own down to Model 6's, 750XL's, Fusions, and a breif but overboard infatuation with dinky reverses with maple finger boards. I've owned 4.
I love the Jackson legacy, but I hate the past marketink practices. Ibanez and ESP have taken with very little resistance the throne that J/C should own by rights.
I look forward with great antisipation to see fender bring J/C back to the front of the pack with inovation and mix of tradition.

[MetalChef]

Re: How did it all start?

I got into metal around 1987...right at it's height!

I was 13 years old, and Iron Maiden got my ear..then , one day, going home on a school bus, one of my friends played me a Anthrax Tape-"i;m the man" I thought it was funny, but what I really liked were the two live tunes at the end of the tape-"I am the Law" and "Caught in a mosh".
And right after that...a instrumental followed by what sounded like a record playing a old song, a bomb blast, and some of the most CRUSHING guitars I had heard at the time!

Into the lungs of Hell/Set the World Afire-Megadeth

At that moment-I wanted to be able to do that!!!!!
Play guitar!!!!

I then took my mom's unused nylon string acoustic, and got her books. I learned a few chords, tried to practice at least a hour or so a day.

finally in 1990, I got a job, and that summer I bought a offbrand BC Rich Bich copy.(I still have it)
but I always wanted a guitar with a real Floyd, and I loved the look and sound of my fave bands
choice of guitars-Jackson!

Dave and his King V, MArty and his Kelly, Anthrax's Custom Rhoads..then I discovered Randy, and of course...THE black V!"

I played my first guitar for a few years, then managed to buy a Charvel from a co-worker who was selling it off to get a Gibson Explorer. I bought it and played the heck out of it! I almost sold it a few times, but to this day, I still have that 1989 550XL! It's tuned to Eb these days..and I have yet to find any other Japanese made guitar that can match it!(beyond other Jackson/Charvels!)

I then bought a 1979 LEs Paul Custom silverburst...GREAT guitar! Played it lots..great tone! I also noticed my shoulder and back were hurting for no reason...I happened to be near a scale one day and sat it on..21.5 lbs!!!!!!!

I had to sell it! I sold it, and bought a PRS with a cool red firecrackle finish; one of my other faves, Alex Lifeson had some, and he had great tone..so I gave it a try. Played that for a few years, then I stupidly stopped playing guitar.I kept all my stuff..and started playing with synths/samplers/drum machines. Yes..I went industrial!(which I don't regret...I can use MIDI and synths like the back of my hand now! Handy when you want to do atmosphereic melodic metal!)

When I got back into Metal again a few years later, I discoverd the Black, Melodic Death and Euro metal scenes. I hauled out the guitar again and started playing. I liked the PRS..but..it just never felt right. It had GREAT tone, worksmanship and feel...but it just never was "me".

Soo...I called PRS..and gave them my serial number, and got info on what the guitar was.

Turns out it was a 1988 PRS Standard 24 "special"-and it was worth $1800 in it's current shape! I am a player, not a collector (at this point!), and I thought about selling it.

I happened to go to a music store in San Fran a month or so later to help one of my friends handle guitars to figure out what his first one is. We walked in, and a USA Kelly in Trans black was sitting on a stand. I just walked by it-I did not want to play it.
Ryan(my friend) went to the BC Rich on the racks(he's a big Warlock/Widow fan), and I helped him play a few chords, handle lots of guitars, etc . He really liked the NJ Warlock(good first guitar really), and wanted me to play it a bit so he could hear what it sounded like in the hands of someone who could play a bit.

He walked off after a few minutes, and got the Kelly-and handed it to me.

"I should not play that Rye..I might buy it or something"

"dude, just play it"

"ahh okay.."

Plugged in guitar-and played...and played..and played.

He got his Warlock and a week later called me-
"you got next Tues off right?"

"Yeah"

"so...are we heading back down so you can buy that Kelly? I could not get that guitar out of your hands! I have also never heard you play better! the second you picked it up, I knew you had to have it! It had your name ALL over it!"

"damn you!"

Sold the PRS that afternoon online, headed down and bought the Kelly.

*pats his case*

Man I love it!

FINALLY after all these years got the tone and feel I always wanted!

After playing lots of other "top notch" guitars...

Jackson/Charvel all the Way!!!!!


[img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

Now I just gotta save some money for the custom shop Kelly and Warrior I want!!!!

[Mikeee]

Re: How did it all start?

This is exactly the way I try to explain to techno/trance/house folks and corporate metal (Nu) folks their fave music has no soul.

Granted I don't know more than a few techno junkies but I've never heard any of them say something like: "Dude you remember DJ Bla di Blah's 1992 album? Damn that thing is still awesome, it's a classic. I routinely put it on again and dance my ass off at home!"

Same goes for these Lionking Pork fans though most eventually graduate to serious rock and metal music.

But whether it's the Doors, Cream, Iron Butterfly, Hendrix, Led Zep, Sabbath, Heep, Maiden, GnR, Metallica, Slayer, Death, hell maybe even Poison or Cinderella they're still relevant to people today and all have influenced generations of other bands.
They're remebered whether they only released one album or a demo.

[ September 26, 2003, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: Mikeee ]

[bombtek]

Re: How did it all start?

I grew up in the 80's also. 84-88 were the best years for the Metal scene (my opinion). I started on an NJ Series BC Rich Rich Bich that was a hardtail, then I saw how all the shredders had a trem. I ran right out and got a Kahler flat mount installed and started yanking my bar like a fool LOL. In and around 1987, I was having a custom guitar made by a local luthier who built Joe Perry's strat on his solo project. Mine was gonna be a Gibson Les Paul body, with edges shaved like an SG, the neck was a Fender strat, set into the body, and the whole guitar (neck and all) tie dyed. Well after about 6 months, he finally got it done and it was KILLER!! Wish I still had it. During the time that it was being built, I needed another axe to play on (sold the BC Rich for a $300 car), and he sold me a brand new (in 1988) Model 5A for $225 that he got for less than $100 from someone who owed him money. That Charvel stayed with me for 10 years as my main axe and NOTHING could ever compare to playing that guitar for that price.

[diablomozart]

Re: How did it all start?

hmmm...started on a harmony les paul with a built in speaker...lol...over the next years i owned esp's, top of the line bc riches, kramers, gibsons...you name it and i owned it...then one of my fiends sold me a strat head charvel mutt for 250.00 (baby blue with whiite stripes...never should've sold it later)...anyway...i was hooked and have played c/j's ever since...d.m.

[pagemalicious]

Re: How did it all start?

I started when i was 11 (1997). after listening to cd's from my dad like pink ,i wanted to be able to play like dave gilmour. After a while my grand mother gave me an old 9 inch vinyl of black sabbaths paranoid and iron man and some nazereth stuff.
After about a year, my dad's greek friend gave me some iron maiden and virgin steele cd's. From then on i was hooked on metal.
After buying Megadeth's Countdown to extinction i loved the jackson kelly's. It's only recently earlier this year i've been able to get my hands on a black RR3 which is by far the best guitar i've owned and played.
Now that im hooked on jacksons, im after some old Charvels and some sweet looking jacksons. But due to having no job and at college most of the time i can't afford very much. It's hard to even get strings..oh well just hope my band gets some where in the music buisness. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[pro-fusion]

Re: How did it all start?

Originally posted by Black Mask:
Almost everyone who has responded to this thread has grown up in the 80s, most people graduating high school about the same time I was born (1983). As a twenty year old, do you guys foresee Jackson being able to continually reach younger people? Sooner or later, YOUR generation will get too old to play. Are Jacksons timeless? I'm not taking one side or the other, just raising a hypothetical question (based on the fact you guys are all the same age and listen to the same music).

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah, I think they're pretty timeless in the way that you mean, at least the USA-made guitars are. Remember, no matter how in or our of fashion they are, USA Jacksons are, in the final analysis, handcrafted pro-quality guitars that play and sound great. That will never change, regardless of whether people like pointy headstocks. I remember back in the '80s, people were going nuts over vintage Strats and Teles, while you could buy a kickass used Les Paul for $500, or even less--I know, because I did so several times. Gibsons were not in fashion, while new Jacksons and Kramers were going for obscene amounts of money. Fashions change, but great guitars transcend eras.

And I think Jacksons are such a rock 'n' roll icon, in a way that Ibanez and ESP are not, that they will be considered classics years from now, the way old Gibsons and Fenders are now. I see the whole '80s thing being about where the '70s nostalgia was in 1992 or 93. In 1993, it was only starting to become ok again for anyone to admit that disco songs didn't all suck or that wide-leg jeans and platforms looked pretty killer. Personally, I wish they had come back for men--I always think of David Coverdale and Ritchie Blackmore onstage with Deep Purple at the CalJam '74 show in their wide leggers and platforms--now THAT was cool! Anyway, my point is that the hair metal that was so toxic in 1995 is now accepted. It's cool again to admit that you like Iron Maiden or Bon Jovi.

And look at the prices of vintage Jacksons and Charvels--they've started going up in the last few years, if I'm not mistaken. More people know about 'em. Overall, the used market for newer (non-San Dimas) C/J's isn't very good right now, but I think that will start to change once the vintage (San Dimas) prices truly reach the stratosphere. That's what happened with Les Pauls and Strats. There's nothing at all special or 'mojo-rific' about a '79 Strat or Les Paul, but look at the prices they command. A '92 Rhoads will eventually reach that level, too, I believe.

[charvel750]

Re: How did it all start?

Hey MetalChef, was '87 really the "height" of metal?! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Maiden was strong by '83 and in '85 there was nothing but metal in music. Some people still say Led Zepplin and Black Sabbath and Deep Purple were heavy metal, so who really knows. But I will admit, '87 was a fine year for music. [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]

[makovai]

Re: How did it all start?

in the early 90's I picked up this funny looking left handed guitar, with a hockey stick for a neck. kinda looked like a strat, but it had this funny name Charvel. I sat and played it for :10 seconds. And I new I'd never played anything like it or never would. So I hocked everything I had and came up with the $1000 and bought it. Its still the only guitar I play 13 years later. I have a lefty SL2H on order and i still have doubts if it'll outplay my charvel.

[kpacheco]

Re: How did it all start?

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Black Mask:
Almost everyone who has responded to this thread has grown up in the 80s, most people graduating high school about the same time I was born (1983). As a twenty year old, do you guys foresee Jackson being able to continually reach younger people? Sooner or later, YOUR generation will get too old to play. Are Jacksons timeless? I'm not taking one side or the other, just raising a hypothetical question (based on the fact you guys are all the same age and listen to the same music)....end quote
__________________________________________________ _________________


I think that Jackson is doing fairly well with todays younger players. I had a Jackson T-Shirt that I got when I bought one of my guitars, it was too small so I gave it to my 16 y/o daughter to wear. When she took it to school she came back telling me how almost every guy that played guitar in the school came up to her and praised Jackson guitars...

As for how it started for me, It was late '87. I was playing a USA BC Rich Bich but it wasn't really doing it for me tone-wise and feel. So while in the market, I walked into a guitar store in Albuquerque, NM, and was checking out what they had in stock when I noticed a While USA soloist behind the counter. I guess they had it back there so that not just anyone could play it. I asked the shop owner if I could play it and the minute I felt the neck and feel of the guitar I couldn't put it down. I was aware of the people playing Jackson but I never bought a guitar for "who" was playing. For me it was the obvious quality and playability of the thing. I played that guitar exclusively until 2000 when I got my PC1. Now I have four Jacksons and can't see me playing anything else.

Ken