Advice on buying U.S.A or Import

[Greg Crowe]

Re: Advice on buying U.S.A or Import

If you previously owned an 89-91 Charvel 375 Deluxe, you know what an excellent job Charvel/Jackson did making guitars in Japan back then. The newer imports will NOT be anywhere near the quality of what C/J was spitting out from Japan back in the 80's and early 90's. It's pure economics. To compete in today's market, C/J just can't built them that way anymore with USA-type quality parts.

The best bang-for-the-buck C/J's out there are the 87-93 Japanese guitars. You can pick up a nice flametop, sharkfin 475 Deluxe for about $250 on eBay these days. You can get a neck-thru model 5, 6, or 650 for $275-$400. You can get a nice USA neck-thru for $500-$700 if you look hard enough on eBay.

[slayer]

Re: Advice on buying U.S.A or Import

Greg, that is about perfect on the pricing of the older Charvels and Jacksons, but the one you didn`t mention was the 1990-93 Jackson Pros, the ones that were made in Japan, but matched the USA ones of the same ilk. They are great guitars, but are priced way to closely with used USA Jackson. People want $500-700 for the Soloist Pro, yet you can get a few year old Black SL2H for about $550-700. The pricing is too close to justify buying the Japanese version. I feel about $350-500 would be about right and that would level it out and make them more attractive to me anyway as a buyer, if not I`ll take the SL1 or 2 for close to the same price used, but those Soloist Pros are very special guitars and I imagine much rarer than the USA versions of the same era and ilk. Jack.

[KarmicApexIntellect]

Re: Advice on buying U.S.A or Import

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I say that if you are just starting to play and don't know for sure if you'll stick with it, or play very often, then get an import for less money. If you are a serious/longtime player and can save for a little while longer and get a unique USA Jackson, why not? I have both myself, and I guess I was very fortunate to have obtained a couple of great imports that feel very close to my USA, and their sounds are comparable as well. Main difference for me, is that my USA is a neck-thru-body rather than a bolt-on neck, but I know that there are import Jackson neck-thru's as well, if that is important to you... [img]graemlins/band.gif[/img]
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