Yet another bitch about Jackson thread

[hippietim]

The way stuff is going is total bullshit. Plain and simple.

Out of a run of 10 fucking PC1s, 4 that I know of have had fucked up sustainers and 2 that I know of arrived with lock nuts flying around the fucking cases - mine was scratched as a result - I'm not sure if the other one got it's scratch attributed to the lock nuts or not.

Every few CS guitars I hear about has something not right but the owners say "but it's not worth sending back for" - myself included. People just give up. It sucks.

I know some of you guys will call this screw counting or say folks are being to picky or whatever. But these guitars cost thousands of dollars. There is no excuse for the volume of fuck ups - a 40% fucked up electronic ratio in one run, big neck pocket gaps, "premium lightweight alder", misaligned bridges, misaligned pickups, poorly painted headstocks, wrong logos, cases that do not fit guitars properly, etc.

There is no way everyone is really getting their money's worth. Everyone is just sucking it up.

My guitar went through final inspection at the end of November as did the few others I heard about. Why the fuck didn't they arrive until February? I suppose everyone was "too busy building the guitars of our dreams" to pack up guitars and leave them out back for the UPS guy.

There is no way I would have bought the limited PC-1 I received for the price I paid if I had a chance to try it out first. I am NOT a satisfied customer on this purchase. In fact, I'd have returned it for a refund if I could.

It is going to be a long time before Jackson/Charvel gets any business from me again. And apparently I'm not alone. Several folks that have received recent customs have said the same thing and some have even canceled orders. And several prominent dealers are no longer taking Custom Shop orders because they're tired of the bullshit too.

And they want to charge even more money for this crap?

[markD]

that is a shame. sorry tim.

[toejam]

There is no way I would have bought the limited PC-1 I received for the price I paid if I had a chance to try it out first. I am NOT a satisfied customer on this purchase. In fact, I'd have returned it for a refund if I could.

That sucks. So why are you keeping it? Can you not get a refund?

[busdriver]

Yup, that sucks. I also had a custom guitar ready last summer but it had to go back, because a few things were wrong. I hope it will be right this time... if not, they definitely lost me as a customer.

The ironic thing is that the guitar originally was finished after only 6 months and now it became 15+ months (still no sign of it...)

[paulbag]

this is depressing...

[Bengal65]

Yeah, I was getting ready for a Post entitled "Jackson Charvel Quality in The Toliet"?
In addition to the problems with my PC1 small batch, I had purchased a new RR1T also manufactured in 2006. I aquired this guitar shortly before the PC1. As I was playing the guitar, I noticed a screw on the floor and it was from the rear (bridge) pickup ring. I was planning on changing the Pups to EMG's anyway. Well, I started unscrewing the remaining mounting screws and noticed the screws turned, but was not coming out. To make a long story short, the holes were drilled by the factory too large for the screws to thread into the wood. The screws were just pushed into the mounting holes. One screw on a larger hole was purposely bent so it would stay in the hole. This is not acceptable! Poor workmanship at the craftsman level and virtually no QC at Jackson Charvel!

With the other problems as mentioned by Hippietim, plus the paint issues with the Greenie run, Sub run problems etc., I doubt there is any quality control at J/C.
I'm not going to purchase anymore guitars from J/C, including the CS I just spec'd out for a long time to come. That is until they fix the quality problems.
Yeah, and they want a price increase for the lack of quality control. I'll take my hard earned money to another builder.

[hippietim]

That sucks. So why are you keeping it? Can you not get a refund?

A while back I bought a guitar from VWall that needed warranty service to just play a fucking open G chord. Needless to say I was pissed and asked if I could return it and was told I'd have to eat a 20% restocking fee. Sure enough, those were the terms listed on his web site which I didn't read beforehand (to be fair, he never mentioned that either).

Since then, I always read people's return policies. Matt's states that special order items aren't returnable and those items that are returnable are subject to a 20% restocking fee. Also, I already sold my other PC-1. So at this point I am just sucking it up.

But Jackson has lost me as a customer. There are so many great old Jackons out there that cost less than half of the new ones. And then you look at the list of great builders out there such as GMW, Suhr, Anderson, Grosh, Tyler, Carvin, Hamer, and many others. There really is no reason to go to Jackson for a new guitar at all.

[shredmonster]

Wow

Shocked and bummed

Guess my next Custom will be a Suhr 24 fret

[shreddermon]

IMHO, the bottom line of the current situation is like this: there are some significant QC issues. Many of the issues being discussed are obviously legit. And, because of a lot of those discussions, there's also a fair bit of nitpicking and whinybitching about small things that people otherwise wouldn't care about, but are now highlighted as perceived "poor QC". Perception is influencing reality, if you know what I mean. The truth lies somewhere in between.

Also IMHO, the root cause of this is a poor customer service issue. QC is a just a symptom of the bigger illness. Finished guitars taking months to ship, orders just not getting built, QC issues being sent back and not getting adaquately addressed and/or done so in a timely manner, the legal nonsense being taken to an extreme, the perceived "arrogance" of a big price hike while having poor QC, etc. My recent customs were all great. And my experience with some orders that predate their arrival has been the opposite.

IMHO, it ain't as bad as it may seem, but J/C does need to get their s**t together better. And in a comprehensive way.

[Bengal65]

Guess my next Custom will be a Suhr 24 fret

That's just what I was thinking!

[Top Jimmy B]

I never join in on these threads but some of the things I am hearing lately have given me pause regarding the two guitars I have on order.

Having never spec'd or purchased a custom Jackson or Charvel, prior to the FMIC buyout, I honestly can't comment with any authority regarding the apparent downfall in QC. Having said that, I have a very good memory and thinking back over my time on this forum (late '01) I can't remember so many threads detailing quality issues with these guitars. I very well recall many threads pissing on ESP or Ibanez for being "cheap" or "poorly made" - odd that those posts decline in number, yet the JCMI beef threads continue to grow.

I was so excited to see the PC1, Sub and Dweezil runs come in; hoping for killer guitars with great reviews but....eh. Each of these runs seem to come in at fifty percent satisfaction - clearly there is a problem somewhere within the context of these multiple orders.

It doesn't make sense for one off orders to come in with a higher level of QC than these "runs". A checklist is a checklist, right?

[Glave]

I'll stick to my 15-20yr old Charvel/Jacksons. If I pick one up with some fret wear and some buckle rash, at least I know it was good enough for someone to have played it for a long time. I'll take those odds over spending 5 to 10 times the price on something that someone dropped the ball on and can't get a full refund. I'm happy with my 2 Jackson Pros and my Charvel Model 6 that I picked up for under $1000 total.

[hippietim]

And, because of a lot of those discussions, there's also a fair bit of nitpicking and whinybitching about small things that people otherwise wouldn't care about, but are now highlighted as perceived "poor QC".

Please give some examples of this rampant nitpicking that is not warranted on guitars that cost thousands of dollars and take a year or two to get.

[hippietim]

And my experience with some orders that predate their arrival has been the opposite.

So over the last several years, how many guitars came as you ordered them with no issues along the way vs. those that had issues either once you got the guitar or in the process?

I just did that little exercise and came up with this: I have purchased 6 brand new J/C guitars in the last several years. Two were excellent. Two had significant issues. Two had minor issues - one (Big Red) could even be considered nitpicky but there were so many build issues along the way that it's pretty easy to say that Big Red had lame QC issues.

IMHO, it ain't as bad as it may seem, but J/C does need to get their s**t together better. And in a comprehensive way.

Well then, please explain just how bad is it then? Many loyal customers won't order more guitars and even if they wanted to their favorite dealers aren't taking orders anymore.

[gtrbuyer]

I just placed a new custom order last week, not sure which dealers are no longer taking orders but Music Zoo worked with me on getting mine in the queue.

The wait time sucks but I have either been very lucky or not as nit picky. For example, I know some folks had issues with their Dweezs but my Dweez is still one of my all time fave pointies.

But if folks are getting guitars with issues or lemons I think they have ever right to complain, I know I would if I were in their shoes. I am hoping my luck continues, so far so good for me and I own about a dozen or so new ones.