Yet another bitch about Jackson thread

[CharvelRocker]

With any guitar brand issues are to be expected. And you always will hear more about the bad than the good. The probably is, when you're rolling out guitars that cost over $3,000, you shouldnt have NEARLY the issues Jackson and Charvels seem to have. And if they take over a year to get, they damn better be flawless.

[GryphonGuitar]

For what people are paying, they have to be mindblowing. And if they're not, something is wrong. Simple as that.

[BTB007]

Tim, put your PC1 up on the bay. There are a ton of PC fans out there that would probably jump to own a PC1 they've never seen or heard about before.
This is just a shame to hear about and so sad.

[danastas]

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?

The fact that this order came after the other botched orders is what makes for the real eye opener. If it was just this PC1 run, I'd pay it no mind because I've had 3 or 4 PC1s, and only one of them, a Red Rum, didn't have sustainer issues. The PC1 in particular seems to have a lot of problems because of the electronics. The sucky thing is that it doesn't need to have these problems, if a few things were changed.

[hammer84]

I feel for you Tim. I wanted one of the PC-1 from Matt. I just could not pull the trigger because of some of the issues comming out of the "custom shop" . I wanted to wait and see how they came out.

I'm not nit picky at all but my last two charvel have pissed me off so bad that I will never order or buy another without getting to touch and play it first. Hell with their new price structure I won't even be looking to buy a new one. I'm done too.

I still find it funny that a few years ago I thought PRS was the over price king. Not any more, my last two PRSi are beautiful guitars that play and sound killer with no issues and they were the same price as a one hum bolt on new charvel.

[toejam]

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.

Yikes. Sorry to hear of all the crap you have to deal with. And you're right, there's so many great old ones out there to be had. I'm still happy with my '94 Professional Dinky HX, and my '05 USA Charvel Star is fine, and new import Mark Morton model I just got is excellent, too. I'll be happy to stick with buying new Carvins or Hamers and really don't need to look at any new J/Cs.

[danastas]

I'm just speculating here and trying to use logic but it seems to me the problems are FMIC related. Did these quality control issues exist before the takeover? Well, they've gotten worse then, with the same exact people working in the shop.

Fender is making mint these days selling their custom relics for $3k. They sell a lot of them. When you consider that these are less complex guitars (yeah, they are really well built, great players, but they are not neck throughs and they don't have binding on the necks, nor graphics, etc.) then it becomes obvious that the Jackson side has much higher margins. And a name brand that doesn't command the respect of Fender. So Fender treats the J/C line as a poor cousin.

I'm just speculating. I don't know. But the difference could be a reason for the problems, if Fender is changing the old way of doing things, that is.

I've tried a few custom shop Jacksons that were almost totally built by Pablo Santana, and they were great guitars. I bought one in fact. Has anyone considered requesting a builder when ordering a custom? I know there were issues with the Dweezil, and that the builder was well known, but I'm just wondering if anyone has made a specific request.

[StukaJU87]

I really have no plans of ordering or buying any new Jackson/Charvel guitars. The new prices are way over the top, and like has been said already. There are so many used ones at such a better price, it just makes sense to wait for a killer to come along.

My new RR1T, like mentioned by another poster, had just about every screw hole over drilled. I just fixed it myself and went about my business. But for what it cost, I should not have had to repair it at all.

[StukaJU87]

I lied. I WOULD BUY JCF-03, but I don't see that happening anyway.:ROTF:

[Sunbane]

Would it be fair to say that USA Jackson quality has dropped, and import Jackson quality gotten up? A lot of people are raving about the new imports, while we start hearing about more and more QC issues with the USA Selects.

[mudkicker]

I'm just speculating here and trying to use logic but it seems to me the problems are FMIC related. Did these quality control issues exist before the takeover? Well, they've gotten worse then, with the same exact people working in the shop.

Not taking up for FMIC, eveyone knows my opinion of their pricing. But there used to be daily rants about the quality coming out of AMIC. Alot of finish issues, poorly lined up trems and so on. However, there was no toothpick gate.

Of course these threads are from two boards ago, so I doubt any still exist. But there was problems with quality then too. But the price was also more agreeable.

[mattsmusiccenter]

Well, at least the Frankensteins won't be screwed up... they're already beat to hell before leaving the factory.

[MetalGrasshopper]

Jackson's QC has been pretty bad as of late...I got a Floyd saddle that wasn't properly fitted on my KV2X and now my low E makes a farting sound whenever I hit it too hard.

[daisp]

I lucked out and have no real issues with my PC1, however the fit and finish is not as tight as any of my Charvels, do you find there are more problems with Jackson? I thought they came from the same tap, but it sure seems like people have a lot of issues lately with Jackson. As far as $5000 guitars go, I would never order a Jackson for that much, because there is absolutely no way that it would play as nice as my overpriced yet perfect PRS modern eagle singlecut...That thing kills. I must say though one of the best deals out there for custom shop guitars is James Trussart. I have 5 of them and they all slay me...his necks and tone are killer, and what can you say about the coolness of the "beat up" metal guitar...just my thoughts

[toejam]

Well, at least the Frankensteins won't be screwed up... they're already beat to hell before leaving the factory.

Yeah, how can you tell if there's a problem with those? :ROTF: