Jackson not progressing any? Why?

[sonicsamurai]

I DON'T care who plays Jacksons or who endorses them.I play Jackson because they are the best guitars I've ever owned!!!!

i play jacksons and charvels beacuse thats what i always saw people playing in glam metal. i liked playing glam metal and i knew that for me, a jackson and a charvel was where it was at for that sound and tnat style. and when i started plaing them, i culd totally se why all these players had them, they kicked ass....even at import level, j/c make solid guitars, that last, u wanna keep them.

[guitarsjb]

+1 for that!!! Well said

Exactly!!

When I bought my first Jackson (an RX10D, nothing to get excited about)..it was so perfect for me, and so "me", I sold everything I had (Fender USA, Ibanez, BC Rich) just to buy more Jacksons!

I think Jackson is listening. We got some upgrades on the imports, real Duncans, maple necks, the RR24 etc. But everything can't happen overnight. I do think the price hikes are wrong, so, I guess I'm relegated to the import line for a LONG time..or used.

A lot of people who bash them to me also have NEVER owned or played one. So, I consider the source and move on.

The bottom line is, I'm happy as long as there are Jacksons for me to play.

[Axewielder]

I work for a manufacturer, and let me tell you about this thing called "harvest mode". It's where you pull way way back on spending on any new development on a product, and instead squeeze it for as much revenue as you can get out of it as-is. Maybe you'll do a small improvement here or there, but nothing major. I hope FMIC isn't putting Jackson into "harvest mode".

[CharvelRocker]

IF you want the popular opinion on Jackson and my views on the topic...

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=791241

I think you can guess who I am. I feel the company is trying to move forward this year. A fair number of new models, some new endorsers, and a budget minded Charvel line coming out... I think Fender is a bit of afraid of over doing it like say Kramer did in the 80s or to some degree Jackson in the early 90s.

[bibz]

If you want Jackson to be more trendy your missing the point. Anyone who prefers Ibanez or ESP I just chalk up to either being beginners, or playing them for fucking years. I love the way they dont pay anybody, and whoever plays them plays them for the same reason I do, pick one up and you'll find out too. As Sully says, they only needed one endorsee 26 years ago and they still are the best out there in my opinion!

[charvel750]

Sully said it best. Who cares if the most "popular" artists aren't endorsing Jacksons. Where I play in Florida, there's a lot of local talent that uses nice Jacksons. Great players who just aren't in the spot light. Since when was a guitar brand cool just because the latest flash in the pan played the models? Those in the know, know. Night after night your Jackson won't fail you, it keeps on giving and it actually inspires you to new levels. I don't play my Jacksons because (insert name of latest celeb here) does, I play 'em because they deliver the goods...

[wreckingcrew]

Fender treats Charvel and Jackson WAY better than Gibson treats Kramer... which sucks, cuz Kramer rocks... Jackson, Charvel and Kramer are my favorite brands. I don't know many people around here who play any of those brands either

[thetroy]

They are never going to compete with Korean-made guitars unless they also move production like Ibanez, LTD, Shecter, etc.

That 'Made in Japan' sticker is expensive.

[toejam]

Why aren't Jackson going after guys like Karl Sanders, Dallas Toller-Wade, Trey Azagthoth, Peter from Vader, Ralph Santolla and the modern bands (who I think are shit but others don't) like Dimmu Borgir, Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine etc?

Ralph Santolla was endorsed by Jackson at one time. So was Glen Drover when he played with King Diamond... then when he got the Megadeth gig, he followed Mustaine to ESP and then Dean. Though, like Sully, it doesn't impact my life any, and I own and like to play other brands of guitars as well.

[thebigz]

The only thing that makes me mad about it is that Jacksons are almost impossible to find because hardly anyone cares about them anymore. I've only seen a handful of USA Jacksons in my life, and almost all were at shows. I've seen only 2 in stores ever, and neither time were they even in my state, I had to go to Arizona. The GC near me has about 5 imports and I don't even know of anywhere else close that carries any Jacksons.

[Bodomhc]

The only thing that makes me mad about it is that Jacksons are almost impossible to find because hardly anyone cares about them anymore. I've only seen a handful of USA Jacksons in my life, and almost all were at shows. I've seen only 2 in stores ever, and neither time were they even in my state, I had to go to Arizona. The GC near me has about 5 imports and I don't even know of anywhere else close that carries any Jacksons.

+1

[Endrik]

ever thought that maybe Jackson isn't exactly for the bedroom players and trend hopper?

[Newc]

Actually Jackson's import line makes up a pretty sizeable part of their overall business. True, you're not going to find any neckthrough imports that directly compete with the same USA models like you could in 1990-94 but that almost destroyed Jackson at the time.

If you want Jackson guitars to be more affordable, then you need to make more money.

Ibenhad, ESPee, Schecter, and all those other Made In Korea companies are using cheap labor. So what if they have models with real abalone binding and real ebony boards and real mother of pearl all over them? Is it a better guitar overall or is it just prettier?
If it's a better guitar overall, maybe you should go with them instead.

As was stated earlier, Jackson doesn't pay anyone the way Ibenhad/ESPee/Schechter do. How many different sig models does each of those companies have, and what are the main differences? A knob, a switch, or some other cosmetic change? Those companies give away assembly-line guitars to their "artists" like candy at Halloween, and they line up like sheep to sign away their image.

Jackson hired Jenna to satisy the people who wanted Jackson to court whores. Who better than the Queen of Whores to give an endorsement to? I have zero respect for anyone who goes with a company simply because they get free guitars. If it's worth having, it's worth buying. How much do you spend a year on cable TV? Probably enough to buy a guitar. Ditch the cable TV service and buy a Jackson.

Unfortunately, Jackson is being pidgeonholed by FMIC as a Metal-only brand, and will not push or explore anything that competes directly with Fender's other brands. The SweeTone series was competing with the Guild and Gretsch and some Fender models, so they were dropped. I don't think they were heavily marketed to begin with.

[NextInLine]

I think the "I don't care who plays Jacksons" idea is irrelevant. Because it's not "does your Jackson make you happy" we're discussing about, we're discussing whether Jackson is down or not, if so why?

So it's greatly important who plays Jacksons imo, if you want the company to do well then you should think that way also, that's my point of view..

Think about it, why can ESP have too many models and still come up with many more? Because they are already selling a looot and they won't lose much if some new model doesn't make it to the top If Jackson does better you'll have more models, options and more guitars, that means more guitar porn in JCF

What I don't get is, whatever strategy they are following it doesn't help Jackson, why can't Fender see it? If I were a Fender manager I'd do the absolute opposite with Jackson next year, I'm sure that would help much more!

[Bodomhc]

True,but Jackson should treat they're endorsees better.