Jackson not progressing any? Why?

[Brooke]

WHy does Jackson have to make a better mouse trap? Gibson has been doing the same thing for decades with the LP. Fender has the strat. Jackson needs to build better quality imports and advertise more. You cant make a "metal" guitar and hope to sell millions. Metal is dead. Its all about the rap crap now. The metal music market is small now compared to jacksons hayday in the 80s.

Jackon/Charvel/Fender needs to convince people that rap sucks and isnt real music.

Hey man,,,don't you be steppin on Keith...He's the man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVCA-WahQIo

[FastJunkie]

Jackson just strikes me as such a lazy company because they have zero promotion of the brand and you can tell just by going through music stores the brand is being dropped by a lot of stores because they aren't "desirable" anymore. Like it or lump it, endorsee's and promotion stuff is what keeps them in the stores. Right now all you have is hardcore guitar players and Jackson fans buying them and they need a more solid foothold in the lower end market to get back their reputation.

Honestly, I think the main problem might be Fender. But it's hard to know for sure what goes on behind the scenes.

[phill_up]

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.

I bought a brand spanking new SL2H "bolted steel" off of ebay with a brand spanking new case for $1500 and had never even seen a USA Jackson in person. I LOVE this guitar. Its like the Harley Davidson of guitars. I am having a hard time warming up to the SD TB-4 though.

[phill_up]

how much were the Charvel model series selling for back in the day? Model 6 close to a grand?

anyways, it would be interesting if Fender started to pump out a reissue line of Charvels, since they seem to do that with Fender guitars. From the last show there was a lot of intrest in the Gunslinger from members here. Make it in Mexico, Japan, USA or Korea ... it would be a good gauge to see how well received Charvel would be this day and age. No endorcement needed.

It worked for the Ford Mustang

[RobRR]

Its like the Harley Davidson of guitars.

Thats not saying too much...

[phill_up]

Hey Rob, I still have a Japanese charvel that I wouldnt sell for $1,000 As soon as you pick it up you can feel the MoJo in this guitar. Damnest thing was I found it at guitar center for 2 or 300 dollars.

Good to see you on here BTW

[fuel0707]

It worked for the Ford Mustang

If you're referring to the current Mustangs, I'd have to disagree with your analogy. The new Mustangs are far from a "re-issue". The SN-95's are a brand-new design, including the frame. So while they evoke the look of some of the late '60's cars, in particular the '69 with the headlight arrangement on the new GT's, they aren't a re-issue. Certainly, the designers have said that they tried to evoke elements of the classic design but they also wanted to produce a new design that would stand the test of time.

Sorry for the off-topic post, now back to the original thread....

[joshulator]

We all agree the metal market is not what it used to be and this presents an obstacle for Jackson, which is mostly perceived as a metal guitar. Gibson and Fender, however, are well situated to weather changes in popular music thanks to not being tied to any one music genre, a long history, and a reputation, in general, of producing quality instruments.

Food for thought: Given this, is the Charvel brand and look better suited for long term success??
Discuss...

[nateb]

Every 3-4 months or so, a thread like this pops up. Since when, in any industry, does famous recognition == quality? It's just another name placement in a movie, another sticker on a drag-racers jacket.

The reason I have always bought Jackson/Charvel was because they were the coolest guitars hanging on the wall @ GC back in the 80's and always dreamed of having them. They played better, they felt better, and they looked better. I am not bashing on any brands. I think Ibanes and ESP have some quality models but, famous recognition can only carry a company so far....

-Nate

[Electric Brown Eye]

The problem with Schecter and New Bc.Rich, is that the construction sucks. A lot of them have interesting hardware (OFR, ebony board, binding) for a really cheap price so it get your attention. Every time I tried one though they played like shit.

Sadly, I think you're right about the new BCRs. Even the nice-looking Calibre guitars, which retail for around $1200 have been getting poor reviews. Cheap bridges and even cheaper, poor-quality pots. I was considering a new Mockingbird, but not after the reviews and stories I've read.

Stick with CS or old USA models.

Anyway, back to Jackson....

[J_A / 540s]

As far as being limited to metal... Let me point out that John Fogerty is on the Artist list... It shocked me too. I'm assuming thats fairly recent, but it shows an interest in other area's.

.... just an observation

[Electric Brown Eye]

Well, Phil Collen sure as hell isn't metal. I don't know what you call Def Leppard's crap.

[joshulator]

Def Leppard was metal in the same sense as Poison, Slaughter, Warrant, Dokken, or most other pop hairbands.

Btw, I'd argue that his signature is more Charvel like than Jackson like.

[pro-fusion]

Is Jackson really doing any worse than Ibanez or ESP? Ibanez has cheapened everything up throughout their line to the point where the guitars aren't very desireable anymore, and ESP sends very few of their cool models over to the USA (just like Ibanez, for that matter). Based strictly on model lines, you'd have to say that the guitar market in the USA is generally in the dumps, compared to other parts of the world. There always seem to be rumors of trouble at Gibson, too.

[Dukeman5]

Jackson hadn't been progressing for a while. Rumour had it that they didn't pay for endorsements. They would just give the artists a limited amount of instruments. I was bummed when Fender bought them, but other than the prices getting ridiculous they did show signs of progress and hope. Their website is embarrassing though. It's never updated and I'm sick of Lamb of God always on the home page. As for asshole Mustaine, he wanted to purchase Jackson but couldn't seal the deal. He was dropped as an endorser because other than being fried and a little nuts, he tried to slit his wrists. He covered that one up by saying he fell asleep and both arms went numb. It seems like the pros in the industry no what really happened.