Jackson models with no artist attachment?

[Newc]

The thought occurred to me last night at werk that with all the various sig models - Friedman Kelly, Mustaine KV, Collen PC-1 and Archtop, various Rhoadses - no one artist has ever been distinctly associated with the Soloist or Warrior.

I mean, yeah, you had the "Jeff Beck Soloist" which was just a pink Soloist but was so-named due to him using it (along with his LP Custom, various Strats, etc etc), and the "Vai Soloist" with the eyes, but Vai is more known (in the Jackson/Charvel world) for his Green Meanie Charvel than the Soloist.

Scott Ian had his "NOT" Soloist, and various others (Hanneman) have been spotted over the years using them, but you never see anyone "big" using the Soloist or Warrior to the extent that they get a sig model.

For that matter, you don't see anyone attached to the Dinky or Fusion, either.

But you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a V (K or RR) or Kelly with a name attached to it, though admittedly the Kelly has only had 2 "named" versions (the "Kelly" itself and the "Marty" KE-n).

I wonder why only those three models were left out?

(obviously I'm only counting the long-running models - can't count the Jazz'R, SLS, etc)

[tarddad]

i totally agree. the only person you see playing a warrior is metal mike from pain museum and the guitarist from origin plays a wrmg. i think the only player ive seen exclusively with a dinky is the lead player from kreator. im a huge dk fan and have thought the same thing.

[Soulreaper]

I agree too. Warriors and Soloists are killer.

I know that Sami from Kreator uses a Dinky.

Trey Azagthoth from Morbid Angel uses a blue warrior once in awhile.

Mike Davis from Nocturnus had a yellow Warrior, which i think kicked ass! I believe he sold it to Trey.

[Vass]

Obviously the Warrior doesn't fit here, but as far as Soloists go, maybe it has to do with the body shape being fairly standard. ie, Mustaine holding a V, you go, that's a wild guitar. Mustaine holding a strat shape, not so much. Sure, there are the Slayer ESP's, there are the COW dinkies. I'm not saying it's a hard fast rule. I just think maybe the radical body shapes become more associated with particular players, and therefore end up with more artist sigs.

But then again, a body shape like the Warrior comes along with no sig models and blows that half assed theory out of the water. But to Tarddad's point, what big name regularly plays warriors anyway?

Vass

[toejam]

(obviously I'm only counting the long-running models - can't count the Jazz'R, SLS, etc)

I believe it was the Jazz'R that Mark Morton took the neck shape from and just redesigned the body to make his signature model.

[thetroy]

Nobody big plays Warriors and nobody big plays Soloists or DK's exclusively.

[Newc]

I believe it was the Jazz'R that Mark Morton took the neck shape from and just redesigned the body to make his signature model.

I didn't think the Jazz'R had a "standard" neck profile. The one I had before (from Brad) had a hard V profile, while the one I have now has a D profile, similar to the Morton.

I did play a Bent Top once, and it had a fat neck like JCF01, but the Morton doesn't feel as thick.
The body shape reminds me of the Outcaster, which was not in production very long.


As I understand it, they had so many Custom Shop Warrior orders through the mid-90s that they made it a production model again.

That said, with so much interest, who was playing them, and why was not one artist given a sig model?

[toejam]

I didn't think the Jazz'R had a "standard" neck profile. The one I had before (from Brad) had a hard V profile, while the one I have now has a D profile, similar to the Morton.

I did play a Bent Top once, and it had a fat neck like JCF01, but the Morton doesn't feel as thick.
The body shape reminds me of the Outcaster, which was not in production very long.

The SweeTone series was available with two neck profiles. The standard profile is the same as on the Morton, .910 at the 3rd fret and .950 at the 12th. The slim profile was .790 @ 3rd and .830 @ 12th.

[Newc]

Ah. Then the one I had before musta been a Custom Shop or something.

[roodyrocker]

As I understand it, they had so many Custom Shop Warrior orders through the mid-90s that they made it a production model again.
That said, with so much interest, who was playing them, and why was not one artist given a sig model?

My guess is that all those Warrior orders were probably from regular people like us rather than famous artists therefore no one name to attach to it. That is of course unless you count the Newc1 or in my case RR1, oh wait a minute they already have someone else famous besides me with the RR1 designation. Damn!

[Axewielder]

I actually like the unaffiliated nature of the Warrior. Nobody can call me a "fanboy" of some other guitarist for playing one.

[Newc]

And if you think about it, what other company has a good-selling production model that doesn't have an artist attached to it?

Every Ibenhad and ESPee production model has "names" on them - Vai, Gilbert, Lynch, etc etc. Even Gibson (Les Paul himself not included).

Fender and Gretsch come to mind, but even then their sig models aren't drastically different from their various production models - they're more like "point in time" models IMO.

So Jackson - a guitar company not even 30 years old - can stand alongside two of the oldest companies in the world and say "yes, we have a production model that is not attached to an artist and we sell enough of them to keep them in production".

Wow. That's phenomenal if you really think about it.

[GryphonGuitar]

I'm still holding out on getting a Dinky model. Wish me luck

[savage]

wasn't the KING V named after robin crosby who nickname was "KING"?

[toejam]

wasn't the KING V named after robin crosby who nickname was "KING"?

Yes, the original, larger size V, aka the Double Rhoads, got its new name because Robbin "King" Crosby was known for using it.
Though, it's been said that Dave Linsk (now in Overkill) had the first Double Rhoads, it was at the factory for some repair work, Robin saw it and wanted one.