Ngd

[Doadman]

My new SL3 has just arrived and the Trans Blue finish looks even better than it does on the Jackson website. The action is sky high so I'll need to adjust that down a bit and in comparison to my Ibanez the neck is like a baseball bat, though according to the website there's only a mm or so in it so I guess I'll adjust in time no problem. Build quality appears to be excellent and the case is very sturdy. I'm letting it acclimatise for a while at the moment before lowering the action, retuning and giving it a blast so I'll review it a bit more later

[wilkinsi]

[algeriet]

[Doadman]

Yes, I did try to post a couple of pics but I've never posted pics before and I'm afraid I simply don't know how to do it. Tell me how and I'll happily put a couple of pics here. I tried the image option and assumed it would allow me to get the picture from my computer but it seems to want me to give a web address. Does that mean I'll need to open a Photobucket account?

[wilkinsi]

Yes, I did try to post a couple of pics but I've never posted pics before and I'm afraid I simply don't know how to do it. Tell me how and I'll happily put a couple of pics here. I tried the image option and assumed it would allow me to get the picture from my computer but it seems to want me to give a web address. Does that mean I'll need to open a Photobucket account?

Yep. And it's free. Host it, then paste the IMG link in your post.

[Doadman]

OK, here's a couple of pictures as promised and a more detailed review:

As some of you will know, the problem was I couldn't try a Soloist locally and it was between this and a PRS SE Torero. My first impressions of the guitar is that it's extremely well built with everything having a very solid feel to it and the finish is excellent. My only concern when first handling the guitar was the neck, which is quite a bit thicker than I expected. It came with a Jackson hardcase that, like the guitar, seems very sturdy and well built. The action from the factory was way too high so that's had to be brought down a lot and it still isn't as low as it could go.

It really does look good in Trans Blue and to my mind is certainly the nicest colour available on an SL3. It was always going to be a compromise as the PRS had the thinner neck but didn't have the pups I wanted and I was wanting to move to a slightly thicker neck anyway. Ideally it would have had a neck somewhere between the two of them but unless you go custom that's not possible.

The neck, as I've already indicated, is the biggest change. There certainly does seem to be a lot of wood in my hand when I'm playing and at the moment that is making things awkward but it isn't so bad that I won't adapt and it's already getting more comfortable. It reminds me a great deal of a 'C' shaped neck I played on a Fender Deluxe Players Strat. The Ibanez is certainly a faster neck but as I simply can't shred I doubt it will affect me longterm. My son is having a play with it at the moment and while he didn't like my Ibanez neck as it was too thin, he says this one is too thick compared to the Jackson RX10 he tried in a shop the other day. Kids - there's just no pleasing them!! I've played through a number of songs in our set and I was able to get through them all OK eventually. The longer it went on, the faster I was able to adapt to the thicker neck so I have high hopes that all will be well. I'm still not quite as comfortable as I was with the Ibanez but as I've played nothing but that guitar for 5 years and only played this one for 2 hours, I guess that's to be expected. As I hoped for, I think my vibrato while bending the strings has become a little easier and more accurate with the thicker neck. The rosewood used on the fingerboard has a lovely dark finish to it and appears to be of very good quality. Binding would have been nice on a guitar of this price but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. The compound radius neck is a very good idea and works well. At the first few frets the 12" radius makes it very comfortable for playing chords while at the dusty end of the neck the 16" radius makes it more like what I'm used to. It took more time to adjust to the frets in between as I was very aware of more of a camber than I'm used to and I suppose I'd have preferred it if it had gone to 16" rather quicker but again, I'm being very picky here and overall it is nice to play. More than anything else, the neck felt a little sticky under my fingers and that put me off a bit when playing but I'm assuming that is just because it's so new and may need a little playing in. The other thing that threw me was the positioning of the selector switch, which is set further back than on the Ibanez so when I was soloing through a song and went to change pickups I missed the switch. It's also odd having a 5-way switch as I'd had my Ibanez changed to a 3-way with coil tapping. The switch isn't as easy to get to as the Ibanez but that's partly because of the positioning of the volume control, which is very well positioned for volume swells, being closer to the strings than my Ibanez and a mile closer than the PRS, which certainly couldn't have been used for this as easily. The trem system is OFR and feels very sturdy. The fine tuners work very progressively and it has a nice smooth movement to it. It inspires you to use it and I probably will do so more than I have in the past.


The guitar has a more cutting and metallic tone to it than my mahogany bodied Ibanez and I assume this is due to the Alder wood making it brighter, especially when coupled to ceramic pups. The SD pickups are good and I certainly won't rush into changing them. The pups are noticeably more powerful than the Bare Knuckle Cold Sweats I had in my Ibanez but lack the same richness of tone and certainly in the case of the Hot Rails, they lack the same level of articulation. It's a small point and certainly not a fault with the guitar as they are certainly good pups and I think it would be a little unfair to expect a mass producer like SD to match the quality of a boutique supplier like Bare Knuckle. For such powerful pickups they do clean up beautifully and certainly don't seem to be one-trick ponies.

Overall I'm happy with it. It looks gorgeous, sounds great and I've already started to adapt to it.

[toejam]

Awesome color. Congrats.

[mliebs8]

I've been wanting to get a soloist also but I can't decide between the sl3 or sl2h. The blue is a nice looking color, not too flashy, not to boring. Congrats on the toy.

[Doadman]

Well, certainly here in England the SL2H is a hell of a lot more expensive than the SL3. It's double the price actually so much as I may have preferred the H-H layout, the SL2H was never a realistic option. I did consider saving for a bit longer to get that instead but the reality that for what I do with a guitar and how good I am it just wouldn't be worth the money.

[mliebs8]

Well, certainly here in England the SL2H is a hell of a lot more expensive than the SL3. It's double the price actually so much as I may have preferred the H-H layout, the SL2H was never a realistic option. I did consider saving for a bit longer to get that instead but the reality that for what I do with a guitar and how good I am it just wouldn't be worth the money.

Believe me, if I was going to buy a guitar based on my skills I'd be shopping at Toys R Us. It's definately a beautiful guitar, I really like it. I've been shopping around for a used SL2H but I haven't found one that fits what I'm willing to pay yet. More than likely I'm probably going to end up with an SL3 also.