Jackson Stars from Korea?

[Bocha]

Hello, Jackson fans.
I recently bought a new guitar from a reseller (it's not actually new, it was used, but in ideal condition, made in 2006), it's a Jackson Stars RR-BN03 STB.

Here I am, happy, standing with a new toy:



The reseller said, that this is a Japan-made guitar, and I had no reason to doubt that, because as I've read: all Stars are made in Japan, no exceptions. But when this device arrived (I am from Russia, there is not so much good guitars in Novosibirsk city, so I ordered this one blindly from Moscow) I've discovered that the strings buzz. Fortunately there are good guitar masters near by, so I vent to one of them and he said that this guitar doesn't look like made in Japan, the nut int the hole is placed asymmetrically and other small details of a bad quality. Finally he said that this looks like a korean instrument, the sign "Jin Ho" behind the "Jackson stars" on the tuners was found this instant.

Well, the workshop guy tuned everything, I replaced Duncan Designed pickups with Seymour Duncan SH-2n and SH-4, and the guitar is actually not bad, even the guy said that. But I still wanna understand, what I have actually bought. Is this just what has become of japan made series this days or is it really just korean fake?

[RacerX]

Привет другу

Please supply the serial #

Also a close photo of the logo (Jin Ho?)

[Bocha]

Привет другу

Please supply the serial #

Also a close photo of the logo (Jin Ho?)

И тебе привет :-)

Here goes the plate with the serial, which clearly says 06120062:



and here is the close picture of a nut:



I have nothing to unscrew the tuner, so I can't show the "Jin Ho" written inside, but it's there.

[Trem]

Welcome, i think the tuners are just made in korea. Jinho is a korean manufacturer that does make guitar tuners.
This is not really out of the ordinary for hardware. The guitar was made assembled in Japan, parts could be outsourced from anywhere.
Enjoy your new axe, if you want to upgrade it put a better nut on it as they have cheap plastic nuts - maybe some locking tuners and you got yourself a good player.
Congratulations and enjoy it.

[Bocha]

Thanks, Trem. The strings still buzz and no "guitar doctor" seem to be able to fix it yet, so I am thinking of giving up and selling it.
But I don't want to talk crap to the potential buyer. If it's not made in Japan - it's not. If it is - I wanna find any proof so I can show it to a customer and not feel like I'm shitting him, it's just not my thing, otherwise I could be a guitar reseller myself. I'm not even sure that I will successfully sell such a buzzing guitar anyway, I spent like 800$ on it (in Russian currency of course) plus 200$ on Seymour Duncans. I'm not counting all the workshop bills, but I would not sell the guitar less then for a kilobuck. I understand that in civilized world this prices gotta be looking very high, but here, in the middle of nowhere, the guitars really cost a lot, still my price is pretty high even by our standards. I hope I would find something like RR24, _play_it_before_purchasing_, and buy it. In any case there's this little mystery for me here, and I want to resolve it nevertheless.

[jackson1]

A skilled luthier / tech should surely be able to find the root cause of the buzzing, by running through some basic checks. The outcome of such a check simply can't be "the strings buzz, end of story".

Check list for luthier:

Change the strings to new ones.
Adjust the guitar properly, string height, neck relief, bridge height, etc.
String buzz only on open strings or fretted notes? Where exactly? Which part of the fingerboard?
Is the neck perhaps warped?
Are some frets sitting high?
Fret level needed?
Is the nut properly mounted and cut to the correct depth?
Are you sure it is not some hardware on the guitar that is "buzzing"?
Can the buzz be heard through an amp?

These are not my questions for you. It's a check list for the luthier to be able to report back to you with his findings.

[Bocha]

Well, that's exactly what I expected actually. They take orders from musicians to make replicas of famous guitars and they do it very good, they sell them for at least 1200 bucks. All the equipment is there, I saw it. And nevertheless they just looked at my guitar, tuned the neck, measured the frets, checked for the warp and all this stuff, then just told me that there is nothing wrong with it, it just buzz, and that's it, recommended to change the strings and said goodbye. But I don't think our talk is over yet, I have questions. I will go there a day after tomorrow to set up my friend's RR1/USA and will ask some of those questions. I just think there was a little missunderstanding on how far I am ready to go with this. I mean, they can do all this "wooden works" which are expensive and somewhat unsafe for the guitar so many guitar owners refuse to do it, but I don't think I have much to loose now.

[DalyTek]

It sounds to me like you need to try taking it to a different guitar tech or luthier for a second opinion.

[Bocha]

It sounds to me like you need to try taking it to a different guitar tech or luthier for a second opinion.

I took this guitar to two different techs, first one covered insides with graphite and tuned the nut, installed Seymours and new strings, but the buzz remained, so I took it to another place, where the guy also turned the nut and stated that nothing else can be done. I'll go there again soon and have a more fundamental discussion.

[charvel750]

You're in Russia, options are extremely limited. I feel sorry for so many foreign guitarists who seek instruments made out of their immediate buying circles. We take it for granted how great the USA is.

[Bocha]

You're in Russia, options are extremely limited. I feel sorry for so many foreign guitarists who seek instruments made out of their immediate buying circles. We take it for granted how great the USA is.

Yeah. Do you know how much Jackson JS30 series guitars krafted in India officially cost here? I paid 18000 rubles for my first JS30RR in 2006, it was somewhere near 700$. And as I read this forum, I see that here people would not even bother to check out the Japanese Jackson for that price, 'cause it's very high. I bought this used Jackson Stars RR-BN03 for 24 000 rubles, that's above 800$ and it virtually doesn't work. I am thinking of selling it and buying RR24 for 38500 rubles (near 1200$), but it would be sold soon, and I would not find another one for a while. Funny thing is that there's actually no reason for it. There are so many people who buy guitars in USA and import them to Russia, no big deal, but the problem is - most of them work in Moscow. I live in the city with population of 1,5 million people, and there are so many guitarists here and there, but the only official importer of Fenders, Jacksons and Gibsons is an unholy MuzTorg (owner of jacksonguitars.ru domain), which business is a simple rip-off. They sell guitars for like 300% of their prices. And yet they do not even deal with expensive guitars, I think they are just afraid of risks. You cant buy something better then JS30 or JS32 there. All my friends bought their guitars anywhere but there. One went to America and bought RR1, another is now becoming famous with his Defect Designer band, and gets instruments through endorsement, and so on. And I don't make that much money. Resume: my fanaticism over Jackson Guitars is my grudge. I don't wanna play anything else but relatively rare and expensive Rhoads. Life sucks.

[jackson1]

Interesting insight, Bocha. I didn't think the situation was so... difficult. I get a lot of hits on my J/C site from Russia and automatically concluded that the market in Russia was much like in Europe - alive, lots of models and with similar prices and availablity. Apparently not. Can't you just buy from thomann.de for instance?

[Inazone]

Some of these have already been discussed, but I have experienced several guitars with various buzzing issues, so try the following:

- Try all pickup switch positions to rule out electronic buzz.
- Check pickup height to make sure strings aren't hitting the pickup when you play.
- Play every note on the guitar (every string at every fret) to rule out uneven frets.
- If possible, put the guitar in a room with a hygrometer which measures humidity. I have been advised that the ideal humidity for a guitar is 40%, and can confirm that major fluctuations above or below 40% will affect the neck. (I have to use a dehumidifier for 8+ months of the year.)

It's certainly possible that the neck is twisted or warped, but in my experience, a lot of techs don't know how to deal with fret or truss rod issues. One tech I took a guitar to made things WORSE by filing frets down when he couldn't find the cause of a buzzing problem.
-

[RacerX]

И тебе привет :-)

Here goes the plate with the serial, which clearly says 06120062:

Hmm, that ser # is throwing me. Normally bolt-on Japan Jacksons will have 6 or 7 digits. And it's Indian or Korean guitars that have 8 digits. If somebody just gave me this # 06120062 without any pics I would guess it's Made in India around 2006, but IIRC the Indian guitars went to a NINE digit serial around that time frame (ie, 200509801).

Also I was under the impression that Jacksons were made in Korea for only a short period of time (late 90s and ser # starts with 10 I thought).

What do you think, Henrik? Maybe a different numbering system for Europe / Russia market? I've never seen a plate like that either (Jackson Stars logo).

[Bocha]

Interesting insight, Bocha. I didn't think the situation was so... difficult. I get a lot of hits on my J/C site from Russia and automatically concluded that the market in Russia was much like in Europe - alive, lots of models and with similar prices and availablity. Apparently not.

Russia is very big, you know. It's bigger then the whole Europe. If you see Russian market being like in Europe, it means that it is easily provided by Moscow and St.Petersburg only. It is indeed so, there's no problem to buy any guitar in Moscow, but I am like three thousand kilometers away from it, and everything that is beyond the Ural mountains often known by foreigners as some unexplored territory of Russia where only bears live, -50C the whole year and taiga-forest. That ofcourse is a stereotype, but sometimes we, the Siberians, begin to doubt that, because trying to ship something big and expensive here can become a pain in the ass. I just ordered new cooler for my Cisco switch at home from China, had to pay 30 bucks for the cooler and 50 bucks for the shipment, because it goes through Moscow. Why the hell must it? China is very near from here and Moscow is far away, so why they just don't bring the device right to me, this will save something like 6000km of the route. Stupid assholes.

Can't you just buy from thomann.de for instance?

I probably can but this is the first time I hear about it. Looks like I really could buy the guitar there, but there is no model I was looking for. Well, they have Russian Federation in the list of shipment and they take Visa, so yes, that should work.

Maybe a different numbering system for Europe / Russia market? I've never seen a plate like that either (Jackson Stars logo).

Jackson Stars always was and is an inner product of Japan. You can't officially buy them from Japan, but people buy them there and send to the whole world. So the serial number can not be for Russia or Europe, it's only for Japan just like the Jackson Stars logo is. Jackson Stars was not part of Jackson guitars USA from 1994, so that's why Fender never put it's hands on it, so they turned from Jackson to Jackson Stars (and Grover Jackson) just to escape the situation, but it didn't work - in 2009 Fender sued their asses and Jackson Stars now also belongs to Fender. Аll the top models were canceled. That's what I know. The other thing is, you're right, Jackson Stars from 2000 till 2009 was numbered with 6 digits beginning from 0. Furthermore, since I am looking for proof that this guitar was or was not made in Japan and I didn't find any proof yet, this obviously means that this guitar easily could be made just anywhere. Guys from the workshop, as I mentioned, think it's Korean, so that's the whole question of the topic is.