The journey begins..

[calrc]

Some more advertising for the Charvel Ark AR-110-SSS

Early 90's Charvel guitar sold in Japan.

[calrc]

It looks like this guitar is a special edition for the Canadian market. There were a limited number created and even at 500 units across the country I would think maybe 2 or 3 guitars were offered per store. It looks like it was based on the Charvel AR-110-SSS with a different pickup configuration. The neck pocket stamp says B&J I am going to make the assumption it is Bolt on & Jackson.

on a scale of 1-10 of rare guitars, where do you guys think it sits?

[calrc]

I did some research on pocket stamps. I found out that the smudged part of the stamp on my guitar is actually a symbol. I have a comparison to another mystery guitar on this forum. I checked all the 90's era bodies for sale on ebay and looked at the pocket stamps and found out that this symbol mostly show up on Charvel guitars. The more and more I dig into this, the more I am convinced Jackson tried to create some new lines of guitars based on good selling Charvels in Japan. There are a few mystery guitars kicking around that nobody seems to know what they are.

[TreeFitty]

That looks like an abbreviation for "number." In your case, No - 4. Google "abbreviation number" and you'll see an example in which the "o" is raised with a bar under it.

[calrc]

Ahhh!! yes that makes sense.

thank

[calrc]

Well boys, I finally got the low down on this guitar. They were commissioned by B&J Music Ltd. in Canada. There were 60 guitars commissioned for their 60th anniversary, 20 red, 20 blue, and 20 yellow, one guitar for each year they were in business. These guitars were offered to their top volume customers. Funk's music in Portage La Prairie Manitoba was sent one blue guitar. (Serial number #911060) That guitar is still locally owned pics below. Several months later the owner of Funks Music called B&J and asked if there were any of these guitars left. He was able to secure 3 more guitars. (1 red 1 blue and 1 yellow) The red one is the one I now own, the blue one is still kicking around town. I have not been able to track the yellow one down.

The official name for this run of guitars is: "The Jackson Limited 91 Professional B&J 60th Anniversary Edition"

The neck pocket on mine said "B&J No - 4" I am going to say mine is #4 of 20 in Red. B&J is still in business under the Fender umbrella. I am going to try and track down more information, invoices, maybe even some advertising.

The adventure continues.

[calrc]

Was looking at my baby from the side tonight and noticed the profile... do you guys know of any other models that have this cutout?

[calrc]

I am back to comparing it to the Charvel AR-110-SSS they look so much alike..

[toejam]

Cool. Glad you got it figured out. Never knew they did a run for Canada.

[calrc]

NEW INFORMATION!!

Just received an email response from Dale Kroke the Sr. Vice President\General Manager of B&J music.


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Hello…

Thanks for your email, and sorry for the delay in responding.

I checked with those here who were around in the early 90s, as well as the retired owner of B&J. Our former Atlantic Canada salesman, Bill Livingston, was able to provide the best information. He was able to confirm that there was indeed a limited edition of 60 Jackson guitars in 1991 to celebrate the B&J Music 60^th anniversary. There were 20 each produced in Red, Amber and Blue. He did not have any further info on the model numbers or pricing, but I did forward him your email and link to see if he could add any further info.

Unfortunately we have no invoice or billing records from that time, nor did we find any literature or other information in our archives.

I hope this helps you out, and all the best!

Best regards,

Dale Kroke

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[calrc]

Email from Bill Livingston. B&J Atlantic Canadian sales rep in the 90's

The only thing I can add to what I told Dale below is I think the model number was BJ60 but I'm not 100%. Greg the owner of B&J at the time commissioned IMC Music (International Music Corp) in the US which owned Jackson and Charvel at that time to do 60 pieces for us.

Regards,
Bill

[SylentCommando]

Do you have this forsale on kijiji?

[Mudlark]

B&J?
Don't remember having that dealer on the east coast.

Though, during my search after your first post, I vaguely recall reading about someone owning or purchasing one in Sydney NS...but I don't trust my memory.
Who'da thunk we'd have our own Canada-only Jackson? Cool.

[calrc]

I'm not selling it, I have some Kijiji adds out around Canada looking for other people that have these, I want to get all the serial numbers logged in the site. Maybe get a blue and amber one for my collection too.

[calrc]

B&J supplied all of Canada, they had a regional sales rep that worked the East coast tho.. His name is Bill Livingston.