JDR-94 Concept Pickup

[Nifty]

Hi folks,
I hope you’re well.

I’m brand new to the forum having just registered.

I own many guitars (too many if I’m honest .. gulp!) and the oldest of them all is a JDR-94 Concept.
The tremolo base plate unfortunately has a stripped thread on one of the screw holes so whilst browsing the internet looking for replacement parts I started to notice that every photo of this guitar I looked at had all black pickups fitted.

The bridge pick-up on mine is white/cream.
I wondered what was going on so thought I would ask here to see if anybody had or has seen similar?

I bought the guitar brand new from a Music Store in the UK which unfortunately went out of business years ago. I can’t imagine they will have swapped out the pickup before selling the guitar so not sure what’s going on here really.

Anyway, I thought it may be interesting to see if anybody had any knowledge to share.
Thanks for your time.

All the best.

[Razor]

Is your pickup "Jackson" logo'd? If not then someone swapped out the pickup before you bought it. A JDR-94 Concept would have had black "Jackson" logo'd pickups in it from the factory.

[Nifty]

Thanks for your response Razor, it isn’t logo’d so it seems the music shop that closed down was not quite upfront and legit.
Which is a little annoying I must say.
They must have removed it to sell separately or fit to another guitar.

Thanks again

[Razor]

Thanks for your response Razor, it isn’t logo’d so it seems the music shop that closed down was not quite upfront and legit.
Which is a little annoying I must say.
They must have removed it to sell separately or fit to another guitar.

Thanks again

Have you pulled the pickup to look at the back of it to try to identify it? Most of the time a swapped pickup will be an upgrade. How does it sound? If it sounds good then it's no big deal IMHO.

[john.w.lawson]

Hi folks,
I hope you’re well.

I’m brand new to the forum having just registered.

I own many guitars (too many if I’m honest .. gulp!) and the oldest of them all is a JDR-94 Concept.
The tremolo base plate unfortunately has a stripped thread on one of the screw holes so whilst browsing the internet looking for replacement parts I started to notice that every photo of this guitar I looked at had all black pickups fitted.

The bridge pick-up on mine is white/cream.
I wondered what was going on so thought I would ask here to see if anybody had or has seen similar?

I bought the guitar brand new from a Music Store in the UK which unfortunately went out of business years ago. I can’t imagine they will have swapped out the pickup before selling the guitar so not sure what’s going on here really.

Anyway, I thought it may be interesting to see if anybody had any knowledge to share.
Thanks for your time.

All the best.

Got them

[Nifty]

Thanks folks.

I haven’t pulled the pickups yet but I will do.

I haven’t played it for many years now, it’s just sat in the case in the corner. I play all my other guitars that I bought since this one, as I could afford better equipment when I got older.

Even with the bottom E string missing, because of the stripped thread in the tremolo, it does still sound good.
I just checked the soldering to the pots and I have to say it doesn’t look the best of jobs so the pickup has been replaced I’m sure.

I have to admit I didn’t know a great deal when I purchased this in the 90’s so I never even guessed it would have been tampered with.

I have to say the neck still feels absolutely great and is a pleasure to play.
I’ll hunt down a base plate for the tremolo or replace it completely and I need a new volume pot as the original has stiffened up a ridiculous amount. Either that or I always have it cranked to 11

I do want to get it back into good shape again as I feel guilty after neglecting it for all these years.

[Nifty]

Just pulled the pickup and no ID on it anywhere so I guess it must just be a spurious replacement.
I guess there’s no way of finding what it is now.

The rust on the back of it was a bit of an eye opener. Gulp. Haha.

[Razor]

Thanks folks.

I haven’t pulled the pickups yet but I will do.

I haven’t played it for many years now, it’s just sat in the case in the corner. I play all my other guitars that I bought since this one, as I could afford better equipment when I got older.

Even with the bottom E string missing, because of the stripped thread in the tremolo, it does still sound good.
I just checked the soldering to the pots and I have to say it doesn’t look the best of jobs so the pickup has been replaced I’m sure.

I have to admit I didn’t know a great deal when I purchased this in the 90’s so I never even guessed it would have been tampered with.

I have to say the neck still feels absolutely great and is a pleasure to play.
I’ll hunt down a base plate for the tremolo or replace it completely and I need a new volume pot as the original has stiffened up a ridiculous amount. Either that or I always have it cranked to 11

I do want to get it back into good shape again as I feel guilty after neglecting it for all these years.

They were good guitars for the entry levels at the time. If I remember right some were MIJ and others were MIK. Good luck resurrecting it. Doesn't sound like it will be hard to get lined out. I used to own a JRR-94 Rhoads Concept years ago, and it was a solid guitar for the money.

[john.w.lawson]

They were good guitars for the entry levels at the time. If I remember right some were MIJ and others were MIK. Good luck resurrecting it. Doesn't sound like it will be hard to get lined out. I used to own a JRR-94 Rhoads Concept years ago, and it was a solid guitar for the money.

JDR-94"s were only made in Japan. Know what you're talking about before you talk.

[Razor]

JDR-94"s were only made in Japan. Know what you're talking about before you talk.

I thought I'd read somewhere, maybe even on here that they were also made in Korea. Notice I said "If I remember right".... Someone piss in your Wheaties tonight?

[Nifty]

Woah, woah, woah John Lawson! Chill out man!
That was an over reaction and uncalled for!
So this is what this forum is like is it? I’ll not hang around for long I don’t think.

Thanks again for your help Razor. Much appreciated.
This isn’t my main guitar to be honest but like you said it’s certainly solid for the price I paid.
I might get it back to full health and see if it will sell, I really like it but I’m sure someone will really love it

Cheers.

[Razor]

Woah, woah, woah John Lawson! Chill out man!
That was an over reaction and uncalled for!
So this is what this forum is like is it? I’ll not hang around for long I don’t think.

Thanks again for your help Razor. Much appreciated.
This isn’t my main guitar to be honest but like you said it’s certainly solid for the price I paid.
I might get it back to full health and see if it will sell, I really like it but I’m sure someone will really love it

Cheers.

It's just his style Nifty.

Personally if I really liked the guitar I'd hang onto it. They don't tend to bring much money as the hardware and electronics were on the cheap side, but they made a great base to mod on. You're not sitting on a gold mine, but the build quality in the guitar itself was your typical Japanese goodness.

[Nifty]

Cheers Razor

I’ll definitely nurse it back to health first anyway.
I’ve seen one for sale in the UK for £480 at the moment, which is more than I paid for it back in ‘94.

I used to have an original ‘84 Kramer Baretta. Bought it new in about ‘85. I sold it years ago but I got bored last night and started looking round the internet and see they’re selling for over £2000 now. Wish I hadn’t looked. Haha.

Mind you .. I also had a Hiwatt Custom 50 head and a 100w Marshall head from the 70’s. ….. note to self … stop selling good stuff as it’ll likely be worth more down the line. Doh!!

Thanks again Razor

[john.w.lawson]

I thought I'd read somewhere, maybe even on here that they were also made in Korea. Notice I said "If I remember right".... Someone piss in your Wheaties tonight?

Razor, I apologize, was a bit harsh with my response. All JDR-94's are made in Japan. I apologize once again.

[rjohnstone]

The whole Concept line was made in Japan. Great build quality, garbage hardware and electronics.
The Performer line that followed was a mix of MIJ and MIK.

A Schaler trem is a drop-in fit the the POS JT-500 that came with it. https://schaller.info/en/tremolos/35...r-tremolo?c=51

The stock pickups were average at best. First thing I replaced was the pickups.

I bought a JDR-94 from the shop I worked at when they came out. Nice thing about working in a music store.... I paid store cost for it. Less than $250 with a Jackson hardshell case.
Don't have the guitar anymore... still have the case.
Fantastic base for modding.