why bother playing a Jackson

[Sean Phillips]

I have been playing Jackson guitars for a few years now and am on my 3rd one. I read posts in here and see that it is mostly about stripping off and modifying these great guitars. What makes Jackson guitars so great is the fact the are not only made well but they have a tone all their own. Jackson guitars sound like Jackson guitars and in a world of Les Pauls, and fender strats that tone is wonderful but all i see in here is people tearing these guitars apart and in doing so making a great guitar like any other guitar out there and that is sad. what happened to the days of playing a stock guitar and learning to use its capabilities to their fullest? It is easy to tear guitars apart and rebuild them to suit but a true musician will learn to use the guitar to the fullest. Why is it that people buy a new Jackson and come right in to figure out what to tear out of it? What happened to the days of playing it for awhile. WHen all the alterations are made it isnt a Jackson anymore it is a mutant with a Jackson name. It is a shame to alter the best guitars on the market and to second guess those that make them to the hightest quality standard i have seen of any guitar out there.

[Hotrodder]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

With that kind of thinking, Charvel/Jackson would of never happend.

[Newc]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Sorry to bust your bubble, but Jackson imports are not the killer axes they were in 1990/91. The RR5 is not a Japanese-made RR1. The 1990/91 Professional RR WAS a Japanese-made Rhoads USA duplicate, but those days are long gone. Today Jackson still does make the best import for the money, but in order to keep a high standard of quality wood + quality neck/body fit, they have to cut corners on the trem and pickups.
Fortunately they didn't do like Ibenhad and have custom trems made with spacing that is different from the Floyd Rose, which means you can put an OFR on a DK2, but you can't put an OFR on an RG or JEM, which is stupid IMO.

As for modding guitars in general - I want my guitars to look and be unique from someone else's guitar.
-I wanted a maple fretboard on my Hot Rod Flames DK-2 because I have several rosewood boarded guitars already.
-I wanted a reverse headstock to add to the classic 'Hot Rodded'/customized looks that the graphic is influenced by.
-I wanted an OFR because the stock trem sucked.
-I wanted H-S-H because neck single coils are just too weak unless it's a high-gain masher like a Hot Rails, and then you still get weak-ass Fender tones for solos. I wanted a beefy, deep-toned neck pickup and that can only be done with a humbucker.

-I want a Nuclear Yellow King V with black flames on it and black flames going up the back of the painted neck and black bevels, so I'll be having my King V Pro Mustaine refinished. I don't have the desire to spend $2500 on a USA Custom Shop King V like that, especially when I can devote that money to having several guitars refinished.

-I have an idea for a graphic for my Soloist Pro that will probably be very expensive as it uses Flip-Flop/Chromalusion paint, and since I already have the guitar, I've saved money by not going total Custom Shop, which means I have more money for the paintjob itself. I also wanted EMGs in that guitar, so the original pickups and gain boost came out.

-I modify "perfectly good" guitars to make them "perfect". I swap necks and hardware to suit my taste, and I'm a "true musician" who doesn't feel I should settle for what came on it if I don't like it.

-You've got "true musician" confused with "purist".

-I swap Jackson necks for Jackson necks, and the Jackson tone is still there, even if I change the pickups and bridge. They are still 100% Jacksons, not "Jackson mutants", because the wood is good.

Newc

[RacerX]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Newc,
You forgot to sign that post as Dr. Newcenstein!

[img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Zhilavarius]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

It`s like talking bout cars. Changing springs, adding spoilers, new tyres... For me it`s better to buy a guitar that has good wood and bad hardware, and then upgrading it with the best hardwer there is. But someday i`m gonna buy a u.s.a made jackson for sure...

[shadowcat]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Why shouldn't I put better pickups in my import Jacksons?

Seymour Duncans sound much better than Duncan Designed pickups or EMG-HZs.
I don't lose the great Jackson tone, in fact I help it to really come out!

Oh, and I exchanged the original strap pins for security locks, guess I'm not a true musician then... [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/evilimages/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Yes, I know that the post probably isn't directed at me and my minor mods, but anyways... [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[VitaminG]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Originally posted by Sean Phillips:
what happened to the days of playing a stock guitar and learning to use its capabilities to their fullest?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

And beautifully responded to by Hotrodder:
With that kind of thinking, Charvel/Jackson would of never happend.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What he said.

[lerxstcat]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

While there's nothing wrong with customizing your guitar with upgrades, I do agree the guitars play and sound great as they are. If you can't get great sound and performance out of a stock DK-2
I'd suggest you'll get more improvement from practicing more than you will upgrading the pickups and hardware at a cost nearly equal to the guitar itself.

Lots of guys upgrade without even trying the original pickups and trem. You might be surprised, and save a few hundred $.
Can't sit around grunting like Tim Allen
then, though.

Oh, and Hotrodder, that's "would have". I guess Racer X withholds spellcheck if he agrees with you! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[VitaminG]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Actually, that kind of bugs me... Those kids that come on here saying stuff like "How good is the DKMG? What do the pickups sound like? Of course, I'll be immediately swapping them out for EMGs..." like that'll score them Hard Bastard Points around here. Man, he must be serious if he's putting EMGs in it. If you know that little about the guitar, how do you know that you won't like the stock pickups?

It's a bit like people who think they'll need to replace the "stock" pickups in a US Select guitar to a name brand pickup. Don't they ever read the specs on these guitars before dropping $1200 on them? Then they might notice the "real" Duncans that are already installed.

[ August 19, 2003, 04:16 PM: Message edited by: VitaminG ]

[Newc]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Even with the USA models, if I bought a new one that came with a JB (like the RR1) I'd swap it out for my personal favorite, or maybe something else, as I don't care for the JB in a Rhoads (or in anything for that matter). I didn't swap the hardware/pickups on my DK-2 the day it came in, but about a month after when I sat down and picked apart all the things I didn't like about the trem and Duncan Designed pickups. I didn't feel the existing bridge pickup gave it a sound that was indicative of the Hot Rod image, so I stuck a Distortion in it. I didn't like the JT580LP, so I stuck an OFR on it. I wanted h-s-h so I routed the neck pickup out for a hummer and slapped a Custom in it, which further adds to the Hot Rod motif in both looks and tone. Maybe I was second-guessing Jackson by doing that, but if they had made it that way to begin with and get away from that damn h-s-s, h-h, or h-s ONLY pickup options, then I'da bought one of those for sure - as long as it had Hot Rod Flames.

Newc

[Hamner1]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Really it all boils down to you, can't please everyone.

I would say that most of the people here change the pickups and trem at most. I don't see an issue with that. I might question their motives if they changed an OFR to a JT500, but I have yet to see that.

Some go farther by changing necks or bodies (or modifying the bodies-Newc). Well it is their guitars and almost always it has been to switch a Jackson neck for a different Jackson neck.

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Figured I'd double post my reply to the identical thread.

Tone is subjective and since you've posted in the import section I can say to me the stock duncan designed pickups sucked to my ears, but that is to MY ears. Pickups are easily swapped out for ones that you favor, if you like the tone that your stock Jackson gives YOU then be happy. Pickups are usually the first thing to go on any guitar if I'm not happy with the sound of it. I like OFR's for consistency and replacing them is easy too.

I'm sorry but I'm not buying your qoute

"It is easy to tear guitars apart and rebuild them to suit but a true musician will learn to use the guitar to the fullest"

So people who mod guitars aren' true musicians? hmmmm...guess I should quit playing and sell all of my guitars

[toejam]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Why bother posting stupid threads? [img]graemlins/eyes.gif[/img]

[lerxstcat]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

It's not a stupid thread. It's a thread which shows polarized opinions.

Again, nothing wrong with modding a guitar to better suit your tastes. I think Sean's REAL gripe is the implication that those who DON'T swap out the pickups and trem are the ones who aren't the "true" musicians. That is an underlying theme here, if not vocalized as abruptly as Sean did from the other side of the fence. When you see a great player get up at a jam, and start making faces and pissing and moaning because the
guitar he's borrowing is a stock DK-2, then I feel that guy ought to stay in the studio or bring his own axe, or at least
just SHUT UP AND PLAY THE GUITAR, or GET
OFF THE STAGE AND LET SOMEBODY ELSE PLAY!

The differences are real, but not so great as to be a candya$$ snob about it.
The Duncan Design may not have as much output - turn your amp gain from 6 to 7 and EQ accordingly. The JT580 may only last a year or 2 instead of 5 - replace it with an OFR when it starts to go! The
OFR WILL wear out too, you know!

It's great to put higher-performance gear together, but then look at someone like Chuck Schuldiner or Glen Drover who kick ass on gear you'd sneer at. They're concerned (were, in Chuck's case - RIP) with playing the things and that's what they do. I notice the guys who're actually out playing regularly usually DO
have the simpler and more stock setups.
I don't want to buy a DK-2 for $450, sink
another $300 into it and still only be able to sell it for $300, with or without the upgrades. Then you get into this "I'll remove the pickups and OFR and sell
the neck and body for $200,'cause I didn't keep the Duncan Designs and JT580"
scenario that we see in our Classifieds and on Ebay, which most people don't buy into. If the guitar itself cost $1,000 or more, I may be inclined to upgrade pickups, and the trem should already be OFR or Schaller in that range. A Dk-2 that I'm probably gonna play 3-4 songs on at a time doesn't reach that threshold
for me though; if I get tired of it I want to get away with a $100 loss and sell it quickly. Not everyone here's wealthy, and 10 or 15 guitars with $300 in upgrades on each, it adds up pretty fast! You're in Custom Shop territory if you saved that all up! On the other hand
if you add up your collection of more midline guitars and a few high-end ones,
and realize that you'll take a $4,000 or $5,000 beating on resale because of upgrades you can't get your money back on, is it really worth that to you? If you have a big income or no kids or a sugar mama, sure! Most of us ain't in those shoes though, and don't really dig
getting the upturned nose because we manage with stock gear. Is that so hard to relate to? Just think about it for a while before you answer.

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: why bother playing a Jackson

Lerx...I think it is just a matter of customizing to ones own likings, whether it be for tone or to be different than a stock DK2 or personalized if you will. In terms of costs you can really upgrade components cheap if you sell the part that you are replacing. I pay about an average of $70-75 for an ORF...I sold a 580 for $55 (if I recall, maybe more) the difference in costs isn't very substantial (yes I have kids, mortgage, two car payments) so I understand the economics of being the sole bread winner. I do the same things for pick-ups as well, I sell the ones I don't like if I can't find a body that they sound good in. If you play the cards right you can really score some upgrades rather cheaply, nothing snobby about it. Good thing about parts and eBay, you can always find someone who wants what you don't.