who makes MIJ jacksons?

[withmyshadow]

who makes models like dk2, rr3, rr5 and sl3, etc?
does jackson have a factory in japan or some japanese brand makes them under jackson's brand?

[Newc]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

Jackson Stars ／Charvel Guitars Japan Group
Jackson Charvel Manufacturing , Inc

[xenophobe]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

Yes, unlike most major Guitar manufactuers, Jackson actually owns their own dedicated Japanese production facility, and it has been producing import Charvels since 1986 and import Jacksons since 1990, and there is also a custom shop there that has been regularly making limited runs for about 15 years and one-offs for nearly that long.

[fusionhh]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

So what happened to the quality they used to produce in the early 90's ? [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[Chrisb]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

Its still there, the Japanese Jacksons are awesome guitars.

[Izegrim]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

What's with that quality stuff anyway? Wasn't it more like that they just cut on the hardware and features like the pearl inlays? The woodwork, fretwork and painting are still the same right?

[withmyshadow]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

[ QUOTE ]
What's with that quality stuff anyway? Wasn't it more like that they just cut on the hardware and features like the pearl inlays? The woodwork, fretwork and painting are still the same right?

[/ QUOTE ]
that's what I noticed this past weekend at a local GC.
the neck was pure highend but the 580lp trem was, well, there were bubbles on the chrome finish and the tolerance of the saddles didn't look very tight, either.
another point, I just checked jackson star's japanese site. some of the bolt-on models listed there like their RR3 eviqualent had basswood body. I have an old jackson catalogue that listed rr3 with a poplar body. I just want to make sure the rr3 and dk2 I can buy today indeed have alder body, right? I like the open top end tone of alder over poplar and basswood and mahogany. a true superstrat has to have a good alder body, imho [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]:

[Newc]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

It should be obvious why the import Jacksons aren't as good as the ones from 1990 - everyone was buying imports and getting the same features and quality as the USA models.

In order to survive and not end up as yet another dead US company owned by Samick/Ibanez/Hoshino, they dropped the ebony boards, Mother Of Pearl inlays, and the Schaller-style trems.

However, I once got word from a reputable source that some of the neckthrough higher end JacksonStars models are built in the USA shop and finished in Japan, and some are built in Japan and finished in the USA shop.
I'd love to know which ones are which.

[Jacksonite]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

yeah, but as NEWC will back me up on... the Jackson Stars line is a wonderful guitar line.. not quite as much as a USA, but better quality than the imports we get here in the states...
I had mine made in the custom shop, and it took less than three months and it plays like a dream.. it replaced my PRS custom24...

[Newc]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

Agreed on the quality of JacksonStars [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

I won't say they're not as good as a USA model - I've seen folks here say they've found USA Jacksons with a crooked Floyd nut like my NASL-160 (slightly off-center - no biggie), however, the nut on my NASL-J2 is dead-center.
Then there's the binding errors/flaws, rough fret ends, excess glue around the inlays (my 1990 Warbird Warrior), the JCF01 issues, etc.

I'm not hung up on ebony like most Jackson fans, so the rosewood board of the NASL is not a "minus" for me in the comparison.

[withmyshadow]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

rosewood rules.
the RR3 I tried last weekend had a rosewood board twice as thick as that on my fender! the tone was meaty.
btw,
I asked in the previous post about alder bodies. the RR3 and DK2 do have alder bodies instead of basswood, don't they?

[Sunbane]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

None of the current Jackson imports are made of basswood AFAIK. Most of them are listed as being made of alder, but I wouldn't be surprised if some are poplar.

[pro-fusion]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

I'm pretty sure that both the RR3 and DK2 do have alder bodies. In fact, I don't think Jackson actually uses basswood in any of their guitars anymore.

I've noticed that the fret finishing on newer Jackson imports isn't quite to the level that they did back in the '80s-early '90s. It's still typically better than Ibanez or most of the Korean guitars (except maybe for the setneck Schecters), but you're more likely to find exposed fret ends and level problems now, where that never seemed to happen back in the day. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that the old-school import J/Cs had more consistently excellent fret dressing than the USAs did.

[Drake S.]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

This is an awsome thread glad to see others interested in the Import stuff aswell, I've had tons of guitars over the years I've finally Chose the 2 90's Warrior Pro's I have now. I might accuire my old USA custom back , just because it's a Warrior.

[withmyshadow]

Re: who makes MIJ jacksons?

I'm leaning towards RR3 simply because of 22 frets. The neck tone of the RR3 I tried was very creamy. I like the playability of DK2, of course. WR is cool, too. but both have 24 frets