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Today I got my Jackson Stars RRJ1B semicustom!
First things first... here are the specs:
I ordered the guitar at the end of May at Ishibashi.
The guitar was shipped on August 29th. I had them ship it to one of my bandmates because I'm not at home on weekdays. Well it arrived at my buddy's home on Saturday but they wanted to collect the tax and customs fee in cash... and it was quite a sum. Long story short, today I made a trip to the local DHL depot and got my package. Yay for DHL for having their depot open on Sundays.
So here's my first impression (disclaimer: honeymoon!):
The guitar seems to be almost flawless, build quality and overall feel is excellent. Nice fretwork, perfect inlays, beautiful finish. I only spotted one little flaw in the binding, but it doesn't bother me at all.
The neck feels exactly like on a RR5 (tried out two of them this year).
It has a rich unplugged sound. It's the first time I get to hear a Duncan Custom, however I already have a '59 in the neck of my DKMGT.
When I first plugged it into my POD at home I wasn't impressed, but that was with .009 strings. After 15 minutes of noodling around I put on .0105-0-.048 D'Addarios and messed with the pickup height of the '59 (which had already improved the sound of my DKGMT). Much better already.
Then I took it to rehearsal this evening, and was totally blown away. Through my ENGL Fireball the Custom delivered outstanding punch and clarity, and my leads cut through better than with my other Jacksons (equipped with Duncan Distortions). And while playing it the guitar felt as if I had owned it all my live.
I can't wait to take it to my local tech to get a pro setup. Should play even better afterwards.
So, to sum it up... my dream has come true finally. Specwise it's exactly what I wanted, and the quality and sound is all there.
The fact that I got this customized Rhoads at half the price of a USA Select RR1T is just the icing on the cake.
Now I want to thank all of you who posted info about Jackson Stars and japanese dealers. Special thanks go out to our bro Atsushi (QuantumRider) and Noriko Sada at Ishibashi.
Dealing with Noriko has been a real pleasure, and the guitar was packed really well.
... Did I forget something?
Oh yes, PICS!!!
The hardcase seems to be slimmer than the Rhoads cases of our other guitarist. Perfect fit.
Neck-thru all the way...
This is the only flaw I could find... I admit it looks cruel in the pic, but in reality it doesn't. These macro shots show every dust particle...
And finally, the happy owner!!!
Sorry for the quality of the pics, they were taken in our rehearsal room.
And now a final big thank you to Baum83 for hosting the pics!
First things first... here are the specs:
BODY: Mahogany with 5A Flame Maple Veneer Top
SCALE: 25,5“
NECK: Maple Thru-Neck, 24 frets
FINGERBOARD: Bound Ebony with Sharkfin Inlays (pearl)
BRAND NAME MATERIAL: Pearl
BRIDGE: Tunamatic, Strings-Thru Body
PICKUPS: Seymout Duncan TB-5 (bridge)/SH-1N (neck)
CONTROLS: 2xVolume, 1xTone, 3-way Toggle Switch
HARDWARE: Black
COLOR: Transparent green with matching headstockI ordered the guitar at the end of May at Ishibashi.
The guitar was shipped on August 29th. I had them ship it to one of my bandmates because I'm not at home on weekdays. Well it arrived at my buddy's home on Saturday but they wanted to collect the tax and customs fee in cash... and it was quite a sum. Long story short, today I made a trip to the local DHL depot and got my package. Yay for DHL for having their depot open on Sundays.
So here's my first impression (disclaimer: honeymoon!):
The guitar seems to be almost flawless, build quality and overall feel is excellent. Nice fretwork, perfect inlays, beautiful finish. I only spotted one little flaw in the binding, but it doesn't bother me at all.
The neck feels exactly like on a RR5 (tried out two of them this year).
It has a rich unplugged sound. It's the first time I get to hear a Duncan Custom, however I already have a '59 in the neck of my DKMGT.
When I first plugged it into my POD at home I wasn't impressed, but that was with .009 strings. After 15 minutes of noodling around I put on .0105-0-.048 D'Addarios and messed with the pickup height of the '59 (which had already improved the sound of my DKGMT). Much better already.
Then I took it to rehearsal this evening, and was totally blown away. Through my ENGL Fireball the Custom delivered outstanding punch and clarity, and my leads cut through better than with my other Jacksons (equipped with Duncan Distortions). And while playing it the guitar felt as if I had owned it all my live.
I can't wait to take it to my local tech to get a pro setup. Should play even better afterwards.
So, to sum it up... my dream has come true finally. Specwise it's exactly what I wanted, and the quality and sound is all there.
The fact that I got this customized Rhoads at half the price of a USA Select RR1T is just the icing on the cake.
Now I want to thank all of you who posted info about Jackson Stars and japanese dealers. Special thanks go out to our bro Atsushi (QuantumRider) and Noriko Sada at Ishibashi.
Dealing with Noriko has been a real pleasure, and the guitar was packed really well.
... Did I forget something?
Oh yes, PICS!!!
The hardcase seems to be slimmer than the Rhoads cases of our other guitarist. Perfect fit.
Neck-thru all the way...
This is the only flaw I could find... I admit it looks cruel in the pic, but in reality it doesn't. These macro shots show every dust particle...
And finally, the happy owner!!!
Sorry for the quality of the pics, they were taken in our rehearsal room.
And now a final big thank you to Baum83 for hosting the pics!
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