Where to get a soloist?

[Jem]

Looks like I spoke to soon about getting Jacksons in the UK

I bought an SL3 (Transparent Red) at the end of January (from Turnkey in London) and it was delivered damaged so I've been waiting and waiting for the shop to get more stock... they are now telling me it's going to be at least another month before they MAY get anything in at all

Jackson seem to have been caught completely off-guard by the Restriction of Hazardous Substances legislation in the EU and stocks have dried up. I'd got a great deal (630 GBP!) and am reluctant to just send the guitar back for a refund but don't know what else to do....

So, I'm now in the market for a replacement and have started thinking perhaps a used SL1 / Pro or Charvel Model 6 or 650XL may be a better deal than another SL3. It'd be great to have a look in the Buy & Sell here but being too new to the board I guess I have no access to that area.

It's been 15 years since I had an electric, the last one I owned was an '88 Model 6 but I sold it for a Yamaha RBX-800A bass as I was gigging as a bass player at the time. Always regretted it but never had the money or sufficient reason to buy another as the acoustic was doing a fine job in the house.

Has anyone any suggestions for a replacement? Either in the UK, or a trustworthy source willing to ship to the UK?

Thanks for any help!

[Sunbane]

Charvel 650XL would be an excellent choice. The one thing the current SL-3 has up on it, is the OFR, but the JT-590 on the 650XL isn't far behind.

Failing that, look for a Jackson "Soloist Pro" if you can find one. Those were the highlight of the Professional series - just as nice as the USA Jacksons. The things different between the Soloist Pro and the 650XL, are ebony board and fully recessed trem on the Pro - otherwise they are virtually the same.

[demeyes]

If I were you I'd keep an eye on the used market. There are a good few guitars floating around England and Ireland.
Maybe if you PM some of the dealers on the board here they might be able to help you. Only thing is that they are in the US and shipping will be expensive enough.

[darrellm]

There are lots and lots of Jacksons and Charvels out there (inc a Model 4 here) but as you say, it's finding them - definatley out of favour with the main dealers at the moment, but everyone in local bands had them 15 years ago so where are they?

Key an eye on eBay, they come up now and again - a Model 4 went for 211 UK pounds a few weeks back, an absolute bargain IMHO.

And believe it or not, was in London on a course a few years back and they just happened to have a joblot of Strathead Charvels in Turnkey - black, SD pickups, non-Floyd Trem (Wilkinson?). They sounded superb, only reason I didn't buy was cos of the trem, seemed to keep putting the guitar out of tune - regret it now, mind you!

[Nazgul]

The things different between the Soloist Pro and the 650XL, are ebony board and fully recessed trem on the Pro - otherwise they are virtually the same.

Soloist PRO has also scalloped neck joint .

[Jem]

Thanks for all the replies guys, it's much appreciated. I've been keeping my eye on eBay for the past few weeks just in case the worst happened and I couldn't get a replacement from Turnkey. There was a nice SL3 a couple of weeks back that didn't go at 450GBP but I wasn't in a position to buy as I was still waiting on Turnkey. Now of course, there's nothing interesting - a single pup custom shop soloist, but I'd really prefer the HSS configuration for flexibility as I'm recording a lot of different styles at the moment.

I'd prefer the straight-thru neck of the Model 6 / 650xl / SL1/2/3 as the Model 4 is a bolt-on. The thing I liked least about my old Model 6 was the active pups, they always seemed very thin... loud, but no depth to the sound is my memory, although as I say, that was 15 years ago!

I'm not familiar with the faces here yet, which members are dealers? Who's worth PMing for some assistance here? I don't want to put anyones nose out of joint before I've even started but finding something at a decent price in the UK seems verrrrry difficult...

Also, is there ANYWHERE online apart from eBay worth checking out for 2nd hand gear (in the UK... I know of craigslist but I don't think I'd deal with people there aside from face to face as there's no reputation system (unless things have changed?)) - being in Northern Ireland can be a right pain in the arse as there's only a handful of guitar stores in and around Belfast, and only one of them has ANY Jacksons, and even those are the low-end models

The nicest things I've seen locally are a bunch of Mavericks, but I've no idea what they're like... my heart is still living in the 80's - I want my Model 6 back!

[demeyes]

You could check classified papers in England and Ireland for gear. I have found some good gear in the classified section on metalireland.com. Most of the people on that board are from Belfast.

[Jem]

The only problem with newspaper-style classifieds outside of my local region is people are generally not wanting to pack up and post a guitar - they're looking for someone to call to the door and buy it.

However, metalireland.com is exactly the kinda site I was looking for! Excellent call!!!

Any other sites anyone can think of would be much appreciated, google isn't a lot of good for finding these places

[ken]

Shipping from the states isn't THAT expensive (in comparison to the savings available on a top end guitar), but the import taxes from non EU countries is a killer.

Thomann (www.thomann.de) are one European equivalent of Musician's Friend. They're not crazy cheap (and they feel like a big evil company!), but the service is good and once the item is worth more than about 200 quid, shipping's free. As they're inside the EU, there's no extra tax either. Just, pay, have it delivered a couple days later and you're done. For example, they sell SLSMGs for 650 GBP, RR24 for 700 GBP. I've bought stuff from them before and the service is good, in my experience.

I don't know if you travel to the States much, but I've never been stopped coming through customs with a guitar....

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64282&highlight=SLATQH

... it makes it significantly more tax efficient!

[Jem]

Hi Ken,

The shipping seems fairly predictable, and now I know it's about 25% for customs I'm a bit more confident buying one from USA. I do travel to the US 2 or 3 times a year - it's been New Hampshire mainly but I'm just changing jobs and it looks like Florida is going to be the new destination.

I have colleagues in the place I've just left who are more than happy to bring anything back across for me on the plane... only one thing worries me, and that is how much do airlines charge? I'm figuring a guitar is going to be "excess baggage" (along with suitcase and laptop).

That SLATQH looks great - my bidding power would be increased tremendously if I could get the customs / shipping reduced... hmmmmmmm

[ken]

Hey Jem...

In Ireland, the duty is 3.2% on the insured cost of the guitar plus shipping, and then VAT at 21% on top of all of that. I thought that in the UK you'd only pay VAT at 17.5%? That's my understanding, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

I've bought guitars in Boston and New York. In the EU, American guitars seem to get sold at MAP or higher. While they're advertised at MAP in the USA, you can get them much cheaper. Never been to Florida, but there's bound to be big stores there...

The two times I've taken guitars on a plane (Aer Lingus both times), I wasn't charged extra. With a hardcase, it's not that much bigger than a normal "large" suitcase. Not that much heavier either. So, as long as you travel light, should be no problem. On both occasions, they moved the guitars to the plane seperately from normal baggage. Indeed, the second time I took two guitars (a strat. and that soloist), and they didn't mind! You can always ring the airline in advance about it.

That SLATQH looks great - my bidding power would be increased tremendously if I could get the customs / shipping reduced... hmmmmmmm

Thanks for compliment! It's a sweet guitar all right.

I'd suggest you post the hang tags and reciepts to yourself, so that if you do get stopped by customs there's no evidence the guitar was purchased during the trip.

If you're happy with an Import, you could also probably contemplate buying a Jackson Stars (use site:jcfonline.com jackson stars as a query in google). They've got an additional word on the headstock, but they're the same shapes and made in the same factory as the import Jacksons. You'd have to pay import duty, but the base guitars are very reasonably priced (at current exchange rates) and there's a different range of finishes and options.

Best of luck with it!

[demeyes]

I'd have to agree about getting a guitar from the US. Both of my soloists came from the states. One was sent in the post and was marked as a gift. No import charges. An Sl3 for 500 euro including shipping. The other was my SL2H. My aunt carried it over for me. It cost her nothing and it saved me money for shipping. I got that for a great price also.
If you are planning on going to the states at any stage I'd buy a guitar over there. The price of guitars there and the availability of them is way better than over here.

[Super_shredder]

try dawsons they have great service and i manged to get my dk2 halp price because they thouhg tit was the 2005 model