Officialy a new member of the Jackson family!

[Pointy]

My JS30 RR has just arrived! Yes it is cheap and cheerful, but i got to start somewhere, right?

First impressions:

- It's a toy! When i first took it out of the box i thought i got half a guitar! Very light and compact, i am used to it now and it looks great.

- It's a dive bomber! If i dare take my left hand off it, the headstock will try to go straight through the floor. I had heard the horror stories and i don't find it as much of a problem. Besides, it forces you to use your legs to balance it and look cool . I imagine that more expensive Rhoads made of heavier wood will be a bit more tame.

- Thank god for JCF! Thanks to you guys i ordered a cable with one of those 90' bent jacks, which is really essential for playing while sitting, since the output is at the lower wing and right into your thigh.

- It will give me nightmares! As this is my first pointy guitar i keep imagining that the long wing tip will break at the first wrong move i do and bang it somewhere. Then again it survived a trip through the mail from Germany...

- It feels good! Considering the difference from my Floyd Rose-equipped superstrat (Ibanez RG) it feels very comfortable and easy to play. Whenever i hold a Stratocaster it always takes me some time to adjust, not so with this instrument!

- The pickups are ok. They are no Seymour Duncans but i am pretty sure they are better than the ones my RG originally came with. I will see how it sounds after i change the .009 strings with .010 ones. I'm going to get better ones after a while anyway.

That's it for now. I will be back later with pics, and after i have played with it for a while i will move to phase II: This will be replacing most chrome hardware with black and tuning to D .

[Nazgul]

Congrats on a new guitar! You'll eventually want better guitar(s) .

About the neck-diving. It did it too on my RX10D and it was an easy fix. Just move the strap button to this place:


You can put the strap button over the hole on the neck plate and screw the screw over it.

The guitar became lighter and much easier to play when stanind up .

[Pointy]

Hehe and i was thinking "if only that neck plate wasn't there!". I think i will include that in "phase II" .

I also found a small dent on the back of the neck under the 14th fret. Feels a bit annoying, but not enough to mail the guitar back. I guess it is one of those things that will happen eventually. I will see if i can smooth it up somehow (advice welcome of course!).

[wilkinsi]

Welcome. RR's, V's and Kellys are all prone to this neckdive shit. I chose a similar option to Nazgul. The strap button on my Kelly has been placed between the two forward neck screws. Works fine.

[Nazgul]

The strap button on my Kelly has been placed between the two forward neck screws. Works fine.

Yeah, that would work too, but you have to drill another hole for that, no?

[kelly user]

Hehe and i was thinking "if only that neck plate wasn't there!". I think i will include that in "phase II" .

I also found a small dent on the back of the neck under the 14th fret. Feels a bit annoying, but not enough to mail the guitar back. I guess it is one of those things that will happen eventually. I will see if i can smooth it up somehow (advice welcome of course!).

after few years of playing, it will smooth out. yes it would require drilling a new hole.

[wilkinsi]

Yeah, that would work too, but you have to drill another hole for that, no?

yup, right through the plate. I didn't use your option as I was dubious over the neck staying fixed to the body when one of the neck screws is removed in order to put the pin there prior to the screw going back in.

[mhalsey]

yup, right through the plate. I didn't use your option as I was dubious over the neck staying fixed to the body when one of the neck screws is removed in order to put the pin there prior to the screw going back in.

Did the same thing to my son's RX10D - right in the middle. No big deal and worked like a charm.

[BenoA]

Congratz for the new guitar!!! I do own a JS30 Kelly myself. I love it so much it's my main guitar these days!

After over a year of using it, I still have no plan of changing the PUs. For the kind of metal we do with my band, these PUs sound OK and are not bad with my Marshall DSL50 half stack.

Many folks give me comments when they learn I'm playing an Indian made cheapo Jackson but I don't really care, it does da job and it looks real good! Love the Kelly shape. Mine is tuned to Drop A flat and I had plenty of money left to buy some beer.

Just for your info, I also own a Charvel model 4 with a Duncan JB in the bridge, an Ibanez RG7620 and a ESP LTD M207 (both of these are 7 strings).

[RobRR]

I never had a problem with neckdive on any of my Rhoads... but then again, I usually dont let go of the guitar too much when Im playing.

[toejam]

I also found a small dent on the back of the neck under the 14th fret. Feels a bit annoying, but not enough to mail the guitar back. I guess it is one of those things that will happen eventually. I will see if i can smooth it up somehow (advice welcome of course!).

You can probably steam it out with a slightly damp cloth and a warm iron.

[Roidster]

nice guitar man
a real simple fix for neck diving..............
get rid of that silly nylon strap,and buy a Leather strap
and you will never have that problem again

[Pointy]

Can't seem to edit the original post so here is the photo update:

The guitar:


All of my guitars :

The Ibanez is a 1999 RG270DX upgraded with Seymour Duncans - JB and '59 for bridge and neck.

The only thing that i don't really like - the fretboard sticking out of the neck:


The dent under dramatic lighting:


The dent under even more dramatic lighting:






Thanks for all the advice btw. A leather strap sounds like a good idea, the nylon one slips too easily along my shoulder.

The damp cloth/warm iron thing, i remember reading about that years ago, but it also sounds like something that you could mess horribly. I will google and ask for more info before attempting that!

Back to playing now

[emperor_black]

will a RR5 neckdive? I've always played soloist type guitars. Thinking of exploring the RR territory.

[Pointy]

Ok, it seems i am turning this thread into a JS30RR review/owner's diary, i hope you don't mind .

One thing that i noticed is that access to the last two frets (that's 23 and 24) is a bit akward, as the blocky body of the guitar doesn't let your thumb past the 17th fret. If you are going to shred, be sure to try this one out before buying. For reference the RR24 has a neck though design, so this won't be an issue.

This and the extended fretboard (see photo above) make me think that the 24 frets were an afterthought; they took the regular Rhoads bolt-on design and slapped a 24-fret fretboard on it, probably because it is more popular with beginner metalheads .

(My comparison measure for this is my RG. It has a bolt-on neck, but very easy access to the 24th fret).

Not that i am complaining, i am going to tune this guitar low anyway, and i am beginning to love the sound of the neck pickup, which the RR24 doesn't have!



Nazgul - your fix worked perfectly. I was worried too, but i chose the rock n' roll way: grab a screwdriver and go at it! The neck shouldn't move at all with three screws in place anyway, and i don't think it did. Everything is exactly the same in looks, feel and sound. This is really something that Jackson should do themselves - just put the damn button in the right place! A little thing that makes life so much easier for most people.



Next step: fixing the fret buzz on the 6th and 5th strings.