How do the jackson import serial numbers work?

[Carl Mustaine]

How do you work out the date and origin of the imported jackson guitars. I have just bought a black PS4 (serial number:9609539).

The guy I bought it iff says it was made in Japan, but I cannot find anything to confirm this.

Whats the secret? Is it like some other gear where the year of manufacture is the 1st and 5th digit (or similar) and another number indicates the country of origin?

Thanks for any light anyone can shed on this.

Regards

Carl

[VitaminG]

it seems that serials starting in 9 are made in Japan. Those starting with 1 are made in India or Korea, depending on the period it was made.

As for the date, pulling the neck might reveal some info in the neck pocket. Other than that, the specs of the guitar can indicate a certain period of manufacture eg. matte silver hardware was used on some models during the late 90s

[Carl Mustaine]

Thanks for that! That was what I was looking to confirm! I got it off ebay for £80 - there were no bids as the guy made a spelling mistake! I found it by accident.

It seems pretty sweet - I know they get slated on here for being crap, but I have a Starfield USA with duncans that seems harder to play!. That guitar cost £999 when new (about $1700!)

Thanks again for the confirmation!

Regards

Carl

[MartinBarre]

£80 for a PS4's pretty good mate! I have a JDR-94 Concept which I believe is pretty mcuh the same guitar, just a bit earlier and it rocks. I replaced the stock pickups which were crap (left the single coil stock, that's not bad in conjunction with the others) and it's just a metal monster now!

[Carl Mustaine]

Yeah, it seems really nice, just a bit neglected. I am tempted to remove the seymour duncan off the starfield and swap it just to see what its like!

I built my dream guitar a few years ago - it was a black Washburn 27 fret with set neck stephens extended cutaway. I had a new schaller floyd fitted and had new pickups (it was a screamin demon in the bridge I remember. It was given a pro setup by a local guitar builder.

It sounded so thin and horrible when I first plugged it in!. It turned out the washburn trem that was originally fitted was set further back, so a load of wood had to be cut out to fit the schaller floyd. Of course, the tone of the wood was cut out as well.

Don' know why I thought of this, but there you go!

Regards

Carl

[deeno11]

hey everyone... i just recently bought a mint condition rhoads rr1 usa model. i was lookign at jacksons serial numbers and it looks like they started with U0 from what the site says, mine starts with U1. the full serial number is U17133. can anybody tell me when and where it was made? and if my serial number is unusual because it starts with U1 instead of U0

[DrJackson]

nice info!

[VitaminG]

hey everyone... i just recently bought a mint condition rhoads rr1 usa model. i was lookign at jacksons serial numbers and it looks like they started with U0 from what the site says, mine starts with U1. the full serial number is U17133. can anybody tell me when and where it was made? and if my serial number is unusual because it starts with U1 instead of U0

others here will know more, but if memory serves, U10000 was built around 2003. So nothing unusual about your serial, it's just been a number of years since Jackson bothered updating their serial database online.

[deeno11]

oh ok great, i figured it was something stupid like that, they really should update that. thanks for the help man i really appreciate it, also, ive heard rumors that they made an rr2 at somepoint for a short time? is this true

[VitaminG]

they did. Plenty of information around here on that series if you want to search for it, but basically, it was made in the US alongside the SL2 & DR2 for a short time in the 90s. Limited colours, licensed trems & blank ebony fretboards (so no inlays). Cool guitars.

[deeno11]

any idea where i could find one of those? and what exactly they are worth

[Rich#6]

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95788

[deeno11]

hey thanks for the info rich #6 and vitamin G. this was my first forum since i just joined the site, thanks for making me feel welcome!

[RacerX]

it seems that serials starting in 9 are made in Japan. Those starting with 1 are made in India or Korea, depending on the period it was made.

Slight correction here, Gary: MIJ bolt-ons start with 9 but also are 7 digits long.

[RacerX]

India serials are 8 digits long