my new '85 Jackson bolt on strat....san dimas specs.....interesting....

[roccotanto]

I know that most of the jackson bolt ons were Ontario made. I owned several of them, and ordered some of them NEW back in 85 and 86.

i remember being REALLY pissed off when my custom ordered Jacksons arrived at the music store with the "chainsaw" plastic cases, and that HORRIBLE JT-6 tremolo.....:think:

anyhow......fast forward to TODAY....one of my fave local music stores has been a charvel/jackson dealer since the early 80s, and still is a dealer for them today.

the store manager knows i like the vintage ones, and called me up to come check this guitar out.

Jackson San Dimas plate, #4110. strat style body, kahler trem, S/S/H pickups with vol and tone control, 3 mini switches.

control cavity routing is san dimas style, not the later ontario shape.

neck feels AMAZING....and it's totally san dimas charvel feeling neck.

pearl white finish, with matching headstock.

this guitar is FOR SURE a 1985 model, i have not taken the neck off yet, but the store sold it to the original owner in '85, he kept it for 24 years, then traded it back in last week.

check out the headstock and logo....made in usa is right under the Jackson logo, ala the San Dimas era Jacksons.....and it has the "TM" above the jackson, instead of the R in a circle like most ontario guitars.

i know that during the transition, Jacksons were made with san dimas parts.....this has to be one fo the very early transition models, as everything about it is San Dimas.....plus, it came with the original black tolex case with Jackson metal badge logo on it, like the earlier san dimas guitars.

anyhow......just wanted to share.....check out the headstock!

[Axewielder]

More pics! I'd like to see that control cavity, too.

[roccotanto]

More pics! I'd like to see that control cavity, too.

gonna take some more today, it's always interesting to see the different jackson and charvels from back in the day.

i jumped on this one, because it was 100% authentic with a proven pedigree, was ordered for the original owner by the store, and then it got traded back in 24 years later!

luckily, the original owner was NOT a gigging guy, there is NO wear on the back at ALL, and the guitar is in near mint condition. the CASE is in really good condition, and it's great to see one of these original tolex Jackson USA cases again.

i was SO MAD when i got my two custom ordered Jackson strats in 86 with the first "chainsaw" cases.....

even though this one is not in the #1500 serial number range for Jackson San Dimas production, everything about this guitar is San Dimas, the neck feels and looks just like a San Dimas Charvel pointy.

kahler is in great condition too.....original owner must not have played it much.

i will do more pics tonite!

[Axewielder]

Why the chainsaw hate? :think:

[roccotanto]

Why the chainsaw hate? :think:

well...i was expecting the tolex case that had come with my other guitars, and it was PLASTIC......plus, those latches SUCKED< and usually BROKE OFF on the road. those cases were a taste of what was to come with Charvel/Jackson.

it's all Jerry Freed's fault

i used to work for Jerry at Gator Cases...Jerry was the guy who helped make the deal happen with Grover when they were bought out by Akai....it was JERRY that started making all the hardware in Japan, and did the "model" series Charvels, which were made by Hondo. I used to bust Jerry's balls all the time for that.....

and the Jt-6.....don't even get me STARTED on the Jt-6 trem. i HATED those things, still do. will not BUY a guitar with a JT-6 on it.

luckily, Jacksons made during the late 80s were still good guitars. and happily for us players, Ontario made later 80s Jacksons are really priced kinda nice....i have seen MIJ "model" series guitars going up up up in value...people asking $750 or more for one:think:

the model 6 is still a pretty good guitar for a poor man's soloist.

but my main love is san dimas era charvels and jacksons. they seem to ME to be the best of the best.

i traded a '59 slab board sunburst strat (looked a lot like SRV's famous strat) in on my first soloist in 1984....PLUS i added $400 to make the trade in happen. THATS how much i like Jacksons

that '59 strat today is worth around $30k

[jacksonaxes]

Why the chainsaw hate? :think:

probably the latches, if your off a little when you close them they pull right out, never understood why they did not beef up the latch area once they discovered it was a weak link?

[toejam]

and the Jt-6.....don't even get me STARTED on the Jt-6 trem. i HATED those things, still do. will not BUY a guitar with a JT-6 on it.

I'd buy a guitar with a JT-6 long before I bought a guitar with a Kahler.
Different strokes...

[straycat]

Oooo I just bought 1499 so congrats on the score.Mine had a Kahler but changed to an OFR in 86.Mine was ordered in 85 and delivered in Feb 86.
Got the SD electronics route like yours too and 1 hum.
The plate numbers are scattered tho' so can't go by that.
Find your work order number it should be in the trem route I would love to see what other numbers are in there
I had an 84 SD soloist with a Kahler and thats where all the info was.
My 85 Kelly custom has all its there too.
Going to pull the neck on 1499 tonight to check whats there.

[straycat]

Jt-6's are great trems never had one fail ever.

[roccotanto]

I'd buy a guitar with a JT-6 long before I bought a guitar with a Kahler.
Different strokes...

true....i know what you mean. it's much easier to change the JT-6 out and put a real floyd on it than to change the kahler

i go back and forth with the kahler. some days i hate it, some days i kind of like it. never LOVED it.....always been a FLOYD user since 82.

but since it was nearly impossible to get early Jackson/Charvel guitars with floyds, most are kahlers.....

to get a FLOYD on your Charvel or Jackson back then, you had to BUY a floyd from Kramer, and then send it to Jackson to have it installed. Kramer had LOCKED the market down, and WOULD NOT sell the floyds as an OEM part to any other guitar companies.

so, most Charvels and Jackson came with Kahlers....it's just how it was. Kramer was REALLY stingy with the Floyds, and they were hard to get, unless you were buying a Kramer guitar.

it DOES seem that the pointy style san dimas necks are much more stable with the kahler nut.....i have seen SO MANY cracked pointy headstocks due to the floyd installs on them. the headstock where the holes are drilled for the floyd nut is NOT all that thick, and one fall off the guitar stand = cracked headstock

[jacksonaxes]

.I don't think the model series were made by hondo:think:

[roccotanto]

Oooo I just bought 1499 so congrats on the score.Mine had a Kahler but changed to an OFR in 86.Mine was ordered in 85 and delivered in Feb 86.
Got the SD electronics route like yours too and 1 hum.
The plate numbers are scattered tho' so can't go by that.
Find your work order number it should be in the trem route I would love to see what other numbers are in there
I had an 84 SD soloist with a Kahler and thats where all the info was.
My 85 Kelly custom has all its there too.
Going to pull the neck on 1499 tonight to check whats there.

pics!!!!

[roccotanto]

i used to work for Jerry at Gator Cases...Jerry was the guy who helped make the deal happen with Grover when they were bought out by Akai....it was JERRY that started making all the hardware in Japan, and did the "model" series Charvels, which were made by Hondo. I used to bust Jerry's balls all the time for that.....I don't think the model series were made by hondo:think:

that was what Jerry said......the factory that made hondo guitars was the factory they used to make the model series guitars. i specifically asked him about those guitars.

[Hellbat]

My opinion on the JT-6 is that its a great design, but godawful execution. The potmetal they made them out of might as well be compressed talcum.

I do love the rear mounted fine tuners and the flat palm rest caps the have on the lock blocks. The locking nut behind the strings is kind of lame though.

As far as the Japanese Charvels they were made by the Chushin Gakki factory. I don't know if they ever built Hondo's out of the same place or not.

[roccotanto]

working on the guitar now, letting the solder dry.

the original owner put an EMG 81 in the bridge, and some sort of dimarzio dual blade single coil sized humbucker in the neck

the middle pickup is original, one of the seymours like many san dimas models had. probably an SSL 1 model?


anyhow, Dimarzio wound me a custom pickup a few weeks back, it's basically a DP212 "Eric Johnson" model humbucker with a bit more output than stock. i have been using Dimarzio since 1978, and am happy to be an endorser with them now. i don't get anything FREE.....but i get artist pricing on pickups and can get custom stuff done. they really are a great company, and their 30 day exchange policy is COOL....you can try something out, and if it doesn't work for you, exchange it for something else.

and i had another seymour SSL-1 on my parts shelf, so that is going into the neck position.

work in progress shots...

here's the cavity, it's obviously a san dimas route:



and the front, with the new pickups in there:





would love to hear from some of the experts out there.......i have not seen many Jackson bolt-ons that have this logo on them, seems like a pretty rare bird and a VERY early transition model.