Some SL1T questions...

[Chad]

I've got an SL1T here and have some questions:

1. I find it odd that Jackson uses a trembucker spaced pickup on a fixed bridge guitar. This one has a TB-4 in the bridge. Does this spacing look normal?



On the bridge pickup, the strings all line up pretty good except the high E sits close to the inside edge of both poles. I wonder if a normal spaced pickup would line up better?

Also, the middle and neck pickups seem off with the lower strings.

2. I'm guessing SD doesn't (didn't?) make a middle position version of the Classic Stack because both of them are labeled as neck pickups?

By the way, does anybody know how to date Seymour Duncan pickups? I searched the SD website and didn't have much luck. As an example, the TB-4 has "IJ027 TB-4 0726" on the label.

3. When was this guitar made? The serial number is U148--.

4. I was thinking these have a two-way truss rod, but it appears this guitar has a one-way truss rod. Sound correct?

Thanks!

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I put a trembucker on my hardtail Strat. It's more about the string spacing than whether it's a tremolo. On newer Gibsons, the string spacing is a little wide for a standard-spaced humbucker, too, so plenty of people use trembuckers/f-spaced pickups.

There are only bridge and neck models of Classic Stack. No idea when it was made, they're in the 22's now (U22) so not very recent.

I don't know what to tell you about the truss rod... It works the same as any truss rod I've ever used, you tighten it to flatten the neck, and loosen it to add relief.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Wow, yeah, those singles are off. They never line up exactly right (the spacing is always wrong but the strings should be more or less over the poles) but it looks to me like either the high E side is raised up a lot higher than the low side, or the routes are just off.

[Chad]

Thanks for the info. Regarding the middle and neck pickup spacing, I searched out other pics of both SL1's and SL1T's. The angle that pictures are taken from greatly affects the way the pole spacing looks, but after looking at others this one seems to be "normal". Check out the SL1T that Piney Hills has on Ebay...it looks almost exactly the same alignment-wise. Even the SL1T pictured on the Jackson website clearly lines up better with the high strings than the low strings with the middle and neck pickups. I'm not sure why Jackson routs this way?

[wilkinsi]

I've never come across a Seymour Duncan pickup where the pole pieces lie centred under the strings.

[Chad]

BTW, I never knew that the neck-thru portion of Soloists isn't all maple. It appears to be a laminate of maple and alder. I've often heard people say that they have a maple neck and alder wings. But it appears they actually have a maple neck with the body portion of the neck-thru being more alder than maple. Then there are indeed alder wings on the sides. I wonder if my RR1 is the same way?

I'm also wondering how thick the maple veneer top is? I'm guessing it's rather thin.

Transparent blue is one strange color. Online, I've seen it look like everything from light blue to a purple-ish color. It does appear to be a finish that flip-flops somewhat. In some light this one takes on a green-blue sort of color. In brighter lighting, the green-ish shade leaves and it looks like the pic I took above.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Thanks for the info. Regarding the middle and neck pickup spacing, I searched out other pics of both SL1's and SL1T's. The angle that pictures are taken from greatly affects the way the pole spacing looks, but after looking at others this one seems to be "normal". Check out the SL1T that Piney Hills has on Ebay...it looks almost exactly the same alignment-wise. Even the SL1T pictured on the Jackson website clearly lines up better with the high strings than the low strings with the middle and neck pickups. I'm not sure why Jackson routs this way?

Well, the single coils never line up right in the middle & neck spot. My SL1 is kinda like that, too, but not quite as far as that, but probably because the bridge spacing is wider.

I'm guessing the thinner strings would be more suceptible to volume differences due to misalignment, but after having used standard-space pickups on Floyd'ed guitars and not really seeing any difference (though the pole pieces are way off) I think it's just cosmetic.

[Chad]

This guitar weighs in at 7lb 10oz. Nice weight....not featherweight, but not too heavy either.

It resonates very nicely....strumming chords kinda rattles my body....very cool.

[salmonella]

Do the strings align correctly with the neck, e.g is high E closer to edge? I guess the asnwer is likely yes. It looks like it - if the strings were dead centre they would lie equidistant over each edge of low e and high e pole piece . This effect is obvious with the single coils because they dont have much room in the routed pocket to be adjusted. The humbucker has a bit of movemnet in the pocket and can be slightly adjusted left / right to make it line up with the strings. I have seen so many SL1Ts with the bridges (misaligned) over to the highE by approx 1 to 2mm I'm starting to think they have had a problems on a scale similar to toyota or are, perhaps, actually meant to be like that. Even the bengal one on jackson website shows this issue, there is one on ebay like this at the moment, I also own one. I'd love to know what jackson use as the tolerable distance in this instance.

[javert]

If you measure the string spacing on that kind of bridge, it fits with the f-spacing specifications, i.e., it should line up with the trembucker. As somebody else said, it has nothing to do with whether it's a tremolo or a fixed bridge.

[Rich#6]

I don't think Jackson makes a guitar that would take a regular spaced pickup. Having a middle pickup different from the neck version only has to do with having the middle pickup reverse wound to have a hum canceling effect on positions 2 and 4 when running 3 true single coil pickups.

[javert]

Rich#6, I think you're right. I've got 5 different fixed bridge Jacksons from different eras and all have an f-spaced bridge.

[Chad]

Do the strings align correctly with the neck, e.g is high E closer to edge? I guess the asnwer is likely yes. It looks like it - if the strings were dead centre they would lie equidistant over each edge of low e and high e pole piece . This effect is obvious with the single coils because they dont have much room in the routed pocket to be adjusted. The humbucker has a bit of movemnet in the pocket and can be slightly adjusted left / right to make it line up with the strings. I have seen so many SL1Ts with the bridges (misaligned) over to the highE by approx 1 to 2mm I'm starting to think they have had a problems on a scale similar to toyota or are, perhaps, actually meant to be like that. Even the bengal one on jackson website shows this issue, there is one on ebay like this at the moment, I also own one. I'd love to know what jackson use as the tolerable distance in this instance.

The strings line up pretty much perfect on the fretboard. To my eyes, the bridge appears to be mounted centered, but it's hard to tell especially with it being mounted at an angle (I'm guessing for intonation adjustment reasons).

After looking closer at the neck and middle pickup routs, they are definitely routed in a way that leans toward the high strings. But as mentioned, I looked at a lot of pics of SL1's and SL1T's and this appears to be "normal". I too would like to know Jackson's reasoning. Perhaps it is for the reason MakeAJazzNoiseHere mentioned.

[Chad]

BTW, if anybody has more specific info on the date of production of this guitar it would be much appreciated.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I have seen so many SL1Ts with the bridges (misaligned) over to the highE by approx 1 to 2mm I'm starting to think they have had a problems on a scale similar to toyota or are, perhaps, actually meant to be like that.

Yeah, I see a LOT of Soloists like this. I've gotten to the point where I don't even care if it's off a little because, if you look for one that isn't, you'll be looking for a very long time. A very slight adjustment of a bolt-on's neck will fix this, but obviously with a neck-through you have no adjustment.

Anyway, yeah, it's a common issue. As long as it isn't "Holy crap the string is falling off the edge of the neck" I don't worry about it too much but it would be nice if Jackson could do better with it.