Last min advice?

[V-man]

About to look at a MIA that's priced fairly low. I expect some work will be needed, just wondering if any worst case scenario curve balls loom (possibility of being stolen pretty much ruled out)

Issues: minor clearcoat seperation at neck/body area around base of fretboard, possible hairline crack inside tremolo cavity, and some frets seperating from the board.

Anything scream "walk away" to you? Anything I need to look at particularly closely?

[Tmoran]

pretty much everything says walk away. Many usa jacksons can be had for a good price that dont have the issues you are concerned with. Really the rules of thumb here apply to any guitar not just jackson. I personally would purchase any guitar with the issues you are concerned with as the price of repair may put you right back into the league of buying a instrument that is in better shape. To me the most worrisome issues that cant be corrected without serious work would be cracks in the headstock or badly repaired headstocks, Necks with a significant twist in them and lifting fretboards/binding. True that some of these things might not be the horror story I make them sound to be but you never know until the repair begins and you see exactly what kind of PITA you have bit into. But in the end I still say stay away from guitars that have any major issues as you could have a better guitar for less money in the long run and not have the headache of finding qualified people to do what could be a pricey repair. And this advice extends especially to a guitar you may plan on buying online as even a picture will not show you the full detail of what could be going wrong with the instrument. The only way I would say to buy this guitar is if the price is low enough to recoup your investment by parting it out. That to me is the only surefire way to guarantee you dont get screwed in the event you get in over your head with repairs.

[veniculum]

I think Musician's Friend does things right...(or describes used guitars right). They rate them on a system of 1 to 5....1 being like new...5 needing work

Personally, I wouldn't buy ANY guitar rated 5...even if the damage doesn't appear to be too great. Any considerable damage is gonna set you back up to a price that's more comparable to a new or "good condition" used. And at the end of the day...while I know you can repair guitars..even guitars that have been badly damaged....I look at that like...well..would I rather spend, say 2 grand (for example) on a guitar that's been beat to shit and repaired....or 2200-2300 on a new guitar. If it were me, I'd spend a little more for something new...or like new.

Just my two cents of course.
Good luck