New Jackson Custom Shop Guitar Arrival - Kelly Solar :)

[Venomboy]

+1 on Sully's comment. Always tasteful. The back binding + old school logo is awesome.

[mrrs]

The back binding really sets it apart from everything else I've seen.
Love it!

[loki: god of chaos]

damn.. that things friggin sexy..lol

[MetalHeadMat]

Those Kelly's are awesome, and the logo's just complete the guitars.

I always liked the gold "pen wrote" logo..

[Hellbat]

I have tried them, and totally agree. The fatter knob on the Schallers is definitely easier on the fingers. Both are great but the shafts on the Sperzels are a little stiffer and less likely to move so, IMHO, they have a small edge in tuning stability.

I haven't tried it but I am pretty sure you can adjust their resistance by tightening/loosening the screws holding the buttons on. That's why they use the teflon bushing there on the shaft.

[Trem]

Awesome, classy, different, nice axes!!

[shreddermon]

Whats up with the tip of the headstock though, did they do a crappy job masking off the tip or is it a reflection? I cant tell, but I have seen that before on a few USA's.

Just a reflection of the sun.

[shreddermon]

How long did that one take?

I ordered it in early June of '09.

[toejam]

That kicks ass! Love the rosewood board.

[ToneZone]

That's just beautiful. I want one!!

[pipsqueak]

Very nice.

[Top Jimmy B]

Great choices on this one, Pat. It's a classy looking guitar and I love the BRW fingerboard!! Congrats and enjoy.

[Brian]

Both of those look great. Congrats!

[fordsho90]

You have great taste in colors, that looks awesome!

[shreddermon]

Thanks again, guys.

Now that I've had it for a couple of days, I'm starting to get some first impressions. Most interesting was A/B-ing these two guitars against each other, as they have very similar specs. That was intentional - I loved the Trans Plum so much, I wanted another one similar to it. Same woods, same pickups, same hardware, same neck construction, etc.

So, other than finishes and fretboards, you'd think they would be pretty alike, right? Well, surprisingly, they have very distinct personalities - especially tone-wise. The Trans Plum has more of an open-voiced tone. The best way I can think of describing it is like having tone chambers. It also has more top end bite, which I attribute to the ebony fretboard. The Solar Burst one has a more chunky tone. And it has a distinctly deeper mid-range, coming from the brazilian rosewood. So - in a good way - I was pretty surprised at how pronounced the difference in tone results from just different fretboard woods. I'm really digging the feel and look of the brazilian - now I know why it's so desired. But I'm digging the tone even more.

And, in a very cool way, the tone differences suit the vibe I was going for in these two guitars. When I ordered the second one, I was going for a visual theme that was a "light" version to compliment the Plum one's "dark" appearance. But, tone-wise, they're the opposite of their looks - the Solar Burst is "dark" to the Plum's "lightness".

...And, with that, I've probably now dived waaaayyyy too deep into guitar-geekdom.