Are the USA Select and the Custom Shop guitars made by the same people at Jackson?

[toejam]

What is up with Guitar Asylum anyway? I've contacted them on two occasions over the last few months to inquire about a guitar and they never respond. Guess they don't like to sell. lol

I've emailed them twice about a couple guitars, and they never replied to me, either.

[emperor_black]

I've emailed them twice about a couple guitars, and they never replied to me, either.

They went mental

[toejam]

I guess so.

[RacerX]

I've emailed them twice about a couple guitars, and they never replied to me, either.

The nerve of them, harumph!

[Newc]

Yeah, what's wrong with those guys? Afraid of a little tire-kicking?

I can't speak for Jackson regarding the "better wood for Customs" myth, but I used to work at a christmas tree lot when I was a kid, and there was a pen where "the good trees" were kept. These were the best-looking trees that were to be flocked, since they were about $10 a foot more expensive once that was done.

I also worked for a magazine printing facility a few years ago where Customer (Publisher) Samples were bound entirely by hand, rather than grabbing one off the mechanized production line that wound up on newsstands and magazine racks in stores. These were also specially-printed with greater attention to detail and only run in small batches to ensure they were not representative of the average product that you or I would find in a store.
While I'm sure the customer was glad to see a beautifully-done product, they were being lied to IMO.

That said, I would not hesitate to assume Custom Shop pieces got a higher-quality piece of wood, barring the typical order-specific figuring (birdseye vs unfigured, etc).
I see nothing wrong with that. I also see nothing wrong with using the same quality of wood on both, so long as it's not leaning more towards the crappy end of the spectrum. The extra attention to detail and decades worth of skills that go into a Master-Built Custom Shop USA Jackson is worth the extra cost.

However, I'd be a bit unhappy if I plunked down a few grand on what amounted to a USA Select with a "J" serial as the only difference. Then again, if I'm dumb enough to custom order a USA Select SL1 with factory EMGs instead of factory Duncans, and no other option, I deserve to get screwed

[toejam]

Yeah, what's wrong with those guys? Afraid of a little tire-kicking?

I wasn't tire kicking, though. I probably would have bought at least a Caparison 7-string, but they never got back to me about it. I think the other guitar I inquired of was a Jackson. Oh, well...

[Newc]

My personal favorite was the DCGL Ebay listing for the sweet Chlorine H-S Soloist from NAMM '04. They listed it as "unplayed", and of course I played it at NAMM and informed them of it and made them a nice (read: lowball) offer