Finally! An Explorer. ...and a lot of headache.

[Swede]

Do you remember the red Explorer in the -94/-95 Jackson catalogue? I think it was that one that made me fall in love with Jackson guitars... I thougt Jacksons were really cool even earlier, since (almost) all my favorite guitar players in the -80's seemed to play them. But that one just struck me!
Prices in Sweden for a custom shop, is sky high so for many years having a USA Jackson seemed like a dream that would never come true.
I found my first that I could afford (a black JCS Firebird) in the late -90's and this was my main guitar for many years. Some years ago I started to "collect" JCS guitars but I have never found an Explorer for sale...
Until now.
First the Marty Friedman Explorer was put up on eBay, and it felt like a wet dream come true. But the price went up so I just had to watch it slip away... All of a sudden there was another one for sale and I thought I just had to have it! It was on the absolute edge of what I could spend, but I thought now or never. So I bought it. And got a lot of trouble included.
First of all I had asked the seller (I will not hang him out here) to secure the guitar in the case so it would survive the shipping. For some reason he didn't which almost took the head of the guitar. Cracks in the paint and the upper part of the fretbord lifted from the neck. Then there were a lot of issues that weren't mentioned in the ad. The seller stated that it was "ready to rock, right out of the box"... Well - everything is relative. When i plugged it in there was ONE sound, regardless of how I tried the knobs and switches. And it sounded awful. But you can see in the pictures what it looked like when I opened the back plate. The prevous owners had also drilled holes in different places an it had been done in a very amature way. Someone had carved out the cavity for the middle pickup with a dull knife (soo it seems anyway). And there is more that I have to deal with...
But I love it anyway! Especially the reverse "gibson" headstock with b/w Jackson logo. And even my wife and kids think it's cool... Usually the don't care about my guitars at all.
So now I have a "long" way to go to get it into the shape that I want to.

I also have som questions to you guys!
- Does anyone know anything about this guitar? It seems to have had some previous owners, and maybe there is some of you here.
- It would have been great to know how the original configuration was, since it seems to have gone trhu a lot of changes during the years?

And here's some pictures of what it loks like today and when I got it. Now it's all stripped and I will do an overhaul on it to get it in shape. I will post pictures of it when I'm finished (sometime...)

/Swede

[IMG]

[Trem]

Dude That is Fucking Awesome! Man, that sucks about the damages But at least it's in one piece eh, at least. I mean it could have been much worse, but it is a shame.
Def one of the coolest Jacksons i have ever seen Grats.

[Newc]

Wow. Hate to see a perfectly good CS busted up in shipping.

To be fair to the seller (whoever it is), international shipping is pretty much a gamble. Hell I've had guitars come from 2 states over that were busted in shipping because the driver/facility crew is on a tight schedule and things get thrown and dropped and stacked under heavier items.

On the other hand I've had them come from Japan in a box and gigbag without issue.

There's no guarantee you packed a guitar well enough. You can pack it too well - too much crap in the case and enough pressure means the guitar takes the brunt of it.
However, if the seller thought that the case alone was good enough ("hey, it works for weekend gigging in the back of my car and moving from apartment to apartment, so it should easily handle international baggage mishandlers"), then yeah, that's pretty weak.


However, those holes in the head for the tools are just retarded. If you can't keep up with two fuckin wrenches, get another hobby.

And what's the holes on the back of the body?

[Ward]

Shame about the damage, but that is an awesome looking guitar!

[Swede]

When it comes to shipping I've had three other guitars shipped from the USA, without any problem at all. (And they were all shipped with USPS, which I understand some people don't trust...) But with this one the guitar case is not so well done I think, so the guitar can move both lengthwise and "up/down". And since the seller seemed to be a experienced guy, it makes me kind of dissappointed that he couldn't forsee this.

Regarding the holes in the back the small one is a mistreated screwhole for the tremcover plate. The bigger hole that can be seen is the routing for the tremolo, and this one puzzles me, I must say. It don't feel very "Jackson-ish". The guitar is equipped with a Schaller Lo-Pro trem. And I guess this was a spec from the original owner. But the routing is done very sloppy, so it could be that it was originally routed for a Floyd but at some point and for some strange reason somone wanted a Schaller instead???
But what's more strange is that the trem cover plate isn't recessed, and this I have never seen on a Jackson before?!

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

However, those holes in the head for the tools are just retarded. If you can't keep up with two fuckin wrenches, get another hobby.

I like them. You're retarded.

[toejam]

Do you remember the red Explorer in the -94/-95 Jackson catalogue? I think it was that one that made me fall in love with Jackson guitars...

That is owned by Joe (Charvel750) on this forum. Congrats on your Explorer, too!

[Devotee]

But the routing is done very sloppy, so it could be that it was originally routed for a Floyd but at some point and for some strange reason somone wanted a Schaller instead???
But what's more strange is that the trem cover plate isn't recessed, and this I have never seen on a Jackson before?!

There's always the possibility it might have been re-routed later on. More pics? Either way, that is one sweet guitar, shame about how it arrived to you, i would be super pissed.

[Corpsegrinder88]

Awesome. I always wondered who bought that. I'm also about to join that explorer club.

But those just look like stress cracks in clear coat so I wouldn't worry about that.

Seems like down the road you can have it refinned maybe?

Congrats dude

[sixx_ gunner]

+1 to what Newc says

[RacerX]

Whoa, a reverse Gibson headstock! I don't think I've ever seen that on a Jackson!

[Johnnyryche]

Congrats on a very cool Jackson!

[themisfit138]

Damn!! That looks sweet.

[charvel750]

That is owned by Joe (Charvel750) on this forum.

Good memory, Joe! I was lucky enough to snag that catalog Explorer from Elderly Music in MI:

[straycat]

Both of them are the tits!!