Advice on getting a custom shop Soloist

[RampantLion]

I have a nice collection of Charvels and Jacksons, but I don't own any USA made Jacksons. I think I want to get something that I will never ever tire of, so I'm toying with the idea of having a Custom Shop Jackson Soloist made. My biggest questions are with the wood and I'd love to hear your opinions on what wood you have chosen or what you would choose. I was thinking Mahogany, but know little about the characteristics of each wood in the options. Right now, I have decided on the tune-o-matic with the tailstop and a single bridge pickup, probably a Super Distortion. I am really anxious to hear what you guys would suggest!

[shreddermon]

Some good wood descriptions here...

http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/Options/BodyWoodOptions.aspx

[Ward]

Are you thinking of having any maple, or completely mahogany? Just curious because a lot of mahogany guitars will have some maple in them (neck or top) to brighten the instrument up.

I have a CS King V that is a lot like what you're talking about. Mahogany, tune-o-matic, single bridge pickup (Dimarzio Super Distortion). It has a maple neck.

I have three mahogany guitars, but they all have maple somewhere (the other 2 have quilted maple tops). I love the sound of them. Seem a bit warmer & punchier than the usual alder. I actually think I will be leaning toward mahogany from now on, which is tough with Jackson!

[mr426]

Mahogony with a maple neck and and ebony fret board is really a nice balance. It has nice mids, great highs and even lows. Very snappy and crisp with the right pickup. My CS Warrior has this and my next one will be as well

[djpharoah]

I've got a 3pc mahogany + mahogany wings KV and it's a mid range beast. Single humbucker and tuneomatic. Normally I find that all mahogany guitars need some brightness added to them because they're too warm via a top. If you get a maple neck you're getting like 80% maple tone through that guitar.

Depends what you're after too - the standard Jackson tone or something different.

[shreddermon]

If you get a maple neck you're getting like 80% maple tone through that guitar.

+1 to this. Think of it this way: if you compare a neck-through to a bolt-on guitar design (tone-wise, I mean), it's like you're getting that middle 1/3rd of the body wood made of maple, too. Or whatever neck wood you decide to use on a neck-through guitar.

In any event, wood/tone choices are all personal preferences, so it depends on what you're going after. They're all cool, just different. I find myself gravitating towards mahogany in recent years. If you're set on a TOM bridge layout, I consider mahogany body & neck almost a requirement there. I used to have a TOM Kelly with a maple neck and alder body wings, and it just sounded way too bright to my ears. Your opinion may vary, though.

[RampantLion]

Thanks!

My biggest issue is that although I have a large guitar collection and have quite a few Charvels and Jacksons, wood is something I never learned about. To put so much money into a custom guitar, it would be foolish not to come to the experts here and ask for advice. Building one of these is pretty much once in a lifetime and something I've only daydreamed about being able to do. But I'd hate to just pick things on my own and end up with a guitar that isn't as perfect as it should be. The designer at http://www.jacksonguitars.com/community/guitarbuilder is amazing, but I just want to make sure I'm putting the right combinations together.

As far as what sound I'm looking for or what I play, I'm mainly a heavy metal guy. With that said, I have a lot of guitars with active pickups and high-output pickups like the Invaders, so for this guitar I'm looking for pickups that can be heavy, but also more rounded out for any other sound I'd like to get. I mainly play through an old Ampeg SS-150 solid state head, so I never have any issues trying to get an insanely heavy sound. I own an early 90s one-off BC Rich custom strat and I'd love to replicate that kind of sound, but I'm not sure exactly what the guitar specs are.

[decadence5423]

I currently have three guitars made of mahogany. A Jackson Kevin Bond sig, an older 90's Jackson (RR3?), and a Gibson Explorer.

For me, the RR3 gives the best sound. It's a heavy mahogany with a maple bolt-on neck, a maple veneer, and rosewood fingerboard. The additional maple gives an excellent overall tone, and I prefer it all day to my Kevin Bond sig (both have active EMGs) which is all mahogany with an ebony fretboard. The ebony fretboard should brighten it up, but it doesn't seem to do enough for my tastes. Lately I've been using the Kevin Bond for B tuning because it's so dark. I play mostly melodic metal type stuff (older Children of Bodom, Kalmah, etc.) and for this type of music I've found an all mahogany guitar to be way too dark. As for the Gibson, I don't touch it and have lent it to a friend who just recently became interested in electric guitar rather than leaving it in neglect. Not sure if any of this helps.

Something like this I'm sure will be useful:

http://www.soundunlimited.co.uk/article_Guitar_Tone_Woods_39.html

As a note your standard Jackson USA's are alder body, maple neck, ebony fretboard, and a maple top (not a veneer). So overall, very bright sounding.

[Hellbat]

For me, the RR3 gives the best sound. It's a heavy mahogany with a maple bolt-on neck, a maple veneer, and rosewood fingerboard.

My understanding is the RR3's are alder bodies. But maybe there were special editions or there could have been spec changes I'm unaware of.

[decadence5423]

My understanding is the RR3's are alder bodies. But maybe there were special editions or there could have been spec changes I'm unaware of.

This was my understanding as well. It was a project guitar where I purchased the body off ebay and refinished it, which is why I had (RR3?) at the top. It's fairly dark, very heavy for it's size, and has a very strong smell. I have no clue what year it is. I assumed it was pretty old as the stained top faded from blue to purple, maybe from direct sunlight. (you could see it was blue where the pickup rings were located). It was a probably 5 years ago so my memory could be bad on this :think:

[j2379]

Check out Koa, its like mahogany with a maple top tone wise. brighter & more defined than mahogany, but warmer & not has high endy as maple, some of my best sounding guitars are Koa. & IMHO looks really nice, tho its getting to be very expensive.

[RampantLion]

Koa

So you're suggesting Koa has the best all around qualities? Now with that, would you use purely Koa or have a maple top, etc? Also, I was thinking about an Ebony neck, but besides visual, what do the choices bring to the guitar sound?

[j2379]

purely Koa, especially if its a nice chunk you wouldn't want to cover it with a top. think of Koa, as a prettier, denser mahogany, its basically the Hawaiian version of mahogany. Granted alot of it depends on the peice of wood & its weight, ever play a 70's walnut SG, Koa is very similar. walnut is a bit brighter/tighter not as much low end warmth. I also have 2 old ALL maple mockingbirds, one is much heavier than the other & they sound very different.

as for fretboard woods, maple, ebony then rosewood in order of brightness. maple boards arent as forgiving, very snappy tight attack, bright clear harmonics, ebony is very similar, rosewood, lacks that snappy attack and is warmer sounding, a bit more forgiving.