Jackson Custom Shop Sucks! Avoid

[vector]

Wonder if the OP ever got his CS or did he sell off his entire Jackson collection in protest over the well-documented turnaround time? Oh, wait. I forgot. I don't care.

I will say that someone had a novel suggestion on how to deal with the 2+ year wait. Buy/sell other guitars and turn them into projects. A tweak here and a mod there. I'm doing MY part- In the 21 months I've been waiting for my CS Jackson, I've acquired one new custom ordered Hamer, 8 used Hamers that were/are projects (4 of which has been sold off), two Gibsons which I've tweaked, a couple of Charvel SD's that I flipped and a DK1 which will be tweaked as well. Hell, I can hardly tell you all the guitars that have passed thru here, let alone that 21 months have gone by.

[Dog Boy]

And 2014 is off to a good start!

[JonSick]

I couldn't disagree more.

There are some horror stories on here and other forums about CS feck ups. But almost all of them come out as JCS making good on anything terribly bad - as far as I have read.

When you order a JCS, you go into it knowing there's going to be a wait! If you think they're going to turn around a custom order in 6 months then you need to prepare for disappointment. Why? Well, JCS was quoting stupidly long lead times back from when before even Fender took them over! I was definitely on whatever incarnation of the board was then and that was definitely the running theme!

I ordered an ESP Jeff Hannmann in 1999 from a UK retailer. Now, nothing was custom about it, the distributor said that there were guitars at ESP Japan ready to ship. Yet that still took an 11 month wait! Six months later I had a ferocious fire in my flat where I lost EVERYTHING. Guitars, amps, clothes, university work, proof of identity (you don't know THAT'S gone until it's gone!), car keys (remote keys cost £300 to replace!), cards, computer, everything! So 11 month wait for a stock production signature guitar and it's ashes 6 months later! LOL!

But, I digress. Think of the positive too! If you want a dream guitar, get it ordered. Bam, you have two years to save up to pay it off. Not a terrible deal if you ask me!

I have nothing against the smaller builders but, if I'm honest, a Jackson is what I like so it's what I'm happy to wait for.

Edit: Two further things spring to mind:
1. Custom Select? Shorter wait times and may bundle in everything you want or stuff you can compromise on?
2. Why not enjoy what you have and when your CS turns up, it's a nice surprise? Unless your future rock stardom is absolutely dependent on a custom guitar showing up? I doubt it somehow. A CS is an extravagance, let's face it. I doubt a record company mogul is going to say "What, he don't play a custom? Dropped!"

[leftykingv2]

I can't believe this fairy tale got bumped up again. I am still waiting to here about those incredibly impossible specs that are giving Jackson's master builders fits.

[JonSick]

Ugh... didn't realize that this was a necrothread. Apologies.

[roodyrocker]

Ugh... didn't realize that this was a necrothread. Apologies.

Technically, if the CS wait time is two years then its impossible to have a necrothread about it. Its still "current"

[veemagic]

Why does it have to be these elusive "specs" that are the culprit and drawing out this wait time? I don't understand the badgering on the lack of spec information. What the hell difference does it make? Jackson can delay the build, or shipping for that matter (my last custom took 4 months just to ship!) on any of their orders for any reason. When I ordered my last custom it was 2004 and the published lead time was 12-18 months. I was told to expect the lower number based on current orders in the que, and it took about 26 months. With the geniuses they have doing their estimating, do you really think 3 years is out of the question on a 24 month published lead time? Seems to me it's right in the wheelhouse.

[JonSick]

Answer is simple. If you want a Jackson, prepare to wait or see if Custom Select will do the job for you.

If you want a guitar within six months, use another builder!

[wilkinsi]

Answer is simple. If you want a Jackson, prepare to wait or see if Custom Select will do the job for you.

I'm already starting to see some nice custom select Jacksons appear on eBay. Methinks I'll have one next month.