Phil Collen's Jackson PC1 Chlorine in the house! Literally!

[vklobucar]

So my good buddy Brooks came down for our Canadian Thanksgiving with the family and brought along one of his PC1's that was once owned by Phil Collen of Def Leppard fame.

This stunning birdseye maple neck model was used around 2003 on the X Tour night after.

What a great old school PC1 !

Million thanks for the great weekend as well as for bringing this beauty along Brooks!

As a footnote, that I held and briefly played that very guitar back in 2003 was super cool enough, but to be tweaking it at home on MY bench some dozen years later is just surreal!

[shreddermon]

Drop dead gorgeous. Love it.

The old school PC1s put the newer versions to shame.

[Johnnyryche]

Very cool! Great looking PC-1.

[MuttznMongrelz]

LOVE the color!!!

[vklobucar]

Mine is the one on the left when the two are lined up on the work bench.

It is a very early 1998 koa and is more greenish than his. Sustainer is being swapped out given that the old one died....shocking huh?

Phil's was presented to him at NAMM 2003 (IIRC?) by Tim Wilson and he went out of his way to choose a killer birds eye maple neck and highly figured top as well.

Neck was not that chunky truth be told back then. It would seem that later on Phil started asking for really thick necks.

[rjohnstone]

Very cool... I still love the early two knob setup.
I thought you swapped out the sustainer on that one already.

[vklobucar]

I did but then another one died so I salvaged those parts.....LOL!

Managed to get another complete unit so its in the process of being rebuilt...should work for a week or two I'm sure! LOL!

[BLOOD SPLATTER]

The old school PC1s put the newer versions to shame.

How so Pat??

[shreddermon]

How so Pat??

Appearance-wise, I mean. The quality/grade of the quilt-tops and flame-fretboards used was much better back then, as well as more consistent. They're more hit or miss now. And the old ones were done with analyne dyed tops, which really brings out the figuring. Now they use some crummier spray-on translucent something-or-other that actually hides some of the wood figuring, making some tops appear worse than they are.

And it's not just PC1s, this has been a trend for all production USA Jacksons. Honestly, IMHO they've lost their way on doing quilt/flame-top production guitars. There seemed to be a cost-cutting decision several years ago that, with these changes, the USA Select guitars still looked "good enough". But IMHO they don't, not even close. And it's more pronounced on quilt-tops, like PC1s. ...Its why we did that special run of PC1s a few years ago with Matt - to get new ones done "old school".

Honestly, I wouldn't order a trans-top USA Jackson blindly now. It's too much of a gamble, setting yourself up for possible disappointment. Better to just wait and look for a "good one" in stock at a dealer somewhere, and pay up. Otherwise, you have to go full masterbuilt custom shop to make sure it's done well. Heck, I have a Custom Select Soloist with a quilt-top on order right now, and I wonder if even that might've been a gamble. Crossing my fingers that it turns out well.

[shreddermon]

Oh, and that Soloist was ordered in an old school PC1 finish.

[kmanick]

sweet!! love that color

[xenophobe]

And it's not just PC1s, this has been a trend for all production USA Jacksons.

The manufacturing process has changed fairly dramatically since Ontario.

My biggest gripe is the new fretboard process... rolling the edges before frets are installed, and the frets are cut a little short so they don't need to be properly filed. I don't see anyone really mention this... I've hammered this a few times.

USA Jacksons aren't hand made like they used to be. But then again, that's also why you can get most of what you want with a $2000 custom select instead of paying for true custom.

[daisp]

Bad ass...

[rjohnstone]

Almost forgot to ask... did this have a production neck on it or one of Phil's baseball bat necks?

[lefty]

Great guitar! You da Man!