Shannon 98 Soloist

[djpharoah]

Just got this beauty in yesterday and re-affirms that I love non-recessed floyds and the older Jacksons.

1) The stock pups blow. Think these are the SSL-5 and the Pearly Gates. Very low output...

Wondering if anyone's got any good passive suggestions otherwise might go grab a set of white EMG 85x/SAx/SAx

2) The specs tag that came with the guitar say "basswood" wings... wth.. could have sworn it was poplar wings? Thoughts?

Pics will be up tonight.

[Number Of The Priest]

Yes, stock pickups were SSL-5s and Pearly Gates. The previous owner of my Shannon swapped them for Duncan Hot Rails and DiMarzio Super 3. I replaced them for APC 200 singles and APC Persuader Lead humbucker. So I've never had experience with the stock pickups.

The wings were poplar.

What color did you get? (Guess we'll know after you upload the pics, hehe.) There was blue ghost flames (56 of them), black (50 or 52 of them, can never remember), slime green (6), white (2), and a rumored sherbet orange (1). I think an ancient JCFer brett8388 (banned long ago) was the only one I recall to have collected at least one of each of the four main colors (minus sherbet orange). Old info post from when I remembered more stuff: http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/239...l=1#post276513

My black one is my "casket guitar", the one that I will never sell and the one that will accompany me to the grave.

[djpharoah]

Thanks for the update! I've got the black one but am working a deal for the slime green one too

[Number Of The Priest]

GET THE SLIME GREEN! I'd love to own another Shannon if I can find one affordably.

[neilli]

I have the single hum proto and the 85X doesn't sound great in it..

[jcs21]

I put a Duncan Distortion in mine, I left the stock singles. The Pearly Gates sounded awful.

[Number Of The Priest]

Pics will be up tonight.

Still waiting.

I contemplated the stock pickup configuration and here are my thoughts.

The SSL-5 is supposed to sound like David Gilmour, and the Pearly Gates is supposed to sound like Billy Gibbons' PAF in his 1959 Les Paul.

These are classic sounds.

Maybe they simply just don't work in a neckthru shred-guitar, or maybe they just don't work for the type of players who would be playing a guitar like this, but I've been curious about this rather unique pickup combination that doesn't seem to be found stock on any other Jackson/Charvel guitar.

J/C rarely strays from its usual default Duncan pickups (JB, 59, Jazz, Classic Stacks, Hot Rails) so it's interesting to see them choosing other models.

Though, it does beg the question, what was Jackson thinking when they built the Shannon Soloist and chose the SSL-5 and the Pearly Gates?

[djpharoah]

PHOTOS!!

[Number Of The Priest]

Nice! Congrats!

Never realized the Pearly Gates wasn't trembucker-spaced!

[kamanda]

You can get them Trem spaced. TB-PG1 vs SH-PG1

[Number Of The Priest]

I know both variants exist, but I should have been more clear in saying that I didn't realize the Pearly Gates that came in the Shannon Soloist was standard-spaced. Doesn't have much (if any) bearing on the sound, but for a guitar with such Senior Master Builder attention paid to it, you'd think that the appropriately-spaced pickup variant would be chosen

[hopkinsWFG]

Thanks for linking up number of the priest... well so how well build is this SHS1 were ? Any annoying E string buzz at some frets position? Or it remains buzz free even at low action settings ?

How reactive is the neck adjustment and how stable is the neck even for such a long time ago... ?

[Number Of The Priest]

It's an American-made Jackson guitar so I expected quality and that's what I got, including being able to adjust the truss rod and anything else.

Buzz is dependent on setup. On my personal guitars, I prefer very low action, and I don't mind slight buzz if it doesn't greatly impact tone or sustain.

My one "complaint" is the binding nibs (otherwise called "binding over fret ends"), illustrated below on a Gibson. For my playability, these nibs basically make less fret area available for actual fretting and vibrato. It's one of the unique features meant to invoke 1980s Jackson and signify an increased level of handiwork (they are very laborious) but I would never purposely order a custom guitar with this feature UNLESS the fretboard and neck themselves were widened to compensate for the amount of metal fret robbed by the binding covering the fret end. Other than that, this instrument is basically my best-playing guitar, but that could also be attributed to it being the guitar I've owned the longest and am therefore most comfortable playing it.

[hopkinsWFG]

Ouch.... no i hate binding nips... it seems like the high E string can get caught up between the binding nib and the fret...that small gap between binding nip and frets...

[Number Of The Priest]

I can see why that is a problem. For me, when I press down on the string, sometimes I end up fretting on the binding. Then again, I am a lousy guitarist