First Year Custom Shop appeared on the headstock?

[Alissarr]

Hi trying to determine if a guy I ran into is BS-ing me. Have a serial # that dates to 1985, but the headstock has Custom Shop made in USA on it. Seems early for that. What year did they start labeling them Custom (I thought most were mad to order in the 80s...similar to our custom select process now)?

[neilli]

I think it was in the mid 90s? Not 85 that's for sure.

[Alissarr]

That’s what I was thinking. Pretty sure it’s either a copy or a refinish. Kind of a purple burst, but I don’t remember ever seeing one like it before.

[neilli]

Get a pic of the serial number and then you'll have a better idea..

[Mudlark]

I've often wondered the exact year, myself.
Certainly well into the '90s.

[shreddermon]

Think this logo was first created as a way to distinguish custom shop orders from then-newly available USA Select production guitars, which would've started in the early 90s, I think.

[Dave Rocks]

I think it was in the mid 90s? Not 85 that's for sure.

Right. They were all custom shops in 85

[shreddermon]

I took a quick look through old catalogs on the Jackson website. Not exactly a scientific method, but the first guitar I came across with the custom shop logo was in the '96 catalog. I'm thinking that was likely a '95 build, so yeah mid-90s after all.

[RR2772]

RR2772 is from fall 1996 and I never knew that RR stood for custom shop until years later. No signs of custom shop otherwise.

[Andrew85]

1996

[xenophobe]

This is from J6277 from 1996 where it looks like they were trying to figure out where the logo should go.

[Mudlark]

'96 would make sense considering it was a year with a number of new changes.

[Number Of The Priest]

This is from J6277 from 1996 where it looks like they were trying to figure out where the logo should go.

I really like the placement of that Custom Shop logo. Can this be requested in a Custom Select? (It's just a decal after all, isn't it? Not woodworking or anything complex really...) With the current/normal scheme, personally I feel it's too cluttered with the "Made in USA" portion at the headstock tip.

[xenophobe]

I really like the placement of that Custom Shop logo. Can this be requested in a Custom Select? (It's just a decal after all, isn't it? Not woodworking or anything complex really...) With the current/normal scheme, personally I feel it's too cluttered with the "Made in USA" portion at the headstock tip.

It's a screen print as far as I know. It might be something you can request, but supposedly they tightened the noose on what you can get done with JCS when they put the stop on masterbuilds. Ask your dealer. I'm not sure what you can actually get done.

[nateb]

in 1985, wouldn't it have a TM instead of a the registered trademark?