The Illusive Double Rhaods

[neptoess]

There's one of the silver anniversary models on Reverb right now, so it got me thinking, how hard to come by are Double Rhoads? I saw that CMC had a run masterbuilt by Mike Shannon done a few years back (white, non-recessed floyd, binding nibs), and I know about the silver 25th ones.

Am I right in thinking that there's no way to order one through the custom shop at this point? It's certainly not an option on the custom select form, and I've heard Jackson won't accept masterbuilt requests for any amount of money.

[eakinj]

The used to make them only through the custom shop, you'd probably have to go through an authorized dealer. I know at the very least they built one for the guy in Slipknot not too long ago, but I think you have to go through a rep to order one (if at all at this point)

[metalhobo]

seems unlikely they'd have started doing masterbuilts for mere mortals in the past year, given the custom select backlog.

[eakinj]

Double Rhoads were never custom select. they were custom shop, Masterbuilts were a whole other level. I don't recall it requiring to be masterbuilt to get a double rhoads, there were certainly people on JCF who have them and ordered them through the custom shop. that may have gone away I don't know, but again you'll have to talk to an actual authorized dealer to find out.

[metalhobo]

these days anything that's not custom select is deemed in the realm of masterbuilt for customer orders. at last that was my understanding of it. of course on the dealer side it may be different, and a dealer is able to order stuff that's "beyond" custom select while still not incurring the masterbuilt level, but customers can't do that. at least I was not able to do that, lol

[neptoess]

I guess I wouldn’t particularly be against getting a Masterbuilt quote, but I kinda doubt I’m gonna be thrilled about a five figure price tag and a 24 month lead time. Maybe I’ll reach out to CMC or something and let you guys know what they say. It is slightly frustrating that I’ve yet to even put my hands on a USA Select (no custom shop dealers near me, and I know of no dealer who’s crazy enough to ship me an RR1 and let me return it without paying a restocking fee and return shipping), not to mention a Masterbuilt Jackson, so I really don’t know how I’d even spec it out. I’ve played a handful of custom Gibsons and Fenders, but I don’t think telling them to match the Gibson SlimTaper neck is useful input. The nicest Jackson I’ve ever played was an older Japan-made RR24, and it was pretty unremarkable. Would honestly just love to see FMIC do a USA production line for Jackson like Fender has, but instead we get stuff like the MJ Rhoads at $2700…

[neptoess]

Small update here. I did inquire with CMC about getting a double rhoads built (also mentioned I’d want 3-piece maple neck, poplar wings, binding over fret ends, 4-deg neck angle, etc), and they said no one can order those guitars right now. They might allow dealers to order some small Masterbuilt batches in the nearish future, but the prices would likely be insane.

So I guess I’ll be waiting.