A question about sustain. Japan SL3 vs USA DK1 Custom select

[danim1236]

Hello people,

I have a 1995 DK1 Custom Select with a birdseye maple neck. Beautiful Guitar with a superb tone and really excellent playability.
Although it has a very good sustain, I was thinking about a guitar with more sustain to try to play certain things.

So I searched for info and found that the Japan Soloist SL3 2007 seems to be a very good one. I read that it was one of the best japan soloists that come with Floyd Rose 1000 from Korea, a JB, and 2 hot rails. So I found a not-so-expensive one with a beautiful refinish in purple and bought it. Tested in a JCM900 and liked it very much the tone.

At home, I tried both and found that the DK1 has a longer sustain. I found it very weird because it`s a bolt-on guitar. Tried both with a neck pickup that is hot rails in both. Clean and with a 5150 pedal.
The DK1 has some 2 seconds more like 12 vs 10 clean and 16 vs 14 with the overdrive.

Both have great sustain compared with my JDR94 and a low-profile Samick I have.

I was expecting that not only the tone would be different, but the sustain would be longer in the SL3. Not only the SL3 is neck-though, but the neck of the SL3 is very thicker than the DK1.
My cousin that has a lot of Jackson guitars, some neck-through said there are no guitars with very long sustain unless you use a sustainer/sustaniac pickup or some effect. His opinion is the difference is tone not sustain.

Could you explain this? Is it a matter of the woods?

Images from the guitars:


Jackson DK1 Select 1995 Birdseye Maple (USA) - SN: 002392

https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2..._042022-F.webp
https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2..._042022-F.webp
https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2..._042022-F.webp
https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2..._042022-F.webp

Jackson Soloist Sl3 Pro (Japan) - SN: 072917

https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2..._022023-F.webp
https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2..._022023-F.webp
https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2..._022023-F.webp


Thank you

[metalhobo]

there's a million things which can affect sustain. neck joint is a small one. I've not noticed any correlation between neck joint type and sustain.

beautiful guitars btw!

[ed]

Are the strings the same gauge and make? Floyd rose original versus 1000 series. Are the sustain blocks the same size and material? The springs migh tbe different. Different pickups so magnetic pull might be different. String height from pickups and fretboard and action. These all can affect the sustain. And lets not forget the woods which are different.

[danim1236]

Understood.
Strings are not the same. DK1 has D'Addario 09 XT, which I didn't like as much as Ernie Ball 09 pink package, but seems to have great sustain. The soloist has a one-year-old Elixir 09 that looks new.
About Floyd Rose. I will open the backs to see the block and put here the photos. But it seems the materials are very different.
The DK1 bridge pickup has a stronger magnetic field because it comes with a Bill Lawrence L500XL instead of the JB in the soloist.
And clearly, the woods are quite different. The woods in the USA guitar are really great.

Thank you very much for the answer

[john.w.lawson]

Understood.
Strings are not the same. DK1 has D'Addario 09 XT, which I didn't like as much as Ernie Ball 09 pink package, but seems to have great sustain. The soloist has a one-year-old Elixir 09 that looks new.
About Floyd Rose. I will open the backs to see the block and put here the photos. But it seems the materials are very different.
The DK1 bridge pickup has a stronger magnetic field because it comes with a Bill Lawrence L500XL instead of the JB in the soloist.
And clearly, the woods are quite different. The woods in the USA guitar are really great.

Thank you very much for the answer

SL-3 didn't come with a FRT1000 came with a JT-580. Your amp setting can help you get sustain, vibrato, some pickups but mostly your amp.

Here's a cheap MIJ PS-4 with stock junk pickups

https://youtu.be/5CHUmi8zpms

MIJ SL-3

101_1187.jpg

[Dak]

I have just about decided that other than the feel of the neck joint it's self. The heel construction doesn't matter. For example I have a LTD 87 reissue Eclipse. Neck through with Maple neck Mahagony body and a Jackson Fusion HH with a Mahagony body and bolt on Maple neck. The internet says a bolt on neck is brighter. With these two guitars it is just the opposite through the same amp with the same amp settings. The Fusion with the bolt on is darker. The pickups are different though. The LTD has a Ducan Distorsion. The Fusion has a Duncan Designed Distortion Marked Duncan/ Ibanez. Supossedly these Duncan/ Ibanez ones are slightly different than a std Duncan Designed distortion. I have almost decided that pickups make a bigger difference than neck construction/ body wood. Nice guitars by the way.

[danim1236]

SL-3 didn't come with a FRT1000 came with a JT-580. Your amp setting can help you get sustain, vibrato, some pickups but mostly your amp.

Here's a cheap MIJ PS-4 with stock junk pickups

https://youtu.be/5CHUmi8zpms

MIJ SL-3

101_1187.jpg

The 2006 and 2007 SL3 comes with a Floyd Rose 1000 and Seymour Duncan pickups. One JB at the bridge and 2 hot-rails