quality of usa select

[jk2171]

Re: quality of usa select

Hey no hard feelings Naelpierre, I'm just talking about my personal experiences. There are a lot of us USA guitar players who would prefer to keep our money in the US, that's all. That does play a factor in our decision-making process on buying a new guitar. Also, from MY experience, Jackson makes the best quality guitars in the price range. You may have a different opinion...and you are welcome to it! [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

Oh, and FYI, overseas ESP dealers are not allowed to ship orders to the US. That is why there are not many of the Laiho models around here. People get them, yes, but usually they have to do it through an intermediary located overseas.

[Zerberus]

Re: quality of usa select

[ QUOTE ]
...Not necessarily true. Go with BMusic.com.au and you will have a max waiting time of 4-6 months for a custom shop, and less for something not in stock. Why ? Because they are a high end ESP dealer and deal in many many ESP's. And USA Select waiting time in the UK (with a top Jackson dealer) sometimes easily exceeds 4-6 months

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This I´ll believe when I see it happen.... ESP quotes a MINIMUM of 8 months for delivery, and in the 15 years I´ve been a dealer and now "mere" player I´ve never seen a standard joe get anything Custom fom ESP in less than that.

Jackson will regularly overspan 4-6 months, and they make that very clear even in the quote form as well..... unlike ESP , they´ll tell you (in my experience) at least halfway exactly (+/-2 months) when it will be done when you place the order.... with ESP it´s been "It´s done when it´s done and we´ll let you know".....

Not everyone makes the same experiences you make, dude [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[naelpierre]

Re: quality of usa select

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...Not necessarily true. Go with BMusic.com.au and you will have a max waiting time of 4-6 months for a custom shop, and less for something not in stock. Why ? Because they are a high end ESP dealer and deal in many many ESP's. And USA Select waiting time in the UK (with a top Jackson dealer) sometimes easily exceeds 4-6 months

[/ QUOTE ]

This I´ll believe when I see it happen.... ESP quotes a MINIMUM of 8 months for delivery, and in the 15 years I´ve been a dealer and now "mere" player I´ve never seen a standard joe get anything Custom fom ESP in less than that.

Jackson will regularly overspan 4-6 months, and they make that very clear even in the quote form as well..... unlike ESP , they´ll tell you (in my experience) at least halfway exactly (+/-2 months) when it will be done when you place the order.... with ESP it´s been "It´s done when it´s done and we´ll let you know".....

Not everyone makes the same experiences you make, dude [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously, but please be my guest and contact Shane of Bmusic.com.au. Also check out his forum and see all the people who have recieved their guitars in under 6 months. Don't just take my word for it.
The 15 years you have been a dealer does not mean ESP make an effort for you. Shane knows most of the ESP Crew in Tokyo personally and often goes there to talk to them/see the custom shop etc.

A quote from an e-mail recieved from shane back in september when asking why they had such shorter times on Custom Shop orders than other dealers i contacted :

"
Japan know very much who we are and I personally know a couple key guys there. We are consistently updated not only as to what is in the build schedule, but as to what is available from ESP and from their Technical and Craft houses (workshops) that is not normally available or is in extremely short supply and often snapped up by Japanese dealers if we don't get in first (much like in the case of the Forest GT in question). We are also an authority on the Custom Shop and Standard Series customised guitars as we've done more than any dealer here and have created some of the most souhgt after models throughout the world through our dedicated mock ups and passing on of knowledge to our customers. A number of our guitars are one-offs and one of only a handful. In short, we love ESP [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] and ESP Japan love us for loving them and for promoting their produuct so well outside Japan.
Hmm, normally I'm pretty humble, I guess that wasn't, but I hope it explains why we have so much and are able to get so much so readily and quickly.
Speak to you very soon.
Kindest regards,
Shane - Sales
"

So this is how a Standard Joe will get an ESP faster
[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Jackson on the other hand is 9 - 12 months wait whether you are a Standard Joe or Alexi Laiho ^.^

[sl2lover]

Re: quality of usa select

[ QUOTE ]
The Custom Shop Jackson is better than the USA Select and the Standard Series ESP but equal in detail to the Original/Custom shop of ESP.

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To speak like this on here is pure blasphemy!!!! ESP's are toys [img]/images/graemlins/baby.gif[/img]!!

[paulbag]

Re: quality of usa select

Cheap knockoff's... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[paulbag]

Re: quality of usa select

By the way, if you wanna talk about those crappy guitars do it in the correct forum. Your tainting my evening... [img]/images/graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

[StukaJU87]

Re: quality of usa select

[ QUOTE ]
Cheap knockoff's... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ] Made in Japan out of cheese and chalk.

[naelpierre]

Re: quality of usa select

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Cheap knockoff's... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ] Made in Japan out of cheese and chalk.

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Sorry to hear those opinions, i guess some people will never change. The conversation just led to ESP's *shrugs* Jackson have and will always be fantastic, no need to feel threatened by a low post person mentioning ESP's ¬.¬
As for USA > Japan *rolls eyes* that's fine, it means less Americans order Japanese guitars and more European people get them (as well as USA /French etc) guitars ! So i'm all for people believing that !
Anyway, I'll be getting my first Jackson in a few months [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] will post pics when it arrives [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[cookiemonster2]

Re: quality of usa select

I owned an ESP MIII for five years that was built in the same shop as the custom guitars (stamp on back was ESP Custom Guitars). It was a good guitar but I don't think it was finished as nice as the USA Jackson's I've tried but it was finished better than the SL-3 I tried. There's other things to consider like at least Jackson gives you some colour options. With the exception of the Eclipse most ESPs come in one or maybe two colours. That sucks except most ESP fans have been indocrinated to accept black as the only good guitar colour so it's ok for them.

[hippietim]

Re: quality of usa select

[ QUOTE ]
I beg to differ. I strongly believe nobody beats the Jackson USA Select quality at that price. In fact, I think you have to add a substantial amount of money to get someone else to build you a better guitar, it's that good.
Never played an ESP that could come close to holding a candle against USA Jacksons! [img]/images/graemlins/refuse.gif[/img]

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Hmmm...I think it's a preference thing more than a cost/quality thing. I've played plenty of guitars that cost substantially less than a new Jackson/Charvel that were of the same quality in terms of materials and workmanship. They were not equivalent guitars though. J/C guitars look and feel different from most other guitars - that's where the personal preference comes in to play.

There are a lot of top notch builders out there all catering to differing tastes and budgets. At a certain point it's not about who builds the best guitar because there is no such thing. It's about who builds the best guitar for YOU.

This sort of discussion gets played out on every board on the net - all that happens is the names get changed - the conversation is the same.

[naelpierre]

Re: quality of usa select

[ QUOTE ]
I owned an ESP MIII for five years that was built in the same shop as the custom guitars (stamp on back was ESP Custom Guitars). It was a good guitar but I don't think it was finished as nice as the USA Jackson's I've tried but it was finished better than the SL-3 I tried. There's other things to consider like at least Jackson gives you some colour options. With the exception of the Eclipse most ESPs come in one or maybe two colours. That sucks except most ESP fans have been indocrinated to accept black as the only good guitar colour so it's ok for them.

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I have no idea how it works in the USA, but if you order an Original series ESP from Japan/Europe/Australia/Rest of World (built in custom shop but have certain set features to be cheaper) you can have any normal paintjob, pickup, routing or basic change for no added fee. Any major change and it of course becomes 100% custom with the added fee :P. But I think most ESP's you get in the US are Standard Series which are Production Line Japan

[wilkinsi]

Re: quality of usa select

gee, i had no idea this would develop into an ESP debate - can't stand the sight of them. i don't care how good they might be.

i wanted to know what quality i would encounter as a player upgrading from jackson imports to jackson usa selects, what kind of difference in sound and feel should i expect. c'mon guys, stop ranting and give me some inspiring information about JACKSON usa's!

[Chrisb]

Re: quality of usa select

USA Selects are better guitars than even most ESP custom shops. You want comparable, then the Jackson Stars customs are your comparison. Not the USA select. Prices are dependent on wages, salaries, cost of materials and a host of other things. As are lead times because of hours and such. You can't compare something made in the USA to something Made in Japan. But you can compare the Stars custom to a ESP and I think you will be hard pressed to see any difference. And oh by the way, the custom shop stars times are the same or less than the times on the esp customs.

As for unlucky there was a thread previously about this where John Walker from Jackson spoke a little about wood selection, the various woods used on imports etc. This was the same thread where cedro was discussed. In short the difference between a USA Select and custom is almost nil. But for USA vs import, the tops are hand selected, everything is done on a individual basis for the USA models. Its not assembly line machine driven production like the import lines (Stars customs excepted from this). Will you notice the difference in quality. Perhaps but its not drastic. But you will find less problems in fretwork, electronics, hardware, pickups. Little things that for import models can be a problem because of the sheer volume produced. For USA models the attention to detail is much greater so as a result your more likely to get the absolute best product. Thats why the problems with setups from recent customs is of such concern to some of us (myself included) I would assume its an isolated incident but this is the 3rd time I have heard of serious setup problems from the custom shop in the last few months. But once set up properly even so, very few guitars can equal a USA select or custom Jackson.

Tim is right that at a certain point guitars reach a point where they can't be built any better and it all about external things such as fit and finish or personal feel. Thats why some people can justify spending 4300 on a Warrior Dran Michael and other people look at them like they just snorted a line of coke off a hot stove. I've played both Jackson customs and Warrior's and they are equal in quality. There is no denying. But in many cases Warriors are nicer looking guitars. But you pay for what you get. They aren't cheap. Same goes with alot of these boutqiue builders. But do I think guitars like Jackson Stars, Killer Customs, ESP Customs, Ibanez J Customs. Approach the same level as these boutqiue guitars, Jackson USA, Schecter USA, Gibson USA? No. I've never played a Japanese custom that I felt was the equal to a USA custom. Some come DAMN close. But once again you get what you pay for. Except ESP overcharges for their customs. Ibanez J Customs and Jackson Stars Customs are the way to go from what I've played.

[Scholomance]

Re: quality of usa select

If you're not going to go the full custom shop route, you can't go wrong with a USA Select Jackson. The ones I have played and owned have been absolutely superior to every new USA handmade/custom guitar on the market. When I got my first Select I was floored by the quality, especially in the paint and inlays. Perfect! The 2nd one I got was just as good, if not even better! They are worth the extra money.

Scott

[sl2lover]

Re: quality of usa select

[ QUOTE ]
can't stand the sight of them. i don't care how good they might be.
i wanted to know what quality i would encounter as a player upgrading from jackson imports to jackson usa selects, what kind of difference in sound and feel should i expect. c'mon guys, stop ranting and give me some inspiring information about JACKSON usa's!

[/ QUOTE ]
Amen to that! ESP's are caca!!
My USA sl1 is awesome! Can't wait til I add another to the collection!! But to give an idea on how awesome it is, when I play it unplugged it puts out some noise! It's the loudest unplugged electric I've heard! You can hear it in the next room for sure, and faintly a few rooms over! If that's any indication of how well it's built!