New to the Forum - check out my '87 Soloist

[Jacksonchick]

Nice, and my favorite color too.

[Johnnyryche]

Sweet looking soloist. I had the chance to pick up one exactly like it (only difference was the 3 mini toggles vs the 5 way blade). The owner wanted too much for the condition it was in. It played great though.

[Tommie]

The spacing should be fine. Many here have dropped in a Floyd on JT-6 posts.
A forum member here Budman (Dave) makes Floyd friendly replacement posts for JT-6 to Floyd conversions.
http://www.fretsonthenet.com/USAJackson.htm

I thought more about my last attempt to fit a Floyd and I think rather than the spacing being the problem, it was the vee shaped indent in the pillars that didn't suit the Floyd knife edges, it was almost too shallow and the bridge didn't have enough travel as a result. I don't mind the Jackson unit too much, the bridge piece is OK (albeit those lengthways fine tuners result in your fingernails scratching the guitar surface), but the Kahler style headstock clamp isn't as secure as a proper Floyd, and I occasionally have to re-secure the little screws to keep it nailed in place. If it gets even a little loose, it pulls back towards the tuners each time the bar is depressed, and doesn't always come back right (bottom string goes sharp). The Jackson is also good for taking a Dremel to the knife edges when they go blunt, although despite the little brochure saying they aren't replacable, and the ones on this guitar being stuck firmly in there, I have a spare complete bridge unit, and I can pull them out of that one quiet easily - if I turn the pillar with too much string tension (not recommended, it blunts the knife edges), it drives them out of place.

I do also like that fact that J4045 is almost completely "stock", even down to the factory error that connected the tone controls to middle and bridge, rather than middle and neck as I requested. I use "stock" carefully, as I have tried other pickups in there and also changed the volume pot as it was too stiff and showing no signs of loosening with playing, so it isn;t 100% virgin. I use the volume pot a lot to shut off the guitar between songs (or notes and chords within a song), and couldn't bear the damn thing not reacting quickly enough.

If you want to hear some sound clips, go to http://www.myspace.com/tommiepaxton and all 4 of the songs on there feature this guitar. "Give it To Me" is probably the best sampler, as it's a one take/no overdubs guitar track, neck pickup for the rhythm, bridge for the solo, through a stock 1968 Marshall Super Lead/JCM900 4x12 cab, with a Rat pedal for the solo. Listen closely at the end of the solo just when the rhythm comes back in, and you can hear the "peeeyong" as I switch back to the neck pickup and knock the Rat back off! Listen even closer to the opening riff and you'll hear our Bass player plays one of the notes a semitone sharper than me. His error not mine, I wrote the damn thing, but we just left it like that!

I can't wait to get my work finished on the RR (pickup change, general refurb and fret stone/crown job) so I can get playing it properly, and will stick some pics up when it's done. It was the RR model that first attracted me to Jackson (seeing Vinnie Vincent with Kiss and being knocked out by his axe - never seen anything like it before!, although back in 87 I wasn't brave enough to order a Rhoads, and settled for the Soloist.

[phill_up]

A forum member here Budman (Dave) makes Floyd friendly replacement posts for JT-6 to Floyd conversions.

http://www.fretsonthenet.com/USAJackson.htm

I didn't know budman was actually Dave from fretsonthenet!

[Nazgul]

+1

+2. Can't wait for the pics of the RR!! Is it also a San Dimas CS?

[GodWentPUNK]

For me, reverse headstocks are common

Cool guitar.

joe...

[Tommie]

+2. Can't wait for the pics of the RR!! Is it also a San Dimas CS?

Yes, c1985, in red - a deeper red than my Soloist, which is "Ferrari Red", and very bright although bordering on orange as opposed to pink. And it's original hard case is MASSIVE! I finished the fret dress (read on for my preferred way of doing this) last night, just waiting for some parts to arrive, it has EMG's which will be replaced by Seymours, and a chrome Original Floyd which will come off in favour of a black one (from same era).

Funny, it's just a pretty standard RR, but to find a red one without black bevels has taken me many, many years. My only other option was to order a new CS one to my chosen spec, pay $$$ and wait for it to arrive...

Fret dress technique:
- Loosen strings and adjust truss rod until neck is completely straight, using a plain string with a bit of tension on it as a straight edge to check this.
- get all the strings off, mask off the fretboard between each fret with tape. Tamiya model building stuff is good for the upper end of the neck as it comes in thin rolls
- put permanent marker on surface of every fret, make sure it goes into any worn pits. This is used to reveal how much metal you're removing
- use my carborundum stone as a sanding block, wrapped in wet and dry, and do a coarse levelling until pits are gone. Maybe a decision to make over getting rid completely or leaving some slight pitting, if that's going to bring the height down a lot, is needed here
- ditch the wet and dry and use the coarsest side of the stone, then the finest side, to gradually polish the surfaces and remove coarse marks
- marker pen on the frets again, and use a crown file to remove the shoulder of each fret, until the thinnest line of marker shows, and a good round crown is left. I don't like any flatness here at all, as it can give the impression of fret buzz. The trade off is they pit quicker.
- dremel tool chucked with a polishing head, which is made of Scotchbrite type stuff, like for cleaning cookware, to rough polish all frets. You should see them starting to get shiny again at this stage
- dremel again, with a fine steel polishing brush
- gloves on and steel wool to finish

Then string up, block off the Floyd with a bit of wood or something so the base plate is parallel to top (despite no rear rout, this will allow some up-pull on my particular guitars), tune up and set neck relief (on these Jacksons, I prefer just the tiniest bit of relief) and action. Insert Floyd springs (3 used, as I'm stringing with .009 to .046) and tighten these until the block I used to hold the bridge in place just falls out, i.e. the springs take over from the wood block to keep the bridge at the angle I want. Tune up, plug in and rock!

[N1CK]

Nice guitar! I have J4886. It is cool to see some old Jacksons.