Your first guitar to your USA Jackson...

[Larz]

I had grown up playing trumpet and piano in elementary/middle school but I was a metal head in high school and started playing in 1983. I spent hours, days, weeks and years trying to learn stuff by Ozzy/Randy, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Ratt, Metallica and slow parts from Yngwie's Rising Force album. Way back when finding good tab was a bitch and Guitar For the Practicing Musician was the only good guitar magazine.

I was fortunate that my mom would drive me and drop me and my buds off at all the metal shows in Worcester, MA and Providence, RI when I was growing up.

Through a friend of the family in the music business I got a great deal on my first guitar, a free Washburn stage series A20V like Carlos Cavazo played in Quiet Riot. I think it retailed for $799 back in 1984. It is all black with ebony board and red neck and body binding and some red pinstriping and made in the legendary "Uncle Matt" Matsumoku factory in Japan. I still have it to this day and it is as playable as each of my jacksons, a true speed neck profile and it gets the best pinch harmonics of any guitar I have. In the neck poition it is the blusiest metal tone I ever heard, almost Stevie Ray strat sounding, especially with the coil taps.

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/washburn/catalogs/bbr/bbr_pg1_web.jpg.html

So I was lucky in that my first guitar compares quite favorably with my USA Jacksons (except for the trem systems.) Its not particularly vintage or sought after by collectors for big bucks but you don't see them too often and as anyone knows who plays the Washburns, Arias, Westones, Epiphones, etc.made by Matsumoku in that era, they are tremendous players.

A huge fan of Jacksons since the 80s, my first USA Jackson was in 2008. Not sure why I waited so long but it is a KV2 (snow white with black bevels) and I followed that two years later with a black SL1. They are each phenomenal to hold and the playability on these things is insane. Real professional intruments. Makes me wonder why people buy other guitars with these chunky necks and more difficult upper fret access. The compound radius is such a great feature.

As gear became slightly more affordable to me with work and being 42 now and knowing my playing lifespan is on the downside, I upgraded the amps to a Mesa Roadster and a Dr. Z.

I still play the same metal stuff from when I was a kid but now am also a big fan of the big country shredders (Brad Paisley and Brent Mason) and am really into Andy Timmons and playing some of the more slower for the mere mortals passages from Jason Becker, like some of the parts of End of the Beginning and the intro and other parts of Opus Pocus, etc. Such a genius composer.

[Inazone]

I had taken piano lessons for years, but got tired of playing because it was essentially what my parents wanted me to do, not what *I* wanted to do. When I was 14, I told my dad that I wanted to get an electric guitar, mainly because the guitar seemed like a much less limited instrument than the piano. I wasn't really after a particular sound or inspired by a particular band, so when I got an $85 Harmony and a little BC Rich "Pit Puppy" combo, I wasn't all that disappointed in how it sounded. I was just thrilled to have a guitar!

I joined my first band at 15, which consisted mostly of us butchering Metallica and Guns n' Roses songs, along with a couple of awful originals. I "upgraded" to a Squier II (now probably called a Fat Strat) and a succession of cheap combo amps, and picked up a couple of used Boss pedals. Then the grunge era began, and I traded some gear toward a Yamaha bass and Peavey combo. That didn't last long, as the first time we were exposed to Pantera on MTV, the lead guitarist and I decided we were more interested in that type of music. A couple of different basses and amps followed , but two years away from home for college brought an end to my band. Although I still liked stuff like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, my tastes were changing, and I spent a lot of time in my basement apartment jamming along to Slayer, Sepultura and Megadeth.

After college, one of my old high school bandmates asked me if I'd be interested in joining a metal band he was playing in, as their bassist had quit. I ended up moving in with the rhythm guitarist, who had a vast collection of guitar magazines and obscure metal albums, and a Charvel Model 6. My first exposure to Jackson guitars was actually seeing a photo of David Ellefson playing a Jackson bass in a D'Addario magazine ad. I had started doing some songwriting on guitar, and my first "pointy" guitar was actually a Lotus L686 that was a pretty blatant copy of a Jackson Dinky. It was an absolute turd of a guitar, so I eventually went to Guitar Center and bought my first Jackson, a JS1 Dinky Reverse. It wasn't long before that band broke up and I moved, which is when I decided to focus on writing and improving my neglected guitar skills. Although I bought a couple of other guitars, a Jackson Concept JDX-94 was what turned me into a true Jackson fan.

I found out about the JCF around that time (late `90s) and got my first USA Jackson - a brand new DR2 Dinky Reverse - as a gift from my then-girlfriend (now wife). Since then, I've owned well over 20 Jacksons, and still have most of them. I've been playing guitar for 20+ years now, and the only guitar I've owned during that time that I like as much as my Jacksons is a USA Hamer Californian, which I've had for somewhere around ten years.

[Scooter]

I was about 10 when I got a crappy acoustic for Christmas, small frets, high action, and some Mel Bays learn guitar books. I learned a few chords, but never really took off, until at 13 my neighbor got a Harmony strat copy and a 15W SS amp. Quiet Riot was the rage, and Mama Weer All Crazee was on MTV. Carlos Cavazo really made me want to learn. He had it a year and finally gave it to me, as the desire to learn had me. I played it for a year, learning by ear and whatever anyone would show me, Iron Man, Smoke on the Water, etc, then I heard Iron Maiden, and went nuts. BNWOHM had me going. I was a Crue fan too and I love Mick Mars tone and the look of his guitars, and finally got a Kramer Striker 100ST (looked like a Baretta) and started learning more, it was simply a better guitar than the Harmony. Then I realized that it wasn't really a good sounding guitar, but I was learning about the workings of guitars, and a few months later I traded in the Striker for a Focus 1000, my first real OFR, and a decent pup. Then I heard Randy. My intent changed, dramatically. Jake E. Lee was inspiring also. I loved the guitars, the sound, I had to try one. My local store didn't carry Jackson, they were all custom order, but they had Model Series Charvels in stock on the wall, every model 1-6. I had no clue about USA and imports at the time. I wanted a Charvel, I tried each one, but I got the Model 1, the feel of the maple fretboard and the sick low action had me hooked. I had saved money from about 6 months of slinging pizza, and pulled the trigger. I then decided it needed a Floyd, Eddie was always a big hero too. A call to Kramer by a local dealer and the rest of the money I saved bought the OFR, and when the spring tax refund came in, it was installed, fully recessed.'Bad to the bone' were the compliments I got in '89 for it. I played only it, and sold everything else that came my way, several Ibanez, Gibsons, and a Fender. My career started, and guitar became a hobby in '94. I kept the Charvel, as it was my first 'real' guitar. A few years ago I found this forum and the GAS started, I wanted to play more, learn some more of what I liked. I met a few new people playing around and found my first USA Jackson. It was a 92(?) RR with a Shaller trem. I got it cheap from a friend of a friend, and was kinda put off by the deal ($250 no case) I took it, but I still wonder if it was stolen, but it was beat to hell and back, didn't play well as the frets were worn and I just think it had bad mojo, so it left me. I then went back to imports because I don't care where it was made, so long as it plays good. I've had numerous imports (JRR 94, PS4, a few others) but I'm holding out on what I'll say is my first USA for either a CS RR, or an early San Dimas RR. The funds are building, but the wait is going to kill me.