Third time a charm? Another incoming NGD.

[Top-L]

Found another guitar. This time ordered from a "reputable" seller.

It would be so much better to try it in store before buying, but music stores just don't stock the guitars I like. The last time I bought a guitar in person was 1997. The past 25 years have all been ebay and online orders. In retrospect, I've had more misses than hits.

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, that's the problem with ordering guitars online.

Maybe I'm a romantic, but I like walking into a store, being able to try guitars to see if I bond with anything, and walking out with a new guitar. It's so fullfilling.

But then again, even the big stores don't always have the guitar I want to buy. So it's kind of a tough choice.

[Seashore]

So I have to ask... Danelectro? Eastwood? A nice seafoam Mustang?

[Top-L]

It's pointy.

[beaubrummels]

Hope it works. Hope it's Jackson, because at all levels they really are nice playing, nice feeling, nice looking, nice sounding guitars.

[Top-L]

I don't know if the last two Jacksons were reflection of poor QC or if the worst guitars end up in the return/resell cycle, thus my bad experiences.

What had me concerned about the JS34 that I returned was that the Floyd posts were not drilled properly. I always assumed that was something done by a CNC or drill press w/ template, but apparently not. If they are drilling Floyd posts by hand, then I would imagine most of them would be bad or at least sub optimal. That scared me away from the entry level ones.

The SL3X I returned had a really ****ed up neck. Don't know if it failed Fender QC and was an F-stock, damaged in shipping, or what that guitar's story was. It did stay in tune perfectly though.

And the Pro series Jacksons cost a good bit more and don't have sharkfins, and they have oiled necks (which is not a traditional Jackson thing). I really dont prefer necks without visible fret markers. Going up higher in price to the American series, they don't have binding. I really like binding.

[Rex_Rocker]

I love the Jackson headstock. I like Jackson body shapes overall. And they've usually got good neck profiles. What stops me from getting one always it that they put their bridge pickups like a mile away from the bridge itself.

I'm exaggerating, but their bridge pickup placement is like a milimeter or two off further away from ESP or Ibanez, which are already further away than Gibson.

I used to have a DKMG which played great, but had a really bad trem (fixable) and sounded sooooooooo dull from having the bridge pickup so faraway from the bridge (unfixable).

[Top-L]

Does this look farther away than normal? It appeared the same as my other guitars, but its not here any more and I can't measure. These are import models and probably manufactured the same way as every other brand made in that factory.

[Seashore]

Hard to tell. I only have two Floyds right now, and that pickup is definitely farther away from the bridge than on my Fernandes but it looks pretty close the same distance as my Schecter.

[Top-L]

Looking at the guitars in front of me, it appears the same as a "Dean" superstrat and my M400. The only one that is different is the M1000 with EMGs that appear a couple mm closer to the bridge.

I always chalk this up to individual character of the guitar and haven't disqualified a guitar because of a +/- 2mm placement.

Likewise, I like 24 fret guitars and don't really care that the neck HB isn't under a natural harmonic.

[beaubrummels]

When I've noticed guitars having bridges in different positions, it seemed to be one of three things:

1. If the scale of the guitar differed
2. If the guitar was direct mount, or used rings, or a pickguard for mounting
3. An optical illusion due to either the size of the bridge, or the placement of the neck or neck and middle pickups vs the scale of the guitar.

For example, I thought these guitars (particularly the Suhr) all had the bridge in a different place, but when I strikethrough the bridge saddles and the bridge screw coil, the bridge is actually in the same location.

[Top-L]

They say it will be here tomorrow. Skeptical given what the tracking updates are saying.

[eclecticsynergy]

A small change in spacing from the bridge can make a huge difference in the tone of or a bridge pickup, far more than with neck ones.
It makes sense if you consider the change as a percentage of their distance from the endpoint.


I once moved the bridge pickup in one of my Floydcasters a quarter inch further from the bridge and it transformed the lead voice of the guitar.
I was stunned that a few millimeters could make so much difference.

TopL, hoping your new one is great.

[Top-L]

TopL, hoping your new one is great.

Me too. Based on how bad the other ones were, I actually a bit anxious about this one. What will be wrong?

I need a guitar with a good neck that stays in tune. Just a flat neck and a Floyd that was installed properly. Is that too much to ask? I didn't used to think so.