Re: late 80's Jackson question
the guy who invented said:
come on...there are several shread heads here...
Shred head does not = Jackson enthusiast, just as it´s possible to love jacksons and not really like shred at all as is the case with yours truly
Late 80s production Jacksons (not just Soloists) had Jackson USA-Made (Contrary to popular belief these were NOT rebadged Duncans or EMGs, but truly Jackson-Made) J50B or J50BC humbuckers at the bridge, and J-200 single coils at neck and middle. 2 Hum versions had the J50N at the neck. J-100 single coils were usually used on lower end axes such as the Charvel Spectrum, but sometimes found their way into US Production as well. The 200s look like EMGs and the 100s look like "Standard" SCs without the nose on the bridge side. The Pickups are all passive, and quite low in output as well. Read on and you´ll see why
Electronics were J-1000, J-1200 and J-1500 active preamps. I always get these mixed up, but IIRC the J-1000 was a "pure" mid boost preamp with the PC-Board piggybacking the volume pot, the J-1200 was very similar to the EMG Afterburner or current Jackson Firestorm, with gain adjustable via Trim pot and no other pots on the board, and the J-1500 was the one with the DIP Switches for setting it up, also "potless"...
BTW: The humbuckers/their covers were oversized compared to other Hummies, Jackson therefore made their own rings. These broke very often, and left huge gaps when switching the pickups out. should you need replacements, or ones to fit the old mounting holes AND a different pickup :
www.fretsonthenet.com
Furthermore, Jackson has always been a Custom Shop, and back then the line between CS and Production was virtually nonexistent, so there are also dozens of guitars out there that had SD, EMG, or DMZ pickups stock from the factory.
The mainstay of their necks have always been maple, and still are. The fretboards were available in Rosewood (mostly student Models), Maple and Ebony, with Ebony being most common. Bodies/wings were Poplar..
Again, all of these specs can change within a certain range, particularly on early Ontario Jacksons (up to about ´89-90, when Grover left) where there is no real line between Custom and Production
