V
Varg
Guest
I had it for a day then took it apart for repainting yellow. 
I REALLY like the neck on it - the frets are nowhere near as big as my other Jacksons though (SL3, RR5 etc), but it's a pretty slim neck, feels more like the neck on my JDR-94 than anything else.
The tuners feel like they're not as good quality as the ones on MIJ Jacksons, they are also unbranded. They do the job and aren't horrible, just a noticeable step down from my Jacksons.
The Charvel logo is pretty fancy, fake MoP or whatever, I don't know, it looks pretty nice though.
Sound-wise, acoustically its great, really rings out nice and loud.
Then I plugged in and played it into my Line 6 Gearbox on the PC and it sounded really fantastic playing stuff like Iron Maiden. However, I tried it into my amp (AVT150) and the cheapo pickup showed its limitations. No real balls, although it's better than the stock pups that came in the JDR-94. It makes no difference, I've got a Duncan Distortion on the way to go straight in it anyway, and I'm sure anyone buying one of these is probably aware the electronics aren't going to be the best.
Similarly, the volume control has a really poor taper - it's pretty much "on" or "off", no real taper to speak of. Again, I have a CTS 500K audio taper pot to put in (I did have to enlarge the hole for that, but everyone knows this stuff by now right?)
The FR Special I can't say much about as I never got much chance to use it - it LOOKS nice, and felt about as nice as the JT580s I have/have had in the past. I don't abuse the trem much anyway, I have no problem keeping the FR Special in place, I'm sure it'll be fine.
I noticed the guitar felt a bit neck heavy on the strap so I filled in both strap button holes prior to painting. I'll probably just move the one at the neck end onto the neck mounting plate.
I took off the plain black truss rod cover and put on one of my three ply Jackson ones, which I will get engraved with my daughter's name (my RR5 has my 4 year old daughter's name, and my SL3 has my wife's on the truss cover).
One minor annoyance is the jack placement - when you play the guitar sitting down, the input jack is pressed against your leg, it's irritiating as unplugged it fits between your legs (!) perfectly. It would have been better for that jack to have been placed on the upper horn, as it is on the Rhoads.
I bought some of those fretboard inlay stickers to try - brown rosewood dots, to cover the MOTO ones, you can see the result in the bottom photo of the neck, they look ok from a distance. I gave the fretboard a going over with some linseed oil as well before I applied those, so everything should be great once I get it all together!
Here's some poor quality pics, I'll get better ones done once I have it all finished (hopefully one more coat of yellow, then start the clear coating tomorrow, should be all done by Monday or Tuesday!)
BTW, I REALLY love this guitar. It plays, sounds, feels and looks great for the money! I got it specifically to help me through a very hard time just now, and I'm sure it will always help me remember this bad time in a better way.
I REALLY like the neck on it - the frets are nowhere near as big as my other Jacksons though (SL3, RR5 etc), but it's a pretty slim neck, feels more like the neck on my JDR-94 than anything else.
The tuners feel like they're not as good quality as the ones on MIJ Jacksons, they are also unbranded. They do the job and aren't horrible, just a noticeable step down from my Jacksons.
The Charvel logo is pretty fancy, fake MoP or whatever, I don't know, it looks pretty nice though.
Sound-wise, acoustically its great, really rings out nice and loud.
Then I plugged in and played it into my Line 6 Gearbox on the PC and it sounded really fantastic playing stuff like Iron Maiden. However, I tried it into my amp (AVT150) and the cheapo pickup showed its limitations. No real balls, although it's better than the stock pups that came in the JDR-94. It makes no difference, I've got a Duncan Distortion on the way to go straight in it anyway, and I'm sure anyone buying one of these is probably aware the electronics aren't going to be the best.
Similarly, the volume control has a really poor taper - it's pretty much "on" or "off", no real taper to speak of. Again, I have a CTS 500K audio taper pot to put in (I did have to enlarge the hole for that, but everyone knows this stuff by now right?)
The FR Special I can't say much about as I never got much chance to use it - it LOOKS nice, and felt about as nice as the JT580s I have/have had in the past. I don't abuse the trem much anyway, I have no problem keeping the FR Special in place, I'm sure it'll be fine.
I noticed the guitar felt a bit neck heavy on the strap so I filled in both strap button holes prior to painting. I'll probably just move the one at the neck end onto the neck mounting plate.
I took off the plain black truss rod cover and put on one of my three ply Jackson ones, which I will get engraved with my daughter's name (my RR5 has my 4 year old daughter's name, and my SL3 has my wife's on the truss cover).
One minor annoyance is the jack placement - when you play the guitar sitting down, the input jack is pressed against your leg, it's irritiating as unplugged it fits between your legs (!) perfectly. It would have been better for that jack to have been placed on the upper horn, as it is on the Rhoads.
I bought some of those fretboard inlay stickers to try - brown rosewood dots, to cover the MOTO ones, you can see the result in the bottom photo of the neck, they look ok from a distance. I gave the fretboard a going over with some linseed oil as well before I applied those, so everything should be great once I get it all together!
Here's some poor quality pics, I'll get better ones done once I have it all finished (hopefully one more coat of yellow, then start the clear coating tomorrow, should be all done by Monday or Tuesday!)
BTW, I REALLY love this guitar. It plays, sounds, feels and looks great for the money! I got it specifically to help me through a very hard time just now, and I'm sure it will always help me remember this bad time in a better way.
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