NGD: Jackson JS34 DKA Silverburst!

[Top-L]

I ordered this from MF less then 48 hours ago and was shocked to learn it was "out for delivery". Apparently they shipped it from a local GC. Hoping it is NIB, not a customer return or floor model.

Can't open it right now.. will update later. Not entirely sure what to expect...

 

[Top-L]

This is a good guitar. Shocking how much they got right for the price.

The good:

• It cost $248 shipped!
• It really captures the Jackson vibe! The headstock is the classic hockey stick shape with big Jackson logo in white on black. The headstock and fretboard is bound and has perloid sharkfin inlays. The perloid has some depth and sparkle and I don't see any defects here. I really like sharkfin inlays and bound necks.
• The fretboard wood is "Amaranth". One of my big concerns about a board made of alternative wood was that it would be ugly or have weird streaks, but it is dark and uniform with a tight grain. Is seems a legit Ebony substitute. It might be manufactured or dyed wood for all I know, but it is quite acceptable. Perhaps not the same depth as ebony, but it has the same visual effect. The board is still caked in dirt and needs to be oiled.
• The neck relief/action. When the guitar shipped, the neck had a ton of relief. About 1.5mm or more in the middle. Playing in the upper frets was ringing true, but mid neck the action was a bit cavernous. What will happen when I straighten the neck? If it doesn't pass this test, I can't keep it. I keep turning the truss until the neck is nearly straight and has just a piece of paper's width of relief. Without having to change the action at the bridge, everything fell right into place with just the truss adjust. The action at 12th fret low-E is 1.4mm, at 24th fret 1.6mm. The high-E is a little bit lower. There isn't any buzzing or fretting out. Nice! This guitar has more even fretwork and better action than the last two guitars I bought. Which brings me to...
• The setup. The intonation was properly set! The last two guitars I bought, a LTD and LTD Deluxe, (an Indo and Korean) did not have the intonation done. The guitar may have been opened and setup at the GC that shipped it. Or it may have been a return from someone who set it up and decided not to keep it. The nut was locked and the strings just needed some moderate tuning. The Floyd is completely level with the body. Unknown why the relief was so high. Maybe someone decided that the typical player likes higher action, and turning the truss is the easiest way to accomplish this? It feels like someone set it up as low as it would possibly go and they turned the truss a couple times.
• The body and finish. There aren't any finish defects on the body that I can see. Of the cheap Jackson JS series guitars, I like silverburst the best. I have been looking at Jackson's the past month and I almost bought an Indo X-series HH Soloist with Silverburst finish ($650). On cheaper guitars, I generally prefer solid finishes. Of the guitars in the JS32/34 series, this was my favorite, although the solid purple and solid orange are also nice. The finish is thick without any drips or overspray. I don't think it was wetsanded, just came out nice.
• Poplar / Tone- Its a lightweight poplar body. It has a sweet top end and sounds maybe a bit like my alder guitar. The notes in the upper registers ring true with nice resonance. The guitar doesn't have a deep bass, but IME this will be somewhat remedied when the Floyd tone block is replaced with an OFR block.
• The fretwork. The guitar gets a nice low action without any buzz. The jumbo frets don't really need a polish, there isn't any tarnish. Playing a bit smoothed them.
• Neck profile. It feels like a thin/med C-profile. In the sweet spot. Thicker than an Ibanez, but not thick by any means.
• The Floyd Rose Special- I wasn't 100% sure this was a FRS, but it is identical to the FRS I have on another guitar, except it has the Jackson logo. It has hardened steel baseplate like a real Floyd, but the saddles and tone block are pot metal. I haven't locked it down and tested tuning stability, but I expect it will be fine. It is perfectly centered in the cutout and the strings have perfect alignment with the neck.

The not so great:

• Fret ends were lopped off at an angle and not shaped, but there was some smoothing so there isn't any roughness, they just don't look great. There isn't any fret sprout of bad feeling while playing. I may be able to smooth them some more to make them look nicer, but this is one of the things you get with a $250 guitar.
• Painted neck. The neck is a black painted thing, and it is probably the slowest neck I have ever held in my hands. The listing said it was a Satin neck (but I think I secretly suspected it was gloss. A painted bolt on maple neck is a rarity! I think with this guitar, they were going for the "Jackson vibe" and painted the neck like some higher end models.
• Blemishes at end of fretboard. On the upper side near the fretboard overhang, there is some black overspray onto the binding, where the masking wasn't perfectly straight. On the bottom overhang, (not visible while playing), there is what appears to be a drip of clear finish.
• Upper fret access. The square heel is quite obtrusive when reaching the upper frets. Other imports have an AANJ copy or at least round off the lower edge, but not this Jackson! They could have easily made the transition smoother, but this seems to have been done intentionally so they can upsell to a neck-through soloist. After this guitar, a Soloist will feel like a dream. The lower cutout could also bit a bit more generous. Can play 24th fret, but won't be doing any bends or vibrato on it.

Untested:

• Electronics / Pickups. Haven't plugged in yet.
• Haven't locked down the trem and tested tuning stability.

Summary:

Should I keep it? How could I let go of a $250 guitar with a perfectly straight neck and very low action without any buzzing!? I was expecting to have to do some fretwork but this doesn't need any. In fact, intonation and action is perfect after just the truss rod adjustment. If Jackson is doing this level of setup from the factory there is alot of value added (I'm more inclined to believe this was a customer return or someone in GC set it up for some reason.)

I like the Silverburst well enough, more than the other JS range finishes. The Amaranth fretboard is a nice surprise and is a good Ebony substitute. The sharkfin inlays and bound fretboard give it the Jackson vibe. When I'm playing I'm looking at the fretboard and I have to like the look of the wood, the binding, and the inlays. Fact. (This is why I've been hesitant to buy from the Jackson Pro series that have those tiny edge markers.)

I absolutely need to sand/polish the neck to get it faster. The fretboard needs to be cleaned and oiled. The Floyd tone block needs to be swapped for an OFR block. Nothing I can do about the overspray on the binding above the 24th fret; I'd be foolish to exchange a guitar with a perfect neck for another that might not be so good.
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[Top-L]

Pics...

 

[Phantasmagoria]

I've played a few of these Archtops in stores. They were'nt bad, but cost 2-3 times as much as what you paid for yours & for that price there are better guitars availabile. I'd definitely pick one up for $248 though...

Enjoy!

 

[Demanic]

For $248, I'd buy a Jackson neck alone. Throw in a guitar around it, nice!

 

[Mincer]

Those seem like minor issues for the price. The paint looks great. Congrats and get to shreddin'!

 

[Inflames626]

I have a guitar exactly like this. I was amazed at how good it looked and felt for the money. And I tend to prefer import Jacksons from the mid 90s to mid 00s--so from the late Akai period to early Fender ownership. One of Marty Friedman's endorsed Kellys from the late 1990s also had the gray burst sort of look.

I am a Jackson mark. Out of the 50-60 guitars and basses I own probably 2/3rds are Jacksons. They're all ones I bought used for relatively cheap and plan on upgrading. Their Concert basses used are steals especially.

My problem with more recent Jacksons is purely aesthetics. Two tone faded colors (like the Phil Demmel red into black, which I sort of like). Green guitars with pink pickups. Flipped shark fin inlays or Jackson's newer "can opener" 3 on a side style headstocks usually seen on their 7 strings, which I hate.

Most of these design choices are very much of the last 5 years and are being closely mimicked by ESP/LTD, Ibanez, Schecter, and others. There are no plain, elegant guitars similar to the old JS/Performer/KE3/Professional MIJ lines. Some of us just want gloss black and maybe some shark fin fretboard inlays at most. Even binding isn't needed.

Instead everyone seems to be going the Schecter route just because they can--all sorts of gaudy binding and arched/sculpted bodies instead of flat angles and points.

Even worse as far as Jackson's current Dinkys is the dreaded groove/nu metal inspired reverse headstock, which only slays if you're Kirk Hammett, IMO. I think they also changed the neck joint from a square to an offset shape, so you can't swap older parts with newer guitars now.

Anyway, Jackson seems more like Ibanez now than ESP/LTD or BC Rich. I wouldn't mind a Floyded Monarkh, though...

Good buy, Top-L .

 

[Top-L]

After about an hour of playing, the neck isnt sticky any more. Tomorrow im going to oil the board and polish the frets.

If this is typical of beginner guitars being built by Fender/jackson, there should be alot of happy players out there. This is 10x better than the last cheap guitar i bought.

 

[Top-L]

This is a good guitar. Shocking how much they got right for the price.

Untested:

• Electronics / Pickups. Haven't plugged in yet.
• Haven't locked down the trem and tested tuning stability.

Summary:

​

This morning I've been testing the tuning stability and I'm really sad to report that this guitar has a manufacturing defect that won't allow it to return to zero.

Inspection shows that the Floyd posts are too close together and not centered in the floyd knife edge cutouts. In fact, the posts are almost touching the saddles on both sides.

Tuner shows that after a pitch drop, notes are 10 cents flat. Have to pull back to return it to pitch. This is way too much.

I honestly didn't know this was something that could happen. I just assumed that a machine drilled the posts and they were always at the correct distance apart.

Unknown if I will try to exchange it or just return.

Its also clear that someone else had the guitar before me. There was no string protector under the strings, and the knife posts show someone adjusted the action without relaxing the bridge.


​

 

[Top-L]

A closer look shows what it going on.

This Floyd has something I've never seen before. There is a plastic bar (with a hole at each end) between the two posts, to presumably keep them at the correct distance from each other.

However, it looks like they drilled one of the posts wrong, and the upper post is leaning over to the side about 10-15 degrees. Its not perpendicular to the body. I don't know if the guide created the problem, or if it is something they use to help control tolerance on these lower end guitars.

What a shame. This is why I never order guitars from Guitar Center. It is a wasteland of returned items. That MF had GC send me an item is deceitful. If I order something from MF, I want it unopened from their warehouse, not a resold item from a Guitar Center. And of course, they don't have any of the actual item in their warehouse, so the sale coincides with them apparently trying to move inventory from the stores.

Hopefully people can learn from this. When ordering a sale item from Musician's Friend, confirm that it is NIB from their central warehouse.

 

[Mincer]

So are you sending it back?

 

[Top-L]

So are you sending it back?

Of course. I'm not going to attempt to plug and redrill the hole.

 

[Top-L]

It's gone.

Won't be ordering a replacement. That reinforcement guide between the Floyd posts tells me that these are prone to issues. A soft wood like Poplar probably cant hold the posts in place long term without getting rounded out.

That was a really light guitar. Really nice too in alot of ways. Shame.

 

[Mincer]

Poplar is weird. I have a Music Man made of poplar, and it is sort of heavy. It is also almost all mids.

 

[Aceman]

Risk of internet orders. Good on you for returning.

I had hands on both of my JS32's before I bought.

 

[Top-L]

Poplar is weird. I have a Music Man made of poplar, and it is sort of heavy. It is also almost all mids.

It did have a nice voice for soloing although not much bottom end. A bigger tone block might have helped.

 

[Top-L]

Risk of internet orders. Good on you for returning.

I had hands on both of my JS32's before I bought.

I really like the Jackson sharkfins! I'll be honest, I have an Ibanez with lightning bolts and I just like how it looks when playing. Same with sharkfins. I also like the Jackson headstock. Just a great neck.

So in my search for a Jackson, I've learned that they don't give you everything you want until you go up in price. The JS have a nice Amaranth fretboard, but the level higher, the SLX, they give you a Laurel board which isn't as nice. And there are also pickup rings. But you get neck through!

If you go up to the next level, they give you direct mount, but they take away the sharkfins. If you want sharkfins and direct mount, you need an American or Japanese.

I feel like what is the point of getting a Jackson without Sharkfins?