Tell me about each Jackson “level”...

Jackson used to be the defacto standard metal guitar with only two lineups, MIJ Professional and USA made. Now it's just overpriced Indonesian rubbish with convoluted product lines for beginners and collectors.

Does any major artist still endorse Jackson these days? Besides Broderick and Scott Ian who else? Yeah they just lost it with the departure of the duo from Megadeth.

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Anyone remember you could order a Jackson custom finish from Musicians Fiend catalog? Two options available: Eerie Dess Swirl and white Dragon. Lol...

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Obsessive Compulsive said:
Jackson used to be the defacto standard metal guitar with only two lineups, MIJ Professional and USA made. Now it's just overpriced Indonesian rubbish with convoluted product lines for beginners and collectors.

Does any major artist still endorse Jackson these days? Besides Broderick and Scott Ian who else? Yeah they just lost it with the departure of the duo from Megadeth.

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Click to expand...

Well that's not exactly true... The Japanese models also had a bunch of differently spec'd lines from JS to Professional Pro, the Grover Jackson and Jackson Stars line for Japanese market only etc. While I agree that they are tainting their reputation with some of the lower end stuff, it's not like they're the only ones doing it... Companies are trying to maximize their income and we , the buyers make their business strategies work.

Yeah, they still have some cool players on their roster besides those two: Ellefson, Friedman, Jeff Loomis, Dave Davidson, Christian Andreu, Adrian Smith, Mick Thomson, Gus G, Phil Demmel, Phil Collen, Brandon Ellis... I gues at least some of them can be considered major artist.
 
I bought a used Jackson JS32 dinky made in India. It has been solid guitar and I have had any issues with tuning stability or else. Only thing I changed were the pickups. I put Emgs in it. The original pickups were bad. Those were the kind of pickups that had the plastic coverings.
 
nexion218 said:
Well that's not exactly true... The Japanese models also had a bunch of differently spec'd lines from JS to Professional Pro, the Grover Jackson and Jackson Stars line for Japanese market only etc. While I agree that they are tainting their reputation with some of the lower end stuff, it's not like they're the only ones doing it... Companies are trying to maximize their income and we , the buyers make their business strategies work.

Yeah, they still have some cool players on their roster besides those two: Ellefson, Friedman, Jeff Loomis, Dave Davidson, Christian Andreu, Adrian Smith, Mick Thomson, Gus G, Phil Demmel, Phil Collen, Brandon Ellis... I gues at least some of them can be considered major artist.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Lotsa new faces to me. I know Elleffson, Adrian and Phil play Jackson. I thought Marty Friedman has totally lost interest in guitar since moving to Japan..lol.
 
Obsessive Compulsive said:
I thought Marty Friedman has totally lost interest in guitar since moving to Japan..lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he's somewhat of a weirdo... :D But his Wall of Sound album was pretty rad and he even played on Kiko Loureiro's latest album which was voted guitar album of 2020 in Guitar World. He did a track with Dave Davidson too, so I guess he kinda circled back to playing some heavy stuff that is relevant to the non-Japanese audiences too after all the J-pop.. :)
 
nexion218 said:
Yeah, he's somewhat of a weirdo... :D But his Wall of Sound album was pretty rad and he even played on Kiko Loureiro's latest album which was voted guitar album of 2020 in Guitar World. He did a track with Dave Davidson too, so I guess he kinda circled back to playing some heavy stuff that is relevant to the non-Japanese audiences too after all the J-pop.. :)
Click to expand...

He's been playing guitar music for a number of years now, with his backing band that includes Jordan Ziff of Ratt. He's built up quite a base of fans, to my knowledge, in Japan, but he doesn't play J-pop only. His live shows tend to span his whole career. And Inferno (2014) is just as shreddy as anything he did in Megadeth or with Becker in Cacophony. Musically, he comes across like a Vai/Satriani hybrid, but heavier at times.
 
PFDarkside said:
SL4X

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Click to expand...

The middle orange one is the one I almost took home with me. Sweet axe.
 
IMO Jackson should have followed the esp/ltd model, keeping the Jackson logo for top-notch guitars only.
 
nexion218 said:
Well that's not exactly true... The Japanese models also had a bunch of differently spec'd lines from JS to Professional Pro, the Grover Jackson and Jackson Stars line for Japanese market only etc. While I agree that they are tainting their reputation with some of the lower end stuff, it's not like they're the only ones doing it... Companies are trying to maximize their income and we , the buyers make their business strategies work.

Yeah, they still have some cool players on their roster besides those two: Ellefson, Friedman, Jeff Loomis, Dave Davidson, Christian Andreu, Adrian Smith, Mick Thomson, Gus G, Phil Demmel, Phil Collen, Brandon Ellis... I gues at least some of them can be considered major artist.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, Grover Jackson and Jackson Stars weren't "real" per se -- just made in the same factory that used to make official Jacksons.

After Jackson ended a contract with a Japanese contract manufacturer, apparently on bad terms, that place decided to use some Japanese trademark loophole (or perhaps just judicial preference for locals and/or corruption) to trademark these two names and just keep making Jacksons anyway...without Jackson involved.
 
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Its easy to figure out your brand levels assuming things never change....but they do.

I don't like the LTD/ESP deal. LTD's are getting too good. Diffuses the ESP brand, IMO.

Your main brand goes down, you use the main name to boost, your low end brand goes up, you elevate your main brand, etc....

Fender has it right IMO: Squire, MIM, and Fender USA. Three clear levels. ~300, 600, 900+ price points roughly, and then stupid expensive. Definitively better stuff.
- A Squire works, for cheap, and may even work well at the high end
- A MIM is all the fender you need and highly variable + classic stuff
- The USA gets solid parts, reps, and can go as high as you want.

See Gibson for how to get it wrong:
- Epi stops ~4-500
- No 800-900 line, or it is lame crap from Gibson
- Decent Gibson stuff starts showing up around $2500

No idea what Jackson's MO is these days. Just know the JS32 necks are awesome.
 
Adieu said:
AFAIK, Grover Jackson and Jackson Stars weren't "real" per se -- just made in the same factory that used to make official Jacksons.

After Jackson ended a contract with a Japanese contract manufacturer, apparently on bad terms, that place decided to use some Japanese trademark loophole (or perhaps just judicial preference for locals and/or corruption) to trademark these two names and just keep making Jacksons anyway...without Jackson involved.
Click to expand...

Nope. :) The Japanese trademark issue was there though: there was already a trademarked Jackson brand and for the models that were Asian market exclusives, they slapped on the Grover and Stars words not to get in legal trouble. They even made some Grover Jackson branded stuff in the CS in USA.
So those were definitely "real" Jacksons. The only Jackson not 8nvolved in those was Grover, the man himself.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grov...n_Asian_market
 
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In my experience, if you buy brands with the proper QC -it doesn't matter where they are made -every area has decades of skilled labor and the right machines.

You would not be able to tell by feel, playability an Indonesian made G&L or Gretsch from an American made with the same appointments.

And if the same loading, not the sounds either.

It's all about the QC process.
 
Aceman said:
Its easy to figure out your brand levels assuming things never change....but they do.

I don't like the LTD/ESP deal. LTD's are getting too good. Diffuses the ESP brand, IMO.

Your main brand goes down, you use the main name to boost, your low end brand goes up, you elevate your main brand, etc....

Fender has it right IMO: Squire, MIM, and Fender USA. Three clear levels. ~300, 600, 900+ price points roughly, and then stupid expensive. Definitively better stuff.
- A Squire works, for cheap, and may even work well at the high end
- A MIM is all the fender you need and highly variable + classic stuff
- The USA gets solid parts, reps, and can go as high as you want.

See Gibson for how to get it wrong:
- Epi stops ~4-500
- No 800-900 line, or it is lame crap from Gibson
- Decent Gibson stuff starts showing up around $2500

No idea what Jackson's MO is these days. Just know the JS32 necks are awesome.
Click to expand...

My 2013 SG tribute was $600 used last year, supposedly retailed for around $1000. Most toneful guitar I've ever owned, and I'm not a collector by any means. So much warmth and beauty, this One-Strat-For-Life-and-SGs-are-ugly guy had to take it home. Changed the way I view the electric guitar. Expectations obviously play a big role in perception of quality. I'd gladly look at the Future Tribute line again if anything happened to my SG. But then I'd also never pay $2000 for any guitar, so ymmv and all that.
Agreed on the MIM and Squier take, pretty happy with mine.
 
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