Because hardened steel files absolutely obliterate binding if you're not careful. Ask me how I know.
Jackson American Series
- Thread starter DaddleCecapitation
- Start date
Because hardened steel files absolutely obliterate binding if you're not careful. Ask me how I know.
There was actually a second New York Music location too in the Niles/Warren area, which was super close to me and much easier to get my parents to give me a ride to hahah. It was a lot smaller, but they still had great stuff of the era. I specifically remember playing a bunch of ESP signatures like different KHs and Kamikazes there.
This reminded me that, apparently, ESP won’t do the banana headstock on custom builds anymore, only Lynch sigs.
But yeah, neither Warren nor Boardman are super close to Cleveland, but I’d definitely make the drive for a store that had badass guitars like that in stock.
ESP says they won't do this or that, but if you have the cash and happen to be in Japan they tend to be a heck of a lot more flexible.
Yeah but do you need to go to Japan to place the order and take delivery? Or will they ship overseas? If you don’t live in Japan, the travel cost and possible issues importing it to your home country might make the difference between a shape they offer and the banana quite expensive.
nedheftyfunk
SS.org Regular
Not saying they're high QC guitars or anything, but HBs get their SS fret wire from a company that appears to also service a lot of big brands:
http://www.blacksmithstrings.com/guitar/fretwires/index.jsp
Interesting. I've legitimately never heard of these guys, but they claim to supply just about every mainstream guitar manufacturer. What's interesting is that Jescar also claims supply some of these same manufacturers...
Anyone here ever use (or hear of) Blacksmith fret wire?
Probably because until fairly recently they only sold directly to Asian guitar OEMs like Cortek and Samick.
Their parent company, DHP Korea, is a large conglomerate that makes all kinds of stuff, like pipe fittings, valves, pressure vessels....and frets.
gunch
30 y/o metal zooner
Dumbass question: Is fretwire extruded?
soul_lip_mike
SS.org Regular
Man, If I could buy an MX 250 in person new I’d consider flying to Japan to do so.
Stiman
SS.org Regular
As a labelled complainer, I actually got a chance to try one out today. This store (Long & mcQuade) has tons of Squier, Fender, Epiphone, Gibson, and almost nothing else. But much to my surprise, they had one of these Jacksons ($3,200 CAD).
This was a green one, which I was glad because I was really curious how this colour would look in person. I was very impressed with the finish, it felt really high quality, probably the best satin finish I’ve ever seen in person.
The fit and finish was absolutely flawless. Not a single blemish, perfect low action. It definitely struck me as heavy, but honestly I don’t care much about weight. So that’s not a bad thing in my book. General fit and finish was better than all the Gibson LPs I tried today.
Hard to describe the neck profile. Felt great, not Ibanez super Wizard thin. It’s probably similar to the DK2M I used to have. Painted neck, as you all know, but felt fast so no complaints there.
I plugged it into a Revv G20 + Marshall 2x12. Sounded good but I was never a fan of the JB in a super strat, so I would change those out if it were mine.
Overall, pretty great guitar honestly. If I were to get one, I 100% would get green, because of how unique it looked and felt.
Do I still think it’s overpriced? Yeah. Feels like it could be a tad cheaper. Used, I would consider it. Too bad I couldn’t compare it to a MIJ. Definitely a solid guitar, and if you’re a Jackson fanboy, I could see this being a must buy.
Edit:
I forgot to mention, the bridge tuners felt sticky/rusty kinda thing. Wasn’t pleasant trying to use them to tune. I’m sure some lube or oil would fix that up.
Also, I couldn’t tell if the frets were actually SS. They felt the same as any other nickel frets I’ve ever played. I certainly couldn’t feel a difference.
This was a green one, which I was glad because I was really curious how this colour would look in person. I was very impressed with the finish, it felt really high quality, probably the best satin finish I’ve ever seen in person.
The fit and finish was absolutely flawless. Not a single blemish, perfect low action. It definitely struck me as heavy, but honestly I don’t care much about weight. So that’s not a bad thing in my book. General fit and finish was better than all the Gibson LPs I tried today.
Hard to describe the neck profile. Felt great, not Ibanez super Wizard thin. It’s probably similar to the DK2M I used to have. Painted neck, as you all know, but felt fast so no complaints there.
I plugged it into a Revv G20 + Marshall 2x12. Sounded good but I was never a fan of the JB in a super strat, so I would change those out if it were mine.
Overall, pretty great guitar honestly. If I were to get one, I 100% would get green, because of how unique it looked and felt.
Do I still think it’s overpriced? Yeah. Feels like it could be a tad cheaper. Used, I would consider it. Too bad I couldn’t compare it to a MIJ. Definitely a solid guitar, and if you’re a Jackson fanboy, I could see this being a must buy.
Edit:
I forgot to mention, the bridge tuners felt sticky/rusty kinda thing. Wasn’t pleasant trying to use them to tune. I’m sure some lube or oil would fix that up.
Also, I couldn’t tell if the frets were actually SS. They felt the same as any other nickel frets I’ve ever played. I certainly couldn’t feel a difference.
They’re nickel-silver frets. Fine tuners not moving smoothly on a new trembis a thing for sure (I think it’s mostly on the black finish, not gold or chrome), but it usually remedies itself. If not, like you said, some vaseline fixes it
LCW
SS.org Regular
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Played one today at my local shop. VERY nice! I may get one if I sell some other stuff. Neck felt pretty killer. Thinner (thickness) than typical Jackson but feels right for the genre. Not Ibanez thin but thinner than some Jacksons and Charvels I’ve owned.
Mathemagician
SS.org Regular
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Dumple Stilzkin
Tom foolery is my middle name.
No. Lots of people like thicker wound strings and a lighter unwound.
Church2224
Guitar Whore
I use to use 11-52s on my E standard tuned guitars, now I use 11 - 48s. Nothing weird there I like heavier strings.
Hollowway
Extended Ranger
Yeah, I used to use the EB Hybrids for that reason. (Though, I can't go above .009s for high strings on a 25.5 because I'm too weak to bend them, lol.)
That's recent. When I ordered an unbound neck a year ago from them it was still $110.
MASS DEFECT
SS.ORG Infiltrator
This is just probably a 1 in 100 qc thing. Hopefully not widespread.
