Jackson MIJ is back: MJ Series

Yes. Yes it was. lol

 

It's getting hard to find USA Selects on the used market, they're getting price gouged like crazy. New USAs are semi-custom only, so there's been essentially no upper tier production line from Jackson/Charvel for years.

MJ series is the new high end production tier. The only thing that bugs me is the lack of real mother of pearl inlays at that price, but it's not really the end of the world. If the build quality is there, then I'd be happy to get one if they release some more finishes later.

 

Luckily, I'm already well stocked with classic Jacksons and Charvels, most of them produced between 1990 and 1991.

 

Jackson haven't really had many cool/interesting finishes for years IMO. Which is quite sad. And look on their website : the USA series models only come in black or in white. If you're a clueless guy who just likes Jackson guitars and wants a serious upgrade, and you've seen pictures of guys swinging these cool guitars with cool finishes, and all you can find is black or white... that doesn't send a good message, does it?

 

Well the USA are mostly signatures so it's kinda what the artist wants.
Then it's custom select if you're able to get one....and the catalog of finishes is pretty extensive there. But it just so happens that most people who do get a build just decide to pick the most basic finishes available. Not Jackson's fault either

I'd say the "cheap" imports have actually had a pretty nice range of finishes too (figured tops, fades, crackles, textured ash, mirror etc) ... So it's really the MJ series which is the big disappointment there. And then again, if they go by what their custom select clients order, it would make sense to just offer black and white

 

People are indeed boring... my other guess is they're just "testing the waters" with the MJ series. Maybe they reopened a new factory and/or have new employees and they want to reduce the amount of variables at the start, finishes seems like an easy variable to remove. Either way, I'd love to know what those will play like. I recently found out that some of the Pro series are made in China (those they've photoshopped the back-of-the-headstock pics of on the Jackson website) and the few Pro series Jacksons I've played were very solid instruments, so a high-end factory in Japan should produce fantastic stuff.

 

This one needs to be posted again.

 

It's not just people going for bland black and white guitars, but it's also JCS refusing to do certain graphic finishes for a lot of dealers. I could only get Matts Music to have my guitars done with minimal graphics / pinstripes. Most dealers were told JCS won't do it few years ago; nowadays they don't even accept full custom shop orders. So I guess it boils down to size of their team.

I am sure there will be more finishes for MJ series in the future. But they really have some catching up to do because overall they look bland compared to ESPs these days, except for new MiC / Indo models.

It also doesn't make sense that they show bunch of custom guitars on social media when their potential customers can't order them. It's like "Yaay! Only our artists get the cool guitars. Go to our website and look at our bland colors mm'kay? <3"

 

Tuxedo Soloists are just so classic. It's like the Les Paul Custom of super-strats.

I think it's good that the only real gripes are finish options.

 

Yeah, but also the USA Select Series doesn't actually exist other than as base models for Custom Selects. Limited finishes there are kind of irrelevant.

 

Definitely a classic for my generation. Kids I went to school with didn't dream of '59 Les Pauls. For metal loving '80s/early '90s kids, the black Jackson Soloist USA was the Alpha!

 

Perfectly stated.

 

So it's been a few months...anyone played one yet? Hoping to hear if the price is reflecting the quality on these.

 

As fas as i have heard, these new MJ series is made by FGN so i am pretty sure they will be of awesome quality. Earlier this year, i got an Ibanez Uppercut LP which were also made by FGN. Plays great and just all around feels like a high quality instrument. New they were in the same price range.

Now if only that Rhoads had a Floyd Rose....

 

Many are in shops now. Very well built and feel great. Neck profiles feel right. Worth the price is up to the buyer but I find them good value vs the 4-5K or more for the USA models.

 

nvm

 

I wish these would show up in my local shops. It’s been the same Pro series X series and JS stuff forever. I really want to compare hands on to my hoards of other Jacksons.

 

So I and a few of my buddies (and SSO members) got to play some MJ Dinkys recently, and honestly the are AMAZING for the price. I would recommend them 100%.

I did hear from the dealer though with inside knowledge that there's a good chance these end up being only a limited series unfortunately...seems to be COVID related like everything else.

Such a shame, I was pumped for some Warriors or maybe RR24 models.

 

If they'd done the white one with the correct binding I'd have ordered one already.

 

FUCK
THE SWEAGE POOPBURST IS BACK