Mishas Sig?

Wow, that bottom one is superb!

 

Woohoo, looks like I get to be the first to upload pics of the new model. First of all, I gotta say I think they came out even better than the original example pictures. The inner body is like a dark honey gold and at least my neck came out a bit darker than the original pics but it just works so well together. I'm in love with how it came out. I even got a cool double moon-like crescent design in my poplar!

Now this next bit is more a call out on Sweetwater as I ordered through them and has nothing to do with Jackson or the guitar itself. I had asked for them to plek the guitar and install a TUSQ-XL nut, the frets look great but I found the TUSQ nut just sitting in a small bag in the box...not installed (last 2 pictures related)....Furthermore I had asked for a 10-52 NYXL set + a 64 for the low seventh, which I said I'd gladly pay for the second set to get that 64. Instead they put on a 10-59 set and threw in an extra 10-59 set in the box and called it a day. Honestly, I wouldn't even care if it wasn't for the fact I'm going to have to send it back to have them finish the job, I was just really looking forward to enjoying this baby already, it's so beautiful

 

Aside from their professional setup, I was never aware that Sweetwater did any other work on guitars such as Pleking or nut installations.

 

So I figured I’d add this real quick.

Just got in contact with Sweetwater and they’re going to overnight the guitar for me both ways in order to have everything fixed. I can at least say their sales reps are A+, I guess when you get really specific about an order and with several departments involved, a ball is bound to be dropped at some point. Not a big deal though, the guitar is fantastic, just need that nut and my original string specs installed. The plek job looks and feels superb.

Anyways, back to the guitar itself. Anyone else have one yet? Curious what everyone else’s is looking and feeling like.

 

Glad to hear things are getting sorted out on that front.

Looks super cool, and love the burl/figuring adjacent to the bridge pickup!!

 

I have been curious about the plek. Think it's worth it? About to snag a HT6.

 

It depends,

In my opinion it depends on several factors. Something to note, this guitar was just released so we don’t really know what state the frets are like generally from the factory just yet, since I had it plek’d before receiving it, I have no idea, all I knew was I wanted it to be perfect (and I also wanted to get the TUSQ-XL nut which they run through the plek to file). Personally, my guess is the frets are probably in at least decent shape from the factory as Misha said a while back he’d talk to Jackson about the QC when some of the earlier HT’s had some issues. This was just my way of throwing extra money to guarantee perfect frets without any headaches. I can say for the job they did, the frets look and play beautifully, very polished. So really depends how perfect do you want your frets on a given guitar?

If you’re okay with them being a little less than absolutely perfect, I’d ask a couple of recent HT6 buyers what they think of the state of their frets and work from there.

 

Do you get a printed report of what the plek actually did/found?

 

I did not. Though I can ask about one when I send it back for the nut install since it will be on the machine again. I think it's too late for a before and after at this point for me though. If that is something that's printable from the machine though, I'm sure they'll send you it if you bug them about it, my experience so far is that the sales reps will gladly do anything that sounds reasonable like that.

For the record, this is my first time dealing with Sweetwater as I had heard good things about them. Besides the mishap with the nut, they've been great about resolving it and were great dealing with before that as well. Part of my choice with going with them is that they can send you pictures of the guitar before it's shipped and billed to you and since this guitar has a poplar top and every poplar top is unique in its markings and natural design, I wanted to make sure I didn't end up with one that was boring looking (LOL). I quickly fell in love with this one after looking at the pictures and thinking it over for a day.

 

So update on this. Looks like I'm going to have to eat my words. The nut on the guitar actually IS a tusq-xl nut. So the only thing Sweetwater had goofed on was the string gauges I asked for (which I can somewhat understand since I asked them to combine a 6 string set with the 7th of a 7 string set). Otherwise they did everything great! I ordered a TUSQ-XL nut from Amazon to compare all 3 and it turns out the one that came looked more like the one on the guitar and had a similar code on the back of it beginning in "BTX-...", just for some reason all the pictures online including graph-tech's own pictures I had seen of TUSQ-XL's looked a bit more granular like the one in the picture on my hand but the one I received today proved otherwise - guess you learn something everyday! Sweetwater is still offering to overnight it both ways just to finish cutting it and put my original string specs on for free so I'm actually going to have to give them a 10/10 overall and my recommendation if you want to get one of these guitars. Big apologies to Sweetwater for my mix up, I wish I could edit my original post to reflect what I've learned but this is the best I can do.

On another note, I'm now curious what Jackson is using for the stock nut on this new model because it doesn't look like your run of the mill plastic nut. @bulb would you happen to know if the nut on the new pro model is plastic or something else?

 

Which size TUSQ-XL nut did you get?

 

Is there the slightest information about if this (pro model) is coming as a 7-string? I mean with that matte blue frost finish? I really need this

 

no that’s a 6 only finish.

 

I have both a HT6 and an HT7. They come with graphite nuts and I don’t feel that they needed any work on either of mine. I even modded the crap out of the 6 and left the nut alone. The fretwork was also perfectly fine on both. I think you threw money at sweetwater for nothing.

 

Yeah I know, that's why I ask for information if it is coming to the 7s as well. I don't get why these only come in gloss finishes.

 

How do you know they're graphite nuts? I can't find any information on the nut material for the Pro models. What mods did you make to the HT6?

 

By look and feel I’m pretty positive they are graphite. I put Hipshot bridge, tuners and knobs on mine as well as a Fishman KSE set and CRL switch. Neither my 6 or 7 have any issues with tuning stability.

 

Awesome. I replaced the tuners with Hipshot, and the pickups with BKP Ragnarok. Tuning stability is solid. Did you notice any difference with the Hipshot bridge? Was it a direct replacement, or did it require any adjustments to fit?

 

Nah the bridge really is just for aesthetics. It mounts right up. The string holes are slightly off but there is enough clearance.

 

Probably been asked but couldn't find it. Are the later HT7 with carmalized neck, same shape and profile as the USA models? I know they changed the radius to match, but curious how they are overall?