Is anyone writing to FMIC about bad policies?

[neilli]

Good point, in theory, but (and this is not aimed at you Mr Metal at all!), FMIC's "we don't need to make any effort" attitude is what's fucked J/C in the ass and left them with no CS sales and a warehouse of unsold and unsellable Legacy series guitars.

Given that they do now have a "business need" to actually help their customers because otherwise they won't have any customers left, maybe now might be a good time to start actually trying to enable customers wishes rather than just standing in the way throwing BS excuses around as to why I can't order a Jackson CS with a strathead or whatever....

[RacerX]

.... Custom Shop is already booked solid.

Er, no. It's not.

[Mr Metal]

Good point, in theory, but (and this is not aimed at you Mr Metal at all!), FMIC's "we don't need to make any effort" attitude is what's fucked J/C in the ass and left them with no CS sales and a warehouse of unsold and unsellable Legacy series guitars.

Given that they do now have a "business need" to actually help their customers because otherwise they won't have any customers left, maybe now might be a good time to start actually trying to enable customers wishes rather than just standing in the way throwing BS excuses around as to why I can't order a Jackson CS with a strathead or whatever....

These are exactly what I was trying to say also!

BTW, what happened to resurrecting the "Ask Fender" or "Ask Charvel Jackson" section?

[neilli]

I have no idea what the admins think of reintroducing the 'Ask Jackson' section, but the last attempt wasn't exactly a massive success (with faults on all sides) so I can imagine they might be a little wary about heading down that road again....

[AK47]

Let's look at this from a purely business viewpoint: As things are today, Fender has no business need to go after getting legal permissions for copyrighted graphics, etc........ Custom Shop is already booked solid. People are already paying $3~$4k per guitar. So why spend more money or effort? If sales go down or their sales plans increase, forcing them to go after getting more business, then they may become more receptive to these ideas.......Just my $0.02

Er, no. It's not.

Thank You Ron,
It seams like every tenth post in this thread is someone stating the custom shop is booming with business but its not and we confirmed it in this thread!

[VinceV]

I was having a conversation with a person a month or so ago, that has some inside knowledge of the Jackson CS. He was telling me exactly the same that Postal stated, that the Jackson CS is hurting for business. Many of the employees have to busy themselves with work in the Fender section, for lack of Jackson items to keep them occupied.

It is there own doing, people would tolerate the wait time, but add in huge price increases and QC problems and you pretty much have nailed the lid in that coffin.

They need to realize that J/C will never be a boutique brand that has the vintage appeal that old Gibsons or Fenders have.

[Mr Metal]

Thank You Ron,
It seams like every tenth post in this thread is someone stating the custom shop is booming with business but its not and we confirmed it in this thread!

While I do not mean to disagree or argue, the question that comes to mind is why is the wait time so long for custom shop orders then? We hear complaints of very long leadtimes from JCFers every day. Are they that inefficient and redundant to take as long as they do? They might be, but if they are, I'd be surprised that FMIC has not shut down or sold them off yet.

[AK47]

While I do not mean to disagree or argue, the question that comes to mind is why is the wait time so long for custom shop orders then? We hear complaints of very long leadtimes from JCFers every day. Are they that inefficient and redundant to take as long as they do? They might be, but if they are, I'd be surprised that FMIC has not shut down or sold them off yet.

Corporate Beurocracy, is what holds up alot of orders, members here have had their guitars tied up in shipping for up to 6 months sometimes longer all because of the corporate structure of doing things.

A member here by the name of chrisb has had is guitar completed for a long time and pics of it surfaces at custom shop clinics and I believe it still has not shipped yet but I will let him chime in. This was almost a year ago.

[AK47]

Hey Postal I have a question for you.

Is it true all the original Jackson employees were laid off and they only kept the senior guys like M. Shannon, Mike Kotzen and Mike Eldred as well as Pablo and just like maybe one more person I think that may be it? Dan Lawrence just contracts out work to Jackson he is not an employee is that correct?

They were hyping that they kept all the original employees but that does not make sence since the QC has been so crappy.

[excon]

When I first started reading on this forum, the word was that the Jackson custom shop was overloaded with work. At that time the quality control problems, long waits, limits, and price increases made sense. However, it seems Jackson USA has hit rock bottom and FMIC isn’t doing anything about it. When a corporation offers a service that isn’t profitable, they generally cut or discontinue that service. I don’t think they will stop making USA Jackson guitars. There will still be people who will want them. I’m afraid that if FMIC doesn’t pull the USA Jackson shop out of this slump, they will consolidate it with their other USA shops and continue making Jackson guitars as standardized models and limited runs only. After all, Fender and Gibson both have what they call “custom shops,” but they won’t make custom one offs for just anybody like Jackson does. Maybe this whole “custom one off” thing doesn’t sit well with their way of doing business.

In addition to Charvel/Jackson, FMIC has also bought out Guild, Rodriguez, Benedetto, Gretsch, Tacoma, and something like 10 other guitar and amplifier brands. These buyouts give them more power and influence in the guitar market, and it doesn’t look like they are going to stop buying anytime soon. Their interests are not the same as the consumers interests, and I seriously doubt that they will ever sell Jackson/Charvel. That would be like unleashing a competitor to work against them.

[toejam]

A member here by the name of chrisb has had is guitar completed for a long time and pics of it surfaces at custom shop clinics and I believe it still has not shipped yet but I will let him chime in. This was almost a year ago.

You must only post here and not really read too much then. He got it back in July.

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72148

[AK47]

You must only post here and not really read too much then. He got it back in July.

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72148

Yup, I was gone this summer on vacation thanks for the link, I originally tipped him off to the pics of it at a CS clinic and I remember skimming some forums to see if he got it but I should have looked harder.

[neilli]

the question that comes to mind is why is the wait time so long for custom shop orders then?

I believe the Jackson guys also work on production guitars (i.e. USA Select, the defunct Charvel SDs, Charvel Legacys etc), so that might partially account for the time it still takes to get anything done.....

[HiOctane]

I have no idea what the admins think of reintroducing the 'Ask Jackson' section, but the last attempt wasn't exactly a massive success (with faults on all sides) so I can imagine they might be a little wary about heading down that road again....

You're probably right, but still, I think it is a great idea, and considering
all of the posts here regarding QC, long waits, etc.- I think the time is ripe to try the "Ask Jackson" forum again.

[Mr Metal]

You're probably right, but still, I think it is a great idea, and considering
all of the posts here regarding QC, long waits, etc.- I think the time is ripe to try the "Ask Jackson" forum again.

I think so too.

At the risk of being complained at for mentioning post numbers, please see post #25 in http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/show...948#post989948

Bionic, aka Mike McGregor, Product Manager for Jackson and Charvel, has expressed willingness to be the voice of Charvel Jackson factory for us........Why not give it another try?