Important Announcement

[Sergio]

Sorry to hear that, but I am also happy to hear that nothing of that will affect my custom order! Maybe it's time to try something else than a Jackson:-)?

[guitarzan2]

Wow! Great business model FMIC. Lose your endorsers and lose your top dealers.

Oh well, Fender is doing a wonderful job running Jackson into the ground. I guess now if you want a Charvel or Jackson, you'll just have to go to a Guitar Center and choose from one of the dinged up models they have hanging 1/4" from each other on the wall so every kid can whack them into each other.

Neck-thrus? Hmmmm, tough call. ESP is just a Jackson copy so maybe. Ibanez Prestige guitars are great but this year the one Ibanez Prestige model neck-thru floyded guitar is PINK ! for gods sake. Comparison is always an option I guess. What the hell, Comparison is just some of the original Japanese guys from the Charvel/Jackson shop. Dean has a new in-house Custom Shop and hopefully their prices will come down some, there's an option. How about BC Rich ?

[CharvelRocker]

Parkers rule. I'm surprised more people don't choose them over Soloists.

+1 My guitar teacher had one and loved it. Everyone I talk who has owned and played one (me included) seems to agree it's like the ultimate super strat. their imports are spectacular guitars too. I really should of bought one when I had the chance

EDIT: One thing I've noticed though, is that they seem to have horrible resale value looking on ebay. I wonder why that is?

[pro-fusion]

--The scarf joint thing is silly. Thousands of Jacksons have them and still sound and play great.

--Parkers are great but sound completely different from a Soloist. Apples vs. oranges.

--Maybe FMIC ought to work a little harder to keep long-established dealers if they want to keep the USA line healthy.

[J_A / 540s]

I was only stating 85 San Dimas guitars had a one piece no scarf joint construction.

Was that a mid or late year transition?

I can say 100% that RR 1146 & 1194 are 3 piece no scarf joint....as well as a friends 85 that is RR16xx. All of these 3 have enough finish shrinkage to clearly see the sections.

[thetroy]

--The scarf joint thing is silly. Thousands of Jacksons have them and still sound and play great.

--Parkers are great but sound completely different from a Soloist. Apples vs. oranges.

--Maybe FMIC ought to work a little harder to keep long-established dealers if they want to keep the USA line healthy.

I was thinking more about playability than tone. Most of us use so much gain and processing that the natural tone of the guitar doesn't matter so much.

[phill_up]

http://www.kyowashokai.co.jp/caparison-eng/e-top.html

[AK47]

Was that a mid or late year transition?

I can say 100% that RR 1146 & 1194 are 3 piece no scarf joint....as well as a friends 85 that is RR16xx. All of these 3 have enough finish shrinkage to clearly see the sections.

All I know it was in 85 some time. I have a King V with a one piece neck someone stripped the finish off of.

My point about the scarf joint is would you rather have a guitar with a Scarf joint or 3-piece construction?

Scarf joints sound just fine but if I had a choice I would take 3-piece.

[Jacksonite]

Truth be told, I have no ESP experience and am probably biased by hanging around the JCF.
I'll have to try something. Any recommendations?

If you go an look aroun the ESP boards, you will see the same thing going on. People going nuts about mistakes that thier custom shop is making. I think that they make a AWESOME guitar for 1400 bux. But I have seen a bunch of people pissed about their custom.

stuff like the wrong color binding, and what they called crap tops

So i think that Custom Shops in general are having problems across the board.

I stock ESPs, Schecters, USA and Import Jacksons, Fenders, BCRich and some others

With the number of guitars that these places are pumping out, thier mistake rate has gone up.

make less guitars, price goes up. so its kinda a catch 22...

If Matt is unhappy, then he has every right to do what he sees fit to take care of his customers.

I have not done any ESP custom orders and he may have. I, as of yet, have not had any problems with Jackson, and I know Matt has had several. So, I can see why he did decide to drop them from his store.

[toejam]

Yikes I just saw this post. Matt's been my go to dealer and has been very patient and smooth to deal with. Got my custom shop Demon thru him , The absinthe frost SL2h run going , a ESP custom horizon on order and was gearing up to maybe get a custom XTRR.

Didn't you also order your Demon in a blue/green burst and it arrived just green?

[Mikernaut2]

No we had no issues with my Demon ( in my avatar) it is done in blue sparkle and the Jackson custom shop also sent us a physical paint sample for approval before they painted it up.

Now I gotta admit I'm nervous about the Custom Horizon coming because its getting a neon green camo paint job and I havent seen anything yet and with all the ESP custom shop horror stories I'm half expecting it to come out red plaid or something.

[toejam]

Ah, never mind. I was thinking of the Custom Shop Death Angel somebody else got. That one they screwed up the color on, and the guy kept it anyway.

[AK47]

Ah, never mind. I was thinking of the Custom Shop Death Angel somebody else got. That one they screwed up the color on, and the guy kept it anyway.

I think the back of it was supposed to be a different color? It was a bolt on correct?

I just read about the ESP custom mistakes and it appears ESP USA is not communicating clearly on orders to ESP Japan. Dealers outside the USA are not having any issues with ESP custom orders.

[toejam]

I think the back of it was supposed to be a different color? It was a bolt on correct?

Found the thread by Chrisb. Not only was the color wrong, but you're also right on the back... it was supposed to be natural gloss but they painted it.

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72148&highlight=Death+Angel

[shreddermon]

Scarf joints sound just fine but if I had a choice I would take 3-piece.

This I agree with, bro.

My point was that - if you had the choice between a 1-piece neck-through with or without a scarf joint, I would take the scarf joint. Especially if it had a more steeply-angled headstock, like Jackson does.