Win Some Lose Some NGD

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Snagged me a MII Pro RR24 and it arrived this am. Unfortunately, it was a hodgepodge of hits and misses.

The RR24 arrived in horrendous set up shape. Obviously not tuned but worse still, the trem was a half mile off the body. The posts were screwed out to almost maximum height and the strings were well above the frets. No biggie. Easily corrected with a decent set up. That's when I discovered the strings must've been 12- 52. Freakin' suspension bridge cables. The 3 springs on the block couldn't even cope with the guitar tuned up to D#! WTF?

So, after a new set of .09- .42 M Steels and some spring tweaking, I get the Floyd and the strings down to a more reasonable height but now they're hitting the bridge Distortion p'up. Again, minor shit. Easily fixed. Lower the bridge p'up.

Get her tuned up and ready to try out and the strings are slipping all over the place- making a horrendous clicking/clanking sound. I double check the locking nut clamps. Nope, they're tight. So I check the screws holding the nut to the head stock. One of the screws is loose to the point of hand turning it. Not only that but it won't bite into the wood. Some Indonesian dude drilled too large a hole for the screw. I plug it with a toothpick and some wood glue and re-attach the nut. I lock it down and give it another go. Better but still slipping. I really start assaulting the Floyd and it quickly deteriorates to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW1tFKzm1W8

So, now I have the nut off, both holes plugged and I'm putting on a real deal OFR R3 nut. Hopefully, it will resolve this because annoying shit aside, it sounds and plays pretty decently.

The fit and finish aren't too bad though I'm not sold on the gray stain. Ugly as fuck if you ask me. I bought it to refinish in the event that it had the requisite mojo. It seems to have the potential to have some mojo but the jury's still out. On the plus side- the neck is comfy and fast. Oiled is always a winner with a Jackson IMHO so this is no surprise. The fret work appears to be good- no snags or issues yet. Much improved over the last 3 or 4 Jacksons and Charvels out of Mexico I've had. The TB-6 and SH-6N actually sound really good in this ax. I've never been a huge fan of the Distortions but this sounds decent. I'm happy with the control layout, too. Thankfully, the volume knob isn't in the way and they used a toggle switch instead of those annoying blade 3 ways.

If I manage to rectify the problems and get this playing exactly as I like, it'll be heading to a painter next for a new look. As is, it's a nice platform for either some heavy riffing and/or some flashy shred.

[Mudlark]

It's hard to keep trying to back them up when these stories keep appearing. Those things cost waaay too much for that kinda' foolishness.
Hopefully, you'll get it worked out.

[Alissarr]

How were the tuners when you swapped the strings out? I found a monarkh in a finish I liked but when I got it the tuners were junk so I had to swap them. Aren't most Jacksons nowadays coming out without a setup? The last new soloist I bought was set up horribly and it was a US made.

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It's hard to keep trying to back them up when these stories keep appearing. Those things cost waaay too much for that kinda' foolishness.
Hopefully, you'll get it worked out.

Totally concur. I will say that the place of sale matters, as my Charvel DK24 was pretty f-ing tight outta the box and that was solely due to Stephen and his tech @ CMC making sure it was tight.

ZZounds Music is a shit show. Fuck 'em.

The good news is I"m pretty handy with set ups and minor repairs. This one just needed the locking nut to be re-attached. The starter holes were WAY too big and the screws holding the R3 weren't biting. A little bit of wood glue on some toothpick ends and I cured that mutha fucker real quick. Plays like it should now.

[Alissarr]

Totally concur. I will say that the place of sale matters, as my Charvel DK24 was pretty f-ing tight outta the box and that was solely due to Stephen and his tech @ CMC making sure it was tight.

I always assumed these should come pretty nailed down from assembly with the exception to some of the lower end models. Are most shops having to do a full setup on all incoming guitars? That's a shit ton of work. Especially for low margins in the business these days due to online shopping etc. I'm not an expert in set up but I don't see how this isn't an extra half hour or more of labor on a new guitar no matter the tech's expertise level. Cripes, my naïveté is really showing isn't it?

[Mudlark]

I was in my largest dealer recently and couldn't get over the fact that every Jackson I picked up had too much bow in the neck. And, it wasn't only Jacksons. I'd say 90% of the guitars I picked up had terrible truss adjustments....all had too much relief (upward bow).

Meanwhile, there's 6-8 employees standing around talking. Surely it'd be sensible to keep the truss rods adjusted?
A newbie picks up something like that and they're gonna put it back on the wall and walk out, not knowing a quarter turn on the truss would make it play great.

Lazy bastards. I'd rather spend my free time tweaking guitars than standing around getting paid for nothing.

[wrldeatr7]

Guitars come from Asia...assembled. That's about it. If stores who sell them want to set them up fine. Most don't. The three that I bought were setup. Not that it helped me since I keep all my guitars in alternate tunings. Given the competition, Jackson/Fender should do a setup when guitars arrive in the US, it's not like Jackson is a massive high-volume operation and it would do wonders to improve Jackson's image. Or pay the Asian plants for some setup and quality control, it would probably be cheaper. Not sure what months on a boat will do though to a setup. Still, this carelessness is just dumb and pointless. I don't know what it takes to change the minds of these "executives" who only seem to care about their salaries and bonuses. Perhaps a generational change is in order.

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I've let this one settle in and I've given it a thorough test drive and honestly, now that the kinks are worked out, this isn't a half bad shredder. The neck is really quite nice and the access is fantastic. The Distortions work rather well and far surpass my recollection of how they used to sound, which was not all appealing. For some reason, these work in a neck thru. Maybe the maple top and ebony board gives them a little more spank. Now I'm faced with a dilemma- keep and upgrade it with an OFR w/a big block and a less hideous finish or sell it off.

[Mudlark]

It's assuring that a good guitar is hiding under the mishaps I suppose.

[Number Of The Priest]

I'll make concessions for the occasional "lemon" slipping past inspection, but jeez... I feel your pain. You shouldn't have to suffer with these issues. The Pro Series are positioned as the top Jackson imports... shame on Cort/Jackson.

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You shouldn't have to suffer with these issues. The Pro Series are positioned as the top Jackson imports... shame on Cort/Jackson.

If this is the top of their import line, then they have some work to do.
Like I said, everything wrong was fixable but to the average dude moseying thru GC or Sam Ash, it'd be a deal killer.