Help! Mystery Jackson Soloist Prototype?

[Number Of The Priest]

You just got the guitar back from your tech. Did he adjust the intonation? Because the saddle arrangement in your second set of pics is the same as the first set, leading me to believe that nobody touched the intonation so far.

What did your tech do for you?

I bet once the guitar is completely set up, it's going to be killer and a keeper.

[Customguitars87]

You just got the guitar back from your tech. Did he adjust the intonation? Because the saddle arrangement in your second set of pics is the same as the first set, leading me to believe that nobody touched the intonation so far.

What did your tech do for you?

I bet once the guitar is completely set up, it's going to be killer and a keeper.

Yep you're correct, I just had it quickly restrung so I can play it for a bit before deciding what to do with it (the strings were ancient and I'm awful with Floyds so I don't mess with them myself) and am planning to bring it back for a full setup. The action is great but the intonation will def. need adjusting (and I'm going to get rid of some of the springs in the back, 3 should be plenty). I just wanted to get it playable for now before I decide what to do with it.

I'm still not certain if I'm going to be keeping it or selling it. On one hand it's a piece of Jackson history, a great quality guitar, and obviously as our neverending detective work demonstrates very rare (likely one of a kind), but I have several high end Jacksons already so we'll see...

[DonP]

That trem is an earlier one than the ones that the Sam Ash "SL2H" guitars. The Sam Ash guitars come with a "Floyd Rose", but I don't think it is a German made one.

[LaoWai]

If i had to guess, i'd say a very early high end "Jackson stars", or "grover Jackson" for the Japanese market, I've seen them both with out the "stars" or "grover"
grover Jacksons had some models with direct mount pups back in the day, like the Grover Jackson STL P-80

Awesome guitar though!

[Customguitars87]

If i had to guess, i'd say a very early high end "Jackson stars", or "grover Jackson" for the Japanese market, I've seen them both with out the "stars" or "grover"
grover Jacksons had some models with direct mount pups back in the day, like the Grover Jackson STL P-80

Awesome guitar though!

Interesting, I'll have to look into that! Whatever it is, it's really a killer guitar. Definitely equal in quality to my 90s Professional Pro just minus the MOP fretboard inlays.

Here are a few more pics with some slightly better lighting:

[xenophobe]

Dealer run or non-North American model were my first thoughts.

Yeah, my thoughts as well. Could very well be an AU or EU market guitar.

[Customguitars87]

Yeah, my thoughts as well. Could very well be an AU or EU market guitar.

That does seem to be the consensus, I just wonder how I can go about tracing it back (or IF I even can!).

[Mudlark]

If i had to guess, i'd say a very early high end "Jackson stars", or "grover Jackson" for the Japanese market, I've seen them both with out the "stars" or "grover"

If that's the case, I'd put my money on this scenario.

I just wonder how I can go about tracing it back (or IF I even can!).

If you spoke Japanese I'd suggest joining Japanese guitar forums, or even contacting some larger Japanese dealers that'd been around at least 25 years ago.

[xenophobe]

That does seem to be the consensus, I just wonder how I can go about tracing it back (or IF I even can!).

Sometimes Japanese market guitars are hard enough to identify because many times they were limited store runs that have no official literature. AU and EU literature is even more sparse. Might just be some small batch Sam Ash or MF guitar that nobody remembers as well.

I wouldn't fret over it, it's worth what it is and I don't think it affects the value with or without that info.

As Mudlark said, Japanese collectors forum would probably be your best bet. There are a whole slew of guitar dealers in Shibuya that could have done a small run that like one guy might remember or something. Good luck!

[Number Of The Priest]

Thinking over my experience with the Ibanez community, I suddenly remembered that members occasionally speak of "spot models", which are guitars that were/are produced in extremely limited numbers for a tiny market, not released widely, not announced anywhere, never documented officially in catalogs, and could be considered vehicles (or prototypes) for market-testing tiny variations in specifications before doing official full-fledged production runs with those new/different features.

Oddly, I don't recall the terminology of "spot models" being used on JCF; a Google search (https://www.google.com/search?newwin....0.ixprOEH_LeU) confirms we've never used this term before. However, that isn't to say that your Soloist couldn't be considered a "spot model" or equivalent in the Jackson/Charvel world.

Spot model: http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/Spot_model

Spot model is a term used by Ibanez to describe an instrument model which is produced in quantities too small to be included in a catalog. If a spot model does well in the market it may sometimes show up in a future catalog.

The term is also sometimes used to describe models which Ibanez produces for exclusive sale by a particular retailer. These models are also typically excluded from Ibanez catalogs.

[Customguitars87]

Thinking over my experience with the Ibanez community, I suddenly remembered that members occasionally speak of "spot models", which are guitars that were/are produced in extremely limited numbers for a tiny market, not released widely, not announced anywhere, never documented officially in catalogs, and could be considered vehicles (or prototypes) for market-testing tiny variations in specifications before doing official full-fledged production runs with those new/different features.

Oddly, I don't recall the terminology of "spot models" being used on JCF; a Google search (https://www.google.com/search?newwin....0.ixprOEH_LeU) confirms we've never used this term before. However, that isn't to say that your Soloist couldn't be considered a "spot model" or equivalent in the Jackson/Charvel world.

Spot model: http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/Spot_model

Yep, that would make a lot of sense and might explain why I literally can't find ANY trace of a guitar like this online. As I've said before even the small dealer runs usually have some information available, so it does seem very possible that this is a one-off prototype and then they maybe went in a different direction for the production models (or it was scrapped when FMIC bought the company, another possibility).

[toejam]

Makes sense. Jackson had some rare models not featured in catalogs. My old black '94 Dinky HX was featured in a Venneman's Music Emporium newspaper/flyer-type catalog and I bought it brand new when it came out. According to Kevin Easton who used to work for Jackson, only about 100 were made in 1994 in a few different colors. I also acquired a red one some years after, and I recall green and blue ones popping up through the years from time to time.

[Customguitars87]

Makes sense. Jackson had some rare models not featured in catalogs. My old black '94 Dinky HX was featured in a Venneman's Music Emporium newspaper/flyer-type catalog and I bought it brand new when it came out. According to Kevin Easton who used to work for Jackson, only about 100 were made in 1994 in a few different colors. I also acquired a red one some years after, and I recall green and blue ones popping up through the years from time to time.

Yep, that's the weird thing to me...there's info available even about models that were made in a run as small as 20-30 guitars built, but there isn't a single piece of info about what I've got here. Could a dealer order a run of just 1 guitar, is that something Jackson offered? I imagine the cost would have been exorbitant since that's essentially not very different than ordering a custom. The mystery continues!

[groverj3]

This is already for sale on reverb:

https://reverb.com/item/12336775-200...apan-prototype

A shame I can't justify it. I've always wanted a trans red soloist with direct mounted pickups. I'm not going to get that now without it being a custom order

[Customguitars87]

This is already for sale on reverb:

https://reverb.com/item/12336775-200...apan-prototype

A shame I can't justify it. I've always wanted a trans red soloist with direct mounted pickups. I'm not going to get that now without it being a custom order

Yep, that's my listing haha. I have a bunch of Jacksons, so I just kind of threw it up there the other day for a feeler to see if there's interest. I really like the guitar, I just don't play it as much as I thought I would since I have other Jacksons that are higher end. Just couldn't resist grabbing something so unique.

I don't ship guitars, so we'll see if there's any local interest and if not I'll happily hold onto it.