Jackson 2007 MIJ Soloist info

[valdex]

Hi guys, I recently found and bought what it seems to be your run-of-the-mill 2007 Jackson MIJ Soloist (SL3?), decent condition, dirty cheap and plays great!

The problem is that I'm not an expert on Jacksons, and the lack of catalogues online from 2007 makes things harder. I just want to know a little bit more about the hardware, woods and specs, of it.

Mine is a matte/satin black finish, black hardware, HSS (Seymour Duncan), No MIJ sticker, 6 digits serial (07xxxx) at the heel of the neck, very dark Floyd Rose brand tremolo, Jackson die-cast tuners.

I tried catalogs from 2006 and 2008 and as far as I can see there is no reference of the matte color for Soloists those years and the other tricky thing is seems like the import Soloists models of that time came with Jackson branded tremolos not Floyd Rose as mine. Maybe I'm reading things wrong tho.

Anyways, if you could help me out to know a little bit more of this black beauty, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks guys!

Photos from the original seller:

[Mechayoshi]

Let me double check somethings. Maybe Satin black was a special run? I found one other this color. I think late SL3 MIJs had that Floyd bridge. On the image I use on my database entry, it has that bridge too only that one is trans blue. (Check the 08 catalog I think) So neat find.

[Number Of The Priest]

The best SL3s were the later versions that had Seymour Duncan pickups and Floyd Rose 1000 bridges. Yours is one of them.

Seymour Duncan pickups replaced Duncan Designed pickups in 2006.

Offhand I don't know precisely when Takeuchi/Jackson JT580LP bridges were replaced by Floyd Rose 1000 bridges but it would have been at some point during that late Chushin Gakki 2006-2011 period. I believe only neckthru models like the RR24, RR5FR, and SL3 received the Floyd Rose 1000 during that late Chushin Gakki era. These are formidable guitars.

I am not knowledgeable enough about finishes specific to SL3s but matte finishes did exist on Chushin Gakki era Jacksons alongside gloss finished Chushin Gakki Jacksons. The SLSMG is a great example of a Chushin Gakki Jackson that came in matte black and gloss black (I own a 2006 gloss black one). So it is not difficult to imagine matte SL3s were produced alongside gloss SL3s.

[valdex]

Wow, nice site! Great source of information!

Thank you for chiming in, I looked everywhere for information about Jacksons from the 07s, specially SL3s, but for some reason there are almost no references online about that period, no catalogs or price lists, just nothing. I've only found a couple of 2007's soloists historically for sale, but not one with this finish.

I'll keep looking for more info, but for now I'm just enjoying the guitar, it plays great and sounds even better, I can't think a better guitar for the $300 I paid for it!

Let me double check somethings. Maybe Satin black was a special run? I found one other this color. I think late SL3 MIJs had that Floyd bridge. On the image I use on my database entry, it has that bridge too only that one is trans blue. (Check the 08 catalog I think) So neat find.

[Number Of The Priest]

$300 for a neckthru Japanese Jackson with Floyd 1000 and Seymour Duncans is a great deal.

[valdex]

Thank you for the info! It is always great to hear that I got a good deal!

I know some people gets a little apprehensive when they hear FR 1000, but I have it installed in a couple of other guitars, and if it is well maintained, it keeps the tuning just fine, I can't tell about longevity since I'm not a heavy tremolo user nor a touring musician, but for gentle and sporadic tremolo use the 1000 is more than enough.

To be absolutely honest, I'm not the biggest fan of satin finishes, they look great when new, but after a while they tend to get shiny spots all over the place and ends up looking awful. This guitar has some shiny areas already, but I'll have to learn to live with them as the idea of refinishing a neckthru guitar is just out of the table, I think it will be too expensive to even consider it.

Other than that, you can tell that this is a quality guitar, it is so well put together, it feels super solid, it will probably last forever. The only thing that I'm having troubles getting used to is how high friction the volume/tone pots are, they are smooth but very hard to turn, were these type of pots stock on these guitars?

The best SL3s were the later versions that had Seymour Duncan pickups and Floyd Rose 1000 bridges. Yours is one of them.

Seymour Duncan pickups replaced Duncan Designed pickups in 2006.

Offhand I don't know precisely when Takeuchi/Jackson JT580LP bridges were replaced by Floyd Rose 1000 bridges but it would have been at some point during that late Chushin Gakki 2006-2011 period. I believe only neckthru models like the RR24, RR5FR, and SL3 received the Floyd Rose 1000 during that late Chushin Gakki era. These are formidable guitars.

I am not knowledgeable enough about finishes specific to SL3s but matte finishes did exist on Chushin Gakki era Jacksons alongside gloss finished Chushin Gakki Jacksons. The SLSMG is a great example of a Chushin Gakki Jackson that came in matte black and gloss black (I own a 2006 gloss black one). So it is not difficult to imagine matte SL3s were produced alongside gloss SL3s.