Soloist owners, is this normal?

[bainelaker]

Hey guys, so I recently (last week) took delivery of a new SL2H, and I just noticed today, the first (maybe) flaw in the guitar. In the tremolo cavity, it seems a screw is protruding through the body, right under the middle spring. My other Floyd guitars aren't like this, and IIRC, my old Jacksons weren't either. Is this common on newer Jacksons, or should I send it back? Just knowing it's there is bugging me a bit, to be honest, but everything else about the guitar is pretty spot on...

[Johnnyryche]

Doesn't sound normal to me. How about a pic so we can see it though?

[micha]

well, I don't have a soloist, but I know that screw.
it's attaching some ground cable to the bridge-PU-cavety.

this is the back of my custom rhoads:
(this huge solderspot with the kind of short wire is not my work)




I have no clue what this is good for either, IMO if you pay 3k$ for a guitar you could expect the CS to have more than one size of screws in stock, but I decided to ignore it.
I'd no be eager on waiting another half a year or whatnut just for getting rid of this screw. if it bugs you; take it out, put a shorter one in there instead and fill the hole with some kind of woodfiller.
or put the cavety plate back on and forget about it.

I know what you mean; one who pays that much for a guitar expects nothing less but perfection, but it seems that's the way it goes.
it's up to you to decide wether this is worth the hazzle. for me it was not.

[Axewielder]

Hmm, I wonder if it's a pickup cavity grounding screw?

EDIT: DOH, you beat me to it.

[Gibsonmac]

yeah it happens quite often... it is the grounding screw

[pro-fusion]

Is the CS is making the spring cavity deeper now? This seems to be a recurring issue. It wouldn't bug me personally, but it's kind of a silly thing to have happen on a guitar made to more-or-less standard specs. You'd think they'd have the proper screw size figured out correctly by now.

However, keep in mind that even many of the vaunted San Dimas customs had little quirks like this. For example, it took the CS seemingly forever to figure out the proper way to make a Kahler string lock and a truss-rod cover fit together. Many of the early ones have amusingly hand-cut covers that sort of fit around or under the string lock in various different ways. I kind of like that, since it shows that the guitar was the product of individual human decisions and not a piece of robotics software.

[Luafcm]

+1 pickup cavift grounding screw. Check your cavities to see if they have a particulary deep rout. If the material between the bridge pickup cavity and tremolo cavity were too thin, I'd want a replacement. That type of 'flaw' just slaps the customer in the face. It's like saying, "awww, don't worry about it... it's only a $2000 instrument". Brutal.

I think it would be cool if someone started a thread dedicated to flaws in USA guitars. It would be an easy way of tracking common factory defects. For instance, my USA KV2 has some inclusions or contamination in the clear coat over the Jackson logo on the headstock. I know mine isn't the only one I've heard that has this issue, but I have no way of knowing how common it is.

Maybe this way we can be more informed as buyers and know exactly where to look for common flaws on our new axes. These things aren't cheap. If I wanted to buy a guitar that was prone to flaws because of a basic lack of attention or lack of respect for the instrument, well... I'd buy a Gibson.

...I'll be Jackson's quality department has quite an interesting list compiled.

[charvel750]

Blah, blah, blah, just play yer axe and stfu. Who cares? Be lucky you have a nice guitar, a screw through the bridge pickup cavity is so irrelevant, hell, it might even provide better tone. I mean, there's AIDS, cancer, and a war on terror right now. Who cares about your screws sticking through?

[Axewielder]

Ouch!

[charvel750]

Well, yeah! I mean, of all the things to complain about, guitar screws...

[pro-fusion]

I think it would be cool if someone started a thread dedicated to flaws in USA guitars.

There for awhile, it seemed like that's what every thread was about.

Seriously, Jackson has had these sorts of things going on since day one. The way I look at it, Jacksons are supposed to be the pros' guitars that get dinged and beat-up on stage every night. They're workhorses, not museum pieces. If there are problems that affect playability, or major finish issues, then it's worth getting upset, but otherwise it'll just drive you nuts.

[Axewielder]

There for awhile, it seemed like that's what every thread was about.

I don't start many "screw threads", but I'm somewhat of a closet "screw snob".

I mean, there really is somewhat of a skill set involved with identifying and finding sources for all the different types of screws on a guitar. There are more screws on a guitar than any other single part. You've got thread sizes going on, long vs. short, SAE vs. metric, countersunk, machine head types...it goes on and on. One of the first things I notice and/or fix on a molested guitar is "wrong" replacment screws (often from Home Depot ). So yeah, I'd like to see some attention to detail from the factory on this.

As a side note, I think Jacksons stopped being "working man's axes" back when they crossed over the $1600 threshold or so.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

The first time I saw this, it bugged me, but only because there was a finish crack there, and it appeared maybe it was cracking the wood (like the hole was under-drilled).

I agree it wouldn't be a big deal to use a shorter screw at the factory so this doesn't happen.

However, I also agree it's not a big deal or something I would complain about. It's a cosmetic issue that isn't even visible without removing the cavity cover and looking under the springs... How big a deal is this?

[Luafcm]

Blah, blah, blah, just play yer axe and stfu. Who cares? Be lucky you have a nice guitar, a screw through the bridge pickup cavity is so irrelevant, hell, it might even provide better tone. I mean, there's AIDS, cancer, and a war on terror right now. Who cares about your screws sticking through?

They guy who just paid $2000 cares that there is a screw point through his guitar. Nothing unreasonable about that.

It would be slightly different if they ground the point of the screw, but equally amateurish. I'd let that guitar go to someone like charvel750 or MakeAJazzNoiseHere to buy. There are lots of people out there who don't really care, but I'd send that guitar back to where ever it came from out of principal.

If it were second hand... it wouldn't really be an issue.

[bainelaker]

Blah, blah, blah, just play yer axe and stfu. Who cares? Be lucky you have a nice guitar, a screw through the bridge pickup cavity is so irrelevant, hell, it might even provide better tone. I mean, there's AIDS, cancer, and a war on terror right now. Who cares about your screws sticking through?

Who cares? I do. That's why I made the post. I don't think it's unreasonable AT ALL to expect close to perfection on a $2000+ list guitar, especially when it comes to the fit and finish and production tolerances of a STANDARD SIZED SCREW.

I'm a professional musician. I've owned guitars that cost $300, my main axes were both over $2k. I agree, it's not a HUGE deal, by any measure, but, this is still a flaw that shouldn't appear on a guitar of this caliber.

And what do AIDS, cancer, and a war on terror have to do with a guitar, a guitar forum, or anything of that ilk? Nothing.