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Or at least a mini-review with pics to follow later.
First impressions - Absolutely beautiful, feather-light, very large bodied but a bit thinner than I'd expected. Someone used the term "elegant" in my earlier thread and after seeing this axe in person I'd concur. I'd also add "understated" as, aside from the top and back, this is really a no-frills instrument.
The neck - The neck is an extremely pronounced v-shape, so much so that I saw it when I picked the guitar up before I felt it. It's probably thicker than the average modern Jackson neck but it tapers off very quickly towards the edges making it a bit tough to guage. I'm not 100% certain that I'm going to like the neck profile as it feels more than a bit odd to me. The fretwork & board are typical Jackson quality and the guitar plays very fast and smooth, particularly for something of this style (though it's clearly not a shredder). I absoutely love the feel of the raw neck & ebony board.
Plugging in - The locking Sperzels are as smooth as silk and made tuning up a snap. There was no obvious binding at the nut. Unplugged, the guitar really doesn't have any of the acoustic vibe you might expect from a chambered body but it does have a fair amount of sustain and a very even tone with a noticable bit of rolloff on the lower notes on the low E string. Happily the rolloff isn't nearly as pronounced when the guitar is plugged in. There's a nice contrast between the bridge pup (IIRC a Duncan Custom) and the neck pup (IIRC a Duncan Jazz). They're both relatively low-output so it's a very mellow axe all the way around. In the bridge position it's fairly bright but not brittle with a tone that would cut through a mix nicely. The neck position is very warm and rounded but not muddy (like most Gibsons). The best tone IMHO comes from selecting the mid position which utilized both pups: a very very nice combination of warm & bright - the sound I've always wanted from a Gibson but one that I've never been able to get. The V-profile feels a bit odd to me as my thumb is typically right in the middle of the back of the neck and that's the one place that it's impossible to place it comfortably on this guitar. After 15 minutes or so I was far more comfortable with it but it's definitely going to be an acquired taste. Thirty minutes of moderate playing resulted in the low E string going flat by roughly 25-30 cents and the high E by roughly 15-20 cents with all of the others within a cent or two of where they were originally tuned - not bad at all for an axe fresh off a UPS luggage ape beating and it'll doubtless get better as the guitar settles in.
The bad - I've looked at this for quite a while (and pics will be forthcoming in a day or two) and I'm relatively confident in saying that the dye job on the top & back isn't up to snuff for an instrument of this price/quality. There are several areas on both sides that look like water spots. At first I thought someone was probably a bit careless with some thinner in the shop but upon further examination, there are areas where it appears that the wood was a bit wet. My current guess is that the top was dyed and that a bit too much dye was applied and allowed to evaporate completely thus forming the visible patterns on the top/back. I'm not a pro refinisher but I've worked with and stained enough wood in my time to recognize that it's unlikely that these markings are natural, they just don't look like part of the grain pattern to me. If I'm right (and I may well be wrong), on a guitar with an MSRP pushing $3k this is unforgivable. It's something that would never have gotten out the door at a place like PRS. And it's a crying shame because this is otherwise an absolutely beautiful guitar with amazing depth in the quilt. For some inexplicable reason, Jackson decided to finish the sides of the fingerboard from the point where it joins the body on towards the bridge. This wouldn't have been so bad had they finished the entire edges of the fingerboard but on the low E side they finished the bottom 2/3 of the ebony and left the top 1/3 or so unfinished. On the high E side the bottom 1/3 or so is finished where the neck joins the body and the finish slopes in a straight line to the end of the board where approximately 2/3 of the side of the board is finished. C'mon guys, this is just a lapse in QC and another one that should never have left the shop on an instrument of this caliber. If you told me the bridge was an el-cheapo AllParts special I'd believe you. Whatever happened to the great brass saddled TOM bridges from the San Dimas era and can't we get one of those for a $2.8k MSRP?
The bottom line - A nice effort by Jackson that's marred by a couple of issues that shouldn't be present on a guitar in this price range.
First impressions - Absolutely beautiful, feather-light, very large bodied but a bit thinner than I'd expected. Someone used the term "elegant" in my earlier thread and after seeing this axe in person I'd concur. I'd also add "understated" as, aside from the top and back, this is really a no-frills instrument.
The neck - The neck is an extremely pronounced v-shape, so much so that I saw it when I picked the guitar up before I felt it. It's probably thicker than the average modern Jackson neck but it tapers off very quickly towards the edges making it a bit tough to guage. I'm not 100% certain that I'm going to like the neck profile as it feels more than a bit odd to me. The fretwork & board are typical Jackson quality and the guitar plays very fast and smooth, particularly for something of this style (though it's clearly not a shredder). I absoutely love the feel of the raw neck & ebony board.
Plugging in - The locking Sperzels are as smooth as silk and made tuning up a snap. There was no obvious binding at the nut. Unplugged, the guitar really doesn't have any of the acoustic vibe you might expect from a chambered body but it does have a fair amount of sustain and a very even tone with a noticable bit of rolloff on the lower notes on the low E string. Happily the rolloff isn't nearly as pronounced when the guitar is plugged in. There's a nice contrast between the bridge pup (IIRC a Duncan Custom) and the neck pup (IIRC a Duncan Jazz). They're both relatively low-output so it's a very mellow axe all the way around. In the bridge position it's fairly bright but not brittle with a tone that would cut through a mix nicely. The neck position is very warm and rounded but not muddy (like most Gibsons). The best tone IMHO comes from selecting the mid position which utilized both pups: a very very nice combination of warm & bright - the sound I've always wanted from a Gibson but one that I've never been able to get. The V-profile feels a bit odd to me as my thumb is typically right in the middle of the back of the neck and that's the one place that it's impossible to place it comfortably on this guitar. After 15 minutes or so I was far more comfortable with it but it's definitely going to be an acquired taste. Thirty minutes of moderate playing resulted in the low E string going flat by roughly 25-30 cents and the high E by roughly 15-20 cents with all of the others within a cent or two of where they were originally tuned - not bad at all for an axe fresh off a UPS luggage ape beating and it'll doubtless get better as the guitar settles in.
The bad - I've looked at this for quite a while (and pics will be forthcoming in a day or two) and I'm relatively confident in saying that the dye job on the top & back isn't up to snuff for an instrument of this price/quality. There are several areas on both sides that look like water spots. At first I thought someone was probably a bit careless with some thinner in the shop but upon further examination, there are areas where it appears that the wood was a bit wet. My current guess is that the top was dyed and that a bit too much dye was applied and allowed to evaporate completely thus forming the visible patterns on the top/back. I'm not a pro refinisher but I've worked with and stained enough wood in my time to recognize that it's unlikely that these markings are natural, they just don't look like part of the grain pattern to me. If I'm right (and I may well be wrong), on a guitar with an MSRP pushing $3k this is unforgivable. It's something that would never have gotten out the door at a place like PRS. And it's a crying shame because this is otherwise an absolutely beautiful guitar with amazing depth in the quilt. For some inexplicable reason, Jackson decided to finish the sides of the fingerboard from the point where it joins the body on towards the bridge. This wouldn't have been so bad had they finished the entire edges of the fingerboard but on the low E side they finished the bottom 2/3 of the ebony and left the top 1/3 or so unfinished. On the high E side the bottom 1/3 or so is finished where the neck joins the body and the finish slopes in a straight line to the end of the board where approximately 2/3 of the side of the board is finished. C'mon guys, this is just a lapse in QC and another one that should never have left the shop on an instrument of this caliber. If you told me the bridge was an el-cheapo AllParts special I'd believe you. Whatever happened to the great brass saddled TOM bridges from the San Dimas era and can't we get one of those for a $2.8k MSRP?
The bottom line - A nice effort by Jackson that's marred by a couple of issues that shouldn't be present on a guitar in this price range.
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