Demmelition V

[sakeido]

Black binding doesn't clean anything up. You can't even see it unless you look very closely at the guitar. To me it might as well just be unbound - save the time and money.

No fret slots showing on the side of the neck. Perfectly square edges on the fretboard. Feels smoother on the hand (IMO). If this guitar didn't have a bound fretboard, you would bitch about how it was a $1,000+ guitar with no binding. Why am I looking at the guitar anyway?
I have yet to meet anyone who I believe is genuinely impressed by how a guitar looks. Guitarists will say it looks nice, to be nice. Other guitarists will say its cool but they like the guitar better. The audience doesn't care. Non-musicians don't give a flying fuck and wonder why you are spending so much money on a guitar in the first place.

[thetroy]

FWIW, I think you are the only person in the history of the JCF to say you prefer black binding.

I'd prefer either no inlays + no binding or contrasting inlays + contrasting binding. Mixing the two just looks kind of silly IMO.

If I were designing it for Jackson, I would stick with the combination used on almost every single USA model. (Ebony+MOP Sharks+ivoroid binding)

The only USA models that had black binding didn't sell and were discontinued, why should the believe the MIJ models will fare differently?

I draw my lines differently than you though - my main guitar is purple and I wouldn't be caught dead paying money for a black guitar.

I also am impressed by the looks of my guitar. I keep it out on a stand to be displayed prominently. It's a piece of art that also happens to have a more practical function - kick ass.

[sakeido]

FWIW, I think you are the only person in the history of the JCF to say you prefer black binding.

I'd prefer either no inlays + no binding or contrasting inlays + contrasting binding. Mixing the two just looks kind of silly IMO.

If I were designing it for Jackson, I would stick with the combination used on almost every single USA model. (Ebony+MOP Sharks+ivoroid binding)

The only USA models that had black binding didn't sell and were discontinued, why should the believe the MIJ models will fare differently?

I draw my lines differently than you though - my main guitar is purple and I wouldn't be caught dead paying money for a black guitar.

I also am impressed by the looks of my guitar. I keep it out on a stand to be displayed prominently. It's a piece of art that also happens to have a more practical function - kick ass.

Wow, an entire guitar didn't sell because a 1mm wide strip of material was the wrong color?
I have never even heard someone bring up binding as a selling point of a guitar, with regards to a superstrat. Much less a pointy V. Much less a pointy V with additional fangs coming off it.
I keep my guitars on stands, displayed prominently taking up space on my floor, because they are too tall to fit under my shirts in the closet... my guitar's function first and foremost is to kick ass. If it looks cool, that's nice. That's a pretty serious difference, between me and you, and I would also venture to say the difference between a real musician (someone I would understand) and a collector (someone I would detest).

[thetroy]

If you're calling me a collector, you're mistaken. I just have different standards than you. My custom strat with exotic woods, scalloped fretboard, SS frets, etc. is the only guitar I ever play and cost $900. The other guitars I own are a pair of Chinese strats which cost $100 each.

Therefore the only way I'm going to consider spending $1k+ on a guitar is if it not only plays and sounds perfect to me, but also looks perfect to me.

The reason binding enters the discussion on these Jacksons is because they are over $1000 - not because the cosmetics are more important than the functionality, but because at that price point I will not accept any compromise whatsoever.

[sakeido]

Wow... no compromises at $1000. Nice pipe dream, that.

[thetroy]

It's not a pipe dream. There's an example of it on a stand right here...

Anyway I think we've strayed far enough off-topic. I can understand your view, it's just different from mine. Just don't call me a collector anymore and we're cool. :P

[bibz]

I see everyones points here (pun now intended) but a guitar isnt just a tool or a product. As a musical tool who cares about binding/inlays? I don't. As a product to make you throw your money at it its gotta tick the right boxes. I'd say the larger majority of people here have a couple guitars and have the tool thing down, and just want more pretty/pointy things to enjoy. Personally I rotate about 5 guitars in different setups and always want more/better playability so if I wanted a V I wouldnt care about binding/inlays if it had the hardware config I wanted. Then again I do have a jap jackson with head neck and body binding in a lovely faded cream already

[Jacksonite]

I personally like the black binding as it does
1. set it apart
2. looks really smooth
3. feels just as good as the other binding

I just like binding in general, but my charvels dont have binding, and they roll the fretboards, and it feels everybit as nice.

[The Mitch]

So you would not buy the guitar if it had MOTO inlays? That's stupid. The guitar will play and sound exactly the same either way, and the difference between inlays is only obvious when you are right up close to the guitar..

What could your reasoning be? "A guitar this expensive should have MOP!" Fuck that. The guitar is 100% functionally the same either way. If I am spending $1400 on a guitar, then I am paying the cash for the playability and tone.. not a super small difference on the inlays. Its a gloss finished guitar so it is going to look like shit after a couple years of playing anyway.

What the heck???

Come on, for nearly 1 1/2 grand (EUR) I can't accept cheap material on a guitar.

For me, a guitar must feel good AND look sexy, that's my stand.
And if your guitars look like shit after a couple of years, you have done something wrong mister

[ifklirarn]

Wtf, it looks much better with black painted neck and black binding because binding ruins the look of the fretboard. I mean it looks so much better with black neck and black binding, I've always hated binding because it looks so ugly if you can see it.

[sakeido]

What the heck???

Come on, for nearly 1 1/2 grand (EUR) I can't accept cheap material on a guitar.

For me, a guitar must feel good AND look sexy, that's my stand.
And if your guitars look like shit after a couple of years, you have done something wrong mister

Yeah.. I've played them too much.

[MartyEvans]

Image is a high priority for me, I think it's totally worth it, despite black binding and Moto inlays, it still looks good.

[Rattlehead22]

^^^ The inlays are actually MOP not MOTO.

I would prefer ivoroid bindinf, but it's a small difference, and it won't in any way discourage me from buying one.

[The Mitch]

An official word from one of our Jackson-insiders would be cool right now

[wilkinsi]

Initially, I wanted the limited edition version of the RR24. But when I saw a photo of it on a shop wall, the reversed inlays didn't look right to me so I felt a lot better about placing my order. The black binding is better than no binding at all. The RR24 costs about the same as an RR5. So I'm happy.