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Jackson Guitars

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Jackson Guitars
Company typePrivate
IndustryMusical instruments
Founded1980; 44 years ago (1980) in Glendora, California
FounderGrover Jackson
Headquarters
Scottsdale, Arizona
,
USA
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsElectric guitars
Bass guitars
ParentFender [1]
Websitejacksonguitars.com

Jackson is a manufacturer of electric guitars and electric bass guitars that bears the name of its founder, Grover Jackson.

History

Early years

Grover Jackson obtained ownership in Charvel's Guitar Repair of Glendora, California in the 1970's with a promise to bolster Charvel's business. Wayne Charvel eventually sold his interest to Grover Jackson on November 10, 1978, which gave Jackson control of the business and the Charvel name.[2]

Jackson Guitars originated in 1980 when guitarist Randy Rhoads approached the company with an idea for an individualized guitar. The collaborative design effort between Rhoads, Grover Jackson, Tim Wilson, and Mike Shannon resulted in the creation of the Concorde, an innovative revamp of the traditional Flying V.[3] The Rhoads guitar model designs were such a departure from Charvel's Stratocaster-based models that Jackson elected to label them with his own name.

Throughout the heavy metal heyday of the 1980's, the Jackson brand was associated with high-quality, American-made, custom instruments, and was endorsed by many popular guitarists of the period. In addition to the original Randy Rhoads models, the 1980's spawned distinctively designed Jackson models such as the Soloist, King V, Kelly, and the Dinky, all of which remain icons of the brand.

1990's–present

The 1990's brought changes in musical trends. While still making the high-end American-made products, brands like Jackson began producing inexpensive, Asian-made versions of their staple designs in an effort to make their products more accessible to lower-end buyers.

In the Fall of 2002, Fender Musical Instrument Corporation purchased Jackson, and U.S. operations were moved to the Fender factory in Corona, California. Present day Fender-era Jackson and Charvel guitars are being produced at the Corona works. Fender still manufactures various lines of lower-end imports, as well.

After several years of running a successful company doing sub-contracting work for many well known guitar companies and extensive design consultancy, Grover Jackson is now co-owner of a new guitar brand, GJ2 Guitars, in Orange County, California. His partner in this venture is former Fender Senior Vice President Jon Gold. Grover Jackson maintains his commitment to high quality USA made guitars.

Design hallmarks

Soloist model.
A Randy Rhoads model.
The distinctive Jackson headstock.
Ben Varon playing a Jackson, 2009.

From the earliest beginnings until the present day, Jackson Guitars is known for its slender, elegant designs, and feature aggressive motifs that are popular with hard rock and metal musicians.

Traditionally, Jackson (and many Charvel) guitars share the typical pointed headstock that first appeared on the Rhoads prototype in 1980. This likely arose from trade dress infringement issues as a result of Charvel's use of Fender Stratocaster shaped headstocks until the early 1980's. Fender's 2002 acquisition of both the Jackson and Charvel brands has enabled the Strat-style headstock to be reintroduced (under license).

Another Jackson trademark is the 'shark fin' inlays, which inspired other famous guitar companies such as Ibanez to follow suit with similar designs.

In 2004, Jackson released the DK2 guitar series featuring a Sustainiac® Driver/Pickup in the neck position of the guitar.[4]

Guitars

Jackson guitars currently in production:

  • Dinky: A bolt-on superstrat with a body 7/8 the size of a Stratocaster.
  • Kelly: A sleeker version of Gibson's popular Explorer, made famous by Marty Friedman of Megadeth, who had a signature model made for him, the KE1.
  • King V: A symmetric 'V' shape with long pointy wings, Based on the Double Rhoads model originally designed for Robbin Crosby of Ratt, but popularized, through prolific use, by Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, who had a signature model, the KV1.
  • Monarkh: New in 2016. A single cutaway guitar similar to a Gibson Les Paul. Available in both 6 and 7 string models.
  • Rhoads: An asymmetric 'V' shaped body with pointy "wings", designed for guitarist Randy Rhoads.
  • Soloist: A neck-through body superstrat with a body 7/8 the size of a Stratocaster.
  • Warrior: An aggressive body style consisting of four pointy ends that mimic the Jackson headstock shape.

Signature series:

  • Phil Demmel's Demmelition V: A signature guitar based on the King V with cutouts on the bottom of both wings.
  • Mark Morton's Dominion: A signature guitar designed by Jackson and Lamb of God guitarist, Mark Morton
  • Misha Mansoor's Juggernaut: New in 2016. A double cutaway with elongated horns.
  • Phil Collen's PC1: Dinky style with a Jackson Sustainer/Driver pickup in the neck position, DiMarzio HS2 Stacked Humbucking Pickup in the middle position, DiMarzio Super 3 Humbucking Pickup in the bridge position, Floyd Rose original locking tremolo and gold-plated hardware. It was followed by the short lived, Guitar Center only designated PC2, which only came in Amber, Natural, and Red Trans finishes, with "Custom Shop" on the headstock instead of Collen's signature, and the mass marketed PC3, which had Collens' signature on the headstock like the PC1. Both were a moderately priced version featuring Duncan Designed pickups and no sustainer. The PC2 was fitted with a Wilkinson floating bridge, where as the early PC3 came with a Wilkinson, then later fitted with a licensed, brushed finished Floyd Rose.
  • Adrian Smith's San Dimas: A signature guitar based on the 1980's Jackson custom shop models produced for Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith.
  • Chris Broderick's Signature Soloist: Based on the soloist but with a custom asymmetric arch-top design. It features stainless steel frets as well as custom DiMarzio pickups, a low-profile Floyd Rose tremolo, push-pull potentiometers, and a kill switch along with other unique features. Available in both 6 and 7 string varieties.
  • Scott Ian's T-1000: A signature guitar for Scott Ian, based on his original Soloist but with a slightly bigger body.

Jackson guitars available only through the custom shop:

  • Death Angel: Similar to the Death Kelly; the bottom portion of the guitar is cut almost like the Warrior, but the upper portion near the neck has a SG/Kelly type shape.
  • Death Kelly: Similar to the Kelly; the bottom portion of the guitar is cut almost like the Warrior, but the upper portion near the neck remains the same.
  • Demon: Shaped almost exactly like an Ibanez 540.
  • Double Rhoads: Originally designed for Robin Crosby of Ratt. This is the same basic shape as the King V model, but the body is approximately 3 inches longer at the end. Crosby was approximately 6 foot 6, so the King V was created as an option for people closer to average height.
  • PC Archtop: Jackson's first Signature Model for Phil Collen, developed in 1988 after using various Soloist & Dinky custom models for 2 years. Phil and Grover Jackson decided to make an ergonomically correct guitar with a body like a normal arched-top Super Strat, except the top horn is dramatically bigger, the lower horn has more of a Fender Telecaster shape, and was concaved much like a Spector NS-series Bass Guitar.
  • Roswell Rhoads: General concept of a Rhoads (asymmetric 'V'), except it's more curved, like an asymmetrical 'U'.
  • Star: Exactly like the original Charvel Star, except with Jackson headstock and label.
  • Surfcaster: Exactly like the original Charvel Surfcaster except with different logo.
  • Xtreme Rhoads: Rhoads with slightly scaled down body and shorter top fin.

Discontinued models:

  • Firebird: based on the Gibson Firebird but with a trademark Jackson headstock
  • Kelly Star: Similar to the Kelly; the bottom portion of the guitar cut almost like the Rhoads, but the upper portion near the neck remained the same.
  • Strat: A full-sized Fender Stratocaster body with bolt-on neck. Replaced by the Dinky, which has a more streamlined 7/8 strat body, in the mid 80's. Typically having 22 frets.
  • Swee-tone: Double cut-away, superstrat style body shape somewhat resembles to Soloist AT. Non-pointy headstock with 3 by 3 tuner layout, 22 frets and 25 inch scale length, mahogany neck-through and spruce body wing construction, 2 humbuckers, 3 knobs and a blade switch. Mark Morton played it for a brief time around 2005,[5] then he developed his Dominion signature model around this one.
  • Y2KV: Used by guitarist Dave Mustaine; a custom V with rounded edges, first launched in 2000 and offered until 2002.

Basses

Pre-production era:

Like the guitars, all were made to order, be it shop-order or custom-order. Typically Soloist-shaped poplar body, 21 frets neck-through design and P-J or P-H pickup layout. "Standard" range was rosewood fingerboard with dot inlay. "Custom" range was sharkfin inlay and bound ebony fingerboard.

Production era:

  • Concert bass: Usually had Soloist-shaped body and 22 frets. 2-band active preamp.

Signature series:

Jackson Professional and Performer (import) Series

  • "Professional" (1990-1997) is a tag that denotes the Japanese-made versions of many popular USA models. All Jacksons with "Professional" on the headstock are made in Japan.
  • "Concept": (1993-1994) One of the rarest production series of Jackson imports ever built was the "Concept" models. They were made for only a few months, beginning at the end of 1993, before quality issues forced Jackson to end it's contract with the factory that were making them. The Concept Series was replaced with the Performer Series.
  • "Performer" (1994-2001) is a tag that denotes Jackson's low end models, produced during the mid-1990's in Asian factories (initially Japan, later Korea and eventually again in Japan).

Even though they continue to make various series of guitars, sometime in the late 1990's, Jackson began dropping the series labels from the headstocks of their imported models. Since Fender took control, all imported models say "Jackson" on their headstock with no mention of a series.

Jackson players and endorsers, past and present

References

  1. ^ FMIC Brands at Fender website, 8 Dec 2014
  2. ^ "Dealers". Jacksonguitars.com. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  3. ^ "Randy Rhoads: Flight of the Concordes". Guitar World. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  4. ^ "Jackson DK2 Sustainer Review". Guitarhoo!. Guitarhoo.com. July 1, 2004. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  5. ^ http://www.guitargeek.com/mark-morton-lamb-of-god-guitar-rig-and-gear-setup-2005/
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