Talk:Jackson Guitars

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There are a few misconceptions in the entry about Jackson Guitars.

• Firstly, Grover Jackson sold the company to AMIC (AKAI) in the late 80's to early 90's. It was then run by AMIC for several years before it was finally sold to FMIC (Fender).
• Secondly, the typical Jackson headstock design is not a derivate of the Gibson Explorer headstock, even though they share some basic characteristics. The Jackson headstock was designed in conjuction with Jackson by the late Randy Rhoads (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne Band), and was made to mimic the cockpit of the then very popular Concorde aircraft:

At that time, Jackson did not exist as a guitar brand. The guitars were called Charvel (after the founder Wayne Charvel), and the company had just started to produce custom made guitars made to order (previously they had only made custom and replacement parts). It was then that Randy Rhoads (Ozzy's new guitarist) approached Grover Jackson to have a custom guitar built. Randy had the idea of building an offset V-shaped electric, inspired by the Concorde aircraft. He brought sketches to the Charvel workshop, and worked the design out with guitar builder Mike Shannon. As the prototype guitar was being finished, Grover thought that the radical design might not be very well recieved by other Charvel fans and players, so instead he put his own name on the headstock. That was the first Jackson brand guitar. The model was originally going to be named the "Concorde", but after Randy's tragic death, it was just named the "Randy Rhoads", or "RR" for short. It is still the flagship of the Jackson product line.

As the 80's rock'n'roll and metal wave hit in full force, many high-profile guitarists were seen playing the Jackson RR, for example Vinnie Vincent (KISS, Vinnie Vincent Invasion), Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Kirk Hammet (Metallica), etc. Today the most well known RR player is probably Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom), who used to play custom-made 24-fretted RRs.

The Jackson RR has also spawned new designs, of which the Jackson "King V" is most well known. It was originally the idea of guitarist Dave Linsk of Overkill, who wanted an RR-style guitar with long symmetrical fins. This guitar was called a "Double Rhoads" and was quite massive in size. As Dave's guitar was being made, Robbin "King" Crosby (guitarist in RATT) visited the shop, saw the guitar, and wanted one for himself. Jackson made him a red Double Rhoads, which was nicknamed "Big Red". Later, as the new guitar went into regular production, the fins were scaled down a bit, and it was named "King V" after Robbin Croby, since he was the one to take the guitar into mainstream popularity. The most well known King V player these days is Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), who had his own signature model King V during a few years, but who now plays ESP guitars.

Corrections to previous post, provided by Tim Wilson

Grover Jackson did not sell to AMIC. It was, in fact, a merger with International Music Company. Grover sat on the board of directors for IMC until his departure in 1990. Due to the relative size of IMC compared to Jackson, it had the appearance of a buyout, and in the end, that was the effect. But by definition it was, in fact, a merger.

International Music Company was an independent entity. They happened to be the North American distributor for Akai Musical Instruments. In 1997 Akai bought IMC, and that's how Akai ended up owning Jackson/Charvel.

The Jackson headstock does owe something to the Gibson Explorer head. It's true that Grover and Randy Rhoads wanted to design a headstock that would mimic the concorde aircraft, but they started with a Gibson Explorer head design. The Explorer head had been used previously on a prototype run of set-neck guitars, which later evolved into the Soloist model.

Randy Rhoads did not work out the design with Mike Shannon. He worked it out with Grover Jackson. It was entirely a creation of those two minds. Tim Wilson executed the design and made the first one. The guitar was completed by a "committee effort"--- as with almost all the guitars coming out of the shop in those days, it passed through a lot of hands before it ended up in Randy's arsenal. As the story goes, the guitar was rather bulky and cumbersome, so Randy and Grover worked on a re-design which slimmed down the body somewhat and replaced the rectangular inlays of the original with what is now known as "sharkfin" inlay (basically the same design that is being mass-produced today). It was this second prototype whose woodworking was executed by Mike Shannon. Again, painting, fretwork, inlays and final assembly were all done "by committee".

The second prototype project was abandoned due to the untimely death of Randy Rhoads. A year or so later, the project was re-started at the request of Randy's mother, who wanted to establish a legacy for her son. The first samples were shown at the Winter Namm show in 1983. One of them was 'accidentally' sold at the show, it has recently re-emerged in a private collection, although verification of its authenticity may still be in doubt.

It's debatable whether the Randy Rhoads guitar was the first neck-through Jackson. There was a guitar made for Vic Vergat, a Swiss musician, who said he "always wanted a flying vee but with pointed wings and a more radical look." The guitar was started before the Rhoads, but due to a scheduling quirk, Randy's guitar was actually delivered first. Four guitars were eventually built for Vic, two of which are known to exist in a private collection in Switzerland.

--Tim WilsonOpie8956 22:38, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Jacksonlogo.JPG

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Kelly Star

Current article describes the Kelly Star as a vaguely star shaped body, actually the front half of the Kelly with the pointy ends of the Rhoads model. I know what that's trying to say, but I think it's misleading... the KSXT owes its basic shape to earlier Jackson Star designs, see http://www.jcguitars.com/stardeath.htm for example. Andrewa 00:00, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Use of Model as Marketing Tactic

Should it be added that they are also infamous for being the only guitar company (I think) to use that sort of advertising? 122.111.114.124 (talk) 05:04, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

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