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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Know-It-All


Never assume that because you know all about 50's Tele's and Strats, and once owned a 1987 Reverse Headstock Jackson in Road Cone Orange, that you have any chance at knowing about Jackson guitars...  until you put in all the time to study them.  They ARE a different animal... not just because the guys that played them had big hair most of the time.  The bridges were radically new at the time.  Heck... you could even lock the strings at the nut, using a hex key that was (most of the time) bolted (eek!) to the back of the headstock (when not in use).  Not only this... but Jackson literally horsebranded his fretboards with the serial numbers most of the time... by stamping the numbers deep into the fretboards (no actual heat involved really... and no horses... as far as I know).  I had purchased a 'totally original 1985 Randy Rhoads guitar' on EBay some time ago.  I paid around $1500, and was told (by the seller in the listing) that the case was 'a rare original case'.  When I went to sell it last week... turned out the case, bridge (?), pickups (?) and electronics and also the switches all came under scrutiny and questioning.  Jackson guitar people had a lot of questions about originality... and many reservations.  Apparently, the case is definitely not original at all (being form fit plastic).  So be warned... I am also a relative expert in PRS guitars... but had to take a loss of around $1000 on this guitar, to learn my lesson;  Be well read and learn about what you intend to buy... thoroughly... before you go to buy it! (the scammers are out, and want your money).