So close to perfection.....

[Greg McCoy]

https://reverb.com/item/43144845-vintage-late-80-s-jackson-san-dimas-american-usa-custom-shop-set-neck-gold-w-hard-case-1987-1988

This is killing me. Reverse sharks too. I would buy this in a heart beat if it weren't for the fucking atrocious oversized slant bridge pickup (control placement is also weird and terrible, but less of an issue). That's just rubbing salt in the wound, oversized AND slanted. You'd have to pickguard the guitar to make a usable bridge humbucker. Slanted alone is arguably salvagable, but the oversized route puts it too close to a middle pickup.

[Megametal7]

Why some guitars have slanted pick ups, what purpose dose it serve compared non slanted one?

[scole]

To get the pole pieces to align with the strings? That’s my guess

[Greg McCoy]

Why some guitars have slanted pick ups, what purpose dose it serve compared non slanted one?

On single coils the reasoning is obvious. (Strat/Tele) Closer to the bridge = tinnier sound, further away = flubbier. This is only an issue on singles.

On slanted humbuckers from the 80s.........the reasoning is stupider. Some claim it's for the same traditional reason as strats and teles, some have stupider reasoning. Hence why it never caught on. I've had guitars with it, it's not a dealbreaker, but for a serious purchase it is.

As Scole said, before F spaced aftermarket pickups, people making Van Halen esque "fat strats" by taking humbuckers out of Gibsons found the pole spacing doesn't match. This is sometimes given as a reason. It's not correct though, because not only does pole spacing not effect the sound since the magnetic field is uniform (unless it is way off) it doesn't even fix the problem. (see pictures of the frankenstrat)

A lot of it is just cashing in on VH mania. He's one of the biggest tastemakers of all time. Kramer has the most guitars with slanted bridge humbuckers, and he endorsed them during most of VH's heyday.

[Megametal7]

Thanks for that detailed info brother, I still have a lot to learn. I wouldn't want to have guitar with slanted pick up my, o.c.d. would not allow it. hahahaha

[Markus]

On single coils the reasoning is obvious. (Strat/Tele) Closer to the bridge = tinnier sound, further away = flubbier. This is only an issue on singles.

^ This is why the slant on a strat makes no sense to me, why would you want the highs on a single coil tinnier and the lows flubbier?

[Greg McCoy]

^ This is why the slant on a strat makes no sense to me, why would you want the highs on a single coil tinnier and the lows flubbier?

I dunno, it makes an awful lot of sense as a product of it's time though. E Standard tuning on vintage gear with 42-9 and non super saturated/non high gain. This was also in an era where the "fat strat" design didn't dominate the market and wasn't ubiquitous so it wasn't like, "Why wouldn't you just get another guitar if you want that sound?", they didn't have the range of selection of "other guitar" models to pick from we have.

It makes less sense '90s on, from a rhythm perspective, for lead it still works. The single coils in the bridge can get too "tinny". You see that a lot on guitars with dual splits (pole pieces oriented the most common direction). The bridge split/tapped alone can sound really "tinny" because it's not slanted, the way the poles are arranged is parallel to the bridge

That's exclusively for single coils of course, referring to the strat and tele design. For humbuckers it's never made a ton of sense. Possibly why it never caught on. Most people, especially in metal, are trying to get the bridge pickup sound to be tighter and less bassy. It can be OK if it's a guitar you only play leads on though. It can even sound cool there.

[Chris]

^ This is why the slant on a strat makes no sense to me, why would you want the highs on a single coil tinnier and the lows flubbier?

Sounds like a perfect description of djent tone to me.

[jacksonplayer]

That looks like it's had some surgery and a really bad refinish. I wouldn't even trust that the pickup was originally slanted or that it was built with a neck pickup.

[Chris]

That control layout tho.

[Greg McCoy]

That looks like it's had some surgery and a really bad refinish. I wouldn't even trust that the pickup was originally slanted or that it was built with a neck pickup.

Yeah, it's a refinish. The description is pretty thorough.

Listing says "refinished at the Jackson factory". Which I buy, the headstock decals check out. I personally like how it's aged, but it might not look as good in person. It's like the gold version of silverburst aging. I thought "obviously an aftermarket refinish" when I first saw it, but the headstock logo checks out. Not that you can't get aftermarket waterslide logos, but it looks convincing in my book.

The fact the logo is also partly covered up lends credence to that theory. If it were a recent aftermarket refinish I doubt the guy would go through all the trouble of refinishing it and then put the logo where it would be covered.

Obviously originally had a JT-6, the behind the nut locking nut mounting holes are visible.

I actually thought "no way that's a factory pickup route", but the cavities have factory star grounding......

....and more importantly if it weren't factory I doubt they would have gone for the oversized pickup.

I buy his theory of "employee guitar" on the basis of all that. The way the finish has aged obviously isn't for everyone, but that's how a lot of metallic flakey finishes age.

I checked the neck pickup route against pictures of 3 TITE models from '87ish and that checks out too. The single route is probably factory. either original or done at the time of the alleged "factory refinish". That's just how they routed for the flanged singles. I obviously prefer the EMG style routes with no flange. That's what my yellow one has. The curve of the route for the flange does match what you see on 3 TITE models pretty closely.



If there were more close ups of the bridge pickup route you could probably tell if it was originally a single coil. I doubt it though. That finish has aged enough that if it was a 3 TITE we would see where they filled the middle route. No one specs S-X-S pickup configs, or at least it is incredibly uncommon. For it to be a widened single coil route the guitar would have also had to be spec'd as that. The refinish has aged to the point where you can see if there was original stuff they filled in like mini toggle holes or whatever.

[Greg McCoy]

Along with the star grounding and everything the "R518" in the cavity also checks out for the "factory refinish" theory. I've never heard a definitive answer, but some people believe that is the designation they gave factory refinishes. That is obviously speculation though. Would make sense though. I don't see why another aftermarket guy would number it like that or go through all that trouble to give the impression of a factory refinish. Especially considering how aged the finish is.

[jacksonplayer]

You're probably right about the fill showing if it had had major surgery prior to a refinish. The single coil route is a different issue. It could easily have been re-routed years later for a flanged SC without having to refinish the guitar. Jackson was routing very few guitars that way by '87, though it's not unknown. If the customer had ordered Duncans or Dimarzios, then it would have to have been done that way.

[Greg McCoy]

You're probably right about the fill showing if it had had major surgery prior to a refinish. The single coil route is a different issue. It could easily have been re-routed years later for a flanged SC without having to refinish the guitar. Jackson was routing very few guitars that way by '87, though it's not unknown. If the customer had ordered Duncans or Dimarzios, then it would have to have been done that way.

The places where it's chipping through and you can see both the primer layer and bare wood do support the "factory refinish" theory though.

That's definitely a very Jackson thing. I doubt someone else would have used the exact same primer/top layer combo and methods that chip in the exact same way. The paint on the 80s ones definitely has a very specific way of flaking off if you get a ding that goes through the primer straight down to the wood. The finish has that kind of brittle thing going. I doubt if it was non factory they would have used the exact same primer methodology.

No one would even want to fake that, some other guitars from the same era take dings way better. Hamers kind of have the same thing going sometimes, but it's a very distinctive Jackson thing. The whole "ding that grows flakey and brittle and erodes so you can see both the primer and wood".

[jacksonplayer]

Yeah, that's probably a legit finish.

The wear was so ugly, I initially assumed it was a rattle can job. I didn't look too closely at it, since I'm the proud owner of J0456 (not to mention Soloist Jr.) and thus have all the Soloist cred I probably need.

[Chris]

That gold thing is ugly and you should feel bad. JBARG550.

[DingusMaximus]

I love it!! too bad I haven't had a regular paying job for like 5 months - I can't afford sheeit! And even if I had the dough... my car will need a clutch transplant soon

So anyway those "peculiarities" you mentioned, they don't have any real effect? I mean they're not detrimental to sound or playability? Reckon I would love that guitar very much!

[Ghost.]

Man, that guitar is perfect.

[DingusMaximus]

Can anyone say whether that's gonna encounter issues with shipping? Any chance it's Brazilian rosewood? Or are we passed that now?
I think it would already pick up +15% in tax through customs to NZ, so hypothetically any more complications in any attempt could be devastating for me

[jacksonplayer]

I believe the CITES thing for guitars is basically over. The customs cops in the USA are mostly looking for lumber at this point, I believe, but I don't know what the bureaucrats in NZ are doing.

In any event, there's almost no chance that's Brazilian rosewood. Jackson made a few customs in the late '80s with Brazilian boards, but only a few; the custom USA Archtop Soloists are the only ones I know of. It was already expensive and hard to get ahold of back then.

[DingusMaximus]

I believe the CITES thing for guitars is basically over. The customs cops in the USA are mostly looking for lumber at this point, I believe, but I don't know what the bureaucrats in NZ are doing.

In any event, there's almost no chance that's Brazilian rosewood. Jackson made a few customs in the late '80s with Brazilian boards, but only a few; the custom USA Archtop Soloists are the only ones I know of. It was already expensive and hard to get ahold of back then.

Thanks man. It can be so hard to find this kind of info from scratch, especially put into regular human words for me to understand!! Unfortunately the dude from the OP auction won't ship anyway (slightly crushing) but obviously that's info I can use in future