Jackson Pro series quality issues , NGD - Mick Thomson SL2

[Jake]

I 100% believe you. Too bad they decided that segment of the market wasn’t worth satiating with some sort of high-quality production line. End result to me as the consumer is the same.

Man I had a MIJ Jackson Dominion and that thing ruled. I really regret getting rid of that guitar now actually. I only paid $800 for it too.

 

[soliloquy]

Their slsmg and sls3 guitars were some of the best guitars I sadly never got to own. Perfect craftsmanship, great feet work, and that neck was to die for.

Everything else I grab after that by Jackson has been underwhelming.

Saddens me as well as I was looking forward to getting some sort of a new Japanese Jackson at one point

 

[Jake]

Their slsmg and sls3 guitars were some of the best guitars I sadly never got to own. Perfect craftsmanship, great feet work, and that neck was to die for.

Everything else I grab after that by Jackson has been underwhelming.

Saddens me as well as I was looking forward to getting some sort of a new Japanese Jackson at one point

I traded the Dominion for an SLS3 actually and still thought the Dominion was a better guitar. I just never clicked with the SLS3 for whatever reason. It even had the same pickups

I still GAS for some of the japanese professional Jackson's from the 90's/early 00's too though.

 

[JustinRhoads1980]

Not having much luck with the retailer at the moment.
24hrs since I got in contact via email
So I've called up, and apparently they are overrun on the support teams so likely won't be able to replace for a week at best

Initially I emailed prior to my order
9am I enquired about the guitar.. they opened at 11am
10.59am I had a reply.. Very helpful and so I placed the order there and then.

Clearly the support are in absolutely no rush to respond.

Bet if I placed another order through they'd be quick as lightening.
Urgh.

Tempted to order one of the HB amarok
As they're also an Indonesian built mahogany wing, maple multi laminate neck thru.
Just to A-B it against this..See how they compare qc wise for not even half the money.. Seeing as I'm likely to have this jackson with my for a little while.

Did you happen to buy the guitar with a credit card? Could always dispute the charge

 

[c7spheres]

- Are you sure it's not supposed to be in this condition? I mean, it's Pro Series, and professional guitars get dings and dents and problems. Doesn't this just make it authentic? just kidding.
- Sorry man, just trying to lighten your mood. This situation really sucks and hope it can all work out for you. 24 hours isn't terrible for a reply for an issue epecially with the virus thing. One thing to keep in mind is just don't do anything to it. If you really want to return it pack it up and leave it alone. Like @JustinRhoads1980 said, you can dispute it with card company, but first I'd try the proper channels like with the seller direct and then whoever you bought it throug like Ebay or Reverb and then credit card/bank after that.

 

[WLJMTG]

Haha
Damn that must be it. Jackson are just trying to give me that authentic toured guitar feel. Bargain haha.

I'm not annoyed yet by any means
Obviously the pandemic situation has to be accounted for so I'm not expecting them to jump through hoops, but I also don't want this guitar hanging about either.
So hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later

It hasn't been touched, other than to inspect
Not even so much as plugged into anything

The seller is as far as I'm aware the biggest guitar retailer in Britain. So I trust that they'll be happy to accept the replacement or refund.
But my purchase was a debit card anyway.

If I haven't had any news by the weekend I'm gonna go ahead and purchase something else and just get a refund when they're able to process the return.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

Jackson fan here. And it pains me to see the brand go to sh1t like this. Im even afraid to go for a CS right now with all the horror stories, crazy wait times, and unjust cost. ESP is just killing it with their spot on QC .

Like a few others have mentioned, I too wish Jackson Japan is still here. Man, those guitars were finely crafted workhorses. Good ole days for the brand.

 

[khm]

Haha
Damn that must be it. Jackson are just trying to give me that authentic toured guitar feel. Bargain haha.

I'm not annoyed yet by any means
Obviously the pandemic situation has to be accounted for so I'm not expecting them to jump through hoops, but I also don't want this guitar hanging about either.
So hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later

It hasn't been touched, other than to inspect
Not even so much as plugged into anything

The seller is as far as I'm aware the biggest guitar retailer in Britain. So I trust that they'll be happy to accept the replacement or refund.
But my purchase was a debit card anyway.

If I haven't had any news by the weekend I'm gonna go ahead and purchase something else and just get a refund when they're able to process the return.

Hope its not guitar guitar, the state my Strandberg turned up in was a disgrace. I am currently going through customer services about other issues that arose, and its taking 2/3 days at a time to get back to me.

 

[Carl Kolchak]

Well, I'm seeing MII Ibbies going for almost 2K, so....

I remember when +/- $700 - $800 MIK got you something. Now that's what you're paying for what was like ten years ago a $400 - $500 guitar.

It seems the new industry standard is to make everything they can in Indonesia with pricey parts and sell for MIA/MIJ prices.

 

[WLJMTG]

Hope its not guitar guitar, the state my Strandberg turned up in was a disgrace. I am currently going through customer services about other issues that arose, and its taking 2/3 days at a time to get back to me.

Oh so there's previous for this type of shite arriving then.

I went with them because I thought they'd be most likely to be helpful in the event of this happening.

Sorry to hear you are having issues too.

As above. I'm maintaining patience due to the current global situation.
However had this been last summer for example, they'd have had the guitar personally handed back by this afternoon. Haha

 

[khm]

Oh so there's previous for this type of shite arriving then.

I went with them because I thought they'd be most likely to be helpful in the event of this happening.

Sorry to hear you are having issues too.

As above. I'm maintaining patience due to the current global situation.
However had this been last summer for example, they'd have had the guitar personally handed back by this afternoon. Haha

Yeah when I got my Strandberg, it was an ex demo, so I double checked the condition 'one small imperfection on the lower horn' - it was battered to fuck, with dents, scratches and all sorts. Fortunately it played like a dream, so decided to keep it with a hefty discount.

It just developed fret sprout (baked maple, humidity and temperature controlled studio - so surprised me) and I have been back and forth for almost 2 weeks now, with various emails requesting more details each time - but they are getting back, its just taking its sweet time.

To be fair, when I first contacted them pre corona, they where helpful = im guessing the shop staff or whoever packs up the guitars gets trained by Stevie Wonder and support is left to pick up the pieces.

Im sure they will sort you out dude! Ill keep my fingers crossed for you - but needless to say, I wont be using GuitarGuitar again.

 

[JustinRhoads1980]

Jackson fan here. And it pains me to see the brand go to sh1t like this. Im even afraid to go for a CS right now with all the horror stories, crazy wait times, and unjust cost. ESP is just killing it with their spot on QC .

Like a few others have mentioned, I too wish Jackson Japan is still here. Man, those guitars were finely crafted workhorses. Good ole days for the brand.

ESP has won the battle in both their import selection and USA craftsmanship. If I am ever dropping $3.5k on a S shaped guitar between the two brands I am buying a nice ass ESP M-II NTB.

 

[JimF]

Very sad to hear this and hope you get it sorted soon! Some of the fretboard splits/cracks and that crack on the rear of the headstock could be down to the hammering it's had on the way to you in the back of a van...

Just a quick note about the lack of a response, it could well be that the folks who emailed you back when you were purchasing were perfectly qualified to deal with your sales enquiry, but aren't high enough up the food chain to deal with complaints, or at least offer a resolution/decision.
Chances are the sales team received the email, went "oh shit", forwarded it to their manager who is now approaching dealing with it. At this point the sales team should have replied to you and said "Very sorry to see this. I have passed this to a senior member of staff who will be in touch. Please bear in mind it won't be as quick as usual blah blah Covid 19". I'm customer facing and communication is key. The amount of times I'll be contacting customers to simply say "Hi it's Jim, we haven't forgotten about you, we've no news from the supplier on your custom tooling quote/order delivery date/missing parcel yet" etc is more than you'd have guessed.

I've lost track of the amount of "glory days" Japanese Jacksons that passed through my hands from 1998-2010, and they cost next to nothing. Its funny how guitar companies think that selling a great guitar at £1000 takes sales away from a £2000 guitar. The majority of people want the £2000 guitar and if they can afford it they're getting it. Its an emotive purchase. You wouldn't buy a Ford if you could afford a Ferrari, even if it was "almost as good and much cheaper". Its not so much for bragging rights, as knowing you've got what you want. I've got a decent music gear collection that nobody ever sees. But I love knowing I have it. Sadly the buyer of the £1000 Japanese guitar doesn't stump up the extra cash to get the US model. Chances are they are on a limited budget and can't justify that much on a selfish purchase (imagine a wife & kids, and they don't have XYZ because Daddy got a sick guitar) they either buy pre-owned, or they buy another brand.

Jackson axing it's Jap import range probably drove more people to Schecter than it did to their USA Select range.

I'm rambling now. I'm furloughed and on lockdown and have too much time on my hands! I'd give them a call, a bit of a "Heyup, just checking you received my email regarding the guitar? Did the pictures come through okay? etc etc" Obviously they did, but its nicer than ringing up saying "ANSWER ME C**TS"

 

[protest]

I would definitely give the Jackson another shot. The one I have is killer. I know that people love the Charvels right now (I do as well), but keep in mind they're going to be hit or miss as well. I've played a pink DK24 that was killer, picked up the blue/grey one right next to it and there was no way in hell I'd pay anywhere close to $1,000 for it.

I've been thinking about picking up a seafoam green HSS, but I can't do it without playing it first.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

ESP has won the battle in both their import selection and USA craftsmanship. If I am ever dropping $3.5k on a S shaped guitar between the two brands I am buying a nice ass ESP M-II NTB.

Been thinking of getting a USA M as well. The Japanese custom shop is a bit out of my price range. Lol

 

[Cryovillain]

Wow what a POS. My $200 Harley Benton was faultless compared to this. Hope you get this resolved.

 

[soliloquy]

I traded the Dominion for an SLS3 actually and still thought the Dominion was a better guitar. I just never clicked with the SLS3 for whatever reason. It even had the same pickups

I still GAS for some of the japanese professional Jackson's from the 90's/early 00's too though.

did you have the dotted inlays, or the block? I never really cared for the body shape of Dominion, but I've heard nothing but great things on em. The dotted inlays are still found on reverb for not that bad a price.

 

[GoldDragon]

I would definitely give the Jackson another shot. The one I have is killer. I know that people love the Charvels right now (I do as well), but keep in mind they're going to be hit or miss as well. I've played a pink DK24 that was killer, picked up the blue/grey one right next to it and there was no way in hell I'd pay anywhere close to $1,000 for it.

I've been thinking about picking up a seafoam green HSS, but I can't do it without playing it first.

Thats good to hear. The jacksons 24s have ebony fretboard which I like better than the Floyd charvels dk24s which are all maple. Also the soloist body is bigger which I like.

I'm *this* close to getting a new jackson or charvel.

 

[Jake]

did you have the dotted inlays, or the block? I never really cared for the body shape of Dominion, but I've heard nothing but great things on em. The dotted inlays are still found on reverb for not that bad a price.

Blocks on mine. It was the riverbed finish one too. There is a red one in the UK on Reverb right now but don't feel like importing one at this time

 

[JustinRhoads1980]

Been thinking of getting a USA M as well. The Japanese custom shop is a bit out of my price range. Lol

Much rather go with ESP (either E-II or USA stuff) compared to jackson. Not hearing the best from jackson, but hearing all the best about ESP