NGD: Jackson Concept Series RR24 FR H

[works0fheart]

I always say I'm going to do a video and never do it so here's that.



So some thoughts on this that may not be covered in the vid. The guitar itself feels great and is fine to play, but the out of box setup wasn't amazing. It was about a quarter step flat, which is to be expected getting shipped cross country.

The EMG's sound like EMG's so nothing new there. The gain boost feels completely pointless out of the box and the only difference I hear when turning the dial on is the tone becomes slightly brighter/thinner. Most of the time I spent playing with it for the last few hours I just found myself playing with it off the entire time.

The fret work feels good and there's not any jagged edges that have caught my hand and looking at them they appear to be in pretty good shape. The only issues I really have with this guitar were mentioned in the video already, but just to recap, there are some very minor flaws with the paint.

Being that a lot is covered in the video already I'll leave a list of pros and cons here.

Pros
- Single Pickup, Single volume / Simple control scheme
- The top mount Floyd is just so cool visually.
- Playability is what I'd expect from an RR24 at this point / good.
- Stainless steel frets. I couldn't not mention this.
- Visually it's a very simplistic guitar, which I like. I don't need any crazy paint schemes or figured tops, just a no-nonsense pointy thing.

Cons

- Single Pickup, Single volume / I understand some people don't like this.
- The neck heel is weird. Not terrible, but definitely a little alien feeling still.
- EMG's. I know they can sound great and so on, but I just prefer passives.
- Issues with the finish.

Finally, here are a few pics.

 

[altnate]

Cool, I just received one of these the other day and really like it. The simplicity of it as well as well as the non-recessed Floyd and stainless frets drew me in. I prefer the height of non-recessed, but so few guitars have them these days. I hadn't necessarily planned to buy one right away, but Cream City had 20% off all new guitars for St. Patrick's day so I figured why not. I also had a minor finish issue, mine being a small black mark/streak under the clear coat on part of the headstock binding. I agree with you on the boost and don't see myself using it, plus mine is pretty noisy when dialed all the way up. Also, mine balances perfectly with no neck dive. Many years ago I had a USA Rhoads and that one did have some neck dive so this was a pleasant surprise. Overall, I'm happy with it.

 

[Estilo]

Interesting these are made in Korea. Do you know which factory makes them?

 

[works0fheart]

Interesting these are made in Korea. Do you know which factory makes them?

I do not. I remember someone mentioning it in one of the Jackson threads. I thought it was Max but could be wrong.

 

[DrewH]

Hell with the guitar. Nice pups!

 

[altnate]

Interesting these are made in Korea. Do you know which factory makes them?

I could be wrong but it's my understanding that the KW at the beginning of the serial number indicates it was made by World Music, Korea. It does feel very similar to the 2 LTDs I have which were made there.

 

[DrewH]

What is the upper fret playing like on those things? I've never tried one but they look so cool.

 

[works0fheart]

Hell with the guitar. Nice pups!

Don't get me started on my dogs. Probably the only thing I spend more money on than guitars lol. These dogs get full cooked meals daily in this household.

What is the upper fret playing like on those things? I've never tried one but they look so cool.

I personally like it quite a bit. You would think that the connection to the body from the neck would make it hard to play in the higher registers but it's actually really easy. I find it more easy than my regular strat style guitars because you tend to play with these in a more claisscal position which already makes playing higher easier. If you ever get a chance to play one try it and decide for yourself.

 

[jrn1308]

Awesome guitar and thanks for the video.

This will be my next guitar. I'm currently waiting for it to be available at Thomann. I don't mind the little flaws you mentioned but it's still a bit disappointing that there are some cosmetic flaws at that price point.

Good to know that the gain boost is more or less useless. I'll remove it and put the volume there... I already hate the placement of the volume control just by looking at pictures.

 

[Shawn]

Very nice. Nice shirt, too. Suffocation.

 

[altnate]

Interesting these are made in Korea. Do you know which factory makes them?

May have just discovered a further clue as to where they're made. I felt like the Floyd nut on mine was a little high and could tell there was a shim there. I removed the nut and found a couple of shims which seem to have been cut from a Gretsch warranty card, so I assume they are made in the same factory which makes Korean Gretsches. Not sure if that is World Music or not.

There was also what I thought at first was some clear finish overspray on part of the nut shelf but that turned out to be a piece of tape, so I also peeled that off. As well as the guitar played before, it plays much nicer now after removing the tape and shims. Not sure why they even put them there, was not necessary imo.

 

[Robslalaina]

Damn, I thought the Floyd was non recessed AND dive only and I was 100% ready to buy the guitar because it's got nearly everything I want in a V but now I'm SSO not buying regardless how easy it would be to fix.

Seriously though, happy NGD! This is one rad guitar. Still debating whether or not I should get one because everybody needs a pointy guitar, but I also need to get back in the 7/8 string game and I'm not into hoarding...

 

[eaeolian]

Yeah, I think all the FMIC Korean stuff is WMI. They do make very good guitars.

 

[works0fheart]

Damn, I thought the Floyd was non recessed AND dive only and I was 100% ready to buy the guitar because it's got nearly everything I want in a V but now I'm SSO not buying regardless how easy it would be to fix.

Seriously though, happy NGD! This is one rad guitar. Still debating whether or not I should get one because everybody needs a pointy guitar, but I also need to get back in the 7/8 string game and I'm not into hoarding...

I could be wrong, but I'd imagine with a top mount like this you can adjust the height or something to where it just doesn't pull up at all. I haven't even opened the spring cavity to see how it looks in there yet but currently it feels very firm to the point I may loosen it up a bit. In that regard it does at least return to its base position very easily.

 

[Yul Brynner]

That is so beautiful.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

I felt this guitar was a brilliant addition to the concept series line when it was first announced (and still do), but I really wish they would've pinstriped the back of the guitar like they did on the CS Jacksons that inspired it. It's a comparatively small detail that adds a lot to the visual appeal, in my opinion.

Still looks great, of course. HNGD!