JACKSON GUITARS

'Jackson' is the one of the worlds best selling metal guitars.It is originally owned and operated by Grover Jackson, a partner of Wayne Charvel of Charvel Guitar Repair. It is probably best-known for its "Rhoads" V model guitar, originally designed and used by guitarist Randy Rhoads. Grover put his name on the Rhoads rather than the Charvel name because he felt the design was too shocking for Charvel's regular customers. This model inspired Grover to start the Jackson guitar company. . Jacksons today are most notable for their outstanding quality and fast playability.
Wayne Charvel sold his interest in the Charvel name to Grover Jackson on November 10, 1978. The shop was located in Glendora, California (while using a PO Box in neighboring San Dimas) and manufactured guitars in this location from 1979 to 1986, when the Company merged with IMC (International Music Corporation), a Texas based importer of musical instruments. The factory then moved to Ontario, California.
In the Fall of 2002, Fender Musical Instrument Corporation purchased Jackson/Charvel, and operations were moved to the Fender factory in Corona, CA. Fender is now manufacturing guitars that are almost exactly like the original San Dimas Charvels, save for a few details. Both Jackson and Charvel models are being produced at Corona.
Jackson Guitars has become most famous for its slender and elegant models, often with an aggressive look popular with harder rock and metal music and are known for their fast playing necks. These features made them particuarly popular among extreme metal guitarists in the 80's and early 90's (see artists list). Jacksons are known for their excellent quality and relatively low prices.

Almost all Jackson (and many Charvel) guitars share the typical pointed, roughly triangular headstock, originally designed by Randy Rhoads and subsequently copied by many guitar companies. Various models (especially a good number of ''Dinkys'') feature a reversed pointy headstock with the tip pointing upwards.
Charvel/Jackson was the target of many copyright lawsuits from Fender which ended the use of Stratocaster styled headstocks for Jackson and Charvel guitars until recently.

Contents

Jackson guitar models

Jackson players and endorsers, past and present

External links

Jackson guitar models

Jackson's trademark guitar models include:

★ The Randy Rhoads guitar, an asymmetric 'V' shaped body with pointy "wings".

★ The Vinnie Vincent Flying V, basically the same model of the rhoad´s V with a second shadow V.

★ The Soloist or Dinky. The Soloist has a neck-through neck with the superstrat body design. The Dinky has the exact body shape but with bolt-on necks. Popular among lead guitarists in the metal genre.

★ The Kelly, a sleeker version of Gibson's popular Explorer, popularized by Marty Friedman.

★ The King V, was a symmetric 'V' shape with long pointy wings. The guitar was first commissioned by David Linsk but RATT guitarist Robbin Crosby("King" was Crosby's nickname) saw one at the factory in 1983 and became known for using them. At that time, the Jackson Custom Shop began producing King Vs for special order. Dave Mustaine of Megadeth later become heavily associated with this model guitar during beginning of Megadeth's commercial popularity in the late 80's, and Jackson released the KV as a regular production model.

★ The DR, a reverse headstock Dinky model.

★ The Jackson PC1, more of a Soloist/Strat guitar.

★ The Warrior, a very aggressive looking body consisting of four pointy ends designed in-house. The points themselves were designed after the Jackson headstock shape.

★ The Kelly Star, a vaguely star shaped body, actually the front half of the ''Kelly'' with the pointy ends of the ''Rhoads'' model.

★ The Y2KV, Shaped like a Gibson Flying V but the size of a King V, designed and made popular by Dave Mustaine of Megadeth.

★ Jackson Professional Series was the Made in Japan line of many popular USA models. Ergo, all Jacksons with "Professional" on the headstock were made in the Japan factory.

★ The Performer tag is denoted on Jackson models produced in the early 90's in overseas factories (primarily Korea). Prices usually ranged from 400-800 dollars based on specifications.
While a few Jackson headstocks have had the "Strat head" shape, most have been the pointy "drooped" style shown above, designed by Randy Rhoads in 1980 - it is styled after the sleek nose of the jetliner Concorde. The Randy Rhoads V was the first guitar to carry Grover Jackson's moniker and was originally known as the Concorde.
In fact, Jackson sued ESP in the late 80's for their use of the headstock Jackson was famous for. It is true that Fender sued Jackson Charvel in the 80's to discontinue their use of Fenders trademarked Stratocaster headstock.
Many Jacksons also have "graphic" finishes -- usually only available on custom shopped guitars for other companies -- as a standard feature. Some of the most popular include the "Pile O' Skulls" finish, popularized by Suicidal Tendencies's Mike Clark, "Lightning Sky", "Graveyard", "Nebula", "Snakeskin" "Shattered Glass", "Bolted Steel", and more. Jackson's custom shop features the option of upgraded versions of a few of these finishes.

Jackson players and endorsers, past and present

★ Vinnie Vincent

★ Rudolf Schenker of Scorpions

★ Steve Lynch of Autograph (American band)

★ John Almeida of Tarnished Purity

★ Randy Rhoads

★ Steve Vai

★ Jake E. Lee

★ Dave Mustaine of Megadeth

★ Marty Friedman of Megadeth, Cacophony

★ David Ellefson of Megadeth

★ Jason Becker

★ Shannon Hamm of Death

★ Phil Collen of Def Leppard

★ Christian Olde Wolbers of Fear Factory

★ Mark Morton of Lamb of God

★ Karl Sanders of Nile

★ Kevin Bond of Superjoint Ritual

★ Dan Spitz of Anthrax

★ Scott Ian of Anthrax

★ Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer

★ Sam Totman of DragonForce

★ Ralph Santolla of Deicide, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Death, and Millennium

★ Chris Caffery of Savatage and Trans Siberian Orchestra

★ Andreas Kisser of Sepultura

★ Derrick Green of Sepultura

★ Kristian Ranta of Norther

★ Rob Cavestany of Death Angel

★ Ashmedi of Melechesh

★ Phil Demmel of Machine Head and Vio-Lence

★ James Root of Slipknot and Stone Sour

★ Trey Azagthoth of Morbid Angel

★ Mille Petrozza of Kreator

★ Gary Holt of Exodus

★ Rick Hunolt of Exodus

★ Eric Hoffman of Deicide

★ Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society and guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne

★ Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom and Sinergy

★ Roope Latvala of Children of Bodom, Sinergy and Stone

★ Jeff Hanneman of Slayer

★ Kirk Hammett of Metallica

★ Warren DeMartini of RATT

★ Criss Oliva of Savatage

★ Robbin Crosby of RATT

★ Brad Delp of Boston

★ Matt Tuck of Bullet for My Valentine

★ Rusty Cooley

★ Mike Clark of Suicidal Tendencies

★ Phil Fasciana of Malevolent Creation and Hate Plow

★ Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod, Down and Superjoint Ritual

★ Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden

★ Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P.

★ Galder of Dimmu Borgir

★ Silenoz of Dimmu Borgir

★ Hamish Glencross of My Dying Bride

★ Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi

★ Erich Zann of Re-Animator

★ C.C. DeVille of Poison

★ Daron Malakian of System of a Down (studio only)

★ Corey Beaulieu of Trivium

★ Mike Davis of Nocturnus

★ Sergey Mavrin, formerly of Aria and Kipelov.

★ Andre Benjamin aka Andre 3000, of Outkast

★ Sammy Hagar.

★ Dr. Know, of Bad Brains.

★ Mark St. John of Kiss

★ Pat O'Brien of Cannibal Corpse

★ John Campbell of Lamb of God

★ Sami Lopakka of Sentenced uses the Jackson Rhoads in many gigs.

★ Buckethead

★ Lee Altus of Exodus and Heathen

★ Ben Moody, formerly of Evanescence

★ Eric Meyer of Dark Angel

★ Jeff Loomis of Nevermore

★ Dave Murray of Iron Maiden

★ Wayne Edwards of Wayne Edwards

★ Joe Becker

External links

★ Official homepage of Jackson