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!!! Jackson Soloist vs. Hamer Californian !!!


Feynman

What do you think of when you think Super-Strat?  

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Bear in mind that Jackson had a commanding presence in the market place back then- that old ghost of ineffectual promotion/marketing coming back to haunt Hamer. Jackson had more hot shot artists seen with their guitars in hand and it paid off. Ibanez and, to a lesser degree, Kramer befitted from that as well.

You're spot on. Grover really understood the importance of image, but it also helped that the first Jackson customer was a fleet fingered shredder considered to be the the best of the young rising guitar stars AND the fact that his firm was located in So Cal--a relatively short driving distance from the L.A. studios and music scene.

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not a shredder but I do have a soft spot for the san dimas style charvels... one day, I'd like a black and

white offset bullseye strathead with the vintage style brass trem.

got this on clearance on Saturday, Charvel pro mod sparkle.

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Diablo - you may know as much as anyone here, is the build quality of Jackson Custom Shop similar, better, worse or just different than Hamer?

I'd say it is comparable in most areas except MAYBE the fretwork (BIG "maybe" here). Hamer wins overall in the "value" arena, as the MSRPs of Jacksons have traditionally been higher than similarly appointed Hamer shredders.

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Haven't played a Hamer shredder, but have had plenty of other Hamers. The only problem with the Soloist I have is that it needs a nut shim. Other than that, I noticed a similar attention to detail.

About to go use that SOB for a country gig tonight as well. Aside from the limits imposed by the trem, it's the most versatile guitar I own. Compared to the PRS CE22 I had for a few months (sometimes touted as jack of all trades), I find every setting useful for something. It's awesome being able to go from shred to jam-band brown to twang all on the same ax.

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I always liked the look of Jeff Beck's Orange Jackson Soloist, though my recollection was that it just didn't agree with him.... It looked very unique

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I remember being quite impressed with it's look as well, though JB just doesn't look right without a white Strat in hand....

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I always liked the look of Jeff Beck's Orange Jackson Soloist, though my recollection was that it just didn't agree with him.... It looked very unique

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I don't think that zoot suit agrees with him, however the Soloist looks fine in his hands.

ETA: His opinion at that time was quite positive on the orange one:

“I’ve got a Grover Jackson which is pretty nice — it’s a bit heavy metal looking but it’s bloody good”. (Jeff Beck Discusses Gear, Technique and Hendrix, Guitar World, 1985).

But later (in an interview), he seemed to sour on it a bit, with what I think was an oblique reference to the Floyd:

DJN: Did you use a Jackson Soloist on "Flash"?

JB: Yeah.

DJN: Why was that?

JB: I dunno - I liked the look of it! It just didn't work out, you know, it's , umm...It's a fairy guitar, really! It's too soft and spongy and even when a power chord is hit I could feel the vibration in the bridge. And it was just...You couldn't hit it too hard because it would go all over the place. The neck's too long but, uhh, nevertheless, umm, by staying with it for that whole project I managed to get some sounds out of it. The "Ambitious" solo was the Soloist, the Jackson, and I can't play that on any other guitar so, you know...There's some notable things that came out of it.

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Haven't played a Hamer shredder, but have had plenty of other Hamers. The only problem with the Soloist I have is that it needs a nut shim. Other than that, I noticed a similar attention to detail.

About to go use that SOB for a country gig tonight as well. Aside from the limits imposed by the trem, it's the most versatile guitar I own. Compared to the PRS CE22 I had for a few months (sometimes touted as jack of all trades), I find every setting useful for something. It's awesome being able to go from shred to jam-band brown to twang all on the same ax.

Unless you need to do some pull-up bends for the hair band, block the Floyd and it'll behave itself better in your country gigs. Or use one of the trem tools which lets you switch it easily between gigs.

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Funny thing is, JB's Strats were set up to pull sharp as well as dive. It's how he got some of those wicked cool effects. I give JB credit for getting more out of his modified Fender trem than most can get out of a fully floating Floyd (say that 3 times fast!). Had I discovered how to do that back in my formative guitar years, I might be a Strat fanatic instead of a 80's Floyded Super Strat fanatic. :P

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