Jackson Japan closed

[Lasse Lammert]

Yup, that's right, it's Indonesia etc from now on

 

[JonWormwood]

Yup, that's right, it's Indonesia etc from now on

Link to details?

 

[JonWormwood]

http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/126762-Are-the-japanese-Jackson-guitars-discontinued-in-Europe

 

[FIXXXER]

LTD got extremely fucked up when they got from korea to indonesia, i guess jckson will share the same fate -.-

 

[Danny Drama]

Cynical, but mebee I'll hang on to the Japanese RR I've got laying around here for a bit longer. Was gonna shift it on as it's never been used but now I guess I'll hold off for a while.

 

[Melb_shredder]

Ok... I'm going to call up my guys at Jackson in the next few days... As a Jackson endorsee, this scares the shit out of me! I LOVE my MIJs

 

[decoy205]

That does suck wow! MIJ Jacksons are fine guitars.

 

[Trevoire520]

I wouldn't be that worried about Indonesian built guitars guys. I'm pretty sure PRS SE's are made in Indonesia and they are great guitars!

 

[Uros]

Glad I've snagged that COW while still it was in production. All goes to crap now

 

[Temps]

I really want to find out which factory had the contract and start my own guitar company with their products. whatever company it was they used for their MIJ guitars really knew their shit.

my two Japanese Jacksons are my favorite guitars. my SLSMG in particular is a freakishly good guitar. best 6 string I've ever played and I got it for under a grand brand new. what a steal! I play it way more than my Suhr Modern custom carved top even tho the Suhr cost like four times as much

 

[Robert W]

The Indonesian made guitars I seen and played have all been decidedly lacking in qc.

 

[Brandon E.]

The Chushin-Gakki factory that FMIC was contracting from went bankrupt. This happened at least 6 months ago I think. The Japanese Charvel Pro Mods were made there too. This isn't to say that Jackson Japan is done (who knows?), but they won't be using the same factory they've been using for over the past 20 years.

Sad. I would argue that a lot of the guitars from Japan are some of the best mass-produced guitars in the world, I don't think the "well indonesian guitars are good too" arguments holds much water to me. Give me USA or Japan or fuck off of my guitar rack!

 

[Rex Rocker]

I don't think I've tried a Japanese Jackson ever. Were they as good as ESP's, Ibanez Prestige and other such Japanese guitars?

 

[Temps]

I don't think I've tried a Japanese Jackson ever. Were they as good as ESP's, Ibanez Prestige and other such Japanese guitars?

just as good as ESP, even tho ESP Japan models tended to cost a lot more.

I think most modern Ibbys are overpriced heaps of shit with garbage pickups, no matter how much money you spend, so I won't offer a real comparison there

seriously my Japanese Jacksons, at their best, were absolutely outstanding and I wouldn't give them up for anything. they weren't all great. I had a white SLS3 that was a total dog for some reason.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

I must disagree, ESP and Jackson USA are on the same level, Jackson Japan is far below that IMO.
The build quality etc is really good, just sonically they're quite far behind ESP IMO, must be the woods, dunno.
I have several us jacksons, ESPs and MIJ jacksons, the MIJ Jackson's don't sound anywhere near as good as the ESPs!
....my rr24, rr5 etc are nice guitars, they play well etc, but IMO they don't even sound solid and chunky enough for live use, and definitely not for a recording.
YMMV.
ESPs kick ass, better sustain, much more solid tone, more "chunk" and tonally just more balanced.

Still the jap Jackson's aren't crap or anything, they cost half as much and sound a bit better than half as good, so still great value for te money.

I know, a lot of people are gonna hate me for this post....but it's true!
The old Japanese Jacksons actually sounded fuxking fantastic (I played some mid 90ies MIJ that were just as good as ESP or us jacksons)!!!
The ones they made in the last 10 years not so much....might be because of the $ to ¥ rate that forced them to use cheaper quality wood, but that's just speculation.
Fact is the more recent MIJ Jackson's are alright guitars...nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Terminus]

The other guitarist in my melodeath band is a big Jackson freak, he'll be sad to hear about this. Owns 2 MIJ Jacksons. I've never been huge on jackson, but wouldnt mind owning one at some point.

 

[ArthurD]

I own a Japanese Kelly. Sad to hear about this. Awesome guitar, though.

 

[AD Chaos]

Jackson Japan is far below that IMO.

+1

I dislike my MIJ Jackson a lot (only hold on to it for the sentimental value, really).
Lifeless woods, and somewhat awkward to play.. can't put my finger on it exactly.

 

[Temps]

ESPs kick ass, better sustain, much more solid tone, more "chunk" and tonally just more balanced.

Fact is the more recent MIJ Jackson's are alright guitars...nothing more, nothing less.

all guitars not created equal

I had an ESP Custom Shop steph carpenter that sounded like a plank with strings slapped on it no matter what I did to the setup. was a complete piece of shit even tho it had been built by their best guys. that was an older custom but I played a new ESP Jon Donais sig, also made in the custom shop, that had no life to it whatsoever even tho it cost over $5k cdn.. same for a couple of their newer standard series guitars too, like the trans blue horizon. all dogs. but then I played a $400 ESP/LTD Horizon 401FM (iirc) that is one of the smoothest playing and best sounding guitars I've played, that cost less than a a grand or so

this is why you always play a guitar before you buy it, and why buying online is a generally bad idea

my 2 cents.. recent japanese jacksons are far more likely to be a good guitar than pretty much anything else you can get for under $1,200 unless you don't mind getting a fugly Rasmus

 

[Scottxx]

I own a Jackson Stealth Ex Made in Japan. It is my main guitar since 1993; almost 20 years. I only changed the stock Jackson bridge pickup for a SH-4.
I like it a lot.

It's sad. Japan made Jacksons were really great.