NGD: Jackson SLS3

[playstopause]

Really nice score! Beautiful guitar.

[jacksonplayer]

Second impressions:

It's frightening how the neck on this one feels EXACTLY like the 1990 Soloist Pros that Noodles and I own. The fretwork, profile, thickness, everything. Pretty amazing consistency--much more so than you get from the USA Jackson factory, actually. My '90 Pro has possibly my favorite neck out of all my guitars, so it's no surprise that I'm pretty happy with this new one.

I'm not generally a big fan of the JB pickup, but it works on this guitar. They're always too woofy in maple-necked guitars, but they do work well in mahogany. Still a little too "wah-ed" for my tastes, but I'm going to live with it for a while before I decide whether to swap in a Pearly Gates.

The secret with the JB is to adjust the height very carefully. A half-turn of the screws either way can go from dull to harsh and muddy. Right in the middle is the sweet spot--it will probably be lower in height than with most pickups. When I found the sweet spot for the JB in this guitar, it instantly came alive. They are really good for metal rhythm and undoubtedly cut through any mix, but I like a sweeter and clearer sound for my legato stuff.

Having this guitar makes me even sadder that Jackson shut down their Japanese operation. WTF, Jackson?

[Rich]

Awesome, you can't go wrong with the white guitar / black hardware combo.

[budda]

Wirelessly posted

Originally Posted by Josh

Dibs!

Damn it!

[Daniel]

Grats on the sick guitar, makes me want one badly.

[Wookieslayer]

Grats, that is beautiful!

[jacksonplayer]

Originally Posted by Rich

Awesome, you can't go wrong with the white guitar / black hardware combo.

When I first saw pictures of them, I wondered why Jackson went with black/creme zebra PUs rather than black/white, but it makes sense when you see the guitar in person. The creme on the bezels exactly matches the binding on the neck. It's a very nice accent, and I'll probably keep that color scheme going even if I change PUs.

[Demeyes]

I've always liked the look of the SLSMG but that's much classier with the block inlays. I really dig the look of that black and white combo. I wouldn't mind picking up something like this to compliment the soloists I already have especially since it's mahogany which is what most of my main players right now are.

[Matt C]

Originally Posted by jacksonplayer

Since my wife is having our baby in about a month, this is probably my last NGD for a long time.

I've had more NGD since Beth got pregnant/had the baby than I did in the 10 years prior combined.

[Randy]

Jealous of the guitar, jealous of the pup.