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NGD and NM(od)D (Jackson archtop soloist and Ibanez RGT, respectively)

2K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  Louis94 
#1 ·
Firstly, the new guitar.

Grabbed a Jackson SLAT3-6. This is actually the first one I've ever seen for sale second hand in the UK, they do not come up often at all. I've always loved Jacksons; the look, the thrash iconography, the feel and tone... owned many over the years but nothing quite like this. Plenty of MIJ but none this high spec.









(excuse smudgy finger marks, played a show with it Friday night and haven't wiped it down yet)

This is the most flawless fretwork I've experienced on a production guitar. It's just silly. The action can go insanely low, and there aren't any chokes even with a 3-semitone bend. I had to ask the previous owner if he'd given it a fret dress, and he said "nope, came like that from new, I couldn't believe it either".

It feels great. Neck profile is similar to my old DK2m, a nice D that fills your hand but still has a very flat and shreddable playing surface.

I'll eventually throw a TB-6/SH-2n combo in, but as of now it even sounds incredible with the EMG's. Thick and full, but zero mud. I received it Thursday, restrung it and gave the neck a minor tweak, and gigged with it the very next night, so it's had a real crash-test right off the bat. The whole night it was solid, sounded huge, and was very responsive and lively.

----------------------------

Next up... the RGT. I've had this idea for a long time to throw on a pickguard and turn it into a 1-hum, and saw a guard on eBay from Perle that caught my eye. It was matte black, which wasn't the original intention, but it's one of those things where you don't think about it until you see it. I figured it'd look cool against the black sparkle of the RGT's finish, and I wasn't wrong...







I also grabbed a Dimarzio D'Activator-X off 7DT, as I've been on a bit of a pickup-binge with this guitar lately. It's my drop-B guitar, so getting the right pickup that blends high output, clarity, but without being sterile was really difficult. It originally had a D'Activator in there, which I found really bland. I changed that out to a SD Full Shred. That was very clear, and a great pickup all round, but lacked output, so I tried an SD Distortion in there. I love that pickup in practically every guitar I've tried it in but it just wasn't working in here, but the D'A-X seems to be the right fit. It is stupidly hot, but that means you can sink it away from the strings and gain awesome clarity, but without neutering the output.
 
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#8 ·
...but 1H guitars with a pickugard is cheating! :flex:

Super funny giggle side, that Ibanez looks super cool.

However I never got the "dark dyed flame maple" thing, while I think black is one of the most boring guitar finishes, at least it's black. Dark flamed is just "what is tha?" unless you get up close.

But thats just me. I'm glad you have that fretwork going on, its not everyday you find a guitar like that, so feel lucky :yesway:
 
#7 ·
^^ :agreed:

Both look incredible.

Are you holding on to all the others now? Or are you going to have to let something else go?
A couple are going. The RG560 went on eBay last night (that was a whimsical purchase anyway, local steal) and the RG550 is up for sale. I was intending on using them as a pair, but after feeling dissatisfied with the RG550's lack of oomph/chunk, I thought I'd put them both towards something else (this). So now my remaining stable is my Charvel San Dimas, the RGT and the Jackson, and an RG1570 (my "home" guitar, doesn't get used in the band).

I'm trying to retain my gushing over this SLAT3-6, just in case I do a "me" and flog it 6 months later, but this is honestly the most enamoured I've been with any of my purchases in the last few years, easily. I've loved guitars that I got straight away, because it was something new, and different, but then the honeymoon period wears off, so we'll see. None of them have played/sounded this good though, and none required this little tweaking/teching before they felt 'right'. This was perfect right out of the case. I've not had that since my Charvel and that's the one guitar I can never seem to bring myself to sell :lol:
 
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