Jackson USA Select pricing

[paulyc]

Does anyone else think $3600.00 is WAY too much for a Jackson Strat with a reverse pointy headstock ??? 8-10 month build time too, 25% down to start the process, I almost fell over...

 

[cardinal]

They apparently are selling so many that they sometimes have to turn orders away, so there seem to be more than enough people willing to pay their prices...

 

[paulyc]

I would never complain if this were for a neck through instrument with fancy inlays and binding, etc... but a bolt on Strat style ? It’s a $300 upcharge for the reverse headstock that they’ll pull from the lefty pile.

 

[neilli777]

What are the specs otherwise? And what dealer did you get the price through? I'm assuming you didn't just take the list prices of a DK1 and rev head from the order form on the website - those are list, not street prices.

 

[cardinal]

Oh I hear ya. I desperately want a custom Charvel. I balked at their price quote last year ($5k) and now they won’t even take the order because they have no capacity. Not sure who is paying their prices, but more than enough seem to be.

 

[paulyc]

Specs otherwise are 2 hum reverse headstock Floyd black hardware with sparkle paint, dealer is fairly well known on the east coast. No custom spec woods, hardware, or weird neck radius/frets, and no graphic.

 

[neilli777]

From the 2017 pricing:

base 3265.69
rev head 300
sparkle 520
total 3815.69

40% discount is $2289, 30% is $2670. Unless the pricing has jumped in 2018, the $3600 you were quoted is basically no discount at all.

Little things can add up though. A DK1 has EMG 81/85 as standard, and if you went away from that, there's a charge. If you want a matching head, there's a charge. etc etc

 

[the4thlast1]

I am going through the same thing right now....I was quoted at $3600 for a Dinky and that's the discounted price ! MSRP is $5080 lol . Prices have gone up as well as the wait time also quoted at 10 months ! What also sucks is they won't do a fixed bridge ! , I asked several times and will only offer floyd on a dinky.

 

[the4thlast1]

From the 2017 pricing:

base 3265.69
rev head 300
sparkle 520
total 3815.69

40% discount is $2289, 30% is $2670. Unless the pricing has jumped in 2018, the $3600 you were quoted is basically no discount at all.

Little things can add up though. A DK1 has EMG 81/85 as standard, and if you went away from that, there's a charge. If you want a matching head, there's a charge. etc etc

I just checked out the pricing on the website and you are correct it does say that. I just sent an email to my dealer to find out what is going on. Something is up with Jackson lately I heard from another source they are behind on orders and cut down staff .

 

[paulyc]

I was told reverse headstock is no longer offered, but they’d make an exception this one time... this is a true Strat body also, NOT a Dinky.

 

[neilli777]

Ah, well that's where your price jump is - they don't do a base model with a strat body, so you're edging into a big price jump, even if it's not MB. And if you want 22 frets with a rev pointy head, there's no standard neck that fits that. And they can't just re-logo a Charvel because they don't offer a pointy head as standard either.

 

[neilli777]

Custom Select works great if you want to pick from the options, and to a degree you can go 'off book' if you work with the right dealer (and have ordered before etc). But officially, when you want anything outside of those base models, you're into the MB fee which is $1500 (list) and then you start paying for the options on top.

 

[paulyc]

Both Music Zoo and Matt’s Music had sparkle paint non reverse pointy headstock 22 fret maple neck Strat bodied guitars in stock at one point, with the small Charvel rear route too, not the big Jackson route, so they do co-mingle parts. Matt’s Music sold them for 2999.00

The reverse pointy is a damn left handed non reverse pointy neck until the side markers are put in and the logo put on. $300 upcharge my ass. God damn price gouging is what it is.

If Matt’s sold them for 3K the 300 upcharge should put it at 3300, not 3600 unless there was a price increase for 2018. I’d pay 3000 for it, I may even spend the 3300, but I’m not paying 3600. The ones at Matt’s didn’t even have trem cover plates over the rear cavity.

 

[neilli777]

"at one point" is probably the key there. Charvel do still do some pointies on occasion but they're pretty rare now - 'management' wants the brand identities to be Charvel as strathead, and Jackson as pointy (PC and AS aside). But yeah, all the bolt-ons have the small rear rout, and I have no idea why they did that huge rout on the Soloists from 87 onward, because I think it's the only guitar they do it on (though maybe KVs and Kellys have that massive hole too?) I always spec a DK control rout if I can.

Neither jackson or Charvel do any production 22 fret pointy necks any more, so they can't just pick a lefty neck from stock.

My gold sparkle order was initially a Charvel, but I fought my corner to get it made as a Jackson. And I started the process thinking I could avoid MB hassles by suggesting they just get a lefty Charvel strathead neck put on a Jackson dinky body. But of course, neither company makes a production 22 fret Dinky, so again, it's 'off book'..

 

[paulyc]

No, I have Jackson bolt on strats from the 80s with the large rout, and I see another local to me for sale on CL, wasn't Soloist exclusive at all.

 

[Dave L]

Yeah, there´s some confusion here on what´s a Custom Select and what´s a plain old custom order.

And about those late 80s Ontario routes, I think they were to accomodate the active electronics that was in everything those days. At least on the Soloist and full-size strats, the Dinkys are more of a 90s thing and the DK-size route probably refers to the 22-fret Anderson-style body in that case. The 24-fret Dinky is just a bolt-on Soloist.

 

[paulyc]

The order form lists reverse headstock as available for a $300 up charge, the sparkle paint is listed also (for $520), so there isn't anything about this (unless the Strat body is what's doing it) that pushes it to Master Built or full custom shop status. It seems the dealer is just quoting me the list price, not an actual "street" price.

 

[paulyc]

"at one point" is probably the key there. Charvel do still do some pointies on occasion but they're pretty rare now - 'management' wants the brand identities to be Charvel as strathead, and Jackson as pointy (PC and AS aside). But yeah, all the bolt-ons have the small rear rout, and I have no idea why they did that huge rout on the Soloists from 87 onward, because I think it's the only guitar they do it on (though maybe KVs and Kellys have that massive hole too?) I always spec a DK control rout if I can.

Neither jackson or Charvel do any production 22 fret pointy necks any more, so they can't just pick a lefty neck from stock.

My gold sparkle order was initially a Charvel, but I fought my corner to get it made as a Jackson. And I started the process thinking I could avoid MB hassles by suggesting they just get a lefty Charvel strathead neck put on a Jackson dinky body. But of course, neither company makes a production 22 fret Dinky, so again, it's 'off book'..

Any pics of that gold sparkle ? Oh wait, is that the Steve Steven's one that was up a few days ago ?

 

[Dave L]

The order form lists reverse headstock as available for a $300 up charge, the sparkle paint is listed also (for $520), so there isn't anything about this (unless the Strat body is what's doing it) that pushes it to Master Built or full custom shop status. It seems the dealer is just quoting me the list price, not an actual "street" price.

The strat body is what´s doing it, for sure.

 

[paulyc]

^ I'd tend to agree if not for the 2999 price Matt's sold the 3 they had for.