NGD! Jackson "Adrian Smith" SDX (Made in Indonesia)

TrueTone500

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I was leaving Sam Ash yesterday, and saw this little gem sitting near the exit. I've never played a Charvel/Jackson with a neck as nice as this - no BS. Feels like a "D" profile to me. I assumed it was a $2000.00 + USA made Jackson... $499.00 new! I was surprised to find that it was made in Indonesia. The salesman told me the earlier (Made in India) SDX models had issues with the necks. I've seen a few Made in India SDX necks on ebay with broken truss-rods, so this may be what he was referring to, I don't know?

The original specs read: Basswood body with a compound radius neck... The neck on this SDX does not feel like a CR neck to me, and the body wood both acoustically, and electrified sounds amazing! The single coils are crap, and will be changed-out with a set of Wolfetone "Flashback" pups. The bridge is going to either be a SD '78 EVH, Wolfetone "Dr. Vintage", or I may go with a EMG 89/SA/SA kit. The import FR tremolo is solid, and functions perfectly, so I don't see a need to change it anytime soon.

I can't remember the last time I've spent $499.00 so well. If any of you have experience with the USA made Adrian Smith, or Adrian Smith SDX, let's here from you. :)

 
Ive seen these but have always been too afraid that they would be crap in quality based off the price range. Hows the frets on it? Any rough edges or high frets? And i cant tell from the pic but can you adjust the truss rod from outside or do you need to remove the neck like on the charvels?
 
KentC":35nq699j said:
Ive seen these but have always been too afraid that they would be crap in quality based off the price range. Hows the frets on it? Any rough edges or high frets? And i cant tell from the pic but can you adjust the truss rod from outside or do you need to remove the neck like on the charvels?
- The frets on this are perfectly placed and level. I guess they could use a light polishing. I'll play them through with the stock strings, by then they will have smoothed out enough to replace with new strings.
- The truss rod adjustment is at the heel of the neck.

I'm a dick about quality! If there were any signs of poor materials and/or workmanship, I would not have purchased it. The fit & finish is as good as any USA Charvel that I have ever played. I'm going replace the tremolo with an original FR tremolo, R3 nut, and new pickups.
 
I have two USA AS's. I got both in like new condition for $1100 each. Love em' and won't part with them anytime soon. I've played the SDX on a couple occasions and felt there was really no comparison in quality. You'll see/feel the difference right away if you get a USA version.
 
srommes":2mnpokpd said:
I have two USA AS's. I got both in like new condition for $1100 each. Love em' and won't part with them anytime soon. I've played the SDX on a couple occasions and felt there was really no comparison in quality. You'll see/feel the difference right away if you get a USA version.
The SDX looks and feels great, so I can only imagine what the USA model must be like. $1100.00 is awesome! :thumbsup:
 
TrueTone500":2qr7eb4f said:
srommes":2qr7eb4f said:
I have two USA AS's. I got both in like new condition for $1100 each. Love em' and won't part with them anytime soon. I've played the SDX on a couple occasions and felt there was really no comparison in quality. You'll see/feel the difference right away if you get a USA version.
The SDX looks and feels great, so I can only imagine what the USA model must be like. $1100.00 is awesome! :thumbsup:

Yeah, I was lucky to find that deal. That's why I bought them both. White with maple neck and gold with a maple neck. You won't be disappointed if you get one.
 
I had one. Returned it. Wrong nut...which I CANNOT figure out. Why would you put the wrong nut on a new guitar. I tried two others, both with the same problems. The term rubbed in the cavity as well - by the adjustment screw for the term arm. Beyond that, decent guitar, but those two issues made it pretty much un-playable.
 
Chris O":kxmloe86 said:
I had one. Returned it. Wrong nut...which I CANNOT figure out. Why would you put the wrong nut on a new guitar. I tried two others, both with the same problems. The term rubbed in the cavity as well - by the adjustment screw for the term arm. Beyond that, decent guitar, but those two issues made it pretty much un-playable.
If you're talking about the SDX, I believe those are/were issues related to the India made models. They used an R4 size nut, when they should have used an R3 nut... At least that's what I'm reading. The tremolo on mine is seated perfectly, with no clearance issues at all. I can even rest the baseplate against the body for a non-floating setup. I believe the new SDX guitars are made by Samick in Indonesia.
 
I have two of the USAs, both maple boards - I got the first one shipped after NAMM and then bought a used one for a grand (now has tortoiseshell). I think they are awesome guitars - no flash, but just a great great superstrat..
 
You say the neck is a D shape. Is it a thin neck or does it had a little chunk to it? Thanks. Greg
 
TrueTone500":14wch1h6 said:
Chris O":14wch1h6 said:
I had one. Returned it. Wrong nut...which I CANNOT figure out. Why would you put the wrong nut on a new guitar. I tried two others, both with the same problems. The term rubbed in the cavity as well - by the adjustment screw for the term arm. Beyond that, decent guitar, but those two issues made it pretty much un-playable.
If you're talking about the SDX, I believe those are/were issues related to the India made models. They used an R4 size nut, when they should have used an R3 nut... At least that's what I'm reading. The tremolo on mine is seated perfectly, with no clearance issues at all. I can even rest the baseplate against the body for a non-floating setup. I believe the new SDX guitars are made by Samick in Indonesia.

Nice! If they have addressed those issues, it might be worth taking another look at. It was a good sounding/feeling guitar otherwise.
 
My .02 -
I had two of these, one Indian, one Indonesian and thought they were both pretty good. The Indian neck had a skunk stripe and a light gloss finish on the back which I preferred. The Indonesian had a maple cap and felt like it had the same finish as a MIJ SoCal that I had, so thin that it felt almost unfinished. Both necks felt pretty good to me similar to my 80's Charvel neck, though the Indonesian might have been a tad thicker but I didn't measure it. I had no issues with the Indian nut or trem.
I think that the Indonesian wasn't as bright due to the maple cap neck but it's hard to say. The Floyd Rose Special was okay and didn't warrant a swap-out.
The humbucker was okay but the single coils sucked. Those gotta go.
I thought they were both way more bang for the buck than the MIJ SoCal that I had which cost twice as much. It's a lot of guitar for $500 and a smokin' deal used for $400.

Does anybody know which Floyd they are suing on the USA models? I'm presuming that it's the same Korean made that Gibson uses on the Axcess guitars.
 
gbsmusic":3cawkosp said:
You say the neck is a D shape. Is it a thin neck or does it had a little chunk to it? Thanks. Greg
The SDX does feel fuller to me, but I wouldn't describe it as having a "chunky" neck.

Music Radar describes Jackson's as traditionally having D neck profiles...:confused: I've owned a dozen or so, San Dimas era Charvel/Jackson guitars (all pointy), all of which were C profile. This SDX does not have a C neck, though some have described it as such... It's a slimmer D profile. At least, that's what it feels like to me.

http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guita ... sdx-566276

"Speak to owners of USA-made Jacksons and chances are their favourite part of the guitar will be the neck. On the SDX, you have the traditional Jackson slim D profile with 22 massive frets..."
 
TrueTone500":26lrb6mx said:
If anyone can confirm that Indonesia made Jackson's are made by Samick, please post the info here.

I was thinking that Cort and Samick were the big manufacturers in Indonesia. Probably gotta be one of those two.
 
I have a US model. I thought I had a dud until I got it set up recently. Plays and sounds great. I replaced the pick guard with BWB and went single HB with a Warpig. This is an old pic but does it justice.

 
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