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

Laura":w0hfifj3 said:
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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Nice! I was just looking at BWB pick guards myself. :D

I'm loving the sounds I'm hearing from the SDX, so I'm going to keep it. The basswood body gives it a smooth vintage-eque tone, which sounds especially good with high-gain. The USA is made of alder I believe, which is going to sound different of-course... I just don't want to lose this sound. People like to rag basswood, but I'm finding its tone preferable. It has a naturally smooth top-end roll, which is something I was always trying to cope with via alternate pickups and speakers. I'm going to purchase a USA model, and load it with a SD "Super V" HB and 2 x Wolfetone "Flashback" singles. The SDX will be loaded with an EMG 89/SA/SA kit.
 
TrueTone500":15oe28iz said:
Nice! I was just looking at BWB pick guards myself. :D
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Yeah I hate single ply black guards on some guitars. Does anyone know of a BWB H-S-S guard that would go on the SDX without modifications?
 
chumbucket":qpt45san said:
TrueTone500":qpt45san said:
Nice! I was just looking at BWB pick guards myself. :D
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Yeah I hate single ply black guards on some guitars. Does anyone know of a BWB H-S-S guard that would go on the SDX without modifications?
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I've been looking at 11 hole Fender (Floyd Rose cut) pick guards.
 
TrueTone500":2gxtzyza said:
chumbucket":2gxtzyza said:
TrueTone500":2gxtzyza said:
Nice! I was just looking at BWB pick guards myself. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah I hate single ply black guards on some guitars. Does anyone know of a BWB H-S-S guard that would go on the SDX without modifications?
Click to expand...
I've been looking at 11 hole Fender (Floyd Rose cut) pick guards.
Click to expand...

On the topic of Jackson Adrian Smiths, who's got the best price on a new USA one? Best price I've seen so far was $1599 shipped.
 
chumbucket":10xzflia said:
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.
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Ah no. They use the real German made Floyd Rose like they do on all the USA Jacksons. Why does it not surprise me that Gibson would go on the cheap and use the less expensive FR.
 
srommes":2mp7c9uf said:
Ah no. They use the real German made Floyd Rose like they do on all the USA Jacksons. Why does it not surprise me that Gibson would go on the cheap and use the less expensive FR.
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Gibson does that to pass the savings on to you. :LOL: :LOL:
 
Yeah, was amazed that Gibson used the far eastern floyd on a Custom Shop guitar. Beyond belief..
 
I was looking at some 2014 Gibson LP models... :no: Three of them had crooked input plates, heavy build-up on the binding, and the finish was no better than what you would see on an Epiphone.
 
TrueTone500":3150fg3k said:
chumbucket":3150fg3k said:
TrueTone500":3150fg3k said:
Nice! I was just looking at BWB pick guards myself. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah I hate single ply black guards on some guitars. Does anyone know of a BWB H-S-S guard that would go on the SDX without modifications?
Click to expand...
I've been looking at 11 hole Fender (Floyd Rose cut) pick guards.
Click to expand...
I ordered mine from Tony at Pickguardian. Fit perfectly.
 
Laura":1u5ads2p said:
TrueTone500":1u5ads2p said:
chumbucket":1u5ads2p said:
TrueTone500":1u5ads2p said:
Nice! I was just looking at BWB pick guards myself. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah I hate single ply black guards on some guitars. Does anyone know of a BWB H-S-S guard that would go on the SDX without modifications?
Click to expand...
I've been looking at 11 hole Fender (Floyd Rose cut) pick guards.
Click to expand...
I ordered mine from Tony at Pickguardian. Fit perfectly.
Click to expand...
Thanks! :thumbsup:

I'm retuning the SDX, and ordering a USA version today. I just hope the neck cut is the same as the SDX...
 
TrueTone500":z5b0tdmy said:
I'm retuning the SDX, and ordering a USA version today. I just hope the neck cut is the same as the SDX...
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Who did you order the USA model from?

I put some different pickups in my SDX and it improved it significantly.
I put in a DiMarzio Transition ( thanks to Darren Stroud !) in the bridge and an Injector in the middle and a Heavy Blues in the neck. Way more balanced sounding. Better single coil sounds. Might change the Transition to a Super Distortion.
 
chumbucket":1dtanwnq said:
TrueTone500":1dtanwnq said:
I'm retuning the SDX, and ordering a USA version today. I just hope the neck cut is the same as the SDX...
Click to expand...

Who did you order the USA model from?

I put some different pickups in my SDX and it improved it significantly.
I put in a DiMarzio Transition ( thanks to Darren Stroud !) in the bridge and an Injector in the middle and a Heavy Blues in the neck. Way more balanced sounding. Better single coil sounds. Might change the Transition to a Super Distortion.
Click to expand...
I haven't returned the SDX. It's rare for me to find a guitar that I like, so I'm going to need to try a USA before buying one. I don't want a San Dimas cut neck, and being a Jackson, I'm naturally concerned... If it has a D neck, then I'm in.

I'm thinking of putting in an EMG 89/SA/SA kit with SPC and EXP controls. I don't care what anyone says... EMG's are incredible sounding pickups. If I go passive, I was thinking SD Super V, or SD '78 VH.
 
Bumping an old thread. I just got a brand new SDX today. It has pretty bad fret buzz starting at the 7th fret upwards. Any ideas what to look at? The neck relief looks ok. And the FR is already about 1/8th of an inch off the body.
 
ledvedder":28uoapju said:
Bumping an old thread. I just got a brand new SDX today. It has pretty bad fret buzz starting at the 7th fret upwards. Any ideas what to look at? The neck relief looks ok. And the FR is already about 1/8th of an inch off the body.
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Take it to a tech and get a set up. Could be a million things that a good luthier will sort out.
 
ledvedder":3i03n83k said:
Bumping an old thread. I just got a brand new SDX today. It has pretty bad fret buzz starting at the 7th fret upwards. Any ideas what to look at? The neck relief looks ok. And the FR is already about 1/8th of an inch off the body.
Click to expand...


Definitely take it for a setup. I used to LOVE Jackson and Ibanez but their $500 range indo models are notorious on their fretwork being all over the place. My last Soloist before switching to Solar was absolutely unplayable. The pro series I've tried have all been damn good as was the Ibanez Axion S style guitar I tried last week. It's odd to me that a lot of these guitars come out of the same shop it would seem that the QC should be consistent
 
Since it's a brand new guitar, I've decided to just return it. Im going with a black/white Charvel So Cal instead, which is what I was originally interested in.
 
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