Jackson Guitars

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The Jackson logo
The Jackson logo

Jackson is a guitar manufacturer originally owned and operated by Grover Jackson, a partner of Wayne Charvel of Charvel Guitar Repair. It is probably best-known for its "Rhoads" V model guitar, originally designed and used by guitarist Randy Rhoads. Grover put his name on the Rhoads rather than the Charvel name because he felt the design was too shocking for Charvel's regular customers. This model inspired Grover to start the Jackson guitar company.[citation needed].

Wayne Charvel sold his interest in the Charvel name to Grover Jackson on November 10, 1978. The shop was located in Glendora, California (while using a PO Box in neighboring San Dimas) and manufactured guitars in this location from 1979 to 1986, when the Company merged with IMC (International Music Corporation), a Texas based importer of musical instruments. The factory then moved to Ontario, California.

In the Fall of 2002, Fender Musical Instrument Corporation purchased Jackson/Charvel, and operations were moved to the Fender factory in Corona, CA. Fender is now manufacturing guitars that are almost exactly like the original San Dimas Charvels, save for a few details. Both Jackson and Charvel models are being produced at Corona. This had short term negative consequences, as much of the artists who were on the company's roster list in th 1980s and 1990s left to endorse other guitar companies. Though significantly improved since the buyout, interference by FMIC is still stated to be a problem with Jackson, and is why artists continue to stop endorsing them and go to other companies. Most however see that some of the new things that FMIC has instituted, such as the fairly low prices on high end USA models and improved quality in lower end models that the company will begin to experience a turnaround.

Jackson Guitars has become most famous for its slender and elegant models, often with an aggressive look popular with harder rock and metal music and are known for their fast playing necks. These features made them particularly popular among extreme metal guitarists in the 80's and early 90's (see artists list).

The Jackson famous headstock
The Jackson famous headstock

Almost all Jackson (and many Charvel) guitars share the typical Gibson Explorer-like pointy drooped headstock, originally designed by Randy Rhoads and subsequently copied by many guitar companies such as Kramer and Hamer. Various models (especially a good number of Dinkys) feature a reversed pointy headstock with the tip pointing upwards. Charvel/Jackson was the target of many copyright lawsuits from Fender which ended the use of Stratocaster styled headstocks for Jackson and Charvel guitars until recently.

A Jackson guitar
A Jackson guitar

Jackson's trademark guitar models include:

  • The Randy Rhoads guitar, an asymmetric 'V' shaped body with pointy "wings". Influential endorsers of this instrument included Randy Rhoads himself and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine.
  • The Vinnie Vincent Flying V, basically the same model of the rhoad's V with a second shadow V.
  • The Soloist or Dinky. The Soloist has a neck-through neck with the superstrat body design. The Dinky has exactly the same body shape but with bolt-on necks. Popular among lead guitarists in the metal genre.
  • The Kelly, a sleeker version of Gibson's popular Explorer, popularized by Marty Friedman of Megadeth.
  • The King V, was a symmetric 'V' shape with long pointy wings. The guitar was first commissioned by David Linsk but RATT guitarist Robbin Crosby("King" was Crosby's nickname) saw one at the factory in 1983 and became known for using them. At that time, the Jackson Custom Shop began producing King Vs for special order. Dave Mustaine of Megadeth later become heavily associated with this model guitar during beginning of Megadeth's commercial popularity in the late 80's, and Jackson released the KV as a regular production model.
  • The DR, a reverse headstock Dinky model.
  • Phil Collen's signature PC1 with a Sustainer infinite sustain driver in the neck position and a Floyd Rose original locking tremolo. It was followed by the shortlived PC3 model, a moderately priced version featuring DiMarzio HSS pickups and a Wilkinson floating vibrato.
  • The Warrior, a very aggressive looking body consisting of four pointy ends designed in-house. The points themselves were designed after the Jackson headstock shape.
  • The Kelly Star, a vaguely star shaped body, actually the front half of the Kelly with the pointy ends of the Rhoads model.
  • The Y2KV, Shaped like a Gibson Flying V but the size of a King V, designed and made popular by Dave Mustaine of Megadeth.
  • Jackson Professional Series was the Made in Japan line of many popular USA models. Ergo, all Jacksons with "Professional" on the headstock were made in the Japan factory.
  • The Performer tag is denoted on Jackson models produced in the early 90's in overseas factories (primarily Korea). Prices usually ranged from 400-800 dollars based on specifications.

While a few Jackson headstocks have had the "Strat head" shape, most have been the pointy "drooped" style shown above, designed by Randy Rhoads in 1980 - it is styled after the sleek nose of the jetliner Concorde. The Randy Rhoads V was the first guitar to carry Grover Jackson's moniker and was originally known as the Concorde. In fact, Jackson sued ESP in the late 80's for their use of the headstock Jackson was famous for. It is true that Fender sued Jackson Charvel in the 80's to discontinue their use of Fenders trademarked Stratocaster headstock.

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Many Jacksons also have "graphic" finishes -- usually only available on custom shopped guitars for other companies -- as a standard feature. Some of the most popular include the "Pile O' Skulls" finish, popularized by Suicidal Tendencies's Mike Clark, "Lightning Sky", "Graveyard", "Nebula", "Snakeskin" "Shattered Glass", "Bolted Steel", and more. Jackson's custom shop features the option of upgraded versions of a few of these finishes.

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