The Vinnie Vincent Forum - Where Freedom Rocks!

So I get alerts from Ebay about what is up in the Charvel Jackson world and sometimes I just can't resist. This happened with the Flame Up Charvel that I really love. It came with a pickup upgrade I really liked, so I put the same one in the red Charvel I bought afterwards.

Recently an import model of the Adrian Smith Jackson popped up, the SDX.

It had some pretty groovy upgrades itself:

• Iron Gear Hot Slag pickups (I had just heard about these a few weeks before so it was cool to see these in there)
  
  Master Push/Pull Middle Tone Control Potentiometer for coil-splitting in all pickup positions
  
  5-Way Super-switch
  
  Gotoh Floyd (super keen to try this out as I hear very, very good things about this version of the Floyd. It's probably the only one besides the German made ones I would be happy with)
  
  Brass Trem-Stopper
  
  Noiseless Trem Springs
  
  Custom H-S-H Pickguard 3-Ply White/Black/White (the SDX usually comes in a H-S-S combo, so I really dug the fact that this had a humbucker in the neck now)

It's been well setup and looked after and was going for too much of a song for me to resist, with all the cool stuff that had been done to it. Plus I have always loved the look of the big Jackson logo on a strathead. Dream fulfilled!

It's currently living at Dannii's house, as it was very close by, so he graciously picked it up for me. I plan to bring it home when I see GnR on the 10th of February, there is no real rush to have this guitar, ha ha.

Once I get it home and bond with it a little I will look out for a suitable case, as it comes with a gig bag.

Beautiful!!! Congrats!!!

I love how our community here helps each other.
Cool guitar !

Hhhhhmmm

I've never been able to set this guitar up to my specs, which are essentially Charvel type specs. The board is dead flat and the action is LOW.

I made some more changes after I finally picked it up when I was seeing GnR in Sydney in Feb of 2017!

I changed the nut to a proper Schaller one, changed the pickguard again to a perloid one with only two hums, getting rid of the middle pickup and going back to one voume and toggle switch setup. Pic is below.


In my quest to setup the action I realised that the neck needed a shim, someting other SDX owners reported. I still couldn't get the action nice, possibly also because I changed the nut.

Either way, along with the Monster VVV from another thread, this guitar has found it's way to Melbourne to be worked on by Cam at Custom Guitar Works. What he'll be doing is doing a rerfret with stainless steel frets and then setting the guitar up for killer action. Then I hoe to finally play it with the band, when the band gets playing again!!

I've never been able to set this guitar up to my specs, which are essentially Charvel type specs. The board is dead flat and the action is LOW.

I made some more changes after I finally picked it up when I was seeing GnR in Sydney in Feb of 2017!

I changed the nut to a proper Schaller one, changed the pickguard again to a perloid one with only two hums, getting rid of the middle pickup and going back to one voume and toggle switch setup. Pic is below.


In my quest to setup the action I realised that the neck needed a shim, someting other SDX owners reported. I still couldn't get the action nice, possibly also because I changed the nut.

Either way, along with the Monster VVV from another thread, this guitar has found it's way to Melbourne to be worked on by Cam at Custom Guitar Works. What he'll be doing is doing a rerfret with stainless steel frets and then setting the guitar up for killer action. Then I hope to finally play it with the band, when the band gets playing again!!

Beauty - make them jumbo stainless steel frets

Slayer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 07, 2020 9:26 am Beauty - make them jumbo stainless steel frets

That's the plan!!!!

Soooo....the plan on this guitar has been executed! It wasn't done by Cam as it came to be that he doesn't do SS frets, so I had it sent somewhere else in Melbourne.

It's had a lot of love and attention and now it plays fantastic. She got the SS frets and I got new dots put in as well and I got a set of Suhr Doug Aldrich pickups and a setup to suit.

Very cool Vic - looks great!

I'm currently based in Northern Thailand and didn't bring any of my guitars with me, you've inspired me to go have a look around! I was loosely looking for "Atlas" Guitars which were apparently very good Thai guitars built by a luthier here but seems like he stopped oh well, Japan isn't a million miles away for shipping

Cool man, I've not heard of those guitars, but that's not surprising.

How long are you there for? I guess a while as you are looking for guitars.

You weren't able to bring any with you? I hope they are ok for when you return.

Nick, there'd be plenty in Indonesia. The Ibanez (Premium and cheaper ones), Jackson (I think still make some there?), Cort, the awesome Harley Benton Fusions are made there.

Genebaby wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:27 pm Cool man, I've not heard of those guitars, but that's not surprising.

How long are you there for? I guess a while as you are looking for guitars.

You weren't able to bring any with you? I hope they are ok for when you return.

Bought a one way ticket, a condo, a pickup truck and a large plot of land no immediate plans to return back any time soon, but who knows! Unfortunately i didn't feel comfortable to bring any of my guitars on a flight but it's always an opportunity to try a new setup

shramiac wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 5:27 pm Nick, there'd be plenty in Indonesia. The Ibanez (Premium and cheaper ones), Jackson (I think still make some there?), Cort, the awesome Harley Benton Fusions are made there.

Are the indonesian ones any good? I'm so out of the loop now!

n3p wrote: ↑Mon Jul 25, 2022 9:14 pm
Are the Indonesian ones any good? I'm so out of the loop now!

The Indo Premium JEMs are better made than my original ones from 89 & 91. Only difference is they have a 16" radius rather than a 17" and they don't get the scalloped upper frets. Just looking at the Ibz site, the white JEM Steve was so known for playing all these years, is now only made in Indonesia! No more white Japanese JEMs! Looks like they're only making the new PIA model there now.

I own a Harley Benton Fusion II (w/Floyd) and it's fabulous. It was shipped down to Oz for about $AUD600, three years back. Stainless frets too. Not a super thin neck but not as thick as a Strat. Thomann in Germany owns Harley Benton, so I'm not sure if they're available off the shelf (same for any of the brands tbh) if you were in Indonesia.

So you think the new Indo Prem Jems are better made than your original Japanese one's from back in the glorious day? Wow. Do they get the real Edge trem as well? 16 and 17 are both pretty damn flat, and I prefer no scallops.