Jackson JS22 Dinky DKA Na Oiled AH

I got this guitar as a DIY metal machine project. First off the box, the action was a bit high and after a couple of days the wood had dried so that the neck needed a lot of adjusting. The neck feel was however exactly what I was hoping for, that classic Jackson neck with a super smooth satin finish. The overall finish of the guitar is decent, especially for the price. Neck binding is nicely done, the body contours have some roughness here and there, but nothing outrageous.

The pickups were actually surprisingly decent. High output and capable of decent heavy tones. As per my original plan, I swapped the pickups for Bareknuckle Aftermaths with coil splitting on both and the result is just as it should: precise, heavy low end with clear highs and as a "bonus", when splitting the neck pickup, you get almost stratty tones. Perfect!

The bridge seems OK, nothing bad to say about that. I've adjusted it to "dive-only" mode, works perfect. The tuners were not very convincing, but my plan from the start was to change them to Schaller locking tuners and the end result is rock solid.

Overall, with the standard hardware the guitar is a decent rock guitar, especially if you are a beginner. With this price, you could do a lot worse. After the upgrades, this quitar can be awesome and does not pale in comparison to way more expensive guitars.

I bought this guitar knowing it's quite a cheep unit. I have a few other guitars in higher price range, and just 1 cheeper to compare with, but this is sooo much value for the money!

When I recieved it I was surprised how good, solid and well it feels to play. The neck feels great. Good support without Being to thick and all fret-ends are well rounded. The guitar is intonated and well setup as delivered.

This guitar is not actually a ready 5-star unit as delivered, but for the price, it is very affordable to build into a 5 star guitar!

Sound: The stock picups are very high output, and love to sing out overtones and pinch harmonics. The downside in my opinion is they lack a little bit of clarity and becomes muddy where e.g a SH-4 provides clearer distorted notes which articulates your playing and cuts better through a mix.

Pros: Price, feel, quality, low weight. At low extra cost possible to build into a superguitar!

Cons: The picup selector is very hard to reach below the vol-control and wammy arm. The whammy arm is wobbly, the strings sit so and so at the sadle (easy fix with roller string trees) and the stock picups lack a slight bit of clarity. A little bit thin in it's sound when compared to other guitars using similar picups.

Would I recommend it: YES YES YES!

I bought it to use it as a midi/synth guitar with a Boss GK5 hex pup.

This guitar weighs 3.045Kg which makes it a very light one, ideal for guys and gals with back problems (like I have).

Honestly, the only thing I don't like is the neck which is rather thick/fat for my taste but YMMV.

If you are into thin necks, look elsewhere.

Since I use only the GK5, I didn't spend much time with its humbuckers but for the 10 minutes I played with them, I like them both. They are not super hot, and, well, they sound like humbuckers.

Can't comment on the electronics either, they just work.

Don't expect much from the tremelo bridge in terms of tuning stability, and the tuners are cheap too.

But for the price tag, I think it;s perfect for beginners or practice for the more experienced players.