The Steel Guitar Forum

As a Jackson Steel player, I'm really loving my Jackson Steel-for me, I love everything about it-looks, sound playability, tone, pedal action....What do you who are Jackson Steel players love about your Jackson Steels?

Brett

I have to agree with Brett's assessment of the Jackson Steel Guitar.The Jackon's are good people to work with.They make a guitar that is second to none!!!

Do you feel you have experienced enough different PSG guitars to rate them?

Rate the following vs other guitars:

Tuning stability
cabinet detune
tone
weight
pedal/lever ease of actuation.
adjustability

I'd like to get a close up look at the undercarriages of some Jacksons. I'm not sure about the tuning nuts being on the endplate on the keyhead end. Maybe there seperating the lowers/raises this way. Don't know. Thanks.

Jim Pitman wrote:Do you feel you have experienced enough different PSG guitars to rate them?

Rate the following vs other guitars:

Tuning stability
cabinet detune
tone
weight
pedal/lever ease of actuation.
adjustability

I have played Jackson Steels exclusively since 2008. Before that, I owned and performed with the following brands:

Carter (2)
MSA
Sho~Bud (4)
MCI
Mullen
Fessenden (2)

I've tried out/played at one point or another virtually every other brand as well: GFI, Williams, Emmons, Fulawka, Rains, etc. I stopped at Jackson. Never felt the need to keep looking. To me, Jackson beats them all with regard to your list of comparative criteria: zero tuning issues, practically no cabinet drop, incredible tone, quick/responsive pedal/lever action, light weight, easy to adjust, etc. But subjectivity rules the day in the world of steel guitar. All of the above brands are quality. At the end of the day, it's what YOU like. I'm not saying that Jackson is a better steel than any other; I am saying that it's a better steel for me than any other. And of course I'd highly recommend one.

Billy Carr wrote:I'd like to get a close up look at the undercarriages of some Jacksons. I'm not sure about the tuning nuts being on the endplate on the keyhead end. Maybe there seperating the lowers/raises this way. Don't know. Thanks.

The keyhead tuners are only on the Shot Jackson Commemorative model. All other models, such as the Blackjack and Pro IV, have the conventional tuning system.

I've owned two steels before my Jackson-Emmons and GFI, and played a Carter in St. Louis at ISGC '03 but the Jackson is the best steel I've owned-it's my favorite and best steel and it's now my main guitar.

I guess we must list our credentials before we give our opinion here.I've had a Sho-Bud Pro,MSA(80's)Desert Rose(2004)Jackson(2008)all nice guitars but in the categories Brett listed the Jackson in my opinion is at the top of the list.

Ok. I've had a little more than 100 guitars over the last 40 years but have studied the Jackson ever since they started building them. Interesting guitars.

Actually, the original question posed didn't ask for a comparison between Jackson guitars to other guitars.....it was simply.....what do Jackson Steel guitar owners/players love about their Jackson Steel guitars?.........

We took Jim P's bait.

Billy Carr wrote:I'd like to get a close up look at the undercarriages of some Jacksons. I'm not sure about the tuning nuts being on the endplate on the keyhead end. Maybe there seperating the lowers/raises this way. Don't know. Thanks.

Billy and all,

I'm primarily an Emmons PP guy, as most folks here know, but I had an opportunity to take a Jackson Madison '63 in on a trade for an Emmons PP I was selling to a good friend (and previous customer) a while back. I've always been intrigued with the Jackson guitars after seeing them at conventions and marveling at the quality of workmanship and of course their beauty. I also was impressed with the awesome tone that Jonny Cox was getting while playing what I think was a Shot Jackson Commemorative model, at the Dallas Jamboree a couple of years ago.

I'm very happy with this guitar and play it in rotation with my others. It has great tone, playability, sustain and it is solid as a rock, as far a staying in tune thoughout the night.

Here are a few photos, including the under carriage, for guys like Billy who might be curious about the rather unconventional mechanics (especially at the key head end). I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical of that part of things (swiveling keys and such) but they work perfectly!

What a beautiful guitar. Lynn. I bet it has incredible tone.

Here is my Pro IV SD10 3+4 with conventional changer system:

It 'seems' most Jackson owners prefer single coils. I wonder if this is true.

Lynn, all...
Am I correct in assuming that on the Madison 63 and other Jackson models with the swiveling tuners that the copedent is fixed for what strings are lowered and therefore modifying the raises/lowers is problematic?

Gary Reed wrote:It 'seems' most Jackson owners prefer single coils. I wonder if this is true.

To the best of my knowledge, all Jacksons come stock with Harry Jackson's pickups that have similar specs to the ones he used to wind for Sho~Bud. David is a strong proponent of the single coil and its capacity for capturing that classic Sho~Bud tone. I'm not sure if a double coil is even an option, although I can't imagine David not accommodating a customer's preferences.

My single coil is modelled after one that Harry custom-wound for Hal Rugg in the '70s. The magnets get bigger as the strings get smaller. It thickens the tone on the smaller strings. Same with Lynn's Madison. You can see this in the pics.

Herb Steiner wrote:Lynn, all...
Am I correct in assuming that on the Madison 63 and other Jackson models with the swiveling tuners that the copedent is fixed for what strings are lowered and therefore modifying the raises/lowers is problematic?

Herb, yes, you are correct in your statement. If you look closely at the last photo I posted, you'll notice there is a provision for lowering the 2nd string on the E9 neck at the key head end but David decided to drop strings 2 and 9 at the changer end. I presume it was just easier to do it that way, as it would require a reversing linkage otherwise.

Chris, thanks for your nice comments. The Madison sounds amazing...much like an early Sho~Bud on steroids Your Jackson looks fantastic! I'm sure it sounds and plays great.

My guitar also has an interesting feature called "The EDGE" on the tops of the changer fingers. Here below is a stock photo from the Jackson site. My guitar looks just like it (except that David replaced the 3rd string finger with a plain one). My friend had trouble breaking that string, so he sent the guitar back to Jackson to try and resolve the problem. So far, so good...



Verbage from the Jackson site:

"Weʼve incorporated The EDGE patented design into our pulling fingers on all models. The knife-edge point-of- contact enables the string to resonate longer, providing even greater sustain."

To give you a rough idea of how the Jackson sounds, here are links to two songs I recorded last year using the Pro IV direct to board through the preamp of a small tweed Fender:

http://soundcloud.com/chrisledrew/killi ... ry-canning

http://soundcloud.com/chrisledrew/broke ... ry-canning

You can just pull the red needle ahead on both songs to find the steel spots. Or listen to the whole song.

my Blackjack Custom has a pro 4 changer. I LOVE this guitar !!

Sorry - Didn't mean to changed the course of the thread.
The engineer in me gets a little too scientific sometime.

My dog Barrett loves my jackson as much as I do. Every day I go to practice this is what I find.

Well I have one of the first Jackson guitars made by David and it is just a wondeful guitar and I have had it since 2006 and no problems. It Has rosewood neck and front. It sounds awesome stays in tune just an all round great guitar.
My wife talked David out of this Madison 63 in Dallas this year and surprised me with it. This guitar is well I have no words to describe it. The inlay work on this guitar is so beautiful and the sound well just the way it should be.
Johnny Cox played this guitar through my steel amps that I build and it was so sweet sounding. I wish I had recorded it. The man is just a monster.

My daughter loves Jackson steels too!

I love everything about them. I'm partial to the Shot Jackson/Madison 63 which David tells me that are the same model now. The tone is amazing in these guitars. My new Shot Jackson is on order now. I hope I will have it in time for SWSGA show in January.

I own a beautiful Madison, the same Buddy Emmons played in the sixties.
You can see it at this address on the Jackson site, it's the first Madison D10 with black top.
http://jacksonsteelguitar.com/media-madison-63/
The tone is fantastic and the craftmanship is incredible.
I love it !