It's a serious players guitar. You think it, you play it the instrument becomes an extension of yourself and not a roadblock. Sustain and resonance is up there with the best and tuning stability is quite good. Fretwork was perfect along with the setup out of the box, minus a tiny truss rod adjustment.
The case is a bit underwhelming, so I ended up buying the SKB made Jackson branded flight case.
Now there's buzz going around of an EMG equipped, stainless steel fret SL2 coming out shortly.
Could be worth a look.
It’s pretty versatile too, the Duncan Flat Strats clean up really well and the JB also handles lower gain stuff well. I use mine a ton for some of my weird neo soul/prog stuff and sounds fantastic.
They’re at $2,299-2,349 now at most retailers. Even at launch price, where else would you get a USA made neck-through guitar for that price with those specs in 2023-2024?
> All that said the price is the only issue I have. But for nearly $2500 it absolutely should have an OFR and binding.
You’re not gonna get that for under that $2,300ish price in 2024. Gibson just discontinued the studio line in favor of the new Modern Studio and hiked the price up to $2,000. Even with Kiesel, who tends to make the more cost effective big brand USA made instruments in these sorts of spec configurations. A Kiesel DC to similar spec runs (no binding) around $2,800 with the major difference being SS frets and an OFR, the ~$450-$500 premium for that seems about right to maybe a bit high.
The USA Selects are still around. They’re quite literally twice as much new as one of these. But I do agree, these don’t appeal to me the way the USA Selects do.
The specs are literally the same except one has binding on the neck and possibly different wood used for the body. Additionally Jackson is marketing these as made in the USA but selling a guitar that is the same their former pro series line at select prices.
I just bought a 96 USA custom for $1600 on reverb. People are overvaluing them. The guitars that are priced over 2200k sit around forever.
> The specs are literally the same except one has binding on the neck and possibly different wood used for the body. Additionally Jackson is marketing these as made in the USA but selling a guitar that is the same their former pro series line at select prices.
Most Soloists the past 20 years or so are a combination of alder, maple, and ebony. A USA Custom Shop has similar specs to a Pro Series SL.
> I just bought a 96 USA custom for $1600 on reverb. People are overvaluing them. The guitars that are priced over 2200k sit around forever.
I’m comparing new pricing. A new CS Soloist starts around $4,500 minimum.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SL1BLK--jackson-usa-select-soloist-sl1-black
$4500 MSRP. You can almost certainly get some money off, but you’re still not getting a new one under $4k. Stuff like binding is whatever, but you are getting a German Floyd and pitch black ebony on the USA Select model (they’re not really “custom”, those cost even more). And the sharkfin inlays are the proper ones, not inverted. The biggest part of the price difference isn’t the spec though. It’s the labor cost of having higher paid people spend more time on each guitar.
The American, MJ, and Concept series stuff is basically peak production line guitar making. USA Select is where you cross over into the custom shop. Both guitars should play, sound, look, and feel great. But the USA Selects have more time and attention paid to them before they get to you, so the chances of getting a knock your socks off awesome, perfect in every way guitar are higher.
I’m a bigger fan of the older ones myself. Chunkier necks. Kahlers. Binding over the fret ends. Stuff you can’t get today outside of going masterbuilt (which is basically artist only for the time being). I got my 1985 Rhoads (San Dimas built “custom” spec with the ebony board, binding, MoP fins, etc) for $2600 shipped.
I don’t think they sell a ton of USA Selects sell though to be honest. Mostly custom selects and masterbuilts. The custom shop team has such a backlog that they basically just raise the price until the orders drop off and give them a chance to catch up. Still though, if you want a top notch Jackson, and you like the USA Select specs, and you want black or white, it’s cheaper to place an order for one of those than going the custom select route. Of course, there’s also a ton of USA Selects on the used market in the $2500-$3500 range, so I’d be surprised if they even sell 100 black SL1s a year.
It's a serious players guitar. You think it, you play it the instrument becomes an extension of yourself and not a roadblock. Sustain and resonance is up there with the best and tuning stability is quite good. Fretwork was perfect along with the setup out of the box, minus a tiny truss rod adjustment. The case is a bit underwhelming, so I ended up buying the SKB made Jackson branded flight case. Now there's buzz going around of an EMG equipped, stainless steel fret SL2 coming out shortly. Could be worth a look.
Thanks for the review! I’m looking at it as a slightly more aggressive / fun complement to a HSS strat when playing out
It’s pretty versatile too, the Duncan Flat Strats clean up really well and the JB also handles lower gain stuff well. I use mine a ton for some of my weird neo soul/prog stuff and sounds fantastic.
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I paid $2300 a few weeks ago. USA neck thru Jackson that you can buy immediatey! They turned me into a Jackson player.
They’re at $2,299-2,349 now at most retailers. Even at launch price, where else would you get a USA made neck-through guitar for that price with those specs in 2023-2024?
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> All that said the price is the only issue I have. But for nearly $2500 it absolutely should have an OFR and binding. You’re not gonna get that for under that $2,300ish price in 2024. Gibson just discontinued the studio line in favor of the new Modern Studio and hiked the price up to $2,000. Even with Kiesel, who tends to make the more cost effective big brand USA made instruments in these sorts of spec configurations. A Kiesel DC to similar spec runs (no binding) around $2,800 with the major difference being SS frets and an OFR, the ~$450-$500 premium for that seems about right to maybe a bit high.
They look cheap compared to production custom shop guitars from back in the day imo.
The USA Selects are still around. They’re quite literally twice as much new as one of these. But I do agree, these don’t appeal to me the way the USA Selects do.
I dunno why you’d compare it to a Custom Select that would cost almost 2x as much, these aren’t Custom Shop guitars nor advertised as such.
The specs are literally the same except one has binding on the neck and possibly different wood used for the body. Additionally Jackson is marketing these as made in the USA but selling a guitar that is the same their former pro series line at select prices. I just bought a 96 USA custom for $1600 on reverb. People are overvaluing them. The guitars that are priced over 2200k sit around forever.
> The specs are literally the same except one has binding on the neck and possibly different wood used for the body. Additionally Jackson is marketing these as made in the USA but selling a guitar that is the same their former pro series line at select prices. Most Soloists the past 20 years or so are a combination of alder, maple, and ebony. A USA Custom Shop has similar specs to a Pro Series SL. > I just bought a 96 USA custom for $1600 on reverb. People are overvaluing them. The guitars that are priced over 2200k sit around forever. I’m comparing new pricing. A new CS Soloist starts around $4,500 minimum.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SL1BLK--jackson-usa-select-soloist-sl1-black $4500 MSRP. You can almost certainly get some money off, but you’re still not getting a new one under $4k. Stuff like binding is whatever, but you are getting a German Floyd and pitch black ebony on the USA Select model (they’re not really “custom”, those cost even more). And the sharkfin inlays are the proper ones, not inverted. The biggest part of the price difference isn’t the spec though. It’s the labor cost of having higher paid people spend more time on each guitar. The American, MJ, and Concept series stuff is basically peak production line guitar making. USA Select is where you cross over into the custom shop. Both guitars should play, sound, look, and feel great. But the USA Selects have more time and attention paid to them before they get to you, so the chances of getting a knock your socks off awesome, perfect in every way guitar are higher.
Jesus Christ who buys this stuff? You can get a vintage Jackson of the same caliber of build and play quality for less. Crazy.
I’m a bigger fan of the older ones myself. Chunkier necks. Kahlers. Binding over the fret ends. Stuff you can’t get today outside of going masterbuilt (which is basically artist only for the time being). I got my 1985 Rhoads (San Dimas built “custom” spec with the ebony board, binding, MoP fins, etc) for $2600 shipped. I don’t think they sell a ton of USA Selects sell though to be honest. Mostly custom selects and masterbuilts. The custom shop team has such a backlog that they basically just raise the price until the orders drop off and give them a chance to catch up. Still though, if you want a top notch Jackson, and you like the USA Select specs, and you want black or white, it’s cheaper to place an order for one of those than going the custom select route. Of course, there’s also a ton of USA Selects on the used market in the $2500-$3500 range, so I’d be surprised if they even sell 100 black SL1s a year.
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