NGD

[Doadman]

My new SL3 has just arrived and the Trans Blue finish looks even better than it does on the Jackson website. The action is sky high so I'll need to adjust that down a bit and in comparison to my Ibanez the neck is like a baseball bat, though according to the website there's only a mm or so in it so I guess I'll adjust in time no problem. Build quality appears to be excellent and the case is very sturdy. I'm letting it acclimatise for a while at the moment before lowering the action, retuning and giving it a blast so I'll review it a bit more later  :D

I'll try to add a couple of pictures if someone can tell me how to do it.

[Antag]

Excellent!  Happy NGD.  I hope you like your SL3 as much as I like mine :)

I'll try to add a couple of pictures if someone can tell me how to do it.

Best thing is to create a photobucket account (or some other picture hosting site, it's free BTW) then post the link framed by img & /img in square brackets.

[ToneMonkey]

Or just click on additional options in below the reply box and you can post it straight in.  Then all the people at work can see it too.

[Doadman]

I've just played a few songs from our set to try and get a feel for it so I only have a few initial impressions so far. The guitar certainly has a more cutting and metallic tone to it than my Ibanez and I assume this is due to the Alder wood making it brighter, especially when coupled to ceramic pups. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, a very well made guitar.

The SD pickups are good and I certainly won't rush into changing them but I do prefer the Cold Sweats I had in the Ibanez to the Seymour Duncan's here. The pups are noticeably more powerful than my Cold Sweats but lack the same richness of tone and certainly in the case of the Hot Rails, they lack the same level of articulation. For such powerful pickups though, they do clean up beautifully and certainly don't seem to be one-trick ponies.

The neck is the biggest change. There certainly does seem to be a lot of wood in my hand when I'm playing and at the moment that is making things awkward but it was starting to get a little more comfortable even after only 10 minutes so I don't suppose it's a major problem. The Ibanez is certainly a faster neck but as I simply can't shred I doubt it will affect me longterm. My son is having a play with it at the moment and while he didn't like my Ibanez neck as it was too thin, he says this one is too thick compared to the Jackson RX10 he tried in a shop the other day. Kids - there's just no pleasing them!! The other thing that threw me was the positioning of the selector switch, which is set further back than on the Ibanez so when I was soloing through a song and went to change pickups I missed the switch. It's also odd having a 5-way switch as I'd had my Ibanez changed to a 3-way with coil tapping.

[dheim]

nice!
this one screams for a nickel Holy Diver...

[38thBeatle]

That is a great colour. I do like those inlays on the fretboard.

[dave_mc]

looks sweet :D

with any luck you'll get used to the neck, it is a bit thicker than the ibanez, but any time i play a jackson i can normally acclimatise pretty quickly, as long as i haven't come straight from a wizard...

[Doadman]

Thanks everyone, it really does look good and to my mind is certainly the nicest colour available on an SL3. I've just played through a number of songs in our set and I was able to get through them all OK eventually. The longer it went on, the faster I was able to adapt so I have high hopes that all will be well. I'm still not quite as comfortable as I was with the Ibanez but I've played nothing but that guitar for 5 years and only had this one for 2 hours so I guess that's to be expected. As I hoped for, I think my vibrato while bending the strings has become a little easier with the thicker neck. More than anything else, the neck felt a little sticky under my fingers and that put me off a bit but I'm assuming that is just because it's so new and may need a little playing in. Overall I'm happy with it. It looks gorgeous, sounds great and I've already started to adapt to it. Bring on those groupies  :D

[dave_mc]

the amber might be nice, too (though i think you're right, the blue is probably the nicest). i tried it in natural, but i don't think it's available any more (was nice, too, but again I suspect blue is the nicest- if anything, I'm possibly giving the other colours too much benefit of the doubt because I already have a blue, maple-topped guitar :lol: ).

[FernandoDuarte]

Lovely guitar!

[LazyNinja]

Congrats I hope it lives up to your expectations.

[AndyR]

Nice one. It is a lovely colour :D

Unless it's seriously outside of your comfort zone, I suspect you'll get used to the neck quite quickly. I started acquiring "more guitars than I really need" a few years ago. Before that, I took quite a while to get used to a guitar. But I do use most of them quite regularly, and now I'm finding myself slipping between baseball bats and skinny things, different scale lengths, different widths, different fingerboard radius, different pickups, etc, etc.... without even thinking about it :)

Have you played it with the band yet? That's when it'll really start feeling like second nature (hopefully! :lol:)

[Roobubba]

There certainly does seem to be a lot of wood in my hand when I'm playing and at the moment that is making things awkward but it was starting to get a little more comfortable even after only 10 minutes so I don't suppose it's a major problem.

I'm sorry, but I really had to LOL there :D

Aaaaanyway, great looking axe! That finish is very nice (although HOLY LACK OF PICTURE REDUCTION, BATMAN!).

I'm sure it won't take long to adjust to the neck. I found playing my multiscale very natural (and although that has a similar neck to my ibanez, it's still somewhat different to play on). After a while I didn't notice, as I'm sure you won't soon :)

Roo

[Antag]

On the subject of the neck, I'm surprised that you find it thick, although the Wizard is a very thin neck so I guess its relative.

If your SL3 is the same spec as mine, it should have the "Traditional Charvel" profile (IIRC Jackson started calling it "Standard" a few years back).  The stated measurements are .790-.850" which is approx 20-21½mm.  IIRC the Wizard is only 18-20mm & the Wizard II 19-21mm so there would clearly be a difference in feel.

However, more than outright thickness, I suspect the shape of the neck makes it feel more substantial.  Jackson's necks are typically "U" shaped - quite flat on the back with more "meat" on the "shoulders" than a rounded "C"-type shape.

FWIW, there are thinner Jackson necks out there - the "Speed" profile as used on the KV2 is .775-.835 (or approx 19½-21¼mm), though I think there's very little difference in feel (or gain in speed :)) from the Trad Charvel profile.

There's an even thinnner one that some MIJ Jacksons have - can't remember/am too lazy to look up the measurements, but I'm sure I can see the neck on my DK2M bending in a stiff breeze :)

There is (or at least, was once) a fatter one used too - my '87 Charvel has a neck like a levelled off telegraph pole...

[Doadman]

However, more than outright thickness, I suspect the shape of the neck makes it feel more substantial.  Jackson's necks are typically "U" shaped - quite flat on the back with more "meat" on the "shoulders" than a rounded "C"-type shape.

Now that explains a lot! I had assumed it was a 'C' shape neck and not bothered really looking. I tried an ESP with a 'U' shaped neck a month or so back and wasn't keen at all and I suppose this is similar. I do have the option of sending it back and just getting the PRS instead but to be honest, I'm not sure I want to now I've started getting used to it.