RANT: Jackson and Friends, and the beloved Compound Radii Fretboards

Sup!

I must say that I love Jackson, but they piss me off a bit too. They make great guitars and I have OWNED three and loved them. I sold the Jackson's for LTD's then sold them for Ibanez Prestige's (all of which I will indefinitely keep and I have five of them bitches).

"Trashed, you ass, I love Jackson, what is wrong?!?!"

"Compound radius fretboard's." I say, waiting to be bitched out...

The logic is fantastic, but not quite so ergonomic in practice. For those of you who are new or don't know much about guitars, the fretboard is curved convexly and compensated for by the saddles being different heights. THAT is why your saddles are different heights and not flat. The radius is the measurement of how curved the fretboard is. 

Fretboard radii can be from 7.25" to 20", both of which I don't care for. My Fender '52' Reissue Tele is 7.25 (original spec) is NOT the funnest guitar to do crazy bends and leads on. You fret out and it stops the note if you bend too far. 20" is way too flat. Cords suck and it's awkward.

What does Jackson do? They have a compound radius. IF I AM correct at the moment it is 12"-20" from nut to the end of the fretboard. Here are some things that you all may not think of. If you are on the first fret its curvy, but how often do you play on the first fret as opposed to other frets? The 24th fret is like flat OMG. I will hit the 24th fret regularly but it doesn't get as much action as say the 12th fret. Two extremes. So between two points is the middle, so it is kind of an average?  Yes. I would dare to say between the 7th to 15th fret which could be a hot spot for playing is not a whole lot of different and that is what have I noticed.

Where is the folly? Strings are only a straight line with tension applied. That is physics. So ACTION  and string HEIGHT can NEVER be as low as a 12" radius or a 14" radius. Why? Strings are closer to the frets in different spots. It can't EVER be that low. 

Is it a big deal? 

Not as big of a deal as I am making out of it. Jackson makes some nice guitars (most people have no qualms with that, nor I). I have owned a DKMG, a DKMGT, and a DK2 [all Made in Japan (mij)]. I dig them, and loved them, and had no major adverse reactions to the compound radius fretboard. There are A LOT of brands doing this. Suhr does this more gracefully on their fine axes. When I played a Suhr Modern, it was royally glorious in every way (Trashed wants). Fender has been doing it too.

Is it wrong? NO.  

/Trashed is out.

2016-12-01 Hoarding & What Trashed Hoards.

Cheers Gear Afflicted Junkies!


First off - I have a LOT of gear, and yes I have some [insert piece here] that I have in storage and haven't touched in five years. YES. I do. Hoarding gear can be a great thing. One good thing about gear is that most of it is pretty liquid.

If you buy it used for a good price, you likely won't lose much selling it on the used market and it typically goes reasonably fast.

If you buy new, that is a whole different situation, kiss your ass goodbye, you lost half of its value when you walked out the door of your favorite shop.

Either way, you get more money back from gear than you would a lot of other things, provided it is well taken care of.

With that aside, "TRASHED! WTF IS YOUR POINT???"

I would like to tell YOU all about what i like to hoard. Some of these things are more obsessive than others, some cheaper, and some not so much.

My most innocent hoarding is of Yamaha Nippon Gakki Classical guitars. They date back to the 1960's and they were made in Japan, there is a whole gamut of different models that they put out. I just happen to like their nylon string classical guitars. At the moment I believe I have five tucked away, one I take out regularly. I have spent from $10-$110 on them. They are very cheap, and I have scored at garage sales at least once.

My 'component' hoarding is tubes (duh!) at the moment I have roughly 90 brand new tubes, probably anther 40-50 that have been used and are good, and then i have 19 tube amps with functioning tubes in them. THIS may be a problem... lol. My second 'component' hoarding is BBD chips. I have a few laying around here and there that I am saving as they are no longer produced. I have at least five pedals with BBD chips in them (thank you Malekko!).

Ibanez Prestiges - this is the pricey one. I will have my sixth in January. They are just magnificent pieces of gear. They play so well, quality is top notch, perfect fretwork every time, GOOD trems that can take a lot before going out of tune. I think I may stop at 6, but don't quote me.

Two more notables!

Malekko Heavy Industry - I have at least seven or eight of their pedals, TOP freakin' notch.

Cmatmods - I have a growing collection of them, and every additional one I get even more blown away.


NOW FOR THE COOL PART. WHAT DO YOU HOARD? TELL ME!

Cheers, Trashed.