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This guitar is even prettier in real life. It had a darker and more full blue color than appears on the photo. The guitar is light and has so much clearance on the upper frets that I'm having to relearn how to play up high. The 22nd fret feels just like I'm playing on the 12th fret. The neck is that comfortable. The compound neck really makes a difference as well. I've never played a guitar that can bend a string up to 4 half steps so easily. The first time I played one, I was deciding between an ESP MH1000 and the Schecter C1 hybrid (which also felt really nice). However, it seemed like merely comparing two guitars was not official enough so I picked a random other guitar to throw into the mix just to make me feel like I was really choosing from a lot of good metal choices. Unfortunately for the other two, the Jackson blew them out of the water. My left hand instantly fell in love with the shape and especially the oiled texture of the neck. The seymour duncan pickups sounded much better to me than the EMG's of the other two guitars and thus the Jackson took first place. I saved up for 6 months and got one. This may be for professionals, but if you consider your self a part time 80's metal head want-to-be, look no further. The only complaint - It has made me question whether or not I should quit medical school and move back in with my parents to play guitar all day and pretend to be a budding musician. I wonder if they'd be ok with that...

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I received this in March but wanted to give it some time before reviewing. Upon opening the box (Desert Sunset Sky), I was immediately taken with how beautiful this guitar is. Pictures never do the guitars justice; in this case it isn't even close. The finish is complimented extremely well by the hardware...just a beautiful instrument.After a quick inspection and tuning, I plugged in and had a go at her. Totally responsive to every riff and solo I threw at it with ringing clear highs and growling lows. The SD Distortion pickups can handle anything I require of them. The bridge pup nails pinch harmonics and squeels easily. The neck is my favorite for soloing, and is edgy and warm at the same time. Swept arpeggios sound glorious as well as sustaining single note wails. I often find myself noodling around just because I am enjoying the tone so much. They clean up well, with either volume or amp tweaking. But honestly, this wasn't purchased for its cleanup ability. This was bought to shred...and it can do that for days.I did a setup more to my liking although the initial wasn't too bad. A slight truss tweak and trem setup and I was back in business. The factory strings had an odd feel but I used them during the break-in days before changing them out. Crafted in Indonesia. Yes, it has that on the headstock but you'd never guess that. I researched a lot of guitars before I chose this (chose...not settled). At this price there are many options and many try to avoid Crafted In Indonesia. However, Crafted is correct. This is an amazing guitar and I could have bought any other brand or model I wanted. I wanted this.The neck meets the body with a sculpted heel...totally comfortable and zero interference when you explore the upper registry. One of the main reasons I chose this guitar, so I wouldn't encounter a block at the joint. The body has some bevels that make it ergonomic for long sessions as well as being lighter than I expected. Sturdy jack and the pots are reasonably fast. The Floyd is very stable and holds tuning as should be expected. As always, the Jackson compound radius neck is a thing of beauty. To this day I can't decide if I like Jackson or Ibanez necks better. I have them both and love both equally. I have and have owned many, many guitars of different styles and manufacturers throughout the years. I wouldn't hesitate to put this one against any of my others.

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Just got this guitar today 04/02/2016 sent back a esp with emg that I wasn't happy with. This guitar was a different story, looks feel sound blows the esp away. The neck is awesome and the pickups rock. This is suppose to be a metal machine and it is, but select the neck and tweak the volume and the cleans sound great to. No problems with the trem other than a small adjustment to level it out other than that seems set up pretty well. My only issue was which color to get root beer or trans blue both are gorgeous. I'm no pro or anything but in my opinion you wont go wrong getting this guitar. I bought the case for mine would recommend you do to. Didn't rate manufacturer support because haven't used them.

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I have been playing a 1991 Ibanez RG 560 since well 1991 and don't get me wrong I love that old girl. But I felt it was time for a change and was looking into the Soloist for the better part of a year before I decided to buy this model in Alien Burst. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt this guitar is hands down becoming my main guitar. I didn't think I would like the color all that much but the way it fades from the lighter color to green and the green continuing on to the back sets off an already amazing guitar then adding the Seymore Duncan pickup, the Floy Rose bridge and of course the Neck-through body just makes it what it really is...A High Powered Shread Machine. My only complaint and the reason why I almost didn't buy this masterpiece is that it doesn't come with a case. If your going to pay $1000.00 for a guitar Jackson/fender should include case and the reason Value only gets 4 stars.

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I love the way the guitar sounds, looks, and plays. I was not disappointed and while this is my first real floating bridge Tremolo floyd rose system guitar. I so glad I decided to get it. First off the guitar's finish is stunning, to me I just love the way it looks and the pictures are no real justice to the in person view. I looked the guitar over in great detail and there were no, none, nada blemishes or issues with the finish or the functioning parts, the tuners, bridge, pickups, volume, toggle, binding, all in great shape. I checked the neck for any excessive bends, and the ebony fretboard was in great shape. I put out a YT vid on the unboxing. I bought the case with it as well. I didn't like the DAddario strings that it came with, they ALWAYS turn my fingertips black, and I changed them out after day one with Ernie Ball Cobalts.However, I had to unscrew the back plate and screw down the screws from the bridge down about 5 or 6 turns, I was tuning too sharpe and it caused a lot grief for me since I am all new to the process, but once I got it in tune, and lowered the action, it plays wonderfully. The pickups are high on the distortion end, which I don't mind for the metal I play. It does play clean as well but it is not deep in tone like my Gibson LP. I love this guitar.

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I ordered this on April 12th. I received it on May 10th. Took a little longer than my last guitar from ZZ, but I do live in Alaska and w/ Covid, I expected some delays. I could have shipped w/ better packaging/protection, however, I received it undamaged so that's good. Now to the guitar. It's beautiful. Like most, the photos don't do it justice. It's pretty light weight. I didn't have any sharp fret ends and it feels great. The only thing I don't really like and it's not a big deal is the neck pup which is a Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion. I prefer the Sh-2, Sh-1 or Pearly Gates for the neck it just has a more "creamy" tone to it, the SH-6 isn't my favorite neck pup, however, having the TB-6 Distortion in the bridge sounds great. The Floyd is great. The set up was pretty good, I like the action a little lower than what how it came, but i set it up the way I like it and it's great. The only thing they could have done to make it a little "nicer" for it's price point is maybe a 5 piece neck Maple/Walnut, but no one is really looking at the back of the neck, the look is by far the quilted top. I'm primarily an Ibanez RG player, but I wanted to try something different, and I'm glad I did. This is a "rocker" guitar for sure. I'll be playing this a lot. The best thing other than the look of this is the value. Yes, it's an Indo made guitar, but lately they've been doing outstanding work. And when you take away the 200 for the upgraded pups, the 200 for the floyd you have a really nice 600 dollar indo guitar w/ quilted maple top, neck through and an ebony fretboard. So the value is there. Compare it to an Ibanez premium which is also Indo made, I think this Jackson is a better deal for the price. It's 400.00 USD less and comes w/ all the bells and whistles other than a 5 piece neck maple/walnut or whatever.

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Don't let the name soloist fool you. This is every bit as good for mellow, straight up to bone crushing rhythm riffs, as it is for face melting leads. The neck is one of the most comfortable necks I've played on, and it plays smooth as butter. The finish was absolutely beautiful. The absolute highlight though, is the Duncan distortions. The guitar somehow managed to keep allot of the twang of the bolt on necks, if you don't mind picking a little more aggressively, and has the smooth sound of the neck through. Both the cleans and distortion on this guitar are a 10/10. I've played quite a few models and the cleans on this are untouchable in the price range. Distorted, this guitar gets brutal, while maintain note clarity.Now that good stuff is done, there is a couple little issues, that are not bad. Where the clear coat material on the body meets the neck, and is cut off, they managed a small scratch in the neck binding. Nothing serious and probably correctable with very fine sandpaper. The input jack was super tight and hard to plug into. Still slightly difficult, but as I use it more it seems to be correcting itself and getting easier to pop in. The toggle switch is a hair jumpy, which is likely only a spring break in issue. All in all, you're going to be hard pressed to find a better guitar at this price. There's clearly no style it can't do. The overall build quality is far better than expected, though like many, that Indonesia tag worried me. I like that the woods are visible on the back, and they clearly used high quality wood, with a good tight grain pattern. I expect this guitar to hold up for years of hard play. I would recommend this to any style of player.

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I bought this guitar in Alien Burst finish a couple days ago after much searching. Prior to this, the next closest thing I owned was a '91 Ibanez RG-750. That's a great guitar, original owner, been through a lot with it, but I never did care for the thin neck. Finally, I bit on this Jackson. The feel and finish is amazing. Build is flawless. It sounds like a toothy beast with the Duncan Distortions. In fact, almost too snarly. I toyed with experimenting with pickups before even hearing the guitar. For my ears, I think switching out to a slightly lower output, same harmonics, but swap just a wee bit of that bright edge for a hint of warm mids, and it would be spot on. I play through an ENGL Ironball, so the Distortion pup may be a bit hot for the level of gain that amp has...I hear a 'pushed' ragged edge in the tone. The location of the volume knob is tucked back just out of the pick path, but still an easy reach for the pinky. Perfect location in my book; no accidental volume adjustments.

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Got it yesterday. From reading reviews was very hopeful. Box came with a gash put through the front and went into 2nd inner box. It did arrive exactly on schedule though. Blue overspray on back of neck with the tape outline standing out. Strings buzzed heavily on multiple frets and couldn’t get harmonics on the 5th and 7th fret on all strings. With very little pressure the neck would bend out of position and the strings would noticeably detune then retune just from grip to neck. The pick ups sounded like there was a pillow between them and the strings. The amp was partially to blame. Was disappointed. Maybe I got a lemon but for that price it needs to be much better. I wouldn’t bring it on stage. It’s a beautiful guitar despite it needing lots of adjusting.