I had to wait for this guitar on backorder for a little while in the matte black finish, but after I finally received it, I feel that the wait was well worth it. The neck on this guitar is absolutely wonderful. The level of detail in it's craftsmanship is beyond what you'd expect from a lower budget guitar. Frets are in great condition. Neck has binding all the way around it that you normally would not see on a lower budget instrument. Although the fret board itself is touched off with the shark fin inlays, the wood itself could've been cleaned better. There's still that whitish waxy finish compound on the wood that wasn't cleaned off, but no worries, I can easily clean it off myself. I don't have any issues with fret buzzing that I can detect, but the frets could use a slight bit more crowning and polishing. I have the tools to do that kind of thing, and to most beginners or even intermediate players, they wouldn't even notice. The tuners leave a bit to be desired. They were lose feeling to turn, but I honestly didn't give them much of a chance to give an honest review of them, because I immediately swapped on a set of Hipshot locking tuners that dropped in without ANY extra drilling or modifications. I think all guitars should have locking tuners from the start lol. I also did not give the stock pickups a test. I immediately swapped in a set of active EMG 81, and 85 pickups. There was just enough room in the back cavity to install all the necessary hardware and battery. I very… read more partial to active pickups and these make this guitar scream greatness. Even though I didn't test the stock pickups out, the pots used were definitely budget friendly. They were small and cheap of course. Expected from a budget friendly guitar. Again that didn't matter to much to me since I changed out all the electronics, except for the 3 way switch. I did use it. My only real complaint is the location of the strap button on the neck end of the body. It is NOT located very well. Issues with neck dive with it. I also installed a locking strap button on the back by the neck plate. Neck dive problem solved. It's just a shame that Jackson guitars does do this at the factory in they do with there other Kelly guitars and V shaped guitars. Doesn't really make any sense to me, but oh well. I'm sure they're fully aware of the issue to. All in all, I love the guitar. The weight is practically non existant as it is light and a feather. It's an extreme pleasure to play.

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