NGD! Jackson Monarkh SCG

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And? Did you get it yet? We need a review, please...

[marnold***]

And? Did you get it yet? We need a review, please...

It came in the mail today! It's amazing how every motorized vehicle starts to sound like a UPS truck

Anyway, I got it out of the box and it showed some effects of hanging in a Guitar Center for a while. What I mean by that is it is a bit dusty, the body needed to get some fingerprints off it, the tuners were a bit sticky. The scratches on the neck are not even noticeable unless you see it in the right light. I can't feel it. The strings were also beyond repair and one broke at the tuning peg in transit. I had my wife pick up a set from the local GC on her way home from work.

First of all, the bad:
OK, it's not THAT bad, but there are some cosmetic issues. The binding on the bottom of the neck is spotless. The binding on the top has some very small cracks in it, no doubt due to the wood shrinking in the cold. I can't feel it when playing but it is easy to see. They also apparently didn't mask things off quite properly when they put the clear coat on the body so a bit of it in a perfect line is visible on the back of the neck and the binding on the top of the neck in the same area as the body itself. Why can't this be on the bottom where I can't see it?!? I've got 45 days to decide if that is a deal breaker or not.

Also, it desperately needed a setup. The neck was ramrod straight, to the point of being back bowed even though I put heavier gauge strings on it (10s instead of 9s). Also the bridge was set too high. All of this I can easily correct. It will take a couple of days because I don't want to adjust the neck too much. Thankfully the truss rod works great. Once I've got the relief right I'll get the bridge to its proper height and adjust the intonation. I also gave the fretboard some mineral oil. It didn't seem dry, but since I had all the strings off anyway....

The pots work, but they are very little and have inconsistent taper. That is an easy fix if it annoys me enough. I also think that the nut might be cut just a smidge high on a couple of strings. I always wanted an excuse to get nut files...

The indifferent:
The body has a matte finish instead of a gloss one. I wasn't aware of that. It still looks nice. It appears to change color, getting darker as you go more off-axis. Kinda cool actually.

The good:
I love the heel joint. Way better than any other Les Paul I've played. You can actually reach top frets easily. I also love how straight the pull is on the headstock. I don't anticipate tuning issues. Locking tuners are awesome and should be mandatory on every guitar.

The JB/'51 pickups are a classic combo. The only "issue" is the JB/Jazz combo on my DK2M is very similar. The frets are very shiny and there don't seem to be any high spots. Love me some jumbo frets.

The guitar seems to have a bass resonance that my other two guitars don't have. It's not boomy by any means, but when you play it acoustically it is very noticeable. It is quite light and balances well on my lap. So many Les Paul's I've played are so body-heavy that I'm afraid to lose my grip on the neck.

Overall:
The finish imperfections are annoying. They don't affect playability at all, but I guess I expected more from a guitar that retails for around a grand. Once I get it properly set up, I will have a better idea of how it really plays. As of right now, all signs on that front seem good. I wish I didn't have to putz with it that much, but since it hasn't been adjusted probably since it came out of the box and it just traveled in winter weather, I shouldn't be surprised.

I'll get some pictures up and hopefully some sound clips over the next several days.