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JACKSON PS3T RHOADS PERFORMER (When was this made?)
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2024 12:50 pm
by toomanycats
I made this Jackson mine the other day. It's in almost pristine condition, which is shocking considering how pointy it is and that it wasn't in a case. The plastic film is still on the back of the tuners and the truss rod cover. The original trem bar is missing, but other than that it's complete.
I know the deal about 7 digit Jackson serial numbers that begin in 96, that even though it's almost certainly made in Japan (even though the sticker above the neck plate has been removed), it doesn't necessarily mean it was manufactured in 96. Very confusing the Jackson numbering system. If anyone here can help me decipher the info I've provided it would be appreciated. I know that
@slowhand84 has a super fancy MIJ Rhoads and maybe he has some insight.
September 1999? September 2009? I'm confused. Was the Performer Series even made until 2009?
The neck is absolutely amazing. It's not quite as thin as an Ibanez Wizard, but it is equally fast. I have a MIJ Jackson King V Standard Professional and the necks feel identical.
Re: JACKSON PS3T RHOADS PERFORMER (When was this made?)
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2024 2:26 pm
by slowhand84
toomanycats wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2024 12:50 pm
I made this Jackson mine the other day. It's in almost pristine condition, which is shocking considering how pointy it is and that it wasn't in a case. The plastic film is still on the back of the tuners and the truss rod cover. The original trem bar is missing, but other than that it's complete.
I know the deal about 7 digit Jackson serial numbers that begin in 96, that even though it' almost certainly made in Japan (even though the sticker above the neck plate has been removed), it doesn't necessarily mean it was manufactured in 96. Very confusing the Jackson numbering system. If anyone here can help me decipher the info I've provided it would be appreciated. I know that @slowhand84 has a super fancy MIJ Rhoads and maybe he has some insight.
September 1999? September 2009? I'm confused. This can't be 2019, can it?
The neck is absolutely amazing. It's not quite as thin as an Ibanez Wizard, but it is equally fast. I have a MIJ Jackson King V Standard and the necks feel identical.
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IMG_1920.jpeg
IMG_1921.jpeg
IMG_1922.jpeg
IMG_1915.jpeg
IMG_1917.jpeg
IMG_1910.jpeg
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Jackson serial numbers are indeed quite the mess lol, but this correlates to 1996 and is MIJ. The Korean Performers had serials starting with 10, the MIJs with 9...and the Korean ones also had the 12th fret dots spread wider apart. Yours has the 9 serial and the standard dot spacing at the 12th fret. Thing looks nice and clean for being 30 years old.
Re: JACKSON PS3T RHOADS PERFORMER (When was this made?)
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2024 2:38 pm
by toomanycats
slowhand84 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2024 2:26 pm
toomanycats wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2024 12:50 pm
I made this Jackson mine the other day. It's in almost pristine condition, which is shocking considering how pointy it is and that it wasn't in a case. The plastic film is still on the back of the tuners and the truss rod cover. The original trem bar is missing, but other than that it's complete.
I know the deal about 7 digit Jackson serial numbers that begin in 96, that even though it' almost certainly made in Japan (even though the sticker above the neck plate has been removed), it doesn't necessarily mean it was manufactured in 96. Very confusing the Jackson numbering system. If anyone here can help me decipher the info I've provided it would be appreciated. I know that @slowhand84 has a super fancy MIJ Rhoads and maybe he has some insight.
September 1999? September 2009? I'm confused. This can't be 2019, can it?
The neck is absolutely amazing. It's not quite as thin as an Ibanez Wizard, but it is equally fast. I have a MIJ Jackson King V Standard and the necks feel identical.
IMG_1918.jpeg
IMG_1919.jpeg
IMG_1920.jpeg
IMG_1921.jpeg
IMG_1922.jpeg
IMG_1915.jpeg
IMG_1917.jpeg
IMG_1910.jpeg
IMG_1908.jpeg
Jackson serial numbers are indeed quite the mess lol, but this correlates to 1996 and is MIJ. The Korean Performers had serials starting with 10, the MIJs with 9...and the Korean ones also had the 12th fret dots spread wider apart. Yours has the 9 serial and the standard dot spacing at the 12th fret. Thing looks nice and clean for being 30 years old.
Thank you! I wasn't aware of the width of the dots varying on the MIJ vs MIK. You do know your stuff!
Yes, it's amazingly clean for its age, which was probably part of the reason why I was susceptible to the idea that maybe it wasn't quite so old.
Re: JACKSON PS3T RHOADS PERFORMER (When was this made?)
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2024 3:24 pm
by slowhand84
toomanycats wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2024 2:38 pm
slowhand84 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2024 2:26 pm
toomanycats wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2024 12:50 pm
I made this Jackson mine the other day. It's in almost pristine condition, which is shocking considering how pointy it is and that it wasn't in a case. The plastic film is still on the back of the tuners and the truss rod cover. The original trem bar is missing, but other than that it's complete.
I know the deal about 7 digit Jackson serial numbers that begin in 96, that even though it' almost certainly made in Japan (even though the sticker above the neck plate has been removed), it doesn't necessarily mean it was manufactured in 96. Very confusing the Jackson numbering system. If anyone here can help me decipher the info I've provided it would be appreciated. I know that @slowhand84 has a super fancy MIJ Rhoads and maybe he has some insight.
September 1999? September 2009? I'm confused. This can't be 2019, can it?
The neck is absolutely amazing. It's not quite as thin as an Ibanez Wizard, but it is equally fast. I have a MIJ Jackson King V Standard and the necks feel identical.
IMG_1918.jpeg
IMG_1919.jpeg
IMG_1920.jpeg
IMG_1921.jpeg
IMG_1922.jpeg
IMG_1915.jpeg
IMG_1917.jpeg
IMG_1910.jpeg
IMG_1908.jpeg
Jackson serial numbers are indeed quite the mess lol, but this correlates to 1996 and is MIJ. The Korean Performers had serials starting with 10, the MIJs with 9...and the Korean ones also had the 12th fret dots spread wider apart. Yours has the 9 serial and the standard dot spacing at the 12th fret. Thing looks nice and clean for being 30 years old.
Thank you! I wasn't aware of the width of the dots varying on the MIJ vs MIK. You do know your stuff!
Yes, it's amazingly clean for its age, which was probably part of the reason why I was susceptible to the idea that maybe it wasn't quite so old.
Yeah the Performer line ended I think around 2000, it doesn't appear in the 2001 catalogs...so any Performer model would be earlier than that. It's funny that these were considered the lower end of Jackson's line back then and yet are still such solid guitars that they outperform a lot of Jacksons current stuff that is several times the price. Nowadays they wanna charge $2K for Korean Jacksons, which is a hoot.
Re: JACKSON PS3T RHOADS PERFORMER (When was this made?)
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2024 3:23 pm
by Tiga
Congratulations! I just sold one of those to a friend a few weeks ago. I think those are typically mid '90's and were made in japan but I thought they moved to Korea at some point. Yours is in much better shape than mine was. I know this sounds weird to say but I always found it interesting that the thin neck it had felt so stiff and strong in my hand.
Re: JACKSON PS3T RHOADS PERFORMER (When was this made?)
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2024 6:25 am
by toomanycats
Tiga wrote: ↑Thu Sep 05, 2024 3:23 pm
Congratulations! I just sold one of those to a friend a few weeks ago. I think those are typically mid '90's and were made in japan but I thought they moved to Korea at some point. Yours is in much better shape than mine was. I know this sounds weird to say but I always found it interesting that the thin neck it had felt so stiff and strong in my hand.
Thanks. Yes, to co-opt Kurt's parlance, "Neck is stable."
If you look at the pic of the neck heel the maple is rift sawn and the rosewood board looks to be quarter saw. I'm not sure if every guitar built at the Chushin Gakki factory was intentionally constructed this way, though it would explain why both of our examples of the same instrument have a stiff neck.
Concerning the thinness of the neck, it is this characteristic, along with the way the neck and body are stamped, which adds more evidence that this guitar was made in Japan as opposed to Korea. I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject over the last couple of days and the consensus seems to be that the short run of MIK PS3T Performer guitars had heftier necks than the MIJ examples.
My research also inlines me to believe that even though this guitar has a seven digit serial number that begins in 96, it was probably made in 1999. The neck is stamped 9.9.11, and the body is stamped 9.9.26, which seems to indicate September of 99. The color is Red Violet Metallic, which was offered as an option on the PS3T in Jackson's 1999 catalog, as shown below.