Jackson Rhoads Electric Guitar...
When Only The Best Will Do

The birth of the Jackson Rhoads Electric Guitar...

The Jackson Rhoads electric guitar was born when Randy Rhoads(formerly of Quiet Riot) and at the time playing with Ozzy Osbourne approached Grover Jackson of Charvel about building a unique and distinctive guitar for him. Randy provided Grover with some line drawings of his vision of what the body of the guitar would look like. The body was an asymmetric V-shape with the lower wing about half the length of the upper wing. Jackson, a fan of Gibson's Explorer(so am I - love 'em), came up with a headstock design based on that of the Explorer but somewhat narrower and more aggressive in appearance. The headstock design would come to be a trademark of the Jackson electric guitar family.

The original guitar, called the Concorde, was a heavy beast with the entire center block and wings made of maple. Jackson was in a bit of a quandary as to branding the guitar. The Charvel line of guitars was much more conservatively designed with most bearing a resemblance to the Fender Stratocaster. Jackson was concerned that the body style of the new guitar was too radical for the typical Charvel customer. Jackson and Rhoads agreed to putting Jackson's name on the new guitar instead of the Charvel name.

In addition to the guitar being heavy, it was also a big instrument and looked somewhat like a chopped up Gibson Flying-V. Rhoads decided that he wanted a more elegant, distinctive design. As a result he and Jackson again got together and spent hours coming up with a revamped design. The result was a much sleeker, more elegant design with an even shorter lower wing making the design much more distinctive. An added benefit of the design was that the body was more slender than the original, making it easier to reach the higher frets. The new guitar was not only the birth of the Jackson Rhoads electric guitar but also the birth of Jackson Guitars.

Design, Construction and Playability...

There are a number of versions of the Jackson Rhoads electric guitar, ranging from lower end models appropriate for beginning guitarists to high end models designed for the professional guitarist as well as several Artist Signature models. Regardless of the model, the components and workmanship of the Jackson Rhoads electric guitar are always of the highest quality.

Every Jackson Rhoads electric guitar shares the same body style, neck style and headstock. Woods, electrical components and tremolos differ from model to model as well as the method in which the neck is affixed to the body. The lower end models tend to have bolt on necks and Floyd Rose licensed tremolos(on the models which have tremolos, of course) while the higher end models tend to have a neck-thru-body design and original Floyd Rose tremolos. In addition, different Jackson Rhoads electric guitar models use different pickups. Regardless of the differences between models, all components and construction are of the very highest quality, as mentioned before.

The Jackson Rhoads electric guitar is a very sweet instrument. Its size and design make it extremely easy to reach the frets in the higher registers even if, like me, you have small hands. The fretboard has a compound radius meaning that it is slightly more curved at the nut and gets flatter as you approach the body of the guitar. This makes it easy to chord along the entire length of the neck.
Every Jackson Rhoads electric guitar has a shallow, classical guitar shaped neck and widely spaced, jumbo frets which makes it easy to play the instrument with speed and accuracy. And the sound? Well, let's just say that a Rhoads on its worst day sounds better than most guitars on their best day. In fact, this can be said of all Jacksons. In addition, if you're like me and you love to use artificial harmonics in your playing, the Jackon Rhoads electric guitar is one of the screamingest harmonics machines I've ever picked up.

The Current Rhoads Lineup...

Jackson currently offers 13 variations of the Jackson Rhoads electric guitar, spanning six series designations that range from entry level to high end level guitars.

If You're Interested In Purchasing One Of These Awesome Guitars, Click On The Guitar Name

• JS Series:This is Jackson's entry level series.
  • JS30RR GMG:
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    The JS30RR GMG has an Indian cedro body, a 24 fret, bolt-on maple neck with Indian Rose fretboard, Jackson CVR high output humbucking pickups, an adjustable string-thru-body bridge and chrome hardware.
  
  
  
  • JS32T Rhoads:
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    The JS32T Rhoads features 2 high output Jackson CVR2 humbucking pickups, a 24 fret maple compound radius neck string-thru-body design and a JT390 adjustable bridge.
    
    Also, check out the JS32 Rhoads with Floyd Rose Tremolo. This is a totally sweet machine with top of the line features at an entry level price.



• X-Series:
  • RX10D:
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    The RX10D features a high quality alder body with 2 Seymour Duncan humbucking pickups - the high output H103B ceramic pickup at the bridge and the hot alnico H103N at the neck. The neck itself is rock maple with a 24 fret, rosewood compound radius fretboard. The bridge is Floyd Rose-Licensed low profile double locking tremolo and the guitar sports chrome hardware.



• MG Series:
  • RR24:
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    The RR24 features an alder body, neck-thru-body maple neck, with a 24 fret, compound radius ebony fretboard, and a hot EMG 81 pickup at the bridge. The bridge is a Floyd Rose double locking tremolo. The guitar sports black hardware.
  
  
  
  • RR24M:
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    The specs are much the same as the RR24 except that the neck is rock maple and the fretboard is maple.



• Pro Series:
  • Rhoads RR3:
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    The Rhoads RR3 has an alder body with a bolt-on maple neck and 22 jumbo fret, compound radius rosewood fretboard. The bridge is a Floyd Rose-licensed, double locking tremolo. The RR3 has Seymour Duncan humbucking pickups - a JB TB4 at the bridge and a Jazz SH2N at the neck. The guitar sports black hardware with a chrome pickguard.
  
  
  
  • Rhoads RR5:
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    The RR5 features an alder body with a neck-thru-body maple neck, a 22 jumbo fret, compound radius rosewood fretboard. It has a Seymour Duncan JB SH4 humbucking pickup at the neck and a Seymour Duncan Jazz SH2N humbicking pickup at the bridge. The bridge is a JT390 adjustable bridge with a string-thru-body construction and a Rhoads V-plate tailpiece for added tone and sustain. To top off the package the pickguard and hardware are gold plated. Having owned mine for about 4 years, I can tell you from personal experience that this one A-Double kicking guitar.
  
  
  
  • Rhoads RR5FR:
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    The specs for the RR5FR are basically the same as for the RR5 except that the RR5FR is a Randy Rhoads Signature guitar sporting a Floyd Rose tremolo and black hardware. Note there is a currently special edition 30^th Anniversary Rhoads RR5FR with DiMarzio ToneZone pickups and 5 custom paint jobs available. It's my understanding that only 150 of these will be made. They aren't cheap but if your budget allows it grab yourself a piece of history.



• USA Select Series:
  • RR1 Rhoads:
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    The RR1 was crafted from the prototype originally designed by Randy Rhoads. The guitar features neck-thru-body construction with an alder body and a maple neck with an ebony fretboard with 22 jumbo frets. It sports a Seymour Duncan TB4 humbucker at the bridge and a Seymour Duncan SH2 humbucker at the neck and black hardware. The bridge is a Floyd Rose Original double locking tremolo. Randy may be gone but his legacy lives on!
  
  
  
  • RR1 Rhoads Left-handed:
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    The RR1 Rhoads Left-handed has all the great features of the standard RR1 but is designed so that the left handed player doesn't have to try to string and play an RR1 upside down.
  
  
  
  • RR1T Rhoads:
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    The only real difference between the RR1 and the RR1T is that the RR1T has a string-thru-body design and the Rhoads V-shaped tailpiece for added tone and sustain.
  
  
  
  • RR1T Rhoads Left-handed:
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    The RR1T Rhoads Left-handed has all the great features of the standard RR1T but is designed so that the left handed player doesn't have to try to string and play an RR1T upside down.



• Artist Signature Series:
  • Matt Tuck Signature Rhoads:
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    This is a cool looking guitar. It has the familiar Jackson Rhoads electric guitar body style with a reversed headstock. It has neck-thru-body construction with the compound radius fretboard, EMG 81 humbuckers, JT390 adjustable bridge with string-thru-body design and staggered Sperzel Trim-Lok tuners.