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Good guitar but not worth the price.
I bought this guitar because, even though I'm clearly a strat guy, I generally don't like single coils and prefer an HH configuration. Therefore this guitar seemed ideal.
Since I have a Schecter Hellraiser c-1 (made in South Korea) I know that this is a good brand with lots of potential but I also know they sometime let some lemons pass the QC. My Hellraiser, for example, came to me with a ground wire not soldered. That should have never passed the QC, but it did.
This guitar is made in Indonesia, which I don't mind. I have 2 Cort basses and a Harley Benton Fusion III made in Indonesia and they are all great instruments so I was expecting this to be the case here too, especially considering the high price for a guitar made in Indonesia. I paid 1300€ for the Jack Fowler Traditional and, spoiler alert, it's worth about half the price (IMHO).
My HB Fusion III is four times cheaper than the JFT but the difference in quality between the instruments is minimal. Lutherie and hardware are very comparable between them. The only big difference is the pickups, which are way better on the Schecter.
PROS:
- Nice neck, very strat-like, quite fast, and pleasant in the hand.
- S-type body. It is very similar to my US Fender Strat, even the weight is similar.
- Great pickups. These sound good both as Humbuckers and splitted. Really top-notch!
- Stainless steel frets! Nicely polished, very slick.
- Luminlay side dots.
- Graph Tech XL nut.
- Good woods.
- Locking Tuners.
- High-quality, stiff 3-way switch
- Perloid pickguard.
CONS:
- The guitar came with rather bad fret sprouts all along the neck. Made slides and certain hand positions quite uncomfortable.
- Shielding/grounding problems. The guitar I had buzzed quite a lot louder when no metallic part is touched.
- Sounds quite muted past the 15th fret.
- The tone push/pull pot is quite flimsy.
- The tuning keys could be better. Although the design is similar, the keys of my Hellraiser are clearly better even though they are 15 years older.
- The nut is not cut deep enough under the G and B strings.
- A few small inclusions of dirt in the paint.
- You can feel the uneven sanding job on the edges of the guitar underneath the paint.
- No bag or case even though it's a 1300€ guitar.
Misc:
- the one I had was 3,6kg
- the body was made of at least 4 pieces. Can be seen on the back of the instrument with sufficient light.
- Came with the trem decked.
- 3 trem springs.
In conclusion:
If I buy a 300€ or 400€ guitar, I expect to have work to do to make it great. But, if I buy a 1300€ guitar like the Jack Fowler Traditional, I expect it to be spotless, no matter where it is made. This guitar clearly isn't. It just is way too expensive for what it is. returned for a refund.
Since I have a Schecter Hellraiser c-1 (made in South Korea) I know that this is a good brand with lots of potential but I also know they sometime let some lemons pass the QC. My Hellraiser, for example, came to me with a ground wire not soldered. That should have never passed the QC, but it did.
This guitar is made in Indonesia, which I don't mind. I have 2 Cort basses and a Harley Benton Fusion III made in Indonesia and they are all great instruments so I was expecting this to be the case here too, especially considering the high price for a guitar made in Indonesia. I paid 1300€ for the Jack Fowler Traditional and, spoiler alert, it's worth about half the price (IMHO).
My HB Fusion III is four times cheaper than the JFT but the difference in quality between the instruments is minimal. Lutherie and hardware are very comparable between them. The only big difference is the pickups, which are way better on the Schecter.
PROS:
- Nice neck, very strat-like, quite fast, and pleasant in the hand.
- S-type body. It is very similar to my US Fender Strat, even the weight is similar.
- Great pickups. These sound good both as Humbuckers and splitted. Really top-notch!
- Stainless steel frets! Nicely polished, very slick.
- Luminlay side dots.
- Graph Tech XL nut.
- Good woods.
- Locking Tuners.
- High-quality, stiff 3-way switch
- Perloid pickguard.
CONS:
- The guitar came with rather bad fret sprouts all along the neck. Made slides and certain hand positions quite uncomfortable.
- Shielding/grounding problems. The guitar I had buzzed quite a lot louder when no metallic part is touched.
- Sounds quite muted past the 15th fret.
- The tone push/pull pot is quite flimsy.
- The tuning keys could be better. Although the design is similar, the keys of my Hellraiser are clearly better even though they are 15 years older.
- The nut is not cut deep enough under the G and B strings.
- A few small inclusions of dirt in the paint.
- You can feel the uneven sanding job on the edges of the guitar underneath the paint.
- No bag or case even though it's a 1300€ guitar.
Misc:
- the one I had was 3,6kg
- the body was made of at least 4 pieces. Can be seen on the back of the instrument with sufficient light.
- Came with the trem decked.
- 3 trem springs.
In conclusion:
If I buy a 300€ or 400€ guitar, I expect to have work to do to make it great. But, if I buy a 1300€ guitar like the Jack Fowler Traditional, I expect it to be spotless, no matter where it is made. This guitar clearly isn't. It just is way too expensive for what it is. returned for a refund.
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