Jackson JS22-7 Dinky 7-string Electric Guitar - Satin Black

I waited 6 months before posting this, because I didn't want the review to be just first impressions. Quick summary: Surprisingly good guitar for the price. Quality Control is iffy (to be expected). May need some setup (bridge adjustment). I look at this as the "good bones" guitar which is okay out of the box, takes a little setup, and can be amazing with some upgrades. First off, the quality of the guitar you receive will likely vary. This isn't surprising at the price point. I noticed a significant difference in the two I received. That said, it is usually fixable stuff. Also, I am not comparing this with my $1,500 + guitar, or even my $800+ guitars. That said, I do think it is surprisingly comparable to a $400ish guitar. Which surprised me. Neck: straight when I received it. very comfortable to play (especially considering it is a 7 string). Feels thin (despite not really being that thin). Frets: Decently smooth frets, required a slight polish / wipe. I have a couple sharp fret ends that need to be filed down, but they aren't enough to really bother me (hence I haven't actually filed them down yet). Bridge: works great (it's a fixed bridge, hard to screw that up). Action is set high (all cheap guitars are), easy to bring it down. Intonation was actually pretty close out of the factory, still required some setup. Pickups: they work. can't expect $250 pickups on a $200 guitar, but they are decent and get the job done. honestly, from what I see, most people starting out on a 7 string are chugging the 0s. These pickups are fine for that. That said, there are plenty of great pickups you can drop in to give this guitar a truly awesome sound. Tuners: Decent. Do their job okay. If/when I upgrade, probably one of the first things I would swap out. Not really a negative, but the low B gear ratio on the tuner makes it a little hard to dial in the tuning. To be clear, this is more of an inconvenience than an actual issue. Conclusion: This is a great guitar for the right person: (a) guitarist looking to experiment / try a 7 string, (b) guitarist on a budget that needs a 7 string, (c) guitarist that wants to upgrade pickups. Who this guitar is NOT for: true beginners. If you are just starting out playing a guitar, get a 6 string that is already set up.

Ok, so some backstory to my purchase. I was 13, mowing lawns over the summers to save up money. I caught an interest in 7 string guitars for a whole bunch of reasons, but I won't go over all of them. Fast forward 2 years and I've finally saved up 200 dollars to buy this guitar. I bought it, and it was delivered 2 days after my birthday. I've had it for almost 3 weeks now. Pros: -Thin neck when compared to my other guitars. -The built in pickups are pretty good. -There are more high frets when compared to my other guitars. (there are 24, as my others all have 21.) -the fretboard is really smooth and feels great to play. -a little lighter than some other guitars I've seen. -extra low range means you don't have to change tunings all the time. -built in tuners are pretty nice. Cons: -intonation is an issue with a lot of extended range guitars. This can be easily fixed with a pair of skinny top, heavy bottom strings. -takes a little while longer to tune than a 6 string. Overall, this is an amazing guitar. It's really something special, especially due to how cheap it is compared to It's competitors. The matte black finish is the icing on the cake. I would highly recommend it to someone else who is just getting into 7 strings, as this is my first 7 string and it took no time at all to get used to the feeling of it. If you haven't played guitar at all though, I wouldn't tell you to buy this, as you want to start on a 6 string and upgrade to a 7 as your skills increase. (And yes, it djents.)

Okay, guitarist with 18 years experience here. For the money, this guitar is great but needs some work which doesn't necessarily make it great for beginners. The one I received has a few fairly serious, albeit easily fixable issues. First, the neck relief is way to drastic to the point where I was getting massive fret buzz/dead notes primarily on the lowest notes. It's an unfortunate byproduct of a guitar being built on an assembly line by someone who doesn't know how to build guitars. Now, pop off the cover on the headstock and a few CCW turns of the truss rod adjuster and it's solid again. Second, the machining on the frets are real bad resulting in some mean burrs on the fret edges which will absolutely tear up your fingers as your sliding up and down the neck. Again, easily fixed with a $20 fret file and it's great. So while the value proposition is there. It will require a little aftermarket adjustments to make it totally playable which, if you're a beginner, you'd have no idea how to fix these issues. I would say this guitar is best for players with experience who are maybe looking to branch out into different musical genres or just wanting to experiment.

the guitar itself has a pretty great balance setup with the pin positions, very little neck dive as far as it goes the neck shape and feel I can honestly say its totally worth it!! i have stayed away from 7 string guitars as i had a Ibanez Ax7221 and boy the neck on that guitar was a wide D as opposed to a small D or small C which this one has, it makes an amazing difference and it feels comfortable to the point that I actually want to play it!, ive been going for drop A tuning, bear in mind you will have to invest in some thicker gague strings as the stock ones get a bit sloppy if you tune down like that. the pickups themselves is nothing much to expect for this price range, then again I was only playing with amp and onboard OD, with some decent EQ and pedals this should still sound pretty dang good, I still would consider this guitar with some mid-high end pickups to haul you a long way if you want to consider this for gigging, i can say its worth every cent! Currently I am picking guitar up again as i have not played for a solid 4 years and i can genuinely say i am having a pain free experience playing with this guitar :) get it! you will definitely not regret it! weight wise its not feeling too bad at all, not sure if its because i'm picking up the gym again but i usually have a struggle for guitars that have some weight , some back issues and this one doesnt feel too bad at all, have not played 2+ hours in a single session so far but all in all i consider this feels lighter than most guitars ive had there are a few cosmetic scuffs which i have not bothered to go about cleaning up, beside fret marker 24 there are a few white marks which looks like some sort of small impact on the part, i'll see what i can do to get rid of those and on the face of fret 1 there are whitish streams, not 100% sure what its from, but looks chalk like, no major issue and I honestly forget its there, but when i sit down to do a full maintnence check up on the guitar I will take care of it

Mine came with a bridge looking like someone played around with it in the factory and actually did a proper set up. Intonation was spot on. No fret buzz. Nice wide thin neck. The finish is a beautiful matte black. The tuners are smooth and work well enough, but that is one of two points that you can tell why it’s only 200 dollars. They work, but not as well as really nice tuners. They by no means feel or look cheap though. The other point that proves out the price of this guitar is the pick ups. They are fairly high output humbuckers with decent tone, but the individual strings don’t ring out with as much clarity when playing chords as though would with some higher end options that cost more than this entire guitar. You can get some really nice tones out of it and it in no way limits you as a guitarist. Most listeners would likely not be able to notice the difference. The clean tones are not bad but not anything special either. The tone and volume work really well and are very smooth and responsive with the pickups and make for a very versatile playing experience. I actually find myself playing some extended scale blues licks with a slightly dirty clean tone. The lower notes ring out pretty well, but I expect a much better experience when I change them out with a thicker gauge. To sum things up. This is a nice guitar. Just no bells and whistles. I expect these extended range (7 or 8 string)guitars to be more and more the standard for getting into playing modern metal. There isn’t much you can’t do with this guitar. Unless you need a whammy bar.

Worth your money for and entry level 7- string. Sounds amazing. Get rid of the stock strings and find something if better quality. I play it everyday just to hear the bellow of the B string with my fender mustang amp. (No wammy) Pick ups sound clean. Don't regret any part of my purchase.

Good starter 7 string but not worth upgrading at all. The pickups are pretty rough but again for $200 or so, it’s a bargain for sure. This is what I would get to hold me off for a few years and then upgrade to something nicer

Excellent guitar. It have a great sound. The seventh string makes a great difference because of its lowest tone. This is my first time playing a 7 strings guitar and I think its a great one for beginners.