Rock Jam Electric Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

Purchased from Amazon, when I received it it was fantastic for the price. Played great with little setup. I would suggest it for everyone.

Sound: Today's guitars are all made on cnc's unless you get something like a US made G&L, those are cut out with bandsaws and routers, like fenders in the 50s up to the 70s. The neck pocket in mine is very clean and neat, the body routing is very clean, the frets were nice out of the box, no misaligned screws or parts, no blemishes in the finish or anything. Features: The least useful feature for a majority of people will be the rhythm circuit, it has its own volume and tone pots and is neck pickup only, with a much darker tone than the neck pickup on the lead circuit, leave the switch in the down position, and you never have to worry about it unless you want an old school jazz guitar tone. Then push that switch up. (It does old jazz guitar really well) Ease of Use: The jazzmaster has quite a bright bridge pickup, makes it well suited for surf, or spaghetti western guitar, but it also means distortion on the bridge pickup will cut through rather well. the neck pickup is strat like, but bigger and thicker. Like a strat neck pickup on steroids. Both pickups together results in a sweet soft sort of quack tone, due to the pickups being so far apart, it's not the same as a strat quack tone, but its very nice sounding. Then of course there's the neck only rhythm circuit which is very much like an old jazz tone (hence the name Jazzmaster)The pickups are generally higher output than most other fender pickups, and work well with distortion. A lot of people still think jazzmaster pickups are p90s. Nope, real jazzmaster pickups are roughly the same size, but thats where the similarities end. They don't even sound similar. This confusion is furthered by the old mexican player jazzmasters, the j mascius, and others that have P90's. Quality: Fender mexico didn't skimp on the electronic parts, the pickups are very much like a mid 60s jazzmaster in sound, even down to the gray bobbins and enamel coated coil wire. Pots are CTS, both switches and the jack are switchcraft, just like they are supposed to be. They should last forever. The trem is built well, but not exactly the same as the old ones, the trem arm is screw in, it really should be a push in arm, like all the old ones. Also, I think the hole of the trem arm in the top plate is way way too big, it only needs to be slightly bigger than the trem arm collet.The tuners are kluson like split shaft, loke fender used from the very earliest days until 68, they're not made by kluson but it doesn't matter the design is too simple to screw up. The frets are vintage, they're always described as tall and thin. They're not tall, but they are thin, it is a 60s styled guitar after all. But I think a lot of people used to 9.5 and flatter radiuses will have problems, it's a 7.25" radius fretboard, requires a bit higher action but a half hour or so of playing, you get used to it. It also has a truss rod nut at the heel of the neck, its a correct feature for all fender's prior to 1971, but man was that a bad design choice on leo fender's part. You either have to loosen the neck a lot or take it completely off to adjust neck relief, and hope you got it right.Now when I got my guitar I took it completely apart (I always do). What I found on the inside could be improved. First was an excessive amount of wire. There is a lot of wire in a jazzmaster, but they didn't even bother cutting the pickup leads to length. Both pickups had about a foot of unnecessary lead wire, so I fixed that.The other issue was a bad conductive paint job in the cavities. The jazzmaster is an electrically noisy guitar, they need all the shielding they can get. The conductive paint was one thin coat, and didn't even go up the sides of the cavities, it wasn't doing anything. From 1958 to the end of the original run around 1980 each jazzmaster had brass tubs in all the cavities, all soldered together and grounded. I don't expect that in a new jazzmaster, but they knew then that it needed shielding. The pickguard in 58 was also gold anodized aluminum, which was excellent for shielding. But the anodizing wasn't good, and the gold wore off after a few months so and looked awful. In 59 fender switched to plastic tort pickguards, with a thin pickguard sized aluminum shield underneath. Anyway I properly shielded the cavities. Also the pickguard only had aluminum tape for the toggle switch to the jack, and another piece for piece for rhythm circuit switch and pots. That ain't going to do it. I added more shielding, put it all back together and it was a major improvement. Recently I decided to see what a proper gold anodized aluminum pickguard would look like on ice blue metallic, and its VERY cool, looks like a 1960s california speed shop modded my guitar, might put some tele knobs on it sometime.I also made another modification, I had a 65 reissue trem and bridge laying around, so I put them on it. In the old days, the lock button, trem

I have wanted a Rhoads for a long time. I wanted that 80's hard rock guitar. This guitar did not disappoint me at all. The pickups are extremely high output very cutting edge. The guitar came close to perfect set up right out of the box. I made very little adjustments to get it just right for me. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the guitar sounded clean as well. I don't use the trem much but it stays in tune very well. When I grab it out of its case its in tune. It is a joy to play sounds and looks amazing. If you were worried about the quality don't be this guitar plays as well as any guitar I own. And without getting into it I own some expensive guitars.

In short: for the price this beast is a solid 9/10, overall and realistically it's 6/10. If you are like me and want to get into 7s – this is the one to go with from all the others entry 7s 😉 Neck: I was adjusting it for 3 days, it's almost flat now and I can get really OK action with it, not low like Ibanez but it's just fine. The only problem is 7th string has to be much higher than the others because it's branching on lower frets. Frets are just OK and there is nothing wrong in terms of craftsmanship. I like this neck, it's somewhat fast and I have no problems getting higher up the neck, 26.5 also helps with that and now I'm damn sure 26.5 is something I always needed in my life, period. I rate this neck with 8/10. 9 would go for playability and action, 6 would go to the wood, craftsmanship, ugly fretboard that looks like it didn't get enough laquer or smth, looks VERY dry and unfinished. Tuners: meeeh, they are OK and holds tuning somewhat, I don't really need to adjust it very often which is great. But getting it tuned is like being in a sad and depresive circle of hell, especially with the 7th string. I rate tuners with 4/10 This would be my second phase upgrade. If they didn't hold the tune like they are (kinda OK), rate would be 2/10. Bridge/intonation: not great not terrible, if I decide to replace it, this would go in second phase with tuners too. I had no problems with intonation. In fact, I managed to get it perfectly intonated, you can really hit those high octaves on any string (15th or 17th) and it don't go out of sound, even on 6th and 7th string. I have to see if I could snap some tune-o-matic but I'm afraid I could lose resonation which is already low as f*. I'm ok with the bridge for now, 7/10. Pickups: they don't really "pick up" the 7th 😀 it is kinda muddy but for this price, they really surprised me. They can really pick up hammers and pull-offs nicely (this goes with the neck/frets also). Kinda high output if you ask me, much more than EMG HZH4 for example on my Schecter. These would be my first upgrade, probably Nazgul and Sentinent. I'd rate them 6/10, but for the price 9.5/10, as I said they kinda impressed me, expectations were much lower. Knobs and electronics: metal knobs are very good, and the switch is average, and so is jack, and I don't really have any complaints here. Wood (sound): low-quality wood, it really sucks with resonation and sustain, but again, this is 200-250 price range and it's not like you're gonna buy this guitar to play some Skynyrd or Knopfler 😀 As I got it out of the box I was not very pleased, I mean it's crafted well and looked nice, nothing like that, but as soon I started to play it (unplugged) I got this feeling like I have a wood plank in my lap. Of course, it is expected in this price range. As soon as I plugged it in and started playing I actually started to not care about that too much. So, for this price I am VERY satisfied, it really got me into 7s and I can finally play some older Periphery, Keith Merrow, Whitechapel, even some Vai and Satriani. You can shred very nicely and easy on this guitar, but you need some nerves to make a decent setup first few days since stock setup was disgusting. Strings? I replaced them immediately because the factory strings were a disaster… I put NYXL 10-59, but the bottom string is still not thick enough for drop A, its muddy but maybe it's just the pickups or personal opinion dunno, next time I'm gonna put Elixirs nano 10-56 but will replace that .56 with .062 or something like that. After only 3 days I decided to write an honest review, I cannot dislike this guitar because it really is a beast for this price. It's that good that I plan to invest another 300 dolars just for pickups and tuner. Also, this is my first Jackson ever, and I must express my respect to get something like this for the price of few good weekends outside. In summary: 6/10, for the price 9/10. Go ahead!

Overall: Let's start at the top. I have never had a guitar with in house tuners that are this good. The charvel locking tuners are phenomenal. Very smooth and precise, every bit as good as any gotoh tuners I've used. The nut does what it's supposed to, I've not had any tuning issues due to friction when using the trem. The neck. My god the neck is fantastic. It's a very comfortable thin shape that works for me perfectly. It is very very close to as smooth as my strandberg. The frets are about the only thing that leaves a bit to be desired. They're polished and rounded very nicely, however there are sharp edges. Pretty much every fret, bass and treble side. It isn't to the point where it's uncomfortable to play, but noticeable. I absolutely love the spoke truss rod adjustment wheel, not that I've needed to use it. The neck joint is absolutely the most comfortable bolt on I've ever played. The pickups are fantastic as well, not super high output but the clarity is insane. Exactly what I was looking for. The gotoh bridge was probably my biggest surprise. I've never played a non locking trem that actually stayed in tune and even after abusing it like I would a Floyd, lo and behold, still in tune! It's very comfortable as well. The output jack placement is genius and is comfortable in any sitting position. It would be perfect for sticking the cable in between the strap and guitar. I know it's cliche, but the pictures do not do it justice. It is a stunning guitar. The satin burgundy mist is about the coolest color I've seen on a guitar and compliments the roasted maple neck perfectly. Overall, the fit and finish of the guitar, aside from the frets, is flawless. I would still 100% recommend this guitar to anyone. It would be a great guitar for any type of music you play.

Overall: Not much more I can add to what’s been said so far (hit or miss QA, super smooth neck, really nice finish, crazy number of sonically pleasing tones, premium components work great..); it really is an excellent guitar. The matte blue version of this guitar I received had a really janky and loose pickup selector switch, so I had it swapped out for the exact part used in the (*ahem* almost identical $3500!!!!) American version. The fret edges were finished smooth right out of the box, but it badly needed a setup. Once that was done, it was perfect. It’s almost effortless to access all of the frets. The tremolo is different than a traditional Stratocaster style 2-point trem in that it’s way more sensitive and much tighter and way more stable. The only issue I’m having with it is, because of where the volume knob is and my way of playing, I roll the volume down on accident quite a bit. Kinda takes the edge off of a solo when it’s fading out as it’s building up. Also, I’ll eventually swap out the no-load tone control for a conventional one. The stock no-load tone control works just fine to control the tone, but I don’t like the extra click when it’s dialed all the way up. And at this price it should come with a bag.

Overall: I've always thought these looked cool with their single tiled bridge humbucker, so I picked one up. I am surprised this thing was only $180 before tax. It is made in Indonesia and it must have been made by one of the good workshops over there, because as simple as this guitar is, the fit and finish is amazing. The tuning machines are good quality, move very freely but also hold tune very well. The mahogany body is very solid, the black gloss finish on the body is free of blemishes and is very even and consistent. The finish on the back of the neck is very sleek feeling under my thumb. The fretwork is flawless. All the frets on mine are level and crowned properly. The ends are filed to prefection, absolutely zero sharp fret ends. The nut is a black plastic nut, so nothing fancy there, but it is filed to a perfect depth and the slots hug the strings nicely. I can't exactly speak to the quality of the tremolo bridge as I don't really make use of them, but it seems good and stays in tune (though I don't use it so I can't speak to how well it holds tune if you use it a lot). I'm not sure of the output of the alnico 5 humbucker but it sounds great and the tilted angle does indeeed seem to lend it a bit more bass than a normal bridge pickup, but without making it sound muddy. This guitar has me wondering why people buy something like a Rogue as a "beginner" guitar for a kid when you could get something like this for the same price or cheaper that is of much higher build quality and looks much cooler in my opinion. Best sub-$200 new guitar I've ever gotten hands down.

Overall: Just got my Baretta Special guitar in black and all I can say is "Your kidding Me". I have played guitar for 50 years and have gone through so many brands, models of top name and bargain types of guitars. I have overpaid for some and gotten good deals on others. I mod guitars all the time to my taste. This guitar out of the box was intonated, perfect action, fit and finish top notch. Tuners are fine, neck is thin and fast. Best deal I have had in years, can't stop playing it! Hard to believe this is my 1st Kramer after so many years.