The Jackson JS32Q Dinky is a great budget guitar from a renowned brand. It’s great for a heavy sound and shredding leads with ease.
Why Jackson guitars?
The Jackson brand is well established, the company started in 1980. The late guitar hero Randy Rhoads was the first to popularize the Jackson. In the 80’s and beyond, the guitar is the image of the heavy metal genre, with well-known guitarists like Dave Mustaine, Scott Ian, and Andreas Kisser.
My Jackson is the last guitar I bought. Even though I don’t play heavy metal regularly anymore, I needed that kind of guitar. It would help me get that sound for a few songs while using my Fender Stratocaster for the rest of the set.
A guitar built to rock hard
This guitar has two humbucker pickups, a double-locking Floyd-Rose tremolo, and a compound radius fretboard, that helps soloing. It also has 24 frets which are great for reaching those high notes.
These are all the reasons I needed that guitar. In my 80’s tribute, I have a few songs that involve leads with tapping and tremolo dives, Beat it by Michael Jackson is a great example (the lead is by Eddie Van Halen).
With the Strat and its single-coil pickups, I have a hard time getting the sound easily with the tapping, you have to be strong and accurate (I’m not). But with the humbuckers of the Jackson guitar, I get more gain, the sounds are easier to get. Not that the Strat player can’t do it, Van Halen uses a Strat but he added a humbucker pickup.
My use of the Jackson JS32Q Dinky
I’m really happy with this guitar, it serves its purpose really well. Right now I’m using the guitar only on the 80’s tribute, my other band plays heavy songs but we are tuned down a half-step. I don’t want to retune the guitar every time I switch bands. Especially a guitar with a Floyd-Rose tremolo, if there is one downside to this it’s the tuning, it takes longer than other guitars.
It really helps me with the leads. It’s easier to move higher on the fretboard, bending is also easy to achieve. The guitar stays in tune pretty well. One advantage of having a locking nut, you can use the tremolo bar without fear.
Conclusion
I love that guitar, it looks amazing. I recommend it for a secondary guitar as I do, you have to remember that it’s a budget guitar. I’m only using it for 5-6 songs on an occasional gig, I’m not wearing it out (fun fact, I haven’t changed the strings in almost two years!).
If someone would want to use that kind of guitar as the main instrument and playing often, I would recommend buying a higher-priced Jackson, something nearer to 1000$, instead of 300-400$ for the Dinky. The truth is, the higher you pay, the longer you’re going to have the guitar.
Jackson Guitars at zZounds.com
Useful links:
Jackson website
Jackson Guitars Wiki
