Jackson SL3X X-Series Soloist

6 Stars, by all means

That's my 14th guitar and since I bought it, I can't play another one. I have Gibson LPs, 2 Japanese beauties from 90s (Jackson Dinky MIJs) mid range PRS and Schecter to name a few. But this one just kills it.

First of all, weak points:
Finishing imperfection - Despite the amazing colour (I'll talk about later), there a few imperfections you'd notice at the edges of the pup and switch cavities. Not good for perfectionists!
And... nothing else, I mean really you have to unreasonably picky to find any weaknesses (for this price!)

Myths Debunked:
Gloss finish on the neck is bad - Honestly that was my #1 concern, too; until I realized "dude, your LP, PRS, Schecter, Kelly, they all have gloss finish, so fuck it... And I can tell you, it feels super cool, with a nice consistency with the rest of the body and it almost never gets in between your playing. I recall getting stuck slightly a few times during hours of playing, didn't bug me a single bit. But you should know if you like gloss necks or not. If you're extra sweaty for example...

Awesomess:
I don't know where to start, ok fundamentals first;

Playability - You will feel like a different player; faster, more relaxed and joyous. Everything about this guitar boosts your appetite for playing - from heaviest shit such as Pantera, Lamb of God to your own funky, crunchy and happy tunes. Neck thru was one of my must-haves and this one brings the full potential of it, accompanied by a very nice rosewood board and nicely finished extra jumbos on it; and even more critically, with a super fast compound radius for modern requirements and all of this is crowned by a great - not perfect - white binding.

Hardware - FR tremolo and locking nuts are the standard specs you'd expect from a shredder as well as any Jackson Soloist. I love and hate FR systems, I find them over-engineered but they're also the most comfortable option for me, so I suck it up.
Despite the Asian built, this one, living up to its name, uses good hardware all around. Tuners are working great for example, and I have other Asian Jacksons and I had to upgrade tuners with one of them (SLATFXMG-8, another very good guitar but crappy tuners).

Neck - Top of the notch! neck thru, super slim, super strong, super fast. It fully matches your expectations from a Soloist

Setup - HSS setup was my next must-have. This one has duncan designed pups and I can't say anything bad about them. They are very powerful but not crazy boosted like JBs, and they manage to deliver natural yet crisp or hot tones, based on your selection. In between options (switch position 2 and 4) gives close results to singles despite all 3 pups are actually humbuckers. So you can play funky, crispy, crunchy, heavy, fuzzy, jazzy, pretty much anything with this setup. It doesn't fully cover the whole spectrum of both singles and humbuckers. It has everything you want from humbuckers and also gives you sufficient amount of singles. Remember, it's not a tele!

Finish and Colour - It looks unreal with natural light and still gets my head turned around many times during the day. It's hard to tell, if you want to have an idea how it feels, search for a "Cara Delevigne - Sweetie" picture. I won't tell you more. You Must Have It!

In summary, while I was window shopping for a USA Soloist with HSS setup and shark inlays, I ran into this, checked a few youtube videos and got this B-Stock from Bax for an extra 90 bugs discount and I couldn't be more satisfied with it. Any USA would cost me at least 2000 Euros while I got this for less than 500. Of course there is an overall quality difference and this one has imperfections as I mentioned but it feels and plays like a premium guitar.

If I had to have just one guitar, this is the one.

About BAX and shipping: I like BAX, that's my 2nd guitar from you guys and I never had an issue. This one being a b-stock was missing its original packaging and that was the whole deal I get it. But the guitar was floating freely, with a bubble wrap around it and randomly thrown airbags in the box, which had a big dent in the middle, possibly opened by the delivery guy to carry it easier. It didn't feel good or safe at all and I seriously considered refusing the delivery but as with anything else in this purchase I took the leap of faith and accepted the box, it was a gamble, I won. But guys, please do not let another guitar go thru this, ok?