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.

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.

So I'll start by saying I've played guitar for about 15 years, so I know my way around the instrument at least moderately well.I'll start with the positives, first being it looks gorgeous. Nice matte black finish with black hardware, and the corner inlays on the frets look so awesome. The tone and volume knobs are very sturdy and dont crackle when adjusting, and the three-way pickup switch is the same. The pickups are pretty high output, so they're great for metal; however, they do seem to be lacking when it comes to mid tones and a little with high tones, so some replacements might be needed depending on preference. Lastly the price is unbeatable, $160 for this is a steal.Now the negatives. The scale length is very long, like crazy long. I've joked with my friends about this guitar being built like a bass, but I really do mean it. Most of the lower frets I can fit two fingers into comfortably, and I have larger hands. This makes playing some things that span 5 or even 4 frets apart a lot more difficult. The tuning pegs arent the tightest or most responsive, I find myself having to turn them quite a bit to make small adjustments. The 11th fret looks like it was scratched by something pretty bad leaving a pretty deep gouge in it I wasn't able to get rid of completely even after trying to sand it out. The first fret isn't fully flush with the fretboard which may require either hammering it in all the way, or a full refret job to fix. There was also some dried glue on the first fret and on the side of the steel, I was able to clean it up with a razor blade. A few of the fret ends hang over just a bit but they're sharp and need to be filed down. By far the worst issue is the input jacks ground wire wasn't soldered correctly leading to a loud buzz when playing with even moderate distortion. Most of these issues are easily fixable by taking it to a guitar tech/ luthier, which honestly you should do with any new guitar unless you know how to work on it yourself, and the rest are just preferences.All in all, I think this is a great guitar for beginners, people on a budget who want to try out a 7 string, or people who want a cheap guitar to try to upgrade with new hardware, pickups, ect.