Jackson RR3 Rhoads Electric Guitar

July 14, 2007 by Jo Minor 


The Jackson RR3 Rhoads electric guitar is more than just a hot-looking little V-shaped rock guitar. This professional axe has design features that are truly unique. It is available in five different finishes. They are black, deep candy blue, transparent blue, transparent red, and crimson swirl. The list price ($949.99 - $1,099.99)is dependent upon the finish, with the solid colors being the least expensive.

One thing particularly worth mentioning is the fingerboard radius. It is not the same all the way along the length of the neck. Instead, it is more curved near the nut, which makes it easier to play chords. Then as it moves to the higher frets, it flattens out, so that you can bend the strings better.

Jackson Guitars have been around since 1978, when Grover Jackson bought out his business partner, Wayne Charvel, who owned Charvel Guitar Repair. The Jackson guitar company manufactured guitars in San Dimas, CA, until 1986, when they merged with the International Music Corporation, or IMC. The Charvel name is still in use, but both companies now belong to Fender, and have since 2002. The guitars are manufactured in Fender’s Corona, CA, factory.

Jackson is most famous for the working relationship they had with the late rock guitarist Randy Rhoads. He was part of the band, Quiet Riot, and played with Ozzie Osbourne. Rhoads was killed in a plane crash early in his career. He was only 25. His design and memory live on, however, in the RR guitars produced by Jackson. They were favored by the more extreme of the metal guitar players from the 80’s and 90’s.

Jacksons are generally thought of as having high value because of their good quality and moderate prices. In the earlier years, Jackson occasionally was sued by the bigger, more prestigious guitar manufacturers because of design copyright infringement. In general, Jackson guitars are sought out by those who play heavy metal, shred guitar, and similar genres of music.

Advantages: Many electric guitars are made with substandard pickups which are quickly replaced by the buyer with better quality pickups. The Jackson RR3 Rhoads electric guitar comes equipped with genuine Seymour Duncan pickups, which are one of the most desirable brands. These great pickups give the guitar a killer tone whether playing clean or with distortion.

The Floyd Rose trem is a desirable feature, as well, although some players have a struggle getting used to using one. Tuning requires you to unlock the headstock nuts, but when you get it in tune, it will stay in tune. The Floyd Rose bridge will continue to keep your guitar in tune, even if you do a lot of whammy dives. The finish is beautiful, and the design is really unique, so you will turn heads when you gig with the Jackson RR3 Rhoads electric guitar.

The neck is thin and very fast, and has been designed with metal music techniques in mind. The string spacing helps you keep from picking the wrong strings. Also, the compound neck radius makes chording easy, as well as speeding up those lead guitar licks. You can get this guitar to scream and squeel.

Disadvantages: Some have found the positioning of the controls to be inconvenient. Again, the Floyd Rose is, as one player put it, “annoying” until you get the hang of using it, but chances are you will learn to love it.

The shape of the Jackson RR3 Rhoads bothers some people, who say that it is difficulty to keep those wings from getting scratched up because of how they’re located. Of course, you won’t be able to comfortably play this while seated, and it has been found to be a little neck heavy, too. That means that when you’re standing with it for a long gig, that left hand is going to have to be occupied holding the neck up, even between numbers.

Specs:

  • Alder V-shaped body
  • Flame maple top on models with transparent finishes
  • Bolt-on rock maple neck
  • Scarf joint head stock
  • Rosewood fingerboard with compound radius, 14 to 16 inches
  • Neck dimensions: 1st fret - .745 inches, 12th fret - .810 inches
  • 22 frets
  • 25.5 inch scale
  • MOTO Shark Fin position inlays
  • Ivoroid binding on neck and headstock
  • Jackson 6-in-line pointed headstock
  • 1-11/16 inch nut width
  • Sealed die-cast tuners
  • Floyd Rose-licensed double-locking tremolo
  • Two volume control knobs
  • One master tone control knob
  • Three way pickup selector switch
  • Seymour Duncan JB TB4 Humbucking pickup at the bridge
  • Seymour Duncan Jazz SH2N Humbucking pickup at the neck
  • Black hardware
  • NPS strings, .009 to .042
  • Chrome pickguard

Related sites:

  • Here’s a short bio about Randy Rhoads. It’s sad, though.
  • Are you interested in a book for learning more about shredding and all the other techniques of metal guitar? The Jackson website spotlights this instruction book by “Metal Mike” Chlasciak.

Buy Online: Jackson RR3 Rhoads

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Comments

One Response to “Jackson RR3 Rhoads Electric Guitar”

  1. Navo on February 24th, 2008 5:47 am

    this guitar is great!
    i didnt even hav a problem getting used to the tremelo!

    my friends said that V’s were stupid, until my gig a couple weeks ago.
    it owns their !@#$ !!!

    -navo
    from : bank of the abandoned

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