Jackson Guitars

From these beginnings, Jackson guitars became popular among heavy-metal guitarists in the 1980s for their fast-playing necks and unusual, aggressive designs. Rick Savage of Def Leppard, Dave Mustaine of Megadeath, and Vinnie Vincent of Kiss, for example, all played Jacksons.

Jackson still produces guitars today, and the central elements of the Jackson look have remained relatively consistent over the years. They often feature triangular “shark fin” inlays on their fret boards, and almost all sport a headstock which resembles a pointy variation of the Gibson Explorer headstock, modified to avoid the batch of copyright infringement lawsuits brought against Jackson by Fender and Gibson.

Fender acquired Jackson in 2002, but many of the post-Fender Jackson guitars are extremely similar to the original early Jackson models in design. Some musicians, however, disapproved of the change and began playing other companies’ guitars.

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