Build and features

This is an eye-popping example from the company that started the hot-rodding and custom shop obsession. Seeing as probably the very first production ‘superstrat’ featured the words Jackson/ Charvel on the headstock, it’s exciting to see a guitar that has a genuine custom shop feel and doesn’t cost a fortune.

Although available in many traditional finishes, the hand-applied Green Swirl crowns a truly handsome guitar. Reverse headstocks do polarise opinion and playing such a guitar does make something of a statement.

Without a locking nut in place, upside-down six-a-side pegheads usually mean a subtly looser feel on the treble strings - nice for solos - and a slightly tighter bass side. Clamp that nut down, though, and the whole lot feels marginally less tensioned than it otherwise would.

The maple neck’s profile is just about our favourite and is wider and flatter than that of the LTD, and those subtle cutaway contours have both aesthetic and practical benefits. Loaded with a Jackson branded Floyd Rose-licensed vibrato, the guitar plays beautifully and we should mention that, for the £819 asking price, you get a roadworthy hard case thrown in.

Next: Jackson DKMG Green Swirl sounds, pros and cons