Jackson and Misha Mansoor have expanded their Juggernaut signature collection with three new 7-string guitars, all each equipped with Periphery riff-master’s 21st-century specs.
After Jackson debuted his signature guitar with an EverTune bridge in April, there might have been some djent über-fans who were hoping that this announcement might see this cutting-edge hardware on a 7-string – or even an 8-string.
Mansoor, however, isn’t playing playing around on these. We’ve got string-through-body hardtail bridges as standard, and a lot of the specs that you might expect.
Across the board, we have Mansoor’s MM1 electric guitar pickups, high-output passive humbuckers that were designed in collaboration with the man himself. We have longer scale instruments, measuring in at 26.5”, all with solid poplar bodies and bolt-on roasted maple necks with an oiled-back finish for extra tactility. Lovely.
Also, those necks have been reinforced with carbon fibre rods to withstand the rigours of the road (or just some really whole-hearted home practice).
Everything is built for speed and performance. This is Jackson. But where you typically have a 12” to 16” compound radius fingerboard, Mansoor has it even flatter, with a 20” radius ebony board. The edges have been rolled for comfort.
There are 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, with Luminlay glow-in-the-dark side markers to count out the frets when the lights are on low. Mansoor also has offset dot inlays on the fingerboard.
One particularly neat feature on these models is the wiring setup. The dual humbuckers offer five core tones from a 5-way blade selector switch, and there is master volume and tone control, the latter with a push/pull function to take it out of the equation entirely.
The Juggernaut is a neo-Jackson design so we have the asymmetrical arrowhead-style 4x3 headstock, armed with die-cast locking tuners in black. All the hardware is black.
The finish options are pretty sweet on these. The Juggernaut HT7 comes in Signal Yellow and Silverburst Sparkle, while the HT7P comes in Chlorine Burst to show off all the details in its poplar burl veneer (that bougie aesthetic will cost you a little more, with the HT7P priced £1,149 and the regular HT7s priced £1,099)
Disappointed that they don’t have an EverTune? There’s no denying it is cool. Mansoor uses them when recording, with its on-point tuning/intonation invaluable when stacking guitar parts. But there are some downsides.
“We have been using EverTunes in the studio ever since Juggernaut,” said Mansoor, speaking to MusicRadar in May. “The last 10 years or so. To be entirely honest, there is slight feel and tone tax that you pay with an EverTune bridge – not unlike a Floyd Rose. At the end of the day, a good hardtail bridge is going to sound the best.”
Back then, Mansoor had been teasing an 8-string with an EverTune. That may or may not happen. “No comment!” he said. “That was the only thing I didn’t have, an EverTune eight-string. It’s just a very useful tool to have. I have a Custom Shop one that I use live. It allows me to dig into the guitar a bit more... It does allow me to have a little more fun onstage.”
The Pro Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 and HT7P are available now. See Jackson for more details. And definitely check out the demo video at the top of the page, where he introduces his new Juggernaut as "the ultimate in shrednology”. Should the bottom fall out of the progressive metal guitar scene, Mansoor might make it as a TV sales presenter.
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