The Jackson Genesis:

Historical Account of the Randy Rhoads Model

By Columnist Joe Corsano
3/18/02

Rhoads Model Gallery, Click to see FULL size image.
Yellow Rhoads 1990's	Yellow Rhoads 1990's (Back)	Yellow Rhoads 1990's	Pickups
Headstock	Rhady Rhoad's Vs	Double Rhoads 1980's	Roswell Rhoads 1990's

1981 Rhoads Model 1	1983 Rhoads 2nd Model

    For the last 20 years, the late, great, Randy Rhoads has now been firmly established as a guitar god. Starting out in his parent's music store in California, the budding Rhoads began cutting his teeth with the LA metal band, Quiet Riot. In the late 1970's they had become equal to the ever-popular Van Halen in the LA club scene. Playing sold out shows at the Starwood in the summer of 1977, Rhoads had planted the seeds for what was to come. While all of Quiet Riot's albums with Rhoads were released in Japan (with the exception of "The Randy Years" 1993 Parc Records) the popularity of Quiet Riot propelled Randy into legendary status. In 1980 he auditioned and became Ozzy Osborne's guitarist. And it was late in that year that he sought the guitar expertise of Grover Jackson, the president of Jackson Charvel. Randy wanted a guitar similar to the Gibson Flying V, but with more aggressive body styling, to match his sonic and visual appeal. Together they came up with the first Rhoads design. Loosely resembling the Gibson counterpart, this Jackson model had 22 ebony frets on a through the body neck, mother of pearl block inlays, white paint, vintage style fulcrum tremolo, dual humbuckers, gold hardware, Les Paul switching/wiring, and that aggressive and radical styling.

    While Rhoads was happy with the model, in 1981 a second (and more popular) design was developed. This model featured the true offset body design simulating the look of a shark's fin on the body wings. Since Grover Jackson was still producing the popular Charvel strat style guitars, he feared the Charvel name could suffer poor publicity if the Rhoads model proved unsuccessful. By signing his own name (yes, it was hand written in gold!) the first Jackson guitar was born. The success was unheralded, and this single creation was not only the birth of Jackson guitars, but became the cornerstone, make that the flagship, of all creations in the line up both then and since. By 1983, only a year after the untimely and tragic death of Rhoads, the model became a staple in Jackson's custom shop. With front mounted controls, most of the earliest models had string through the body design, although it was not uncommon to see Kahler, Floyd, and vintage tremolo designs as well.

    The early Rhoads models were available in two formats: the student and the custom. Essentially the same guitars, the student lacked the mother of pearl shark fin inlays, headstock/neck binding, ebony fingerboards, and other cosmetic upgrades. Production began in Jackson's San Dimas, California custom shop, where the finest Jacksons were created. By 1984 some variations on the second Rhoads model began to come to fruition. Dave Linsk of Overkill submitted a "double Rhoads" concept that featured symmetrical (versus offset) body wings. A year later this monstrosity was slightly scaled down (Dinky) and became the King V. In 1987 the San Dimas plant was moved to Ontario, California where it remains today. Soon after followed other variations like the "rounder" Roswell Rhoads, the "Dinky" XTRR (Danny Spitz) Rhoads, and the limited reissue models. The Rhoads continued as the flagship of the Jackson line. By 1990 there were essentially three versions available. True Custom Shop Rhoads guitars where the player specified every nuance of the instrument, the USA Production series where such customized options became standardized, and the Japanese Professional series that limited the paint finishes, hardware, and electronics. All three of these designs were built with ultra high quality woods, hardware, and electronics. By the mid 1990's the Japanese line expanded, and as with many expansions in the guitar industry, lost the higher end features of the originals while suffering some quality control issues.

    Today the Rhoads model continues, as it has for almost two decades now, to be the foundation of the Jackson line. Available in a variety of Japanese models (including the reissue of neck through designs) and in USA Select examples, the Rhoads has maintained the magic fairy dust of the original. Still available through the Custom Shop one can have a Rhoads constructed identically to the originals, proving that the legendary status of the virtuoso, Randy Rhoads, is still alive and well in the soul of the company and its players. It is with bittersweet irony that Randy's death on Earth became the springboard and beginning of life for the Jackson guitar company. The believers know that Randy lives on in every Rhoads model, keeping alive the legend and the Genesis that has influenced us all.