Fightin’ Jackson:  The Birth of the Warrior

By Columnist Joe Corsano
2/16/02

Jackson Warrior Gallery, Click image to see a FULL size view.
1980's Warrior Warbird	Black Warrior	Reissue Blood Drip	Jigsaw Warrior
Back of black Warrior	Snake Skin Warrior	Red Warrior	Reissue Extreme Warrior

    In 1989 Jackson had clearly become the dominant manufacturer of the world’s most sought after guitars. Radical and unprecedented, these “superstrats” were copied by every maker, including Ibanez, Kramer, B.C. Rich, Gibson, Fender, and countless others. Despite the fact that Grover Jackson would leave the company for good in late 1989, there were numerous innovations about to unveil themselves during this prolific time of new guitar design.  Enter Mikey Wright, an R&D designer with a new guitar body concept that would take the Jackson lineup to unheralded heights and shock the guitar community with a design that radically departed from Jackson’s well-established “superstrat.”

    The original Jackson Warrior was released in 1990 and untimely discontinued a year later. With no less than 5 pointy appendages (four on the body, one at the headstock) the Warrior was amply named. Aggressive and obnoxious, it marked an extreme departure from the company’s well known Soloist and Dinky “strat” type guitars. It was a 24 fret neck through monster with active electronics and a very well balanced body with heavily sculpted contours. The bound ebony fingerboard was cut at a slant after the 24^th jumbo fret, which matched the appearance of the reverse slanted pickups. Using Kent Armstrong’s “rail” designed pickups, the Warrior featured a single coil sized humbucker at the neck and a pair at the bridge.   With the Jackson JE-0005 custom 5 way blade switch, the tonal possibilities were numerous with pickup combinations unavailable on other Jackson’s of the era. Combined with their JE-1500 para mid EQ tone circuit, the flexible number of sonic possibilities was multiplied even further. This set up could be turned on and off via a mini toggle between the master volume and tone control. The output jack was inside the lower horn and allowed for easy “sit down” playing. Hardware included Jackson tuning machines and a Schaller made Jackson double locking tremolo.

      Two versions were released in 1990, the USA made production Warrior and the Japanese made Warrior Pro. Average pricing for the USA Warrior was $1,100 and the Pro models were $999.  Both shared the same features except that the Pro was made overseas. Body wood was poplar with maple necks featuring a totally heel-less joint for effortless upper fret eruptions. Jackson offered the following paint colors on the Pro models:  Ferrari Red, Midnight Black, Candy Blue, Pearl Yellow, and Snow White Pearl.   The USA models featured a larger options base:  Metallic Black, Pearl White, Ferrari Red, Tie Die, Eerie Dess Swirl, Midnight Black, Snow White, Metallic Electric Blue, Candy Red, Pearl Yellow, and Fire Crackle. The USA models also could be had in Jackson’s famous airbrush graphics including: Lightning Sky, Snakeskin, Don’t Smoke, Jigsaw, Californian Sunset, Bolted Steel, Deco Dream, Bikini Beach, Warbird, and Saturn. During the early 1990’s there was no up charge for a graphic finish.

    Jackson has reissued their Warrior models for the 2001 production year, marking a decade since the last production Warrior was released. Only the USA models of today are neck through designs, and average pricing is $1,200 for solid colors. American Warriors are available with Duncan pickups and Floyd Rose tremolos but lack the original active circuitry, slanted pickup layout, and slanted fingerboard edge. The overseas models of today are bolt on designs with a variety of pickup options including Duncan Design, EMG HZ with active circuits, and Jackson makes.   Pricing for these Warriors ranges from $400 to $550. Quality of all models is good, and the upscale USA made models are easily on par with the originals, despite some minor changes to the design. Like Gibson’s original Les Pauls that became discontinued in 1959 and brought back nearly a decade later, the modern player has recognized the advantages of Jackson’s Warrior and by popular demand it appears that it will stay an active member of the production line. It is truly the Jackson guitar company who has made the most innovations of the electric guitar in the modern era, and the Warrior is proof that Jackson is still fightin’.