Black Phillip! - Jackson JS Series JS30RR Rhoads | Black | 2006

“Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?”

Black Phillip would.

For a Jackson Rhoads, living deliciously apparently involves 24 frets, two high-output humbuckers and enough sharp edges to make sitting down an activity requiring both planning and faith.

Black Phillip is a Jackson JS30RR Rhoads, crafted in India in 2006 and finished in deep Gloss Black.

This earlier JS30 generation predates the modern JS32 range and offered players Jackson’s unmistakable body shapes at a more accessible price point, including the Kelly, Warrior, King V and this asymmetric Rhoads.

The body is Indian Cedro, paired with a bolt-on maple neck and Indian rosewood fingerboard.

That fingerboard carries 24 jumbo frets across a 25.5-inch scale with Jackson’s 12”-16” compound radius. The progressively flatter radius is designed to remain comfortable around the lower frets while becoming better suited to bends and faster playing further up the neck.

The electronics are refreshingly simple.

A pair of Jackson CVR2 high-output humbuckers are controlled by a three-way pickup selector, master volume and master tone. There are no batteries, additional switching systems or unnecessary complications.

At the bridge is Jackson’s JT390 adjustable string-through-body setup.

For players who love the Rhoads body shape but do not necessarily want a double-locking tremolo, this is an appealing arrangement. The strings pass through the body before crossing the individually adjustable bridge, providing a stable and straightforward setup with individual intonation adjustment.

The original chrome Jackson die-cast tuners remain fitted, while the neck plate is marked 2006/1325.

Despite being twenty years old and finished in notoriously unforgiving Gloss Black, Black Phillip has survived remarkably well. The front is particularly tidy and retains a deep mirror-like finish. There are some light surface marks and signs of use, mainly around the rear, but nothing unexpected for an instrument of this age.

Black Phillip has received the full Stray Chord treatment. His frets have been levelled, crowned and polished, the rosewood fingerboard thoroughly cleaned and conditioned, the electronics and hardware checked and serviced, and a complete professional setup carried out with action and intonation properly adjusted.

Specification

• Jackson JS30RR Rhoads
• 2006
• Crafted in India
• Gloss Black finish
• Indian Cedro body
• Bolt-on maple neck
• Indian rosewood fingerboard
• 25.5-inch scale length
• 12”-16” compound fingerboard radius
• 24 jumbo frets
• Dot position markers
• Dual Jackson CVR2 high-output humbuckers
• Three-way pickup selector
• Master volume
• Master tone
• Jackson JT390 adjustable bridge
• String-through-body construction
• Chrome Jackson die-cast tuners
• Frets levelled, crowned and polished
• Fully serviced and professionally set up

Black Phillip comes from a period when even the more accessible end of Jackson’s range could still be ordered in a body shape seemingly engineered to alarm somebody’s grandmother.

He is simple, stable, fast and gloriously pointy.

No Floyd Rose to wrestle with. No elaborate electronics. No pretence that you bought a black Rhoads because you have recently developed an interest in jazz standards.

Just 24 frets, two humbuckers and twenty years of darkness.

The Stray Chord
Rescue • Restore • Rehome