Two guitars from the ’80s, Friedman’s late-’90s Kelly and Ellefson’s first five-string bass return as limited-edition signature models.
Jackson has gone back to four instruments from its own history for the new Legend Series, a limited-edition run of signature models based on guitars and a bass originally built for Randy Rhoads, Scott Ian, David Ellefson and Marty Friedman.
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The Randy Rhoads CD1 revives a V shape that was previously only available through the Jackson Custom Shop. It comes in Ivory with black pinstripes and gold hardware, with an alder body, a graphite-reinforced maple neck and a bound ebony fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets and a 12 to 16-inch compound radius. A Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a ‘59 in the neck cover everything from clean arpeggios to high-gain leads, and it has a vintage-style six-saddle tremolo. “There is no doubt Randy would be so honored to know the impact he has had on Jackson Guitars and on the world of rock and metal guitar,” says his sister, Kathy Rhoads D’Argenzio.
Scott Ian’s model recreates the early-’80s custom Rhoads that became known as the “Not” Rhoads for the word splashed across its body. It’s a neck-through RR22 with an alder body, a graphite-reinforced three-piece maple neck and a top-mount Floyd Rose 1000. “It’s been used on every Anthrax record – it was the main guitar on those first five albums in the ’80s,” Ian says. “It’s the guitar that kind of made my life.”
Marty Friedman’s Kelly KE-1 brings back his late-’90s signature, which was originally a limited collector’s piece. Jackson built the new version from the original sample, with an alder body, three-piece maple neck-through construction, 24 jumbo frets, a single Seymour Duncan JB and a Kahler 7330 fixed bridge, right down to Friedman’s white “1” body marking.
David Ellefson’s CB V Concert Bass reproduces the first five-string Jackson ever made, built for his 1990 tour. It has an alder body, a three-piece through-body quartersawn maple neck with graphite rods, EMG 40DC and CS pickups with three-band EQ, a HiMass bridge and open-gear Hipshot tuners. Ellefson has played Concert basses since the ’80s, and as he puts it, “Their slightly smaller body and fast action made them perfect for my aggressive playing style.”
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