Cindy’s Other Blog

At the start of the 1990s, Jackson Guitars were famous all across the world with their superstat design copied by virtually all other guitar manufacturers like Kramer, Gibson, Ibanez and B.C. Rich.

Grover Jackson, the founder of Jackson Guitars, left the company in late 1989. Despite this, the Warrior design was being created by Mikey Wright - a R&D designer with an innovative guitar body model that would take the Jackson lineup to unimagined heights and astonish the guitar population with a design that drastically departed from Jackson’s entrenched “superstrat.”

The Jackson Warrior was released in 1990 and it was an aggressive and obnoxious design. Vastly different to the well known Dinky and Soloist, it had 5 points - 4 on the body and 1 on the headstock - giving it a very Warrior look and hence its name.

Jackson made two types of Warrior guitars - the Warrior and Warrior Pro. The plain warrior was constructed in the USA, while the Pro was produced in Japan. The only difference between the two versions was that country in which they were made.

The Pro model came in the following colors: Candy Blue , Snow White Pearl, Ferrari Red, Midnight Black and Pearl Yellow. The USA models offered a bigger options base: Pearl White, Fire Crackle, Snow White, Midnight Black, Candy Red, Metallic Black, Eerie Dess Swirl, Pearl Yellow, Tie Die, Ferrari Red and Metallic Electric Blue.

Jackson re-released the Warrior model in 2001 - exactly ten years after the last Warrior left the Jackson factory. You can pick up on of these Warrior for $1,200 retail.

The overseas made Warrior retail for about $400 and are simple bolt on models with a wide range of pickups. The USA made Warrior is more expensive, reflecting the Duncan pickups, Floyd Rose tremolos and other superior qualities. The US model however, doesn’t have the active circuitry, slanted fingerboard and pickup as the previous models did.

Despite the minor changes to the original design, these new Warriors are on par with the original models and the quality of the manufacturing is excellent.