Open Box Jackson Dinky Arch Top JS22-7 DKA HT Electric Guitar Level 2 Black 197881249410

Most Liked Positive Review

Great value 7 string

I've now purchased two of these guitars, once in 2014 and another in 2025. The 2015 models came standard with a rosewood fingerboard but the newer ones look to be some kind of amaranth (purpleheart) instead even though its advertised as rosewood. The original 2014 model had some issues down the line with frets popping up and likely would have needed a fret job to be able to play with low action, but was mostly playable after 10+ years of improper storage and cleaning. I have to say that I'm impressed with the craftsmanship on the 2025 model that i received last week, typically guitars at this price point (even the JS32 models) will typically have some high frets and rough fret edges but the one I received was very clean and well built. What some others have said about this guitar holds true, it is known not to have the best hardware and pickups, however I've found that if you are wanting to get started on a 7 string and are open to modding the guitar it makes for a terrific platform to start. In my case I had replaced the tuners with locking tuners, the nut with a TUSQ XL, and replaced the stock pickups with EMGs. Out of the box the guitar was very playable, but needed a setup to be optimal. The action was fairly high, and intonation was decent with the stock strings however if you plan to drop tune and use thicker gauge strings for tunings such as drop Ab or drop F# you will likely need to pull a few of the saddle screws all the way back to get it properly intonated. The stock pickups are not nearly as bad as I had expected, many will claim that they are "muddy" which could be the case for some amps/rigs, however in my signal chain I found them to sound crisp enough and probably would have kept them if I hadn't already had the EMG pickups from my 2014 build already. The "muddy" complaint could likely be corrected with EQ if needed. The only item I noted with the pickups is that they seem to have a tad less gain than I'd expect from standard Jackson branded pickups, however adjusting the pickup height to bring it closer to the strings seemed to make it negligible. Tuning stability can be a real challenge on this guitar out of the box, which isn't unexpected at this price. I found that when performing bends the string would bind in the nut and cause it to get stuck a tad sharp, and then when freeing it I would need to retune the guitar as the tuners didn't seem to be all that stable either. Both of these can be corrected by replacing the nut with something like a TUSQ XL or other self lubricating nut, and replacing the tuners with locking tuners. (Tuner replacements may require drilling small holes in the back of the headstock as the screw locations did not line up with the stock tuners) The 26.5 scale length on this guitar definitely helps a lot with intonation when down tuning, and I personally can't tell much difference in playability compared to a standard 25.5 scale. I've personally downtuned mine to F# standard (Same as 8 string without the high E) but had to pull the saddles all the way back on the two lowest strings, so I would not recommend this guitar if you were planning on downtuning much lower than that. (Would need longer scale) The stock strings on the guitar were surprisingly decent, however I found that the low B was not thick enough for my taste (even in B standard) and could sometimes sound out of tune when strummed due to the wobble. If you plan on using this for B Standard you'd likely want to use a .060 or .064 size B string which will require some work on the stock nut to keep it from sitting too high or binding. Overall I think that you can't ask for much more for a sub $200 (at time of writing) 7 string guitar, but if you are an experienced player or have a higher budget and don't feel comfortable with modifying your guitar than the lower end Schecter models are a better pick.