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Collectable Guitars

Collectable Guitars pt 37 – Jackson Roswell Rhoads

icontexto-webdev-social-bookmark-09tipdrop logofacebook481The Jackson Roswell Rhoads was a very rare, limited edition guitar made in 1997. It was a limited run of 123 guitars, and was a twist on the classic Jackson Randy Rhoads shape, with a UFO theme running through it.

The body, instead of being made from wood, was made of 6061-T6 aluminium, an aircraft-grade metal which was hand-carved and polished in the Jackson Custom Shop. The guitar featured a single humbucker and a fixed bridge.

It also had a set maple neck with a satin grey finish, and the tuners were unusual LSR gearless types.

The Roswell’s body shape was based on the popular Randy Rhoads shape drawn up by the late guitarist in 1980, but the famously angular, pointy shape of the regular RR model was ditched in favour of a much more curvy design, which kept the basic shape but warped the body into an asymmetrical “U” shape as opposed to the regular model’s offset V shape.

The inlays were crop circle designs, befitting the alien/jet age theme of the guitar.

The name was taken from the location of a supposed alien space craft crash in the 1947, Roswell, New Mexico.

The original Roswell Rhoads was only built for a short time, in incredibly limited numbers, but has gained a cult following.

The shape is still available, although only through Jackson’s custom shop, and if you want one you’ll have to settle for wood instead of aluminium.

The Roswell was priced at a truly huge £3,999 when it was launched 13 years ago, and original, aluminium-bodied examples fetch even more than that today; Gbase currently have one for sale at $5000.

There is, however, a more mainstream guitar which retains the same kind of shape as the Roswell and comes at a much less extravagant cost, in the form of Gary Kramer Guitars’ Kramertorium model.

This is a newer model featuring a Floyd Rose tremolo and EMG pickups, for a price of around £500.

If you can’t find a Roswell Rhoads or don’t have the money, this new guitar could be a very realistic alternative.

4 replies on “Collectable Guitars pt 37 – Jackson Roswell Rhoads”

This was an interesting guitar and very nice to play but it was a bit gimmicky and not very versatile with it’s single pick-up and volume control only.
I believe only 100 were made though you may be right with the 123 quoted. Only 5 were brought into the UK for retail.
Although I still think they have some value, they all sold at way below the original RRP and generally for less than £1,000 and I’ve seen them in auction starting at $750 – that’s dollars – and expected to go for no more than about $1500.
The fact that Gbase have one priced at $5,000, it is a far cry from assuming they’ll get that much for it!
I suppose ultimately anything this unusual is worth what someone will pay for it!

You can get one of these made from aircraft billet aluminum along with other guitars made from billet aluminum from Ozztosh guitars at Ozztosh.com. Tell them Jeff Leigh sent you and you will get a great discount.