DoctorPaul's Guitar Emporium - Sold Guitars
(SOLD)
Jaden Rose Deimos 6
"Judith"
Right, so ANOTHER Jaden! This one filled a nice gap in my "collection". This was a Deimos 6 stringer, made by Jaden as you'd expect (one at a time, not batch-built), but was peculiar in that it was a flat-top, as opposed to being carved and arched like Escher, Lauren and Blu-Tack. Whereas the OS custom shop guitars are carved top with fancy timbers, and the Tachyons are carved top with plain timbers, the Deimos is flat-topped, but with fancy timber ... so all variations are covered.
This has a maple body with some nice figuring going on (almost quilted, but not quite) with a crazy-thick cap of Spalted beech. I must admit that I'm familiar with Spalted maple (... and despise it, for what it's worth ... nasty rotten wood), but I had no idea that Spalted beech was even a thing, but there you go. Whatever, this is made from it, and it was rather pretty.
These are marketed by Jaden as "stripped down ... purposeful machines" which are "built with a single purpose - hard rock and metal", which is fair enough isn't it! What that means is that you get no tone control, and that the second pickup at the neck is an extra-cost-option ... how very 'rawk'.
In line with its design purpose, this was originally fitted with a pair of bat-shit-crazy high output pickups ... both DiMarzio D-Activators. I've had D-Activators before, and ... well ... bloody hell! They're great pickups, but aren't very versatile (they do flat out metal tones, but not much else). SO, the last owner had the D-Activators ripped out, and a Petrucci set of Dimarzios fitted (Crunch lab and Liquifire). Both were GREAT pickups ... I've got them fitted in several guitars. A wise move/ You'll also notice that the volume control has been moved WAY DOWN out of the way ... another concession to the metallers.
This one was shown at the Bristol Guitar Show in 2010, and was used by Rob Chapman for his clinic there ... the link shows him playing "Bleed the Light" on it. These escaped for just £1,500 (a little less than the arch-top Tachyon and MUCH less than an OS) which is again quite curious, given that EVERYTHING with the exception of the flat top is the same as an OS. Whatever, Jaden's pricing structure is none of my business.
This was finished in a nice clear lacquer, which looked the business over the grain of the rotten beech. Lovely. I mean the "spalted" beech. The build quality was the same as the rest of the Jadens on my racks ... there's nothing that I'd like to see done differently, and CERTAINLY nothing that needs to be improved or done more carefully. Again, ABSOLUTELY spot on, with flawless fretwork, great attention to detail, good low action and tones that were good enough to make you stop in your tracks ... the sort of tone that makes you want to play that last bit one more time.
The name ... well ... that was inherited. I would perhaps not have selected "Judith", but the last owner (probably when quite pissed) decided to scrawl the name on the back of the guitar in biro ... With hindsight, that might have been a dumb-ass move, but I didn't really mind. It all added to the mojo, and believe me, there's lots of THAT.
This was sold as part of a clear-out of (relatively) lower-end gear ... ultimately this (although a fantastic guitar) struggled to keep up with the wenge and purpleheart necked guitars. Although the collector in me was happy to OWN it, it got virtually no attention; I spent most of my time with the proper OS Jadens.
