“Good weight, versatile sounds and a far from ‘shredder’ neck… It’s a very credible, classy instrument”: Jet Guitars JS-45 Elite review

What is it?

While the rarefied high-end electric guitar world seems to be escalating in price at an alarming rate, there’s no shortage of lookalike styles. So if you can’t afford (or justify) that posh-looking Tom Anderson or Suhr, increasingly there are options such as this new Jet JS-45 Elite that aims to capture some of that posh vibe with a far more attainable price tag.

Designed by Primoz Virant in Slovenia and made in China, Jet guitars burst onto the scene about five years back focusing on well-made yet highly affordable lookalike designs. Its models quickly became a modding favourite, too, with perfectly good chassis that can be easily upgraded.

While the current Jet range kicks off with direct copies such as the JS-300 (from £189), our review sample comes from the top-tier Elite models. These aren’t limited editions; instead of building down to a price point, the Jet team looked to create instruments that compete with boutique styles, all without an eye on the end cost.

Our JS-45 is a standard Fender-scale super-S with an impressive on-paper specification: quarter-sawn, light roasted maple neck bolted to a two-piece mahogany body with a “solid” quilted maple top. In the flesh, however, that roasted maple, while clearly quarter-sawn, has an unusual grain figure in the lower portion that plenty of upper-market makers might reject.

The ‘solid’ quilted maple top is – like PRS’s SEs, for example – a thin 5mm solid maple cap with a quilted maple veneer that you can clearly see through a loupe on the natural body edge.

Typically, the graduated ’burst is just applied to the top, the natural mahogany back looks lightly tinted, and overall the body is gloss-finished with the usual contours and quite a heavy rear-edge radius. Also typical for the style is a rounded heel – the screws sit in recessed cupped washers – with a rear scoop behind the treble cutaway. Nothing remotely original but good craft.

Obviously, its HSS pickup array (all direct-mounted to the body) is pretty standard, too, likewise the rear-mounted control layout comprising a standard five-way lever pickup selector (the web spec erroneously says it’s a three-way), master volume and tone and a small mini-switch that splits the humbucker, voicing the slug single coil. The chromed metal ‘football’ jack plate is side mounted, as you’d expect.

Perhaps a little surprising is the vintage-style vibrato, albeit with a push-in, tension-adjustable arm and offset string holes that pass through the die-cast black-painted block.

The standard saddles and top plate are chromed steel, and to be picky it would be nice to add a thicker neck shim so those protruding saddle height-adjustment screws could be buried into the saddles. There’s a little more modernism with the Jet logo’d tuners, which are rear locking with staggered height posts. No complaints there.

Playability and sounds

While we’re seeing more and more lighter weight chambered or semi-solid designs, the all-solid JS-45 tips the scales at a manageable 3.67kg (8.1lb). Seated or strapped on, its form is comfortable and, importantly, the neck shaping is rather good, not least its satin feel.

The shallow-shouldered C comes in at just under 21mm at the 1st fret and fills out nicely to 22.8mm by the 12th. And while many guitars in this style promote a compound fingerboard radius, here the 305mm (12-inch) ‘Gibson’ radius avoids an overly flat feel in higher positions. Those face markers do vary in colour and lack a little contrast against the deep brown of the rosewood fingerboard, though; thankfully, the simple white side dots are much clearer in playing position.

Plenty of care has been taken with the fretting. The wire isn’t over-big and has a good height, the ends are well rounded, plus there’s a little fingerboard edge-rounding, too. The tops do feel a bit scratchy in places – a little more care would elevate the craft and the feel, though it’s far from a dealbreaker.

Overall, our sample came nicely set up and, once the strings were stretched and settled, it plays very nicely in tune. Aside from those slightly protruding screws on the outer E saddles, the vibrato is well set up, too, with a little up-bend and enough down-bend for smooth shimmers, rather than any divebombing intention. It all holds its tuning well, too.

There’s no tricky switching here and the voicing is obviously ‘Stratocaster’ with an added kick at the bridge. The single-coil sounds are pretty good overall, a little lighter and subtly brighter than our PRS SE Silver Sky reference, not to mention our Bare Knuckle Triptych-equipped Fender Road Worn.

But this Jet really excels at those classic ’80s breaking-glass-like funk and dance rhythm voices before you slam in with your solo on the thick and pretty hot bridge humbucker. That’s not the only way to drive it, of course – the single coils, and certainly the neck/middle mix, sound pretty soulful with all the bounce and percussion you’d expect.

A coil-split is hardly revolutionary, but when split here the bridge isn’t over-spiky. It gives a great hot blues, classic rock or Americana voice that not only suited the guitar rather well, but we preferred it over the more clichéd and subtly compressed full coil.

Either way, while there are no surprises, there’s plenty of stylistic reach here in what is a smartly turned out spin on a modern classic.

Verdict

We’ve reviewed plenty of Superstrat-inspired designs in the past couple of years – so much so that we could suggest there’s a bit of a renaissance of the style.

The super-S was always about adding modern elements and features to the Stratocaster: bigger frets, fancy wood tops, improved vibrato and locking tuners and, of course, that HSS (or HSH) pickup array.

This JS-45 Elite certainly aims in that direction, but it’s actually a little more classic than some with its vintage-style vibrato and sensible frets (nickel silver, not stainless steel), plus a pretty standard control layout and pickups. That works in its favour; combined with some competent craft, there’s little to criticise.

Guitar World verdict: With a good weight, versatile sounds and a far from ‘shredder’ neck, it might not be the cheapest in the Jet Guitars line-up, but it’s a very credible, classy instrument.

Specs

PRICE: $929 approx/£919/€899 (inc gigbag)
ORIGIN: China
TYPE: Double-cut solidbody electric
BODY: 2-piece mahogany with solid
quilted maple top
NECK: Quarter-sawn ‘light roast’ maple, bolt-on
SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”)
NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic/42.3mm
FINGERBOARD: Indian rosewood, white shell
dot markers, 305mm (12”) radius
FRETS: 22, medium jumbo
HARDWARE: Wilkinson WV6S vintage-style vibrato, Jet logo’d rear-locking tuners – chrome-plated
STRING SPACING/BRIDGE: 53.5mm
ELECTRICS: Double-black open-coiled Alnico humbucker (bridge), black covered Alnico single coils (middle and neck), 5-position lever pickup selector switch, master volume, master tone, mini-switch (to split humbucker and voice slug single coil)
WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.67/8.1
OPTIONS: None
RANGE OPTIONS: Other Elite series models include the JS-50 Art (£919) with dual humbuckers and custom painted top, the T-style JT-30 Gold (£709) with metallic gold finish and fibreglass pickguard, and the HSS JS-40 Metallic Burst (£765)
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISHES: Fireburst (as reviewed), Indigo Grey – gloss body and headstock face; satin neck back
CONTACT: Jet Guitars

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