I played a Jet guitar

I recently walked into a music store and tried out a left-handed Jet brand guitar priced around $600. I heard about these guitars only recently. Apparently, there has been plenty of online buzz claiming these Chinese-made instruments are surprisingly "good" for entry-level players. The model on the floor was a seafoam green Stratocaster-style guitar that definitely looked the part hanging on the wall.

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  Lefty Jet

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  Lefty Jet

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  Lefty Jet

Fit, Finish, and Action

Let’s start with the positives, because credit where credit is due: the fit and finish were actually very good. The paint job, body contours, and neck joint were clean and well-executed. It has the same headstock shape as a Bacchus (Japanese brand.) I own a Chinese-made Bacchus and it is a terrible guitar as is. With upgrades it could be a good guitar. It is very light and its fit and finish is quite excellent. Same standard as the Jet. These Jet guitars might even be from the same factory?

But as they say: "you can't judge a book by its cover." First thing that hit me was the action. You could drive a bus under the strings, basically unplayable for anything other than chords. No one set this guitar up.

Sound and Hardware

Tone-wise, the guitar was very average. To be fair, the bridge humbucker was not too bad. A bit muddy and low ohms, but I've heard worse. The single coils were your typical entry level pickups, noisy and dull. There is a relationship between hardware and wood. This guitar had a fairly decent acoustic resonance but plugged in did not have any "zing." I put this down to the metal used for the bridge block. To be fair, you would not expect a brass block on a $600 guitar, but even so, the lack of sustain and dynamic response was a letdown. The tuners were nothing special but they did hold the guitar in tune. China has gotten pretty good at making tuners.

Even though it was structurally well-made, the overall experience gave the guitar a distinctly "cheap" feel once you started playing it.

The Left-Handed Reality Check

Despite the supposed hype, I walked away genuinely disappointed. I don't have anything against so-called "cheap" guitars. I own a Monterey Les Paul. It is 16 years old, and is stock standard. The fit and finish on that guitar is outstanding. It plays and sounds fantastic for what it is. It delivers the "Gary Moore sound" very well, and that's all I care about in a Les Paul. In Australia this is a "$200 guitar." My Monterey is far from that in reality. With the Jet, it made me realize that those glowing online reviews are obviously all based on right-handed models. Perhaps QC is different? Or maybe people are just easily impressed by shiny finishes?

If a left-handed player buys this Jet guitar, they aren't just paying $600. They are immediately up for another $150-$180 just to get a proper professional setup done. And that's before factoring in potential extra costs if a technician has to level out a few high frets along the way. There's $350 right there for setup plus fretwork. What are we up to now? $950.

The Verdict

This guitar is simply not playable straight out of the box, and the music store obviously did not give it a setup. Conclusion: not a good investment when there are known alternatives that are far better, like a Gaskell. Recommendation: spend only a few hundred dollars more and get yourself minimally a Tier-1 Gaskell Custom Shop guitar built right the first time.