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1996 Jackson EL1 valuation?

P

pontius

Apr 29, 2023
10
9
#1
Hello, new member here. I am primarily a sax player, but used to play bass years ago. My daughter however is a gifted musician /vocalist started on piano at 6 yrs old, and then moved onto Ukulele, then acoustic guitar, and now getting into electric territories). Over the last several years, I have been picking up instruments and recording gear for her to have at her fingertips.

I have a 1996 Jackson EL1 in excellent condition that I am considering selling to fund other gear. This seems to be a somewhat rare model, only made for a couple years, making it difficult for me to pin down what it might be worth. I believe they retailed for around $700 originally. I have the original receipt from musician's friend for $600 and the guy I got it from told me he was stoked to buy it because it was on sale. (I'm the second owner).

Can anyone tell me more about this model? Professional line? Made in USA? It's been tough finding any info on these and I've looked pretty hard.

Thanks in advance.
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#5
pontius said:
Hello, new member here. I am primarily a sax player, but used to play bass years ago. My daughter however is a gifted musician /vocalist started on piano at 6 yrs old, and then moved onto Ukulele, then acoustic guitar, and now getting into electric territories). Over the last several years, I have been picking up instruments and recording gear for her to have at her fingertips.

I have a 1996 Jackson EL1 in excellent condition that I am considering selling to fund other gear. This seems to be a somewhat rare model, only made for a couple years, making it difficult for me to pin down what it might be worth. I believe they retailed for around $700 originally. I have the original receipt from musician's friend for $600 and the guy I got it from told me he was stoked to buy it because it was on sale. (I'm the second owner).

Can anyone tell me more about this model? Professional line? Made in USA? It's been tough finding any info on these and I've looked pretty hard.

Thanks in advance.View attachment 5046466 View attachment 5046467 View attachment 5046468 View attachment 5046469 View attachment 5046470
Click to expand...
Welcome to TalkBass!
 
#6
Thanks! I will have more questions for sure in the future. Although I have been mostly on sax for several years, I have been getting back into bass as a result of helping my daughter find decent guitars and basses. I just bought a Rumble 100 and it is a nice sounding amp and much lighter than what I remember playing in the 90's! I imagine our casio privia piano will sound fine through it as well.

As far as basses. we have the Jackson EL1 and an 80's Japanese P Bass copy. The P Bass has that old school vibe and the Jackson I would say has a more refined, modern, articulate sound and is super comfortable (smaller body and only 7.5 lbs).
 
#10
pontius said:
Hello, new member here. I am primarily a sax player, but used to play bass years ago. My daughter however is a gifted musician /vocalist started on piano at 6 yrs old, and then moved onto Ukulele, then acoustic guitar, and now getting into electric territories). Over the last several years, I have been picking up instruments and recording gear for her to have at her fingertips.

I have a 1996 Jackson EL1 in excellent condition that I am considering selling to fund other gear. This seems to be a somewhat rare model, only made for a couple years, making it difficult for me to pin down what it might be worth. I believe they retailed for around $700 originally. I have the original receipt from musician's friend for $600 and the guy I got it from told me he was stoked to buy it because it was on sale. (I'm the second owner).

Can anyone tell me more about this model? Professional line? Made in USA? It's been tough finding any info on these and I've looked pretty hard.

Thanks in advance.View attachment 5046466 View attachment 5046467 View attachment 5046468 View attachment 5046469 View attachment 5046470
Click to expand...
It’s Charvel counterpart is called a Big break bass 3b.37. Not US but an import, not unlikely to have been made in South Korea. Great starter bass!
Those were all over in the 90s. IIRC they were charvel branded first, yours would’ve come a little later I believe. In this case the fact it says Jackson not charvel is fairly inconsequential, other than the charvel models are easier to find online currently.
Here’s a Jackson/charvel catalog link and an ended listing for a Charvel branded model.
Grover Jackson Guitar Catalog (around 1996)

Charvel 3B.37-80 PJ Bass 199x Gun Metallic | Reverb


Edit: Now that you’re a supporting member I can say if I got $400 for that bass I’d be laughing, but maybe someone would pay more it looks to be in great shape with an OHSC.
 
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#11
Rabidhamster said:
It’s Charvel counterpart is called a Big break bass 3b.37. Not US but an import, not unlikely to have been made in South Korea. Great starter bass!
Those were all over in the 90s. IIRC they were charvel branded first, yours would’ve come a little later I believe. In this case the fact it says Jackson not charvel is fairly inconsequential, other than the charvel models are easier to find online currently.
Here’s a Jackson/charvel catalog link and an ended listing for a Charvel branded model.
Grover Jackson Guitar Catalog (around 1996)

Charvel 3B.37-80 PJ Bass 199x Gun Metallic | Reverb


Edit: Now that you’re a supporting member I can say if I got $400 for that bass I’d be laughing, but maybe someone would pay more it looks to be in great shape with an OHSC.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info.
Yes, it is in extremely good condition. I can only find one minuscule mark on the body. I'd give it a strong 9.5 out of 10 for sure. Neck is nice and straight. I adjusted the truss rod the other day giving it a smidge of relief and set the string height to the Jackson recommended specs in the original owners manual (3mm). Plays great.

I figured I'd sell one of our basses to help fund the Rumble 100 I just bought. My daughter likes the "old school" vibe of the P Bass better so I think the Jackson is destined for the classifieds. Now that I am a legit contributing member, I assume I can post a for sale thread here? I haven't had time yet to read through the classified rules, but I will go through that hopefully tonight.
 
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#14
pontius said:
Thanks for the info.
Yes, it is in extremely good condition. I can only find one minuscule mark on the body. I'd give it a strong 9.5 out of 10 for sure. Neck is nice and straight. I adjusted the truss rod the other day giving it a smidge of relief and set the string height to the Jackson recommended specs in the original owners manual (3mm). Plays great.

I figured I'd sell one of our basses to help fund the Rumble 100 I just bought. My daughter likes the "old school" vibe of the P Bass better so I think the Jackson is destined for the classifieds. Now that I am a legit contributing member, I assume I can post a for sale thread here? I haven't had time yet to read through the classified rules, but I will go through that hopefully tonight.
Click to expand...

Yes as a contributing member you are now allowed to post items for sale in the classifieds...
 
#15
Nice looking bass, regardless. I thought it was an Ibanez at first glance. The few Jackson/Charvel I’ve handled seem to be typical well made Japanese quality, good “modern” tone. The PJ layout is easy to swap out/upgrade, but probably no need. Looks comparable to something like an Ibanez SR300.
 
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#16
chriscarcinogen said:
If the serial number is on a piece of tape, it's safe to assume the instrument was not made in the usa.
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Absolutely. You probably already know this but for the benefit of others, this was when Jackson changed their naming scheme to the (abbreviation)(number). While a suffix of 1 or sometimes 2 was often the USA version and the numbers higher being a tier down, if the model didn't have a US version to begin with, the import would thus have the 1. The Kelly Bass KB1 and the Dinky DX1 is another MIJ 1 suffix.

Source and link to my own research (https://mechas64castles.net/Jacksonextra.html#category)
 
#17
pontius said:
Thanks for the info.
Yes, it is in extremely good condition. I can only find one minuscule mark on the body. I'd give it a strong 9.5 out of 10 for sure. Neck is nice and straight. I adjusted the truss rod the other day giving it a smidge of relief and set the string height to the Jackson recommended specs in the original owners manual (3mm). Plays great.

I figured I'd sell one of our basses to help fund the Rumble 100 I just bought. My daughter likes the "old school" vibe of the P Bass better so I think the Jackson is destined for the classifieds. Now that I am a legit contributing member, I assume I can post a for sale thread here? I haven't had time yet to read through the classified rules, but I will go through that hopefully tonight.
Click to expand...
Yeah this is a great place to post the ad! Take good pics of the outside of the case when you do it. These are really nice basses when you want the look/sound they have. They’re really comfortable to play too.
 

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