Jackson Pro / Professional confusion?
by Henrik Hjortnaes
Thanks to Jackson, there has always been a lot of confusion regarding the Jackson guitars called Professional and Pro. Sometimes Pro is short for Professional, sometimes it's not!
One thing is for shure though: NONE of the Pro and Professional's are made in USA. Compairing the real Pro with the plain Professionals, you will discover big differences in quality, materials used... and price. The following is a quick guide to the Japanese made Jackson guitars from 1990-1995, which I consider a golden era of import guitars.
The Golden Years of Jackson import guitars
The Japanese Jackson Pro Series guitars introduced in 1990 and terminated in 1995, are some of the best Imports ever to be released by Jackson, so it's quite useful to know exactly which guitars we're talking about here, so you can spot them in the crowd. Everywhere you look, be it on eBay or Internet forums, the mixup between "Professional" and "Pro" is present and almost the norm.
Blank truss rod cover?
And we are not to blame for this confusion... Jackson is! To clear up this whole mess is painfully cumbersome, partly because Jackson later chose to include cheaper models under the "Pro Series" name, thereby obliterating the little overview we had.
Furthermore, from 1993 thru 1995, the word "Pro" suddenly appeared on the truss rod covers of the Pro guitars. Helpful and confusing at the same time, because where does that leave the first batch of Pro guitars, which had blank truss rod covers? D'OH!
The Japanese made Pro guitars, are the guitars that are known to equal the USA Jacksons in terms of build quality, features and workmanship. These are the ones you want to hunt down on eBay, but expect to pay good money for them. A lot of the other models are killer axes too; just to let you know, I'm not dissing them at all.
Here are the words of Jackson on the Series when introduced in 1990:
The Jackson Pro Series is designed for the professional working musician who requires a superior caliber instrument to match his or her superior talents.
(See full catalogue scan of that here).
Learn to spot a Jackson Pro
Okay, I said it was too painful to unravel this whole thing and so it is. Therefore, I won't even try. I'll just cut to the chase and show you a summarized pricelist I put together, from the period 1990 thru 1995, where every high-end "Pro" is marked with the symbol 
Every guitar with "Pro" in their name on that list, is a Pro from the Professional Series of guitars. Hit the links to see the actual model with specs. The Limited '91 guitars are also members of the high-end Pro's, being the most expensive in the series overall.
To get the full picture of these legendary guitars, check out the History of the Japanese Jackson Imports.
Article published June 2006
Chart notes
The models in the chart below, can be found in more than one guitar catalogue, so be sure to check out all Jackson catalogues from 1990 thru 1995, to get the full picture. Note that the configuration of the models changes slightly during this 5 year period; especially the tremolos gets swapped around. You should also know that the original catalogues sometimes contains errors, like wrong tremolo or wrong number of frets listed. Cross checking a catalogue page with its corresponding pricelist, will often reveal inconsistencies, especially regarding tremolo model. Jackson will sometimes display a guitar in the catalogue with features NOT found on the final production model.
Jackson Professional Series guitars
produced 1990 - 1995
Pro models marked with
Hover your mouse over the model names for pictures.
Click for catalogue page.
Performer and Concept Series not included in chart.
Hover your mouse over the model names for pictures.
Click for catalogue page.
Performer and Concept Series not included in chart.
Limited '91 (200 made)
