You have seen this guitar before, but it got a recent facelift and is ready for the limelight.
You may remember Jade Works Instruments from a review we did earlier this year of their Butterfly model, which you can find by clicking here. But Jade Works is back again with another original guitar design, and it’s one that I’m quite fond of. Meet the MD96, the newly dubbed offset guitar design that you may have seen on my Instagram recently.
What Is The Jade Works MD96?
This is a design that was dreamed in part between myself and John from Jade Works, though I take no credit for any of the execution of this beautiful guitar. The MD96 has a smaller, offset body with a bolt-on neck, with this specific one having a thicker, roasted maple neck. The original idea I had in mind almost 5 years ago when I sketched something up in my notebook and showed it to John, was to combine Fender modularity with some of the quirkier designs from vintage overseas manufacturers. Jade Works ended up putting their own spin on it however, with the accentuated rounded shape being quite comfortable to play.
But what I think is really interesting is that Jade Works doesn’t really have set specifications for their builds, at least not yet. Sure some things like scale length and headstock design may stay the same, but Jade Works is pretty good about using all sorts of different woods, parts, pickups, and designs. Just take a look at some of their other recent builds below.
MD96 Demo
Here’s the MD96 running into my UAFX Dream amp/cab sim, with a selection of cool pedals in front of it including the Oneder Effects Red Ryder, the Summer School Electronics Snow Day Delay, and the Solid GoldFX Surf Rider reverb.
My Thoughts
While I’m obviously biased because I once sketched out an idea for this guitar, I’m thrilled to see it come to life. This will not be a traditional guitar review in many senses, but I thought it would be fun to share how this project turned out. And the guitar is genuinely impressive at that, as it represents a relatively affordable design from a smaller boutique builder here in New England. The pickups are Artec GM ’94 humbuckers, which are pretty unique and have a surprising amount of high end. However, there’s no spec sheet here, as if you order one of these from John, he’d probably offer you a bevy of options or let you identify what kind of pickups you want. Because these are pretty customizable, I’m not going to give a detailed spec sheet on what my specific guitar features. It is a dual humbucker guitar, with a hardtail bridge, tone + volume knobs, and a unique metal sheet control cavity cover.
He was kind enough to leave a swimming pool route under the unique pickguard shape, meaning I can have a ton of fun modding and experimenting with this hardtail solidbody guitar. John’s current plans are to “plus up” this design a bit, so it’s likely that the next few you see will represent a step up in aesthetic detail and design. But quite frankly, this guitar is more than enough for me and my power chord bashing needs. If you’re looking for a more unique and customizable guitar buying experience, I think Jade Works is worth a long look, especially if you’re in the Rhode Island or New England area.
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