6921 Middle Valley Rd
STE 107
Hixson TN 37343
423-760-0618
World Class American made Guitars and Amps
JBD-100 Models
The JBD-100 Models were probably the most ordered of the USA models with the total units built running neck and neck with the JBD-200 model. with approximately 26 units having been built.
the JBD-100 model did have a couple of revisions made to it mainly due to the neck pickup haveing a rather steep slant of 54 degrees. this was purely a cosmetic design feature that allowed the "acent plate" to continue its sweep around the upper horn area and bring continuity to the end of fretboard/neck area,
butm this did cause electric pickup issues, as there was no standard pickup on the market at the time, that could accomidate the required width to clearly "hear" both "E" strings equally with the middle strings.
the ultimate solution was to have Vintage VIbe build Custom pickups to my design in order to fix this issue.
but before that happened,
I was instructed to spend as little as possible to fix the problem using standard off the shelf pickups first. which caused us to make at least 4 revisions.
the first version was the original "Sharq" guitar which was shown at the 2008 Winter NAMM with one single coil pickup with the heavy slant. we later discovered that the Zexcoil pickups worked in this version.. but alas, too little, too late.
The 2nd revision was with two single coil pickups in an over/under configuration and slightly "staggered" to "catch" the outer "E" strings. it worked.. but not very consistantly. it was also about this time that the new headstock design came about. the earlier "hooked" headstock, was a design of mine and the company thought it would be better if we used one that John had designed.
The 3rd revision was to use the EMG model 808 eight string pickup.
this is what was used on the Joe Walsh guitar.
and to be honest it looked all wrong and seriously altered the sleek look of the guitars. I don't believe more than 4 guitars were ever made with this revision. but I do know that the first Tremolo equipped JBD-100 was one of these Rev 3 versions.
The 4th and final revision was to use the Custom built Vintage Vibe pickup which solved all the problems perfectly and retained the proper cosmetic.
Very few of the JBD-100 model guitars had serial numbers stamped on them. and the ones that did the paint made them unreadable. and No other factory record keeping was done on how many of these were made.
But being as I personally cut and built all the parts for these guiatrs, I can say that not more than 30 bodies and necks were ever cut. and usually everything was cut in batches of 6 .
and i'm absolutely sure that less than what was cut.. were ever finished.
Most of the JBD-100 models were ordered and finished in the teal and Ivory color scheme. but there were a few that were done in some very cool custom colors and a couple of full custom jobs that included custom colored accent plates.
This was the 2nd prototype model ever built using John Backlund's concept drawings. the name "Sharq" was Johns original name of the drawing. this first version clearly shows the one single coil slanted neck pickup configuration. we later tried a Zexcoil in this version and it worked perfectly.
a Later Installation of the New Zexcoil Pickup with the 6 individual coils Proved to be a viable answer.
this guitar was built but had some minor issues so it was sent to G&G case company to be used for case fitting. as far as anyone knows, Its still there today.
This guitar was the actually the 3rd guitar built, but was the first one after the prototype to be sold, So it became serial # 002 and was purchased by my long time friend Will Fix, who later sold it on ebay sidenote. this guitars neck pickup was modified to accept a custom made seymour duncan 7 string pickup which helped the issues but still suffered from "E" string drop out. it aw after this guitar that the decision was made to find a cheap solution for this issue verses making a custom pickup
since the neck pickup issue was not solved and guitars needed to be produced, this "Esquire" version was made to get product out and shown to the public. only about 3-4 of these were made. they feature the original single pickup Fender Esquire circuit with a 3 way switch and the N-Tune tuner system
These guitar are featured a mahogany body and neck with a glued in neck joint and were available with the choice of birdseye maple, rosewood or ebony fretboards.
All J.Backlund Design guitars featured a 7 degree tilt back head stocks that virtually eliminated headstock breakage and gave perfectly straight and even string pull as well as excellent down pressure across the nut. all J.Backlund Design guitars came with Hipshot Locking tuners. and either Baby Grande Bridges, or Hipshot Contour tremolo bridges.
many of the J.Backlund Design guitars featured N-Tune Automatic and Chromatic on-board tuning systems.
presented to john when he came down to visit the factory for the first time.