Jackson has been making guitars since 1973. In 1978, he started working at Wayne Charvel's guitar repair shop in Covina, California (while using a PO Box in neighboring San Dimas). Since Charvel's shop was almost bankrupted, Charvel eventually sold his interest to Grover Jackson on November 10, 1978, which gave Jackson control of the business and the Charvel brand. In 1980 he also launched the Jackson brand with the Randy Rhoads model. Although Jackson and Charvel Guitars became popular with the rise of hard rock and heavy metal music in that era, Grover Jackson sold the Jackson/Charvel brand to the Japanese manufacturer IMC (International Music Corporation) of Fort Worth, Texas, in 1989, and eventually left the company in 1990.
Recent years have seen Jackson continuing to flourish, with all of the company’s most famous models—custom and production series alike—enjoying great success. Jackson signature instruments have also come into their own, with magnificent models bearing top metal names such as Chris Broderick (Megadeth), Corey Beaulieu (Trivium), David Ellefson (Megadeth), Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Mark Morton, Phil Demmel (Machine Head), Chris Beattie (Hatebreed), Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and others. Further, the Jackson Custom Shop remains the longest-operating true custom shop in the United States, with many members of its original staff still there and still doing what they do best—providing axe-wielding metallurgists worldwide with world-class high-performance instruments that have no equal.
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