“Despite its metal leanings, it can handle anything you throw at it.” We review the Jackson Pro Series Lee Malia LM-87 and find much more than a metal guitar

With its back-to-the future offset styling that echoes the ’90s-era Jackson Surfcaster, the LM-87 exudes a classic-cool vibe that Lee Malia of British rock band Bring Me the Horizon sought for his signature axe.

The LM-87 is an all-new model, however, as witnessed by its open-pore black satin finish and cream binding on a body made of okoume. It’s mated to a three-piece set neck with a contoured heel that literally guides your hand into the high positions. The 25.5 inch-scale amaranth fingerboard has a compound radius of 12 to 16 inches and carries 22 well-attended jumbo frets. The cream/black Shark-Eye block inlays are a crowning touch that exude a bit of ’50 nightclub flair.

In the hardware department, a Tune-o-matic–style bridge is paired with a top-loading stop tailpiece equipped with fine tuners. It’s a setup that provides good sustain and lets you easily make close tuning adjustments after pulling the strings to pitch with the locking tuners on the Gumby-esque headstock.

The pickups consist of Jackson’s LM-87 humbucker at the bridge and LM-87 P90 in the neck position. Riding in black plastic bezels with screws on either side to adjust height and tilt, these pickups stand out with their chrome housings with black bobbins. The P90 has adjustable chrome-plated pole pieces while the humbucker uses dual sets of poles with chrome hex-head adjusters.

Topped with retro-style skirted knobs, the volume and tone controls sit on a brushed aluminum panel adjacent to the three-ply pickguard. The volume pot is a push-pull type that splits the coils in the bridge and middle positions when pulled up. Interestingly, the dual-pickup setting sounds slimmer and a bit brighter in split-coil mode, as you’d expect, but the output stays quite strong compared to most guitars with coil-splitting functions.

I suspect it’s because the single-coil of the bridge pickup is being paired with the neck P90, which has its full output to overcome the volume loss while still delivering a single-coil sound. At any rate, I often didn’t realize the volume knob was in the up position when playing with an overdriven tone.

A three-way toggle with a chromed tip provides the usual pickup selections. Unfortunately, the switch is right in the path of your strumming hand. After constantly knocking it out of position, I was wishing they’d put it on the upper bout instead.

The LM-87 is well sorted for rock, as its bridge humbucker sounds massive through a high-gain amp or pedal. I used the LM-87 with a Matchless Chieftain 2x12 combo and a Fender Deluxe Reverb, using distortion pedals from Fulltone and Keeley, and it delivered the goods for lead and dirty rhythm and was totally controllable from the guitar’s volume knob.

The neck pickup also sounded great for clean playing, thanks to its bell-like clarity. Switching between it and the more open response of the dual-pickup setting (in either split or full-humbucker mode) made the guitar suitable for even jazzier styles, further highlighting its flexibility.

Jackson’s Pro Series Lee Malia LM-87 is offbeat in all the right ways and a wolf in sheep’s clothing with its Surfcaster, alt-rock vibe and potent pickups. It’s a sweet-playing guitar courtesy of the satiny C-shape neck and 22 jumbo frets, and it caters to those who care about being in tune by virtue of the easily tweakable tailpiece tuners.

As it stands, the Lee Malia M-87 is a great choice for anyone who wants a great-looking guitar that, despite its metal leanings, can handle anything you throw at it.

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SPECIFICATIONS

CONTACT jacksonguitars.com

PRICE $899, gig-bag included

NUT Black plastic,1.687" wide

NECK Okoume 3-piece set neck with graphite reinforcement and open-pore semi-gloss finish

FINGERBOARD Amaranth, 25.5" scale, 12" to 16" compound radius. Cream binding, black side dots and Shark-Eye block inlays

FRETS 22 jumbo

TUNERS Jackson-branded die-cast locking

BODY Okoume with cream binding

FINISH Black open pore semi-gloss

BRIDGE Jackson Tune-o-matic with anchored tailpiece and fine tuners

PICKUPS Jackson LM-87 humbucker (bridge), LM-87 P90 (neck)

CONTROLS Volume with push-pull coil-split, tone, three-way toggle with chrome tip

EXTRAS Three-ply (black/white/black) pickguard with brushed-aluminum control plate

WEIGHT 8.36 lbs (tested)

BUILT China

PRO Classic looks. Combines humbucker heft with potent single-coil tones. Fine tuners on tailpiece allow for precise tuning adjustments

CON The pickup selector is in the path of your strumming hand