On December 23, 1980, Randy Rhoads sat down with Grover Jackson and sketched a guitar on a cocktail napkin. The result was a white, pinstriped, asymmetrical V that Rhoads nicknamed the Concorde, and according to the Jackson Rhoads history on Wikipedia it was the first guitar out of the Charvel shop to carry the Jackson name. Rhoads then did something most players never hear about: he decided it looked too much like a Flying V and redesigned it, stretching the top horn into the shark fin that became the Rhoads shape Jackson has sold ever since.
Forty-five years later, Jackson is putting the version he moved past back into production. The Randy Rhoads CD1 leads the new Jackson Legend Series, a set of four limited-edition signature instruments announced October 14, 2026 for Rhoads, Marty Friedman, Scott Ian and David Ellefson. Each one recreates a specific instrument the artist actually played, and each tells a different part of how a small Southern California shop became the default metal brand.
Here are the four, in the order I’d rank them as stories.
1. Randy Rhoads CD1: the prototype, not the production shape
Street price: $2,499.99 in the US and £1,899 in the UK, per Premier Guitar and MusicRadar.
The CD1 is the symmetrical Concorde, in ivory with black pinstripes and gold hardware. The spec sheet: alder body, graphite-reinforced maple neck, bound ebony fingerboard with block inlays, 22 jumbo frets on a 12″ to 16″ compound radius, a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a ’59 in the neck, and a vintage-accurate six-saddle tremolo. It ships in a Jackson foam-core case.
That tremolo is the detail I’d point to first. The original Concorde used a Strat-style vibrato, and Jackson kept it rather than swapping in a Floyd Rose to make the guitar feel “modern.” Rhoads played a lot of whammy, but he used it as a gentle wobble, not a dive bomb. A six-saddle trem on a V is a period-correct choice and a slightly awkward one, and Jackson chose period-correct.
The other thing worth knowing: per guitar.com’s launch coverage, this V shape had previously been exclusive to the Jackson Custom Shop. If you wanted a Concorde-style Jackson before this month, you were in custom-order territory well past this price.
One caution on specs. Some outlets describe the CD1 as neck-through and others only say “graphite-reinforced maple neck.” The original Concorde was a neck-through. Confirm the neck joint with your dealer before you assume it matches.
Rhoads died on March 19, 1982, at 25, in a plane crash while on tour with Ozzy Osbourne (Wikipedia). He played the Concorde for barely more than a year. His sister, Kathy Rhoads D’Argenzio, said in the launch release that “Randy would be so honoured to know the impact he has had on Jackson Guitars.” He would have turned 70 on December 6.
2. Scott Ian Rhoads RR22: one pickup, one knob, five albums
Street price: $2,199.99 (Premier Guitar), £1,849 at Andertons.
This is the cheapest guitar in the set and the most honest one. Scott Ian’s “NOT” Rhoads was, in his words, “the guitar that kind of made my life.” He says it was his main guitar on Anthrax’s first five records, which takes you from Fistful of Metal through Persistence of Time.
The recreation is brutally simple. Per the Andertons listing: alder Rhoads body with the “NOT” graphic, three-piece maple neck-through with graphite reinforcement, ebony board with sharkfin inlays, 22 jumbo frets, a single Seymour Duncan JB, one volume knob, no switch, and a top-mounted Floyd Rose 1000 Series set up dive-only.
One pickup and one knob is a better rhythm guitar than most people expect. With nothing to switch, you play the guitar with your right hand and the volume knob. If you grew up on Among the Living, that bridge JB into a cranked amp is the sound you’re paying for. (Our Seymour Duncan JB review covers why that pickup became the default for this kind of playing.)
3. Marty Friedman Kelly KE-1: the guitar of the later Megadeth records
Street price: $2,299.99.
The KE-1 returns as a gloss black Kelly with a white “1,” an alder body, a three-piece maple neck-through, a 24-fret ebony board, one Seymour Duncan JB, and a Kahler 7330 fixed bridge. Friedman called it “living the dream.”
Some launch coverage says the KE-1 was all over Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction. The dates don’t line up with that. Rust in Peace came out in 1990 and Countdown to Extinction in 1992, but the Blue Book of Guitar Values lists the KE-1 in production from 1994 to 2001. The signature Kelly belongs to Friedman’s later Megadeth years, the Cryptic Writings and Risk era, not the two thrash classics. That’s still a fine legacy. It’s just a different one.
The Kelly shape itself started as Australian guitarist Bradford Kelly’s heavily modified Explorer, per Wikipedia’s Jackson Kelly entry. Friedman’s fixed Kahler and single bridge humbucker make this the most focused guitar of the four: no trem to fight, no neck pickup to tempt you.
4. David Ellefson CB V Concert Bass: Jackson’s first five-string
Street price: $2,499.99.
The bass is the deep cut. Jackson says that for the 1990 Rust in Peace tour, it and Ellefson built the brand’s first five-string bass (Jackson product copy). The Legend Series version has an alder body, three-piece quartersawn maple neck-through with graphite rods, an ebony board, EMG 40DC and CS pickups with three-band active EQ, a Jackson HiMass bridge, and open-gear Hipshot tuners.
Ellefson put it plainly: “Jackson basses have become an integral part of who I am and the music I’m known for.” For bass players, this is the most practical of the four. A neck-through five-string with active EMGs is a working instrument, not a wall hanger.
What the set says about Jackson right now
Jon Romanowski, Jackson’s VP of Product, said these four players “helped define what Jackson became.” That’s accurate, and it’s also a business decision. Over the past few years Jackson has leaned on modern players: the Juggernaut, the American Series Virtuoso, the extended-range Concept models. The Legend Series looks back to the shop’s own origin story, much like Charvel’s recent American Neo-Classic San Dimas did.
The pricing tells you what Jackson is doing. All four sit between $2,199 and $2,499, above the X Series and well under Custom Shop. That’s the same price band as the Concept Series Rhoads RR24, and it’s a real price for players, not a museum price for collectors.
Jackson hasn’t published production numbers, so “limited edition” means whatever the order book says. Chicago Music Exchange was quoting an estimated ship date of October 28 for new CD1 pre-orders when I checked.
If I were buying one, it would be the Scott Ian RR22. It’s the cheapest guitar here, it’s the closest to the original, and one knob and one pickup are a good reminder that you don’t need much. The CD1 is the bigger historical story, but Rhoads himself decided the Concorde wasn’t quite finished, and the shark fin he replaced it with is the shape most of us picture. What the CD1 does better than any Jackson before it is show the missing link between the Gibson Flying V (our Michael Schenker Flying V piece covers that side of the family tree) and the guitar that defined 80s metal.