New Guitar Day! Back to the Land of Pointies!

[marnold***]

Well, I certainly didn't expect at the beginning of the week that I would have a dramatic overhaul in the gear department, but here we are. In a little over a week I'll have my new DVM "Thesis 96" overdrive pedal (based on the BYOC OD2). As I mentioned elsewhere, I was concerned about the continuing availability of Speedloader strings for my Floyd. Having that for the time I had it, though, I knew I wanted to have a Floyd Rose trem on a guitar. I also knew that since I upgraded my Floyd, my Fender was only rarely touched. I thought about upgrading to a nicer guitar, but the dollars just didn't work out . . . until this week.

When I was in Appleton at Guitar Center on Tuesday I saw that they had a screaming deal on a Jackson DK2M--a guitar I had my eyes on since it came out. It wasn't that I had spare cash, but given my fears that my Floyd might become worthless and already knowing how little I could get for my Fender, I swapped them both for the Jackson. If the Jackson had been regular price (the price it was selling at about a month ago), it would have been a ludicrously screaming deal. With the price cut I wish I could have gotten a bit more for my guitars, but I can live with it.

Here's a pic:


I wanted a maple neck with 24 frets. This one is very nice with Jackson's standard 12-16" composite radius. Nice black binding on the neck and no fret sprout. You can tell on the picture that there's a cutaway in the body towards the highest frets. The black sharkies and Jackson headstock give it some pointiness. The pups are the ubiquitous SD JB/Jazz combo. The bridge is not an OFR, it's a licensed JT580LP, which I've heard is one of the best licensed Floyds out there. If push ever came to shove, it is my understanding that an OFR is a drop-in replacement. I really love the inferno red color. Thankfully, it shows no signs of typical GC abuse.

I haven't had much chance to play with it, but I really like what I'm hearing from the pickups. The JB seems to have the best of my Fender's Atomic II, but without the low-end muddiness. I think I'm really going to like the Jazz at the neck. I've gotten some nice blues tones out of that one.

It was set up terribly in the store (no shocker there--I don't think I've ever seen a Floyd set up right in a store). The manager said he'd get it set up with my choice of strings. That was great, except the knucklehead who did it didn't readjust the bridge so it was sticking up in the air. They managed to make it better--I can fix it from here--but it's still a bit annoying. It's in tune now, but the bridge isn't floating right. Another annoyance is someone gave away the whammy bar that was supposed to go with it, so a new one will be drop-shipped to me.

Thus far, I'm really happy. It's doing my 80s-metal heart good.

[Algonquin]

Very nice looking pointy guitar Rev :
I think you'll really like the JB/Jazz pickup combo... very nice indeed!
Congrats on the new gear.

[duhvoodooman***]

Purty!!! Looks like quite the deal! So next....

CLIPS!! : Preferably with a certain OD-boost pedal....

[just strum]

Very nice guitar you got yourself.

My neighbor had one just like it.

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice Marnold! I'm glad you got it and it looks as nice in your pic as I thought it would. Congrats!

[Perfect Stranger]

Great looking axe. I bet it plays and sounds just as good as it looks.

[marnold***]

Well, my patience was just tested trying to refloat this thing, but I think I've got it now. Of course, it's hard to tell without a whammy bar, but still. The guy who put the strings on also wound very little string around the machine heads which makes it difficult to get that initial tuning right before clamping the nut down. The lesson learned here is make sure the guy who sets up your guitar knows his head from his hindquarters. So much for saving myself time/aggravation.

I may have to invest in a tremolo stopper for those string changes. There doesn't seem to be a good way to do it otherwise. I jammed a needle-nose pliers in between the body and the block, which worked OK, but I don't know if I'd want to do that for a full string change.

The fit and finish seem to be much better than my Floyd was, but I expect that with a Japanese-made instrument that costs more twice as much. After opening everything up it appears that the control cavity has some shielding paint. The pots are full-sized 500K Alphas with a cheap .022 cap on the tone pot. They appear to have removed only as much as absolutely necessary from the leads on the Duncans when they were installed.

We're going to be going on vacation on Sunday (great timing, eh?) so the clips will probably have to wait. That's just as well because by my return I'll have my OD pedal too! It feels odd to be back to one guitar. I'll get used to it

[Spudman***]

Sexy looking guitar you got there.:

I thought I might mention in case you haven't tried this: when I restring my guitars with locking tremolos I run the string through the tuner first and leave the ball ends on. Next I follow the string down to the bridge and make a slight bend in it about where the fine tuners are - I then clip the excess off and put the string into the bridge locking block and tighten. It usually only takes about one turn of the tuner to bring the string to pitch. If it takes a lot of turns just cut the string a bit shorter next time.

The reason I make the bend is to not only mark the length but it will also help to keep the string wraps from unwinding when it gets cut.

I've found this method to be much quicker and very stable.

Congrats on the new baby.

[Jimi75]

CONGRATZ!!!!!!! This is a great guitar. Man I love the headstock and the Jackson lettering. The maple neck looks awesome with the red colour. :

[marnold***]

Sexy looking guitar you got there.:

I thought I might mention in case you haven't tried this: when I restring my guitars with locking tremolos I run the string through the tuner first and leave the ball ends on. Next I follow the string down to the bridge and make a slight bend in it about where the fine tuners are - I then clip the excess off and put the string into the bridge locking block and tighten. It usually only takes about one turn of the tuner to bring the string to pitch. If it takes a lot of turns just cut the string a bit shorter next time.

The reason I make the bend is to not only mark the length but it will also help to keep the string wraps from unwinding when it gets cut.

I've found this method to be much quicker and very stable.

Good call. With my Speedloader I didn't have to mess with any of that. I'll definitely try it when I restring it.

[marnold***]

CONGRATZ!!!!!!! This is a great guitar. Man I love the headstock and the Jackson lettering. The maple neck looks awesome with the red colour. :

I agree wholeheartedly (obviously) but apparently most people don't. The red ones moved slowly while the white ones flew off the shelves. Oh well, other people's lack of taste just means I get a better deal! Considering the street prices on the 2009s have gone up $100-$200 with Fender's price increases (Jackson and Charvel are both parts of the FMIC family, in case you didn't know that), the deal gets better and better. The increase came despite the fact that the new models are exactly the same as the old. From what I'm seeing on various websites, I'm not sure that the inferno red is even offered anymore.

I guess I've gotten used to basswood guitars and how they sound. This alder body is not only heavier but sounds quite different acoustically. I can't quantify it. I don't know if I'd call it better or worse, just different. Just from taking off the control cavity cover, it is clear that alder isn't as soft as basswood, which is a good thing as far as durability goes anyway.

[tunghaichuan***]

Sweet looking guitar, Matt. :

My favorite combination for guitar woods is an all-maple neck bolted onto an alder body. It doesn't get any better than that for me.

tung

[mrmudcat]

Nice brother.....the boys love the fast neck and bends in the 8-12 fret range are easy as pie..........with the radius:

[marnold***]

Nice brother.....the boys love the fast neck and bends in the 8-12 fret range are east as pie..........with the radius:

Agreed. I have no excuses now Most people seem to say that a more curved fretboard makes it easier to fret chords. I find that I have an easier time with a flat fretboard. To each, their own!

[hubberjub***]

I've always been a Jackson fan. They are a fun guitar to play. Enjoy it.

[marnold***]

Well, I was just playing a bunch with my CF-7 and I was in 80s heaven. Thus far the guitar is turning out to be what I hoped--the best of both of my previous guitars. It's got the flat fretboard and big frets of my Fender with the whammy goodness and extra flexibility of my Floyd. While I like the JB, I'm REALLY digging the Jazz. Just a great sounding pickup no matter what I seem to throw at it.

If I have gripes, they are these two minor things:
1) The middle position doesn't sound a ton different from the neck only. The difference is subtle, especially when picking near the neck pickup. I'll have to play with the pickup heights a bit. I'm guessing that the close proximity of the two pickups (as opposed to a 21/22 fret neck) plays in here.
2) The volume pot seems to have a very limited range. It seems to go from full blast to zero relatively quickly. Next time I take the back off, I'll have to check if it's an audio taper or not.

Those points are very minor and at least the second one is easily addressed if it really annoys me. What really surprises me in that the position of the volume pot is not annoying me. I usually like it back towards the bridge a bit more. Of course, unlike my Charvel which had it in the same place, these pots are nice and tight. The Charvel ones were very loose so if I looked at the volume pot cross-eyed it moved. Maybe my picking technique has gotten less spastic over the years.

All I know is my fingers are tired. That's a good sign

[Katastrophe]

Congrats, Marnold!

One of my former bandmates had a Jackson that I just dug playing.

Pointies rule! \m/


Edit: I don't know why Jackson doesn't have more models with maple fretboards. Yours looks really, really, cool.

[marnold***]

Edit: I don't know why Jackson doesn't have more models with maple fretboards. Yours looks really, really, cool.

I agree. I'll say this for Fender, they are about the only company that makes maple fretboard versions of their guitars as a matter of course. I think most, if not all, of the San Dimas-style Charvels that are being made now are maple only. Jackson only has a couple. Ibanez only has a couple. I like the look of the new Gibson line with maple fretboards but I may be in the minority there.

[pes_laul]

yeah thats my rev! lol sorry about that, I have a soft spot for jackson/charvel type guitars.