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.