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Hi all:
Yesterday was way too hectic to spend any time online, so I'm finally posting the landing of my (pratically) new Jackson DK2M.
I've been wanting to get a 2nd Jackson for years as I really love my Soloist. I wanted to get something different AND wanted to try to avoid spending $1K, if possible... Once I started doing some research, I came across the SMSLG, which is kind of a "Soloist Lite" with some of my favorite Soloist qualities, like ebony fret board, neck thru construction and other standard Jackson traits.
I was a little concerned about the claims of it being the "lightest" guitar, but I figured "solid mahogany? Can't feel too much like a toy, right?" So, i found one on Ebay and got to know the seller a bit - as I like to do when buying guitars online - and had him tell me all about the guitar... particularly how bad the flaws were. Long story => short: The guitar showed up Tuesday night and I was pretty disappointed when i opened the case. Not only was the poor thing abused by some previous owner (and chips, dents and scrapes mis-represented by seller), but I picked it up and it honesly felt like a "toy" or a "child's guitar." Sure, it's beautiful - like a Jackson - but just didn't feel "me." I think I like the weight because it gives me the feeling of "quality." Plus, I might want to get a little crazy some time... don't want to worry about breaking it in half!
So - after some serious thought (by the way, replacement/upgrade pickups were already on the way, at this point, to replace the EMG-HZs), I decided to fix the guitar up and sell it. This involved replacing the input jack with a new one, removing every externally facing screw and cleaning it with steel wool to get the sweaty-guitar-player-corrosion cleaned off, serlous cleaning of the whole guitar and a new set of strings. By this time, I had already posted on C'List and had a prospective buyer, so I installed his favorite strings (9-42 D'Addario).
Now the fun part... time to pick a Jackson model that fits my needs, but keeping it below my "dream guitar." I haven't been in a band for a while. so no justification for another Soloist or similar... Anyway, I decided I wanted to go with a model sporting an unfinished neck. The painted and polished neck on my Soloist, admittedly, does get a bit sticky and hard to navigate, at times... The "unfinished" seems to stay fast longer... SO, this meant DK and I'd always avoided Dinkys because I thought the body size would bother me...
Another abbreviation... Lots of shopping later, I found a BARELY used DK2M (still need to figure out the year) a couple of hours north of SF owned by a guy who has 4 OTHER guitars (including TWO very nice Ibby Prestige models) and bought this one w/o his wife knowing... Seems like a bad idea, to me, but it all worked out great for me because he only played the thing about half a dozen times because he had to keep it HIDDEN from his wife! LOL. I started pulling out bills as as soon as I laid eyes on this one...
It's a great player and very comfortable. The stock SDs are so-so, but I have a set of Duncan Custom (TB-5) and a '59 for the neck on the way. Installed strap locks and gave it a quick tune up. It's darn close (it's really brand new, but all new guitars need a tune up, too - imo). Now just waiting for the TB-5 to arrive as I had to order that to replace the SH-5 I had purchased for the SLSMG.
If the sale of the SLSMG goes through tomorrow all will be just excellent.
Yesterday was way too hectic to spend any time online, so I'm finally posting the landing of my (pratically) new Jackson DK2M.
I've been wanting to get a 2nd Jackson for years as I really love my Soloist. I wanted to get something different AND wanted to try to avoid spending $1K, if possible... Once I started doing some research, I came across the SMSLG, which is kind of a "Soloist Lite" with some of my favorite Soloist qualities, like ebony fret board, neck thru construction and other standard Jackson traits.
I was a little concerned about the claims of it being the "lightest" guitar, but I figured "solid mahogany? Can't feel too much like a toy, right?" So, i found one on Ebay and got to know the seller a bit - as I like to do when buying guitars online - and had him tell me all about the guitar... particularly how bad the flaws were. Long story => short: The guitar showed up Tuesday night and I was pretty disappointed when i opened the case. Not only was the poor thing abused by some previous owner (and chips, dents and scrapes mis-represented by seller), but I picked it up and it honesly felt like a "toy" or a "child's guitar." Sure, it's beautiful - like a Jackson - but just didn't feel "me." I think I like the weight because it gives me the feeling of "quality." Plus, I might want to get a little crazy some time... don't want to worry about breaking it in half!
So - after some serious thought (by the way, replacement/upgrade pickups were already on the way, at this point, to replace the EMG-HZs), I decided to fix the guitar up and sell it. This involved replacing the input jack with a new one, removing every externally facing screw and cleaning it with steel wool to get the sweaty-guitar-player-corrosion cleaned off, serlous cleaning of the whole guitar and a new set of strings. By this time, I had already posted on C'List and had a prospective buyer, so I installed his favorite strings (9-42 D'Addario).
Now the fun part... time to pick a Jackson model that fits my needs, but keeping it below my "dream guitar." I haven't been in a band for a while. so no justification for another Soloist or similar... Anyway, I decided I wanted to go with a model sporting an unfinished neck. The painted and polished neck on my Soloist, admittedly, does get a bit sticky and hard to navigate, at times... The "unfinished" seems to stay fast longer... SO, this meant DK and I'd always avoided Dinkys because I thought the body size would bother me...
Another abbreviation... Lots of shopping later, I found a BARELY used DK2M (still need to figure out the year) a couple of hours north of SF owned by a guy who has 4 OTHER guitars (including TWO very nice Ibby Prestige models) and bought this one w/o his wife knowing... Seems like a bad idea, to me, but it all worked out great for me because he only played the thing about half a dozen times because he had to keep it HIDDEN from his wife! LOL. I started pulling out bills as as soon as I laid eyes on this one...
It's a great player and very comfortable. The stock SDs are so-so, but I have a set of Duncan Custom (TB-5) and a '59 for the neck on the way. Installed strap locks and gave it a quick tune up. It's darn close (it's really brand new, but all new guitars need a tune up, too - imo). Now just waiting for the TB-5 to arrive as I had to order that to replace the SH-5 I had purchased for the SLSMG.
If the sale of the SLSMG goes through tomorrow all will be just excellent.
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