MkIII Renegade
New member
I picked up a very rare USA San Dimas in need of some TLC. I could tell the body/neck/fretboard were in great shape, so considering that I have lusted for one of these since 1995, I excused the partially corroded hardware including the top 3 Floyd saddles and trem bar (corrosion wasn't really evident from the auction pics and was not mentioned at all by the seller :headache: ). I don't know if the previous owner either lived in a salt water cave or had toxic skin, but thankfully my skin doesn't assault metal, and if it did, I would wipe it down every time after playing rather than allow it to harm an expensive guitar! Some people....... Even the pickup mounting screws have some corrosion, so I am going to replace them as well. This is a #1 level guitar, so I'm not going to put up with any failsauce!
Quick summary:
Nice thick Koa Body
Bird's Eye Maple neck with Pau Ferro fretboard and 24 giant frets
Jackson Schaller Floyd
Unknown hot Duncan pickups (will find out when I remove the trem/strings, might be Distortion + 59). Whatever they case, they won't do crystal clean, so I will do a push-pull coil tap for the volume knob to help.
The guitar has a very beefy natural sound, as you'd expect
Most of my guitars are listed in my sig. I like a very wide range of '60s - '80s rock most, with forays into anything from early Pink Floyd to Classic Prog to Prog Metal to '80s Thrash to early VH influenced Cock Rock, etc. Also an Al di Meola fan. I like a very responsive, lean, mean, articulate bridge pickup with a rich, full, but more mellow neck pickup as is typical. The middle position, both HBs tapped sound is my favorite clean sound by far for HH guitars. My essential sound is a whatever guitar I have plugged straight into a Mesa Mark III or IV.
Asking for some opinions on the following:
1. Instead of replacing saddles on the Schaller Jackson Floyd (very good), I was thinking of getting an Original Floyd (best), but I know the screws that protrude from the back are way too long for the cavity behind the trem. That brings me to the Original Floyd Rose Pro (low profile), which LOOKS like it should fit and I assume would otherwise mount where the Schaller once was. Has anyone tried this in a Jackson/Charvel that originally came with their branded Schaller trem?
2. Thoughts on new passive pickups? Not doing EMGs for this one, and I already have most of the pickup combos I've ever wanted, so perhaps something different like Bareknuckles? Big fan of various Duncans and Dimarzios (other than the flabby Tone Zone), and as a bonus, they don't cost $350 for a pair! I live for fast alt-picked runs high on the fretboard with the neck pickup and like a pronounced pick attack.
3. Thoughts on tone blocks? I'm not going to spend $150 on tungsten. :laugh2: But I might consider a brass block or similar. This guitar already sounds very big and nicely balanced, but even more of the same would be fine.
Quick summary:
Nice thick Koa Body
Bird's Eye Maple neck with Pau Ferro fretboard and 24 giant frets
Jackson Schaller Floyd
Unknown hot Duncan pickups (will find out when I remove the trem/strings, might be Distortion + 59). Whatever they case, they won't do crystal clean, so I will do a push-pull coil tap for the volume knob to help.
The guitar has a very beefy natural sound, as you'd expect
Most of my guitars are listed in my sig. I like a very wide range of '60s - '80s rock most, with forays into anything from early Pink Floyd to Classic Prog to Prog Metal to '80s Thrash to early VH influenced Cock Rock, etc. Also an Al di Meola fan. I like a very responsive, lean, mean, articulate bridge pickup with a rich, full, but more mellow neck pickup as is typical. The middle position, both HBs tapped sound is my favorite clean sound by far for HH guitars. My essential sound is a whatever guitar I have plugged straight into a Mesa Mark III or IV.
Asking for some opinions on the following:
1. Instead of replacing saddles on the Schaller Jackson Floyd (very good), I was thinking of getting an Original Floyd (best), but I know the screws that protrude from the back are way too long for the cavity behind the trem. That brings me to the Original Floyd Rose Pro (low profile), which LOOKS like it should fit and I assume would otherwise mount where the Schaller once was. Has anyone tried this in a Jackson/Charvel that originally came with their branded Schaller trem?
2. Thoughts on new passive pickups? Not doing EMGs for this one, and I already have most of the pickup combos I've ever wanted, so perhaps something different like Bareknuckles? Big fan of various Duncans and Dimarzios (other than the flabby Tone Zone), and as a bonus, they don't cost $350 for a pair! I live for fast alt-picked runs high on the fretboard with the neck pickup and like a pronounced pick attack.
3. Thoughts on tone blocks? I'm not going to spend $150 on tungsten. :laugh2: But I might consider a brass block or similar. This guitar already sounds very big and nicely balanced, but even more of the same would be fine.
It is just dead weight hung onto the bridge, swaying back and forth like a pendulum, set into motion by strings. Personally, I don't like heavy ass blocks on my Floyds, because they take away the bite and the guitar body's response to subtle kind of playing, light picking, natural and tapped harmonics etc, and kind of dull the resonance, neuter the snap and the shimmering harmonics. I bet I'd love them if I were into doom/sludge or thin and stiff Ibanez guitars or sustain-dick-measuring-contests. To be honest, I'm into neither. I hope to try a lightweight titanium block one day.
Again, beautiful guitar!
It is rare and has lots of mojo, I'm stoked!!
. This seems to be a popular combo and should be able to provide crystal cleans with coil tapping just like my Duncan Distortion/'59 do in my other koa guitar, especially for my favorite HH clean position, the inner coils of both humbuckers only. 
