Re: USA Jacksons?

I got a Carvin catalog a while back and was absolutely floored by their quilt maple tops. They were like nothing I had seen before but I was pretty stuck on the new Ibanez I was planning on getting.

I’d agree with your assessment of the Floyd , except the ZR trem on my S470 doesn’t kill sustain quite like the original Edge on the RG550 20th does. It sounds like I’m being hard on the RG550 and to some extent I am, because I don’t feel like it was a good value and I bought it sight unseen so I didn’t know how I would like it.

As far as necks go, I like the Jackson style D neck. If the curve on the 60s style neck was a little more aggressive where it flattens out as you get to the edges of the neck more but still has girth in the middle for chording.

Carvin even has a V style guitar I think I could live with. Sweet. Plus with the “build your own” section I can get a custom guitar without the extra hassle of going through custom shop, right there on the web.

I was going to look at perhaps getting a KxK custom. I suspect that this will meet all of my requirements and be cheaper than a full on custom like I was beginning to think I would have to do.

A guitar built to my specs would run just shy of $1600 with a 4A bookmatched quilt top on a basically reverse Rhoads V (the bottom fin is more important for playing seated) w/ a triple “Dragon burst” finish w/ blackburst edges. Block Abalone inlays, abalone logo, headstock matches body, ebony board. That’s certainly a good option. I like how they simplify the process using a web form. Their 4A tops are disgusting. I can’t decide whether I want alder or mahogany body though…. Or go with black dot inlays over a light colored fingerboard… This is a fun tool, I’m glad you put it in front of me.

The video you showed me is pretty cool, I was amazed how much the tone pot affected the sound. It was as if he switched pickups. I’ll see if I can’t find one locally and go mess around on it.

I’m going to make myself decide over 3 months what I REALLY want.

This seems like something I can really get excited about. USA made guitars with QUALITY woods. I don’t know how I’ll like the electronics, but that’s pretty easy to fix if I decide I want to swap them. I picked their highest output pickup.

Good looking out Gollum. I’ll talk to KxK and see what they’ve got as well.