Review of my white DK2M

[Adam]

It's here, it's here! My DK2M was waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. I went over it with a fine-toothed comb most of the day yesterday, and I definitely have some info to pass along.

First things first - It looks freaking wicked. I will not make you wait for pics (not the best quality - low light conditions, but flash sucks):



Personally I rather like the natural headstock. The black binding sets it off really nicely, IMO:



The guitar feels light on a strap - I'm guessing it's probably around 7.5 lbs. It might be a touch neck-heavy, but not so much that the headstock will dive - just enough that I feel a little downward pressure towards the front of my left shoulder when wearing a strap. If I let it sit right where it wants to, it hangs perpendicular to my body, which is just fine from a playability standpoint and is worth the trade-off in total weight.

The tone unplugged is loud and full, and the volume of the individual strings is nice and even (which I test by playing some big ol' cowboy chords in 1st position and listening for drop-outs). Noodling around on it, I didn't detect any dead spots on the fretboard, which points to good wood used for the neck and a good fret job from the factory.

The neck profile and compound radius is very comfy. It's the thinnest-necked of all my guitars, but still chunky enough that I don't feel like I'm "pinching" it to play (like I do with Ibanez Wizard necks). They super-huge speedbump frets are nice, too.

Overall the ergonomics of the instrument are surprisingly comfortable for a SG/PRS-type player like myself. When comparing it to my Hamer Monaco Elite (which is a really nice, lively guitar) it was light night and day. The DK2M really feels like it conforms to your body. I'm actually surprised by how comfortable I am with it, because it's been a long time since I've owned any guitar without any backwards tilt on the neck, or with 24 frets, or with the 25 1/2" scale length.

I've got more to report (fit and finish, tone, set-up), but I'll leave you all with this for the moment and post the rest in replies to this thread in a few minutes.

[levantin]

Congrats! Look great!

[StukaJU87]

Really nice. The white looks the best for this model, at least to me. Congrats.

[Nazgul]

Congrats! If I ever get a DK2M it will be white! Action looks killer low too!

[Adam]

^ Thanks guys!

----

OK, now on to fit and finish. First of all, the body is finished very well. The color is even and blemish-free everywhere. No running, sand-thru, orange-peel, or anything else that would make the finish work less than perfect. I'm guessing that it's a Poly finish (feels like one) but unlike most companies that use Poly, it seems very thin, allowing the body to resonate freely. IMO Nothing mucks up a piece of nice wood like 1/8" of poly gobbed all over it. Nice to see that the Japanese Jackson factory doesn't fall in that category. The neck finish coats benefit from the same treatment. It feels almost completely raw - just like it should.

The routing on the guitar is clean. There is some very slight tooling around the truss rod cavity, but this is something typical of many more expensive guitars as well (that's what a TRC is for, anyway). I have one gripe about the trem and control cavities, though: They really cut costs on the cover plates. We're talking the cheapest, most brittle variety of plastic I've ever seen used. The covers are also not cut out very well, and the trem plate doesn't sit properly in one corner of it's little counter-sunk domicile. Overall this is a minor complaint - these parts are cheap and can easily be replaced if one cares. I'll probably leave them unless they break.

The neck joint is a thing of beauty. Forget the business card test - we have full contact on all sides of the joint. I'd be surprised if this didn't contribute significantly to the loudness and resonance of the guitar. See for yourself:



As for hardware, the tuners feel pretty solid. I didn't notice any slippage when tuning it up after I changed the strings, though any tuning machine issues would become moot once you lock the nut anyway. I'm not particularly impressed with the Jackson-branded trem, though. It feels a little crude next to the OFR that came stock on my Carvin. The fine-tuners don't turn smoothly because there is black powder-coating in the threads. It doesn't seem to affect tuning stability, but it's an irritation. The block also appears to be some pretty cheap metal - definitely not steel like the OFR, though I'm sure it can be replaced easily with a steel or brass one, which I will do soon just for the sustain benefits alone.

The neck binding is pretty much flawless. Very nicely done, and a big factor in what made me want this guitar in the first place. The headstock binding gets a little sketchy, however. It's not a big deal - it's not seperating from the headstock or anything, but there are blemishes in several different spots around the curves and angles. Witness in the pic below:



Also note that there is scuffing around the curves (and on the binding itself too) from factory sanding. They really should have gone over those parts with some 1500 grit. Note to would be luthiers and techs: this is what happens when you sand against the grain, folks. For $600 shipped I'm not really bitching - I'm accustomed to doing my own work and have no problem hitting it with some 0000 steel wool to clean up the sanding marks. The binding could be cleaner, though.

Electronics and set-up review to come.

[Adam]

Electronics: From what I can tell at this early stage running through a PODxt, they're solid. I won't really know for sure until I can open her up through my Splawn at band practice tonight, but I like what I hear so far, especially from the JB in the bridge. Vibrant highs, vocal mids, and chunky (but not boomy) lows. The output is comfortable as well. The jury is still out on the Jazz in the neck. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's just kind of... neck pickup-y. There's nothing really special happening there, so I may swap it out for a DMZ Humbucker from Hell I have laying around from another project.

Actually, if I don't fall in love with the JB/Jazz combo, they're up on the block. I have a white set of DiMarzios (Tone Zone and HBFH) just sitting around waiting for the right guitar... White on white.... hmmmmmm.

The pots seem to function nicely and aren't scratchy. The same goes for the switch. I may one day wire the switch so the middle position is out of phase, or swap it for a true 5-way so I can get in-between or split-coil sounds, but for now it does what it's supposed to and that's plenty good enough. I wonder if the tone would benefit from better pots, but the taper is nice so I'm leaving them for now as well.

I'm not crazy about the trem. It's pretty low-rent. There was a lot of play in the arm even when locked down, so I took a small hunk of shiny rubber and stuffed it in the hole. Now the arm doesn't wobble at all, but a black OFR or Floyd Pro is probably in the cards for this guitar.

Set-up: This is where I have a bit of a bone to pick. I know it's a Japanese import, so I wasn't expecting perfection. I use DR 11-50's tuned a whole step down anyway, so every guitar I buy needs a set-up, no matter how good it plays out of the box, but this guitar could have benefited from one more going-over.

The action was pretty damn high when I opened it up. I typically like very low action with as little neck relief as I can get away with, so again I usually have to adjust those things as well when I get a new guitar. I wasn't very pleased to discover that the bridge posts were already lowered all the way down as far as they would go. See pic (this is out of the box):



After changing strings, I needed to tighten the truss rod a bit, and was able to compensate for the complete lack of further adjustment from the bridge... to a degree. The bridge itself is floating parallel to the body of the guitar, so I really can't take it back any more without losing all my upward pull on the trem. See pic below for the lowest action physically possible on this guitar:



Again, it's doable. Looking at the pic, it looks pretty low. I can hang with that, but keep in mind that in order to get it that low, the neck doesn't quite have enough relief now and there is some buzzing on the 6th and 5th strings around the 5th fret. In addition, this is at the 12th fret. The action raises noticeably as you travel up the neck, so it's actually too low on the lower frets and still a bit high for me on the upper ones. If I could put a little bit of bow back in the neck and lower the bridge more, that would fix it completely and make it perfect. I do have a solution...

...I can shim the neck and raise it up a little bit, which would bring the strings closer to the fretboard and let me get some adjustment out of the bridge posts. I'll probably end up doing that, and for $600 it's not an insult to have to. I'm still quite happy with the guitar and am capable of making it work very well for me. There are just a couple of QC issues that probably could have been addressed that would have made me happier. I'll put it this way: This guitar is perfect where it counts most, and that's the wood. The neck feels great and seems stable - it holds tune like a champ, and the body is light and resonant, with a flawless finish. All the minor issues are fixable and will be fixed. I'd rather have it this way than have a overly gussied-up guitar that under inspection is perfect but is made from dead, cheap wood.

Over all, it's a killer guitar for a killer price, and one I'll be proud and confident to gig with It.

That's it for my review! I hope you guys found it informative.

To close: The obligatory harem shot.

[wicked_lester]

Sweet guitar and congrats...great review too.

[Grandturk]

Sounds like you got a killer axe there. Looks good, too.

As far as the action goes, if you can't lower the bridge, a thin shim at the base of the neck will get you where you need to be.

[wilkinsi]

damit. i've gotta get one of these now.

[Adam]

Sounds like you got a killer axe there. Looks good, too.

As far as the action goes, if you can't lower the bridge, a thin shim at the base of the neck will get you where you need to be.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm planning on shimming the neck tonight when I get home from band practice. I figure a folded-up business card under the neck, across the base closest to the neck pickup will create a slight pitch in neck angle, and that will solve the problem.

[Mr.C]

great guitars for the price. I really like mine as well...

[jackson1]

Adam, top notch review which I enjoyed reading. You seem like a nit picking guy (a positive one!) with attention to detail and I really like that Thanks for writing this up here.

The lack of adjustment of the bridge is the most worrying to me, but I hope you can shim the neck. I really dig the DK2m - especially in Snow White. Congrats!

[Grandturk]

I figure a folded-up business card under the neck, across the base closest to the neck pickup will create a slight pitch in neck angle, and that will solve the problem.

A little goes a long way. I would try a single piece of paper first and go from there.

[rjohnstone]

Use a piece of foil or some other metal.
Paper will break down over time and will eventualy cause some play in the neck .

[Adam]

Use a piece of foil or some other metal.
Paper will break down over time and will eventualy cause some play in the neck .

Wow. Good tip. I hadn't thought of that. Aluminum foil ok? I've got a whole crapload of that at home. I also have a few chunks of that copper shielding tape left over from a Warmoth project. One side is adhesive. Which would you use?

Adam, top notch review which I enjoyed reading. You seem like a nit picking guy (a positive one!) with attention to detail and I really like that Thanks for writing this up here.

The lack of adjustment of the bridge is the most worrying to me, but I hope you can shim the neck. I really dig the DK2m - especially in Snow White. Congrats!

Thank you. Yeah, I believe in writing the kind of review I would want to read before I paid money for something - whether it gets me excited or changes my mind. I want detail applied to practical reality! I guess that's what I tried to do here.