DK2 Question

[crizal69]

Alas the great ASM V mystery may never be known, the guitar sold and it has been shipped out of my state to a Jackson Collector, its location never to be known. It will be displayed with other rare and limited edition Jacksons, I wish it well. I am glad to have known you. Goodbye. The end.

[crizal69]

It is of course a mystery, and yes I am interested in selling it, also there could be that someone out there truly knows what these guitar are and can offer some kind of information. As far as the tremolo goes, not even USA Fender fulcrum tremolos have any markings on them. This was made stock with a fulcrum tremolo not a locking trem. So it stays in tune just as good as any floating fulcrum tremolo does, it would depend how it was being used. Granted you may in fact would want a DK2 with a locking tremolo (Floyd Rose). This guitar is unique in of its own self, and of top notch Japan quality. Maybe its worthless and just good for firewood, who knows. Japan Jacksons are now two grand and you can bet they have cut corners from when these late 90s early 2000s were made and charging triple or more.

[Number Of The Priest]

Given the "V" on the truss rod cover is a "serif font" while the "ASM" portion is not written in "serif font", it may not be unreasonable to assume the V is a Roman numeral for 5, but it may also be a stretch, since not everybody documents their guitars online for the world and we are uncertain about the exact numbers produced. Given your overt interest in selling yours, may we ask if your optimism for these models is to hype your sale and fetch a higher sale price? It surely seems that way, and forgive me if I am wrong, but I've seen many instances off sellers "hyping up" odd/unknown/low-end guitars with the intention of fetching higher sale prices. Of course, being a free market, you are welcome to do what you want in commerce, but integrity and transparency are highly valued.

Whether this guitar is "collectible" or "desirable" is a different speculation. Without knowing what tremolo that is, I wouldn't place its value (even with "rarity" considered) above a standard Japanese DK2. How am I to know whether it will stay in tune better than a stock Takeuchi-made JT-580LP? Now, if the guitar left the factory with an Original Floyd Rose, with the appropriate-shaped recess cavity carved out, I might be inclined to pay a little more over a stock Japanese DK2.

[crizal69]

Its seems the rarity of these guitars are coming to full light, searching the internet, ebay, music go round, Guitar Center, and Reverb, I can only find five ASM guitars. I had two of them myself, one sold at guitar center, and two more sold on Reverb, Searching the images on the internet there seems to only be four different guitars, the other is a photo from the ended Guitar Center ad. Could it be that the V in the ASM V designation means that there were only Five guitars produced with the ASM DK2 SP designation. That would make sense seeing that there are so few that can be actually identified as such. If that is the case then these would have high collectability. Even Jackson stated that they were in fact limited editions. I think five would be considered limited.

[crizal69]

There are no markings on the tremolo, but it does have a nice heavy block that they used on it. I will be putting this Jackson up on Reverb, I am sure there will be a collector who can use it in his collection. As far as the comment on the necks of MIJ, I would agree that some models have what seems to be a larger neck and I think it varies as to what model each neck profile they use, this particular one is thin and not very wide, its very easy to play on and really plays as good as any DK1 USA that I have owned. There is not one spot on this guitar that would be considered cost cutting IMO, save one, and I think that would be that they used rosewood instead of ebony on the fretboard, I think that would be the only cost cutting they did. Regarding the web link with pics, all but four pics are the same guitar in the Reverb link, that guitar was my guitar. I listed that guitar over 3 years ago and ended up selling it locally, I have not seen one for sale since then.

[john.w.lawson]

OOh my gibson pickup-ish. I have to admit DK2 to me are fender junk which is rude and I am sorry!

I'm not an elitist I have cheap and rare guitars and humdrum guitars, the dinky (even the great MIJ'S) took a nose dive for me mid-late 90's So through no fault of fender. Necks did change

[Number Of The Priest]

Jesus, you weren't kidding, that's definitely a unique guitar. Here's the Google search result for it: https://www.google.ca/search?q=jacks...h=927&biw=1920

This Reverb ad has some excellent, clear, close-up photos of various details including the neck stamps: https://reverb.com/item/9251836-jack...ion-2002-black

I was around in 2002 and this model escaped my detection. I've been saying on JCF lately how even today we're still uncovering mystery production models that were undocumented in catalogs or on official websites. The Ibanez players call these special undocumented guitars "spot models" and often differed from something as minor as an undocumented paint color to some pretty fascinating spec/hardware changes as seen in your DK2 ASM-V. We don't have an equivalent term here in the Jackson/Charvel world but essentially this is a Jackson "spot model".

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. It's not a guitar I am likely to forget anytime soon.

Are you able to see any engravings or markings on the bridge (perhaps on the trem block or under the baseplate) of the manufacturer of the 2-point trem? I'm not sure I recognize it but I am curious to know who made it. Given the guitar's Japanese origins, my first guess would be either Gotoh or Takeuchi, who have made bridges for import Charvels and Jacksons during that era and prior, but that is not a Gotoh or Takeuchi bridge I recognize.

[crizal69]

The Jackson ASM V guitars were all solid black, they have 2 Duncan Designed HB 103N and HB 103B chrome covered humbuckers. They have a 2 point fulcrum tremolo like a USA Stratocaster, 5 way Blade switch, they also have the ivoried binding that all of the USA and Japan used for the binding around the neck and head, how you know is that it has lines running thru the binding it does not look just like a solid plastic white. It also sports a bone colored nut, its does not have a locking nut. The guitar also sports Chrome Hardware. Rosewood Fretboard, Plastic pearl shark tooth inlays, and a small bevel cut out on the bottom horn.

[crizal69]

I emailed Jackson on the ASM V guitar that I have with pics and serial number, They did get back saying that it is in fact made in Japan and it is a limited edition guitar made in 2002, but there is no spec sheet for this guitar and that guitars made in Japan sometimes did not have any real information on them, and that was pretty much it. So they are real Japan made Jacksons and they are DK2 Special Editions that they call ASM V, they have nothing to do with BC Rich in any way they are their own entity and model and fully Jackson. I think that is about as much as can be found out from the horses mouth. So there you have it from Jackson. The rest is Jackson history, Its a rare guitar with not a lot of information on it. My though on it would be that a particular store ordered this up, or a school, maybe a promotional guitar, who knows I do know that there are not a lot of them around, and interestingly I have had two of these, I live in central Florida and both guitar had the same neck date on them 9/11/2002, they are not the exact guitar because the neck dates are stamped in just a little different areas of the neck pocket. So two of the same guitars made on the same day found in Central Florida. The plot thickens.

[Number Of The Priest]

Besides the stamps, is there anything different or unique about your DK2s that differentiate them from stock DK2s of that period? In 2002 they would have had Duncan Designed pickups, chrome hardware, and the usual specs of alder body in solid/trans/graphic finishes, one piece maple neck with scarf joined headstock, rosewood fretboard with plastic sharkfin inlays, binding on the neck and headstock, HSS pickup layout, 5-way blade switch, one volume control, one tone control, and Jackson JT580LP tremolo made by Takeuchi.

Photos of the stamps and of the guitar itself would be nice to see. Upload your pics to any free third-party image hosting website (https://www.google.ca/search?q=free+...client=gws-wiz), and copy-paste the generated links back here.

[crizal69]

I have had 2 of these guitars in the past 4 years, these are fully Jackson Japan made guitars, in the neck pocket and at the butt end of the neck they are stamped DK2 SP, and the truss rod cover is engraved ASM V. Both of the ones I have had were made in August of 2002. Even though BC Rich has a guitar called the ASM also, the name of that guitar is actually called the Assassin. It has no relation to the Jackson ASM V. I am in contact with Jackson on this guitar maybe I will hear back. But at any rate there are not many of these out there. Curiously I remember watching a episode of Extreme Home Make Over and they were at a school and there were a few of these guitars in the music room, I am wondering if these were made for music education in schools. If so, they are incredibly rare, and were not even made for public consumers, Hopefully I will have more info from Jackson soon.

[wilkinsi]

the asm a discontinued bc rich model, identical to the gunslinger, only that the gunslinger featured a slanted humbucker at the bridge. it was discontinued years before the asm.

[RobRR]

Asian Sodomy and Molestation?

[RacerX]

Now what the hell is ASM?

[rjohnstone]

Here is the ebay auction... apprently this guy has a few of them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/JACKSON-DK2-ASM-...QQcmdZViewItem