1994 Dinky Custom

[Simon-K]

A local guy is selling a '94 USA Dinky Custom. EDS finish.
The guitar is in overall good condition, the bridge was replaced with an OFR, bridge humbucker is some unknown Seymour Duncan. There's a small paint chip on the headstock and some light surface scratches, but nothing serious.
How much would you say a guitar like that is worth?
I know it's personal, and everything is worth what you're willing to pay and all that.....but I wonder what's a realistic offer I can give for this instrument?
I was not planning on buying more Jacksons (I swear! ), but damn, it looks like an opportunity I shouldn't pass and the seller said he's willing to consider a reasonable offer.
So, what do you think?
????

[john.w.lawson]

Pics help!
Offer him a 1000. or less see how it goes? Cash without fee's drop the price maybe

[Simon-K]

Pics help!
Offer him a 1000. or less see how it goes? Cash without fee's drop the price maybe

Yeah, guess I should try that.
Would you consider $1000 a lowball offer for this kind of guitar?

[john.w.lawson]

Yeah, guess I should try that.
Would you consider $1000 a lowball offer for this kind of guitar?

I don't know I can't see the guitar! You can always go up though, if you offer more than he wanted he will surely take it and you will have paid more for it. Make an offer and if he says you're way off, or not even close! Ask what's close.
It's damaged right.

[Simon-K]

I don't know I can't see the guitar!

That's all I have...

[john.w.lawson]

That's all I have...

I've never seen that finish on a USA ( I'm sure they made them though). I know DK2's had it. I'd probably offer 1500. I'd want to see the neck pocket (on the body) and neck heel too. As I said you can always go up if you just gotta have it.
Going up is better than over paying.

Buy the way the pickups aren't stock either

[Number Of The Priest]

Wow, that is a beauty. It's hard to tell from the photos but was the elongated recess route for the OFR done well? I suspect the guitar originally had a JT590 bridge which was standard equipment prior to 1996. The long saddle locking screws of the OFR would have been too long for a recess route meant for a guitar originally equipped with the JT590 which had short stubby saddle locking screws. Hence the need to elongate the route to accommodate the long Floyd screws.

The eerie dess swirl coloring/pattern looks atypical for the USA eerie dess swirls I've seen. It actually looks more like the eerie dess swirls seen on the Japanese Pro Series of the 2000s. All eerie dess swirls were hand-painted so there can be considerable variation even between bodies from the same production run, but generally, the USA EDS had more purple on the outside, harder transitions between each of the color zones, and some looked more like a "starburst" pattern than a swirl/vortex, while the Japanese EDS seemed to pop more in the green-blue area, I find that the transitions between the color zones was blended better than USA (just my opinion), and the pattern actually looked more like a swirly vortex as the name should imply.

USA examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=jack...ev2&prmd=sivxn
Japanese examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=jack...ev2&prmd=sivxn

Before anyone suspects the body is a Japanese DK2 body mated to a USA neck, the positions of the blade switch and tone control are very slightly lower on a Japanese DK2. But I'll be damned if this guitar doesn't look like what the USA shop would have made if someone requested a DK2 with American features (Floyd, ebony fretboard, MOP finlays, MOP headstock logo, "Made in USA" label on the headstock).

[Simon-K]

Wow, that is a beauty. It's hard to tell from the photos but was the elongated recess route for the OFR done well? I suspect the guitar originally had a JT590 bridge which was standard equipment prior to 1996. The long saddle locking screws of the OFR would have been too long for a recess route meant for a guitar originally equipped with the JT590 which had short stubby saddle locking screws. Hence the need to elongate the route to accommodate the long Floyd screws.

The eerie dess swirl coloring/pattern looks atypical for the USA eerie dess swirls I've seen. It actually looks more like the eerie dess swirls seen on the Japanese Pro Series of the 2000s. All eerie dess swirls were hand-painted so there can be considerable variation even between bodies from the same production run, but generally, the USA EDS had more purple on the outside, harder transitions between each of the color zones, and some looked more like a "starburst" pattern than a swirl/vortex, while the Japanese EDS seemed to pop more in the green-blue area, I find that the transitions between the color zones was blended better than USA (just my opinion), and the pattern actually looked more like a swirly vortex as the name should imply.

USA examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=jack...ev2&prmd=sivxn
Japanese examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=jack...ev2&prmd=sivxn

Before anyone suspects the body is a Japanese DK2 body mated to a USA neck, the positions of the blade switch and tone control are very slightly lower on a Japanese DK2. But I'll be damned if this guitar doesn't look like what the USA shop would have made if someone requested a DK2 with American features (Floyd, ebony fretboard, MOP finlays, MOP headstock logo, "Made in USA" label on the headstock).

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I was actually thinking the same thing about the finish, controls placement and bridge route.
If I'll end up getting it I'll definitely look at the heel and body stamps.
I had another pic (which I accidently deleted ) of the Floyd route and it seems to be original - the finish goes up to the edges of the route. it was most certainly done in the factory.
I'll try to ask for the serial number, maybe it's not a '94?

It looks a lot like this '96, isn't it? (from your first link)

1996 JACKSON Made in USA DK1 Dinky EDS Eerie Dess Swirl Cosmo | House of Collectibles | Reverb

[Simon-K]

I've never seen that finish on a USA ( I'm sure they made them though). I know DK2's had it. I'd probably offer 1500. I'd want to see the neck pocket (on the body) and neck heel too. As I said you can always go up if you just gotta have it.
Going up is better than over paying.

Buy the way the pickups aren't stock either

Thanks!

[Simon-K]

It looks a lot like this '96, isn't it? (from your first link)

1996 JACKSON Made in USA DK1 Dinky EDS Eerie Dess Swirl Cosmo | House of Collectibles | Reverb

Actually, no.
The controls are in a different position....

[diablomozart]

Wow, that is a beauty. It's hard to tell from the photos but was the elongated recess route for the OFR done well? I suspect the guitar originally had a JT590 bridge which was standard equipment prior to 1996. The long saddle locking screws of the OFR would have been too long for a recess route meant for a guitar originally equipped with the JT590 which had short stubby saddle locking screws. Hence the need to elongate the route to accommodate the long Floyd screws.

The eerie dess swirl coloring/pattern looks atypical for the USA eerie dess swirls I've seen. It actually looks more like the eerie dess swirls seen on the Japanese Pro Series of the 2000s. All eerie dess swirls were hand-painted so there can be considerable variation even between bodies from the same production run, but generally, the USA EDS had more purple on the outside, harder transitions between each of the color zones, and some looked more like a "starburst" pattern than a swirl/vortex, while the Japanese EDS seemed to pop more in the green-blue area, I find that the transitions between the color zones was blended better than USA (just my opinion), and the pattern actually looked more like a swirly vortex as the name should imply.

USA examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=jack...ev2&prmd=sivxn
Japanese examples: https://www.google.com/search?q=jack...ev2&prmd=sivxn

Before anyone suspects the body is a Japanese DK2 body mated to a USA neck, the positions of the blade switch and tone control are very slightly lower on a Japanese DK2. But I'll be damned if this guitar doesn't look like what the USA shop would have made if someone requested a DK2 with American features (Floyd, ebony fretboard, MOP finlays, MOP headstock logo, "Made in USA" label on the headstock).

actually its pretty easy to tell it's a usa eerie dess...the usa ones are darker, richer in color, and have a certain depth the japanese dk2's don't...as for the pics? i see absolutely no problems with it...its a usa dinky with a swapped out seymour duncan bridge humbucker...it's possible the floyd isn't original but it's also possible this one was made that way as well...we can't make the assumption that this was not custom ordered with a regular floyd...d.m.

[Simon-K]

actually its pretty easy to tell it's a usa eerie dess...the usa ones are darker, richer in color, and have a certain depth the japanese dk2's don't...as for the pics? i see absolutely no problems with it...its a usa dinky with a swapped out seymour duncan bridge humbucker...it's possible the floyd isn't original but it's also possible this one was made that way as well...we can't make the assumption that this was not custom ordered with a regular floyd...d.m.

Thanks for the input, DM!
what should I expect to see in the neck pocket and neck heel?

[john.w.lawson]

Thanks for the input, DM!
what should I expect to see in the neck pocket and neck heel?

DK-1 maybe a date too

[john.w.lawson]

[QUOTE=Number Of The Priest;
Before anyone suspects the body is a Japanese DK2 body mated to a USA neck, the positions of the blade switch and tone control are very slightly lower on a Japanese DK2. But I'll be damned if this guitar doesn't look like what the USA shop would have made if someone requested a DK2 with American features (Floyd, ebony fretboard, MOP finlays, MOP headstock logo, "Made in USA" label on the headstock)



Pretty sure that is a rosewood board.

[Number Of The Priest]

After more digging, I am confident it is a normal, "USA Series", Dinky Custom as expected, in EDS finish. See the 1994-95 catalog (https://assets.ctfassets.net/4jcppge...95-catalog.pdf), particularly page 18 of the catalog (page 10 of the PDF file) for the Dinky Custom and page 20 of the catalog (page 11 of the PDF file) for the Eerie Dess finish which was offered on the USA Series.

The confusing part is the OFR when a JT590 was standard equipment for the time, which Simon says looks like the extended route was cleanly done and indicative of being original to the guitar since the finish goes right to the edge. Less confusing is the stock Bill Lawrence pickup replaced with a Seymour Duncan pickup; the Duncan would have a label under the baseplate identifying what model it is. Just from the one pic, I see the polepieces are slugs on the neck-facing coil and screws on the bridge-facing coil, probably the most common polepiece configuration for bridge pickups offered by Duncan, which is typical of a JB, Custom, Custom 5, Custom Custom, Distortion, etc. And it looks like a white Seymour Duncan logo in normal font, so we can rule out other slug/screw bridge pickups like the Nazgul or Pegasus (black logos) or the Alnico Pro II (no logo).

More photos would help immensely. Knowing the seller's serial number would be very useful. Knowing what is stamped in the neck pocket and on the neck heel would be a bonus.