Jackson DK1

Jackson DK1 Dinky Graveyard. 2007 Model, USA made. Strat style body. Emg 81/85. Real Floyd. Ebony fretboard, mother of pearl inlays in fretboard and Jackson logo on headstock. Bolt on maple neck, as it is a DInky. Soloists hve neck through. Jackson machine heads. Proper, designed for this guitar Jackson hard case. Sample guitar polish and cloth came in hard case, which actually leeked in it's plastic bag, luckily not harming anything.

I play METAL. EMG 81/85 set. Unbeatable. Period. I have had SD JB's, Live wires, Gibson 496t's,500r's, you name it I have had the pickups. If you play Metal, EMG's are it. I have read other reviews about how these things sound distorted/clean - they do it all within the genre. If
I want a really nice clean sound I borrow an acoustic (I couldn't bring myself to buy one).

Here I will say a bit. The action on this guitar was astounding from the get go. I bought it brand new, got it out of the case and it had the most perfect, low action. The neck is perfect. I deliberatly chose the Dinky for it's natural finish neck. I have read here and there that because it is a bolt on that it would lack sustain. Bullshit. I have owned 3 gibson Explorers and a couple of Jackson and ESP neck throughs, and this thing has sustain for days too. The finish is incredible, with an airbrushed graveyard on the body. I wouldn't have chosen this finish if I had a choice, but it grows on you, and the limited numbers of the graveyards might see them grow in value. The workmanship on these is flawless and beautiful. The mother of pearl inlays and logo are beautiful. I have read reviews of Japanese Jacksons and they have said that they are as good as the US ones. Again, bullshit. These guys have never laid eyes or hands on a US one. No comparison. Also, People say that since fender took Jackson over that the quality had dropped. Guess what? BS. I have owned Jacksons from the 80's, 90's and now. This is the most perfect of the lot.

Again, i have owned a lot of Jacksons, and they were designed for a genre of music where guys beat the shit out of guitars whilst wind milling? What can I say tough music, tough guitars. however,only a fool would pay a coupla grand for a guitar and not put strap locks on it. I have to mention the way this thing stays in tune, under the reliability heading. This thing holds perfect tune once you stretch the stings in. The floyd is genuine and unbeatable.

As you are probably aware by now I have a long standing love of Jackson guitars. I have sent Jackson a few emails and letters over the years, enquiring about parts and things. Never had a reply. They must think that because they build a quality product that they don't need to hear from you. Customer support is non existent.

I play Metal. This guitar is the ultimate metal weapon. As I said earlier, I have had Gibsons and ESP's, but keep coming back for Jacksons. If this guitar was stolen, I would replace it with exactly the same thing, or maybe a neck through V with a natural finish neck. I should knock off a point for the crappy after sales service, but these things are weapons, and I was just chasing different parts anyhow. I have given this a "fantastic value" rating, which may seem odd as it is not at all cheap. If I had found these US Jacksons before I went through the ESP's and GIbsons that were cheaper, I would have saved a fortune because I wouldn't have bought them.

The guitar we're speaking of here is a 1997 Usa select series Jackson dinky. It has a quilt maple top in hershey burst finish with gold floyd and machine heads.

It was tuned to B-standard with .012 gauge strings on it when i got it a few days ago, and still is for now.

It has a H/S/S pickup configuration, the humbucker is a Seymour Duncan TB-4, i don't know what type of single coils they put in there yet.

The floyd and pickup configuration make this to be a very versatile guitar.

The TB-4 in bridge position obviously is the most tight one and has the most output of the three, but i find it to be a bit too sloppy for playing in B-standard, you'd have to get an EMG or likewise.

When you play the bridge and middle pickup simultaneously the sound gets a tiny bit fatter but loses some of it's definition.

I haven't played the singles enough to give a fair judgement about them, but i imagine they'll sound very well used for clean picking patterns.

The difference in output between hum and singles is quite big.

The guitar sound great even when playing unplugged, you really hear it sing and feel it vibrate throughout your body, make sure you put a little cloth or something in between the springs of your floyd and the body, it tends to resonate.

The sustain is great, the bolt-on neck and floyd rose don't seem to affect it at all, really terrific!

I'd say using .012 strings in B-standard is a bit sloppy, i'll tune it some higher later on and probably put light top heavy bottom strings on it, see how that works.

Still the action was very good, and the neck! Don't get me started! What an incredibly smooth satin neck this guitar has, awesome! It feels quite wide, and -as you'd expect- very flat. I believe it's just an tiny bit thicker than the neck of a Ibanez RG1570 for example.

Don't let the wide part scare you off though, i find it to be very comfortable actually.

One little thing that's also very nice is that the neckplate is angled a bit, and 'sunken' into the body a few millimeters
so that a: you can reach the higher positions on your fretboard more
easily.
and b: it rests on it's entire body when you put it flat on the
table, really nice and well thought of!

When you hold this guitar in your hands it feels really 'finished' so to speak. Everything feels solid and durable and it really gives you the feeling this is a quality guitar. Everything seems thought-of.

I own nine guitars, amongst them an LTD M-1000, a Fender strat and Epiphone Les Paul. The strat has always been my favourite, but the Jackson.... it's just a class apart (i.e. USA's). The DK 1 immediatly gave me the feeling this would be my main axe, which it pretty likely will turn out to be.

I haven't found any flwas on this guitar exept for the little fact that the high E string tend to detune pretty fast, but i guess (and hope) that this is just a temporary problem and will settle down once i've played the guitar for a while in the tuning that i'll finally put it in.

No clue whatsoever.

I have basically been playing almost all my free time since i got this guitar.

Since it's build quality is so superb and it feels so very well to play, you literally don't want to put the guitar down at moments where you would with other guitars, this is what i experienced as well as a friend of mine playing it, i think this goes for everybody.

If it were stolen, i'd definitely consider getting another one since i know they're great guitars. But i might as well look for a neckthrough with sanded neck, just to try out new things.

I rarely use them but for the few occasions that do occur i'd like to have a 23d and 24th fret which they do produce them with now.

Overall this is a truly great guitar, a guitar you really wanna play. When i lay in bed at night i just can't sleep because i'm thinking of this guitar and get so excited i wanna play it, really good!

2005 maybe,USA made, 24 frets, master volume and tone, 3-way toggle, 2 Humbuckers EMG 81 bridge and EMG 85 neck (on the 85 the EMG logo is in gold)and both are active with the 9v battery found easily accessible on the rear lower bout of the guitar.

Alder body with transparent black finish, not flamed, quartersawn bolt-on maple neck, ebony fretboard, laminated headstock that also features the transparent finish with the Jackson logo in Mother-of-pearl just as the sharkin inlays on the fretboard are. Neck binding, Original Floyd Rose in chrome as are the tuners and knurled knobs. Bolt-on plate features serial number and the back plates (that cover the pots and tremolo springs housing) are brushed black metal.

Dinky body style (like a contemporary strat) with fine tuners and a locking nut. Long scale, fast neck with a round and full feel. Came with chrome tools, hard case, and Fender (Meguairs)Mist and wipe sample kit (that I haven't yet used).

It's perfect for my Heavy music style: Great heavy sustain giving chords authority and notes scream on ebony fretboard definition.

I'm playing it through a Crate MX65R and playing through it's distortion, the EMG's are fat and heavy sounding... graet for heavy rock. The guitar is not really noisy. This is not a terribly bright axe, but has great balance of lows and highs.

The DK1 is not big on frills specwise or hardware wise, just a hard rockin' axe good for just that.

I like Jackson Dinky's mainly the DKMG and the DK1. It's straight on hard rockin' electric guitar with a heavy duty Floyd Rose and top notch everything... I'm very impressed with my purchase. It stays in tune well and is very solid feeling. I also like the unfinished necks' feel and wiile this isn't Jackson's fastest neck, it's still fast but being more round in feel, so you'll feel more in your hand.

The transparent black finish didn't knock me dead, but whatever... I bought it for a songwriting tool. It does look cool on the headstock as the background to the M.O.P Jackson USA logo, though.

I like the easy access battery compartment though the cover seems a bit flimsy. That's pretty much it.

Factory set up was great-- I just fine tuned slightly and was impressed as it met my hopes to feeling like the DKMG, but being somewhat different. The only difference in feel is the DK1 is more solid feeling due to higher qualities and the ebony fretboard, that on mine doesn't look so black.

The pickups were both angled perfectly, there was a little glue from some of the frets on the fretboard, but that doesn't bother me. The inner cavity walls were messy, but those are unseen.

This guitar is seriously one of the most rock solid purchases I've ever made.

13 years writing songs with a guitar and I'd buy this product again.

I love it... compared it to my Jackson DKMG and it came through. Buy it.

Finish was to fancy for me. EMG 81 and 85, perfer 85 and 60. two humbuckers. Shitty design. Way too much for a bolt on neck, and the factory specs on this guitar are way off. The neck fells like a Les Paul neck from the 50s. Alder body and maple neck are nice, but bolt on. Floyd made it worse. Came with a case.

I play rock, mostly metal, but i still know what a good sounding guitar is. This is not a good sounding guitar. It has horrible sustain, and crappy tone. The 81 makes it too bright, like for soloing. I like the neck 85, sounded good. Very little variety, bright sterile bridge, with a little more rich neck. Not even a neck pickup. The 85 is a bridge pick up.

Had a great set up. Low acton, in tune, floyd was just right, but the floyd was a turn off for me. I'm waiting to put a kahler on it or just sell it.

The reliablity is low, it has a fancy graveyard finish that scatches and smudges like instantly. Does not deserve the USA Select logo. Paint is very brittle.

Didn't deal with them.

Very crappy to me, overpriced by about $1200 or even more. Not even a good rythym guitar, mabee a soloist, but neck is too thck for me. I have been playing for about 8 years and know this thing sucks. The FEnder Custom Shop '54 reissue is only 200 more but is way BETTER, get a SLS2H for less money.

A 2005 Jackson USA DK1 Dinky, 24 Frets, solid-top, 1 volume and one tone with 3 way heavy duty selector switch, Duel EMG Active humbuckers 85 and 81 (very Zack Wyld) A gravyard scene finish on a strat style body with floyd rose floating bridge tremelo, locking tuners, 25.5" scale with jumbo frets roswood finger board with mother of pearl Sharkfin inlays as well as the jackson logo mother of pearl.
and they gave me a case and some guitar polish and a jackson shirt with Miss Jameson on it :-D!

these pickups are the best with this guitar you can play blues to rock and roll, to rock heavy metal to jazz. goes good with line 6 spider 2, although a little noisey you have to have it on high gain to hear the noise, on clean you put it in the neck pickup and it sounds just beautiful, put it in overdrive and its like its a complete different guitar nice and bright (but not to bright) on the bridge pickup, it makes sounds like "weeee ruuuu voooom krrrrr pliiiing Shhhhh IIIIIIIIoooooooowwwwwwww!" and it can also make sound like "do dah do do do dee bah doo dah dat dada!". you cant help but lve this guitar, a made a Les Paul lover want one, and we all know how stubborn they can be.

was set up very nicely set up the pickups i did have to lower a bit because after using a strat for 3 years i kepped on hitting the neck pickup with my pick. its a proper US made guitar i would expect it to have been set up properly so cuz of that there are no flaws in it at all!!!

well i havent tested it yet live and im very careful about droping it, the hardware is very intensly made to last and i can see that it will, the bridge is one of the most solid heavy bridges ive ever seen all the metal work is unlike my strat, this will last a while. and i probably would take it on a gig without a back up.

well heres the part that did dasapoint me a little... it took a year yes an entire year to get this guitar made, it was possable that fender America (who owns Jackson guitar USA) lost the order for my guitar though, but it was worth it in some ways! and a one year warrenty how bout them apples.

there is only 3 words in the australian dictionary to discribe this guitar: You Bloody Ledgend.

if somebody, some prick who thinks they are better than every body elso who think they can steel this guitar and suceed, i will hunt them don't a beat the crap, snot, pus, and testicals out of them to an 0.000000000001mm of there lives!!

i love the way it feels like a strat but doesn't sound like one!

I have a 2003 USA Jackson DK1 with the USA Flag graphic (Being in the US Air Force, I'm a patriotic guy.) It has a 24 fret wide thin, bolt on maple neck with an ebony board with sharkfin inlays. 3 way selector switch with 1 volume and 1 tone. There is an EMG 85 in the neck and an EMG 81 in the bridge. The body is alder. Solist/Strat style body w/ Floyd Rose. Jackson tuners and jumbo frets. Neck is wide thin. A Jackson hardshell case was included.

The sound is Zakk Wylde in a strat body (with sounds slightly thinner than the Les Paul body). I play through a Marshall DSL 50 Head and 1960b cabinet. I have but don't need effects. My axe/amp combo scream and are very versatile. I can get crisp cleans via the clean channel on the amp and thick crunch on the crunch channel. Volume on the amp makes a difference though. It all starts with the amp though folks... I love this guitar for it's versatility, but I play in the Judas Priest/Randy Rhoades style. Although, I am into Alter Bridge and have tuned my DK1 to drop D. I keep my Jackson USA RR1 in standard tuning.

No guitar is set up faster than a Jackson and this is no different. The neck is perfection. I get some cutting out on the bridge pickup EMG 81, so I am going inside tonight to see if I need to solders a wire down. Jackson paint jobs are so perfect that I am amazed. You can tell that my axe came from the custom shop like all of the USA models.

This is a professional level guitar and it doesn't get any better. Hardware and finish are spot on and I put strap locks on it. Gig with confidence with this axe.

No opinion because I haven't had to deal with them although I wish they had a forum and a color chart on their website.

I have 2 Fender Strats, a Gibson SG, a Custom Shop White 68 Les Paul Custom (my most expensive axe), a Jackson USA DK1 and a Jackson Custom Shop USA RR1 from 1988 (that I just got and will review). And, I've played everything in between to include all of the other major guitars. I have to say that Jackson's are my favorite. The 68 Les Paul Custom with the 57 classic pickups has the most incredible sound of all (but it was far and away the best sounding Les Paul in a store full of Gibson Les Pauls, but it is in a class by it's self.) The USA models are affordable if you get them on EBAY, and they are all from the Custom Shop, hand made by the same guys. The quality and consistency is unmatched in my opinion.

Usa selected series dk1, original floy rose tremolo, graveyard graphic in the bodi, 24 fret, emg 81 at the bridge, emg 85 at neck.
Alder body, ebony fingerboard.

I play modern metal, and this guitars is perfect for my style, the sound is bright couse I think the tipe of pick ups and the wood of the body, for me mahogany produce better sound than alder..but this is my opinion.
I use this guitar in my jmp1, el 34 marshall and 1960 cab.

This guitar is beautiful in every aspect, mother of pearl inlay in the fingerboard are perfect and the geve graphic is fantastic.
The guitar came with light gauge ( 09-42 ) i replace this string with 011-49 daddario and tune my guitar 1 half tone down, in Do# for more eavyer and full sound.
The action of this guitar came very low, and i wand it more high cause I have a hard touch!

this is a great guitar!!!

The usual. Mine is blue ghost flame finish :-D Came with HSC. Stock emg's, which i replaces with dimarzios. (see below) Volume, tone, then 3 way switch. 24 frets, original floyd. etc etc..

Sounds amazing. My amp is a crate blue voodoo with a marshall 1960 lead cab. I was using the emg's for a good while. Gave me a real heavy sound. But eventually, my ears developed more to my sound and i was noticing the emg's couldnt articulate well, and plain were crap. So I replaced them with a dimarzio super distortion in the bridge and a PAF pro in the neck. (make sure you get f-spaced if your changing the p-ups) This is my dream guitar now! Gets that low end crunch amazingly, and the highs are great. I just wish they had a kick more of some "juice" to em, the kind you really hear when the notes are sustaining, but hey, i love it allready.

Plays smooth like silk. Excellent action. I play 10-46's. Of course, it came from jackson with 9-42's, so i had to set it up myself, which can be a pain with the floyd, but now it plays great. Nice and low, the way i like it for my sweeps :-D It plays so smooth because of the unfinished bolt on neck. Ive never had a bolt on before, but now, i wont go back. Blue ghost flame finish....WOW

Never has anything gone wrong with it. Solid strapbuttons, solid everything.

Never had anything wrong, wouldnt know.

Great guitar, plays so smooth. Cranks out that death metal sound i love so much, and shreds very nice. I play in the style of children of bodom...yngwie...etc. Shred influenced music, and, like most jacksons, this pup does the trick beautifly. I highly reccomend it. If it were lost or stolen, id buy a new one right away (or a soloist, just because i love to experiment with new gear) If youre not sure whether to get it or not, GET IT! its great. email me with any questions. Rock on!

Alder body, bolt-on quartersawn maple neck, Bound neck and headstock, 24 frets with mother-of-pearl sharkfin inlays, Ebony fretboard, Original Floyd Rose bridge, EMG 81 bridge and EMG 85 neck pickups, Master Volume, Master Tone, 3-way switch, Die-cast tuners, locking nut.

It shipped from the factory 8-7-03.

Giving a 9 since I prefer independent vol control for each pickup.

The guitar came with 9-42 gauge strings. I'm used to 10-52 gauge on my Gibsons. So I found myself kinda sucking while playing this guitar for the first time. The longer scale of the Jackson does lend itself to lighter gauge strings so I'm going to stick with 9's but I'm going to install 9-46's. For now, I'm just enjoying the guitar as is. I find that it has a pronounced low-midrange. Very beefy in this area. I had to roll the mids down on my amp to balance it out more. I've never owned active electronics before. Even though I prefer passive pickups, I can definitely see why people like these things. Strong output and yet quiet operation. I wouldn't call it a "woody" tone per se and yet it certainly has a sound of it's own. I'd describe it as heavy low-mid crunch. I like it. I have no plans of swapping the pickups out. I'm going to stick with these and learn to use it.

Giving an 8 since the sound is pretty much reserved for rock and heavier music. Don't get one if you want to play commercial, light rock, classic rock, blues or jazz.

Looks perfect. Nary a flaw to be found anywhere on the guitar. Jackson calls the color blue-green pearl. When held in the sunlight, it looks like a deep blue with a hint of green. It also seems to sparkle lightly sorta like a finish on a car if you know what I mean. From a distance, it looks like a very dark blue almost black. The binding is excellent without any glue seeping through or anything like that. The neck pocket seems very tight. My ONLY grip with the finish is that the fret dressings aren't as smooth as my other guitars. They don't bother me while playing though. I wouldn't change a single thing about the action of the guitar. Absolutely perfect for me. Low with no buzzing at all. I hope when I put on the slightly heavier strings it'll remain close to this. The Floyd is parallel with the body and well, does what it's supposed to do. I still plan to install a tremsetter though.

Giving it an 9 since one would expect fret dressings to be like glass on a guitar that lists for around $2400. Everything else was damn near perfect though.

It's a guitar! It'll work just fine and last forever if I take care of it. Since the pickups are active, the battery will need to be checked...one deduction for that. Breaking a string with a Floyd Rose renders them useless so another deduction for that. Other than those two things, it's a solid a guitar as any other I've owned or played.

Never dealt with em but I expect that they would be nice.

Brand new Jackson which lists for over $2000...I got it for $800!! I couldn't be happier. The guitar is everything I was looking for. Initially I wanted a neck through design but if a bolt-on came my way that still played great, I wasn't going to think twice. What can I say really? I was in the market for a new guitar. Since all my other gigging guitars are Gibsons, I wanted a guitar to complement them. Even though I hate whammy bars, I wanted to get one since I'm going to be playing old school metal covers. The DK1 is perfectly suited to the music I plan to play. I think it looks great, plays great and sounds right. I've never bought a guitar sight-unseen before and I don't necessarily recommend it. I just happened to luck out I guess. If a straight foward, rock through metal guitar is what you need, make sure you check out a Jackson DK1.

I got a killer deal on a guitar that plays and sounds damn good. So for an overall score I want to give a 10 based on this bias. But since I want to be fair and give an honest rating of the guitar itself I'll give it an overall 8.

mine is a 1995 ontario-calif. made dinky .24 jumbo frets.i think it has a solid alder body,master volume and tone.5-way switch for pickups.two singles and a bridge humbucker.i think singles are j-100 vs'es and i have a lawrence l-500 in the bridge.
i have a superb Birdseye maple neck and fretboard with ebony sharkfin inlays.body is originally painted in Multi-color dragon.an original floyd rose trem.a wide thin neck.

i am playing almot eveything.but especially sorts of metal.and it really fits me when i play.i used boss effects,fender amps but right now i am using LYNE6 amps.and they are the perfect couple.i dont have noise.it has a full bodied sound.i can find what i want with my guitar.but i think that there could be a full size hum in neck.but i totally love it.

i bought it second hand.but it was not used so much.there were any dings or scratches or any oxidized hardware.i even dont have a loosen screw.it was tough as a rock and it is still the same.
it was setted up perfect.all those adjustments were really nice.it was so playable.

i think it will last during my lifetime.hardware is still so tough.my graphic finish is far beyond good.strap buttons are still tight.i can bet it will last forever.i used it for 3 concerts without backing it up...

never dealt with 'em.

i am playing for 8 years.i already have ajapan made jackson king-v std(1993).and i love them both.if it was stolen i am sure that i would buy a new jackson.i love jacksons,i love everything related with my guitars.i feel really good with 'em.i used several guitars like fender strat and tele's,hohner,ibanez,esp and i think after all of them,my guitar is jackson.i dont wanna compare it it to any guitar.

USA DINKY MADE IN 1988, 22 FRETS, 25-1/2" SCALE, MAPLE BOLT-ON NECK WITH ROSEWOOD FINGER BOARD, POPULAR BODY WITH BLACK/BLUE CRINKLE PRINT, JACKSON FLOYD-ROSE TYPE TREMOLO WITH BEHIND THE NECK LOCK.

I have been using this guitar since 1990, however, I have done some modification on the pickups system. Originally, this guitar came with a Jackson single coil and a big Jackson humbucker in the bridge position (the word "big" I mean this old Jackson pickups was comparatively a bit bigger than the standard size humbucker). Ok, back to the guitar performence, the neck was very easy to adjust and nearly no dead spots, the tremolo works fine but the coating on this tremolo got off easily. For the tone, I have installed SD cool-rails in the neck, and Dimarzio MegaDrive in the bridge. The strange thing about this guitar was that, although it was not neck-through body, its sustain was so good that you can hold a notes for a day. I have owned four Jackson guitar, this one was the cheapest one amoung them, but the best. So, don't always take price as a huge factor when you look on musical instrument.

Aside from the tremolo and the behind the nut lock, everything is OK

As I have been playing it for 12 years, this guitar was very reliable.

Customer Support, ha ha, this was the reason why I contribute this review. Recently, I have another Dinky with problem on the neck, as I am living in Japan, I would like to contact Jackson by e-mail at service@jacksonguitars.com. But this e-mail address always have problem, every single message I have sent, e-mail back to me saying that my mail cannot reach this e-mail. I do not know why this happen.

I always think that Jackson guitars were very reliable, so that was the reason why I have owned four U.S. made Jackson. But I am very disappointed by their Customer Services, I cannot understand why I cannot contact them by e-mail, do they only interested in phone inquiry ? Do anyone out there think that you can explain a problem on guitar by phone without diagram, photos, details description ????????

2002 USA Jackson DK1 with yellow bengal paint graphic. Dinky super-strat body (Alder) with a quarter-sawn bolt-on 24-fret unfinished maple neck. Frets are jumbo, neck is standard Jackson size (not super thin, but not thick either). Bound ebony fretboard and Sharkfin inlays. Neck dimensions are .750 at the 3rd and .810 at the 12th. The scale is 25.5 with an Original Floyd Rose bridge. The pickups (active) are an EMG 81 at the nridge and an EMG 85 at the neck. Controls include a 3-way toggle, one volume and one tone. Standard Jackson tuners. All black hardware. Hardshell case included.

I play pretty much everything except country, although the recording I do is more on the progressive rock side. I needed a fast player with hot pickups, and the DK1 with the EMG pickups are perfect for this style of play. My main amp is a Marshall TSL head and Marshall 1960AV (Vintage 30) 4x12 cab. The EMG's drive this amp beautifully, and I get a surprisingly nice clean sound on the clean channel. I hear people say you CAN'T get a decent clean tone out of the EMGs - perhaps they're just not using the right amp. My other rack gear include a Pod Pro and some older Rockman stuff - the DK1 sounds great all-around. The EMGs are totally quiet. If you're looking for pristine clean Strat sounds, this guitar with the EMGs will not cut it for you - look elsewhere.

I rate the action and fit a solid 10, but have to give the finish a 8. The action from the factory was perfect - low and buzz-free. I didn't have to make any adjustments to the neck or Floyd bridge. The fit is also perfect - all the components, including the neck and neck pocket, are perfectly mated to each other. The pickups appear to be promptly adjusted, height-wise. I removed the back plate cavities to take a peek at the floyd and the electronics - everything looked nice and tidy. Unfortunately, I was just a little disappointed with the overall finish. Around the neck pocket and the Floyd recess, the guitar could use a little bit more paint. And the white neck binding looks dirty - I'm not sure if it's actually dirt or glue remnants. Anyway, I tried cleaning it, but the "dirt" won't come off. Oh well - although I can see it, I can't feel it. Finally, there is what appears to be a paint chip on the top of one of the Floyd mounting posts. I talked to the QA guy at Jackson about this, and he immediately sent me a new post at no charge to me. He also said the black hardware is not painted, but wasn't really sure how the black color is applied. Powder coated perhaps? Anyway, I'll install the new post when I'm ready to change the strings for the first time.

Jackson is known for building solid guitars. Being that I treat all my gear like I would a baby, this guitar will last me a lifetime. As I do with all my guitars, I replaced the stock strap buttons with Schaller strap locks. This step alone has saved me from many accidental drops. The paint appears to be applied thickly, so hopefully it will last a long time. I always wipe down my guitars after playing, so that should help. Being that I have always gigged with multiple guitars, gigging w/out a backup is a moot point. Nevertheless, other than breaking a string or the battery powering the EMGs dying, I don't think this guitar would ever let me down.

As mentioned, a quick call to fix the Floyd post defect resulted in a new post arriving a few days later from Jackson. Thanks guys! That, and the Jackson/Charvel Forum at their web site, makes for great customer support.

I've been playing now for almost 20 years. I have a Gibson Les Paul Classic Premium Plus, 2 Fender Strats, Ernie Ball/Music Man Axis and an '88 Charvel Model 6. Overall, my DK1 plays easier than all the others, with the Model 6 coming a very close 2nd. The low action, jumbo frets, ebony fretboard and unfinished maple neck make this guitar an absolute pleasure to play. If it were stolen, I would buy another one. If the police found the cretin who stole it, I'd buy a Jackson/Charvel neck off eBay, give it to the cops, and tell them to gouge the guys eyes out with the pointy head. I love everything about this guitar - it was meant to rock (or shred), and performs its duty accordingly.

1998 model. Made in Ontario, CA USA I believe it's a poplar body with a maple neck. Satin black body, ebony fretboard, ivoroid sharkfin inlays & binding. Original Floyd Rose, Seymour Duncan JB-4 humbucker and two Seymour Duncan (STK-1, I think) single coils. One volume, one tone control. Five way switch Came in Jackson/SKB case. Beautful guitar. Here's a url w/an identical to mine: http://www.collenguitarworld.com/gmw/dinky.html

I play original punk/country type stuff. Anywhere between straight clean electric, to slightly fuzzy overdrive, to all out God of Hellfire metal tones. This guitar fits everything perfect. Good balance when switching between pickups. You can get a Strat quack, Tele twang & Slayer type distortion. What would I change??? A coil tap switch would be nice. I would rather have a neck-thru/string-thru but I wouldn't give up this guitar for one though. I think the only way I'm gonna find that kinda Jackson is to order one from their custom shop. A Soloist is neck-thru but they come w/a Floyd Rose too, I don't use a tremelo & never plan to.

Not sure how well it was set up at the factory. I bought it from the owner of music store who had bought it for his personal use, set it up, played it for a few days then decided to sell it for some reason. I lowered the action. I've got it set low, low, low & there is absolutely no string buzz.

Solid piece of equipment. This thing is heavy too, like Les Paul heavy. The only thing that would stop this guitar is an Act of God or war.

Never have dealt with 'em.

I had a USA HM Strat when I ran across this guitar. The price was just too good to pass up. I intended on keeping both guitars but I'm too poor to be a collector & I hardly touched the Strat after laying my hands on the Jackson so I sold it after a couple of years (and still regret getting rid of it).

The only other electric guitar I've ever owned was the HM Strat & it is a fairly comparable guitar. (The Strat had a flatter, wider neck & extra frets though) They're both excellent guitars, the Strat required fiddling around w/the controls too much when switching music styles but that could have something to do w/the really hot humbucker it had. The Jackson is very well balanced, it will really crank but doesn't come on too strong when you switch of the distortion.

If it were stolen I'd be lost. I would replace it with another Jackson but it'd be a Soloist w/a hardtail or string-thru bridge & a coil-tap switch. (I've thought about adding one to mine but I kinda wanna leave it stock)

I play & record at home. I have a Alavarez-Yairi DY-56 acoustic/electric, the DK-1, and and Ibanez GSR200 bass. For effects I use a BOSS ME-30 processor, a DOD 7-band EQ & a BBE 264 Sonic Maximizer. I also run a Zoom RhythmTrack 123, some V-Tech & Shure mics & everything goes into a Yamaha MT-400 4-track then mixdown to the cd burner in on my home pc.

This guitar is fucking great!! its cool to look at and great to play. The model I bought was finished in translucent black on a quilted maple top which is stunning. The seymour duncans are wicked and you can really shred with this baby. The maple neck is faster than most guitars I've played and the ebony fretboard is so smooth. Finished off with a gold Floyd Rose that never goes out of tune (This thing takes some shit!)and gold hardware, this was a guitar I had to buy.

I play metal and lead and although the gold stuff may make it a bit cheesy to some you have to hear this beast play. I play through a marshall TSL stack and the sound is too cool. On the bridge pickup at loud volumes you can cut through steel and it's great for waking the neighbours at 3 in the morning! The clean tones are pretty cool but this thing is built to ROOOOOOCCCCKKKKK!

The action was set up to my liking so I haven't had to make any adjustments. The finish is fantastic and looks cool the only flaw is the gold finish on the hardware which corodes easily and on my guitar bits are starting to peel off which sucks!!

If this doensn't survive the road then I don't know what will. This is rock guitar and its built to take a beating I can't find anything wrong with it so I expect it should last a long time.

I haven't had to deal them but Jackson are a reputable company so i doubt they would screw anyone aound.

I've been playing for five years anfd this is one of the best guitars I have played. If it were stolen I wound hunt down the sucker who nicked it and reclaim it coz these things aren't easy to come by where I live and especially not at the same price I paid.

We'll if your looking to be tom Morello and have a guitar with 3 thousand useless nobs, look somewhere else because this guitar is simple an to the point, not to mention KICK ASS. I swear the minute i walked into the store, and i saw this beauty, i knew i had to play it. Its got everything ANY player could want. Floyd rose which will never no matter how much i dive, go out of tune. Also GREAT sounding seymour duncans, which can give you a great biting distortion in the bridge humbucker, or an amazing clean tone in the two singles. Also a BEAUTIFUL amazing quilted top, which is just.....breathtaking isn't even the world, i mean this is the stuff dreams are made of. Great low action and DOESN'T buzz at all, and also the fastest neck i have ever played in my life.

I play metal, and classic rok, and this baby delivers with every power chord i let out. I use a mesa dual rec. which help delivers to my sound, but i have tried out other guitars through it, and this guitar delivers the sound i had been looking for, can get great lead tones. Super low action, and NO noise, i absolutely love this guitar. My teacher plays jazz, and he says that he can get sounds that mimic a es-335. Also on the single coils, the sound is nicely matched with the humbucker, so that when you switch pikcups the humbuckers don't kill the singles level.

BABY!!!! Man flawless finish, i can't even tell you how comfortable this thing is to play, you have to play, and see it yourself. I can't put it into words, its THAT good.

We'll this is the only thing that i didn't like. The back of the guitar got some scratches and there were one or 2 bad frets when i bought it, but i treat my guitars like shit, so i saw the scratches coming, but the frets kinda bothered me so im replacing them really soon.

Never had to deal with them

I've been playing since i can remeber, and though i've only owned about 5 guitars, from going to guitar shops i can tell you that this is one of the nicest guitars i've ever played. Everything from the killer sound, to the beautiful finish, its practically flawless.

Jackson USA DK-1, 1996, 22 frets(beautifully polished), poplar body with a killer (AAA maybe higher) sunburst quilt top, H/S/S pickup configuration--all seymour duncan( i replaced the neck pickup with a hot rails for more bite in the neck, original floyd rose tremolo(never goes out of tune,,,never!)wide thin maple neck with ebony fretboard--its a scorcher very cool guitar

One thing, shred! this thing does the 80's shred very well, not suited for jazz or clean tones i gave it a eight because this guitar is not suited for everything. Clean tones in the area of 80's clean is done well, the bridge pickup is a scorcher(duncan M something)

Here is the awesome part of the guitar. Now i hate jackson's phillipian made guitars with a passion, but my USA is near flawless.
action was perfect( i usually adjust my action on all my guitars) but amazingly it was perfect for me. Pickups set hot and close the string. i lowered them just a tad to reduce string pull. The finish was superb and the sunburst accented a gorgeous(much higher than any jackson i have seen)AAA+ quilt maple top. 5 way pickup selector is quiet but i glued the pickup top thingy on becuase it came off...all strats have same prob with the little selectors. inlays superb(not the crappy lespaul toiletseat inlays) 10! way to go jackson

had it for 2 years, looks like i got it yesterday with the exception of 1 buckle wear area on the back...i play very often...i am tough on my guitars...its holding out awesome, cant gig w/o backup because of the floyd(we all know it takes an hour to get strings on those things:-) 9 because of possible string breakage on stage

not really talked w/jackson but this guitar is built like a truck

i have been playing for 9 years and this guitar is added asernal to my stash of 6 guitars. The only guitars i love more is my GMP elite(which i might add is a beautiful and tone monster), and my musicman axis(killer amber top). if stolen i would try to find another of its kind...PEOPLE--USA JACKSON IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET A GOOD JACKSON--FOREIGN MADE JACKSONS SUCK!-FACT OF LIFE. but foreign jacksons are cheap so thats why