Jackson DK2 S

Mine is a 2002 model with the original Sustaniac (not the Stealth or the Stealth Pro). Amazing Japanese quality. It had the Duncan Design pickups stock, which were the HB-102 and the SC-101. The pickups were supposed to emulate the Duncan JB (HB-102) and the SSL-6 Custom (SC-101). The stock pickups were awful, but to be fair I did replace them originally with real Duncan JB and SSL-6 pickups, which were equally awful. The Floyd-licensed trem was also awful. My guitar was used when I bought it, and the trem knife edges were apparently worn down, so it "popped" and "creaked" and "cracked" on the posts when I tried to use it. Like what has been said already, it has an alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard and Gotoh-Jackson tuners, all of which were really good and still on the guitar today.

Once the pickups and trem were replaced, the guitar sounded amazing. Like the guy below me said, very "trippy" to get infinite-sustaining notes and harmonic-feedback. I changed the pickups to a DiMarzio PAF Pro (also a Super 3 at first) and an Area '61. After I did that, the guitar sounded like it always should have. It definitely can rock with a top-of-the-line USA Jackson Dinky now.

The guitar was set up professionally by Guitar Center in Lake Forest, California (where I bought it). It plays perfect. It has big jumbo frets and a flat fingerboard. The finish on the guitar is the reason I think the original owner sold it: It's called "black cherry", and it looks exactly like black cherry soda, but it definitely can be described as purple. The finish doesn't bother me at all. I've had girls tell me it was the prettiest guitar they've ever seen (LOL). The finish itself is well done. The neck is satin, probably urethane. The headstock face is gloss black.

Once I changed the tremolo to an Original Floyd Rose (it dropped right in - a direct replacement), the guitar has worked and lasted for 3 straight years with heavy use, without a single problem. I have to tighten the neck trussrod once every Summer, but that's all. The finish is completely clean and has been since I got it. It seems tough and resists wear very well.

I gave it all 10's because it's not a big deal to switch the trem to a real Floyd and switch the pickups to DiMarzio's. I only paid $300 for the guitar in the first place. So there you have it: switch the trem to a real Floyd Rose, switch the pickups (keep the sustainer of course), get titanium locknut screws, and it's a great guitar to have.

I've been playing guitar and bass about 13 years I've playing this guitar for a couple months now. this guitar is very tripy. you can hold a note for as long as you like. you can get crazy feedback, awesome pic harmonics. there is to toggle switches one is for on and off and the other is for normal, mix, harmonic and it will only work if it is on. the harmonic option is good for getting crazy feedback. the first week that I was playing it, all I would get was crazy feedback. I put it back to the store and said I don't want this, "There's too much feedback" the guy told me that I shouldn't be playing in the on position all the current, this was true. when the guitar is turned off I could control the feedback and when it is on total madness, (cool).
the look, is beautiful. I don't know what you'd call it, maybe Blue. I nicknamed my guitar Jackson blue. there is three Seymour Duncan pickups. I mainly use the bridge pickup it gives me a sense of power and when ripping it up. excellent pic harmonics

well I must say this guitar sounds pretty wild and crazy. I like it. I play metal. It took me a couple days to learn how to control the feedback which was all in the on and off toggle switch.
on the negative side, this guitar is not too versatile but that's okay because I have other guitars. and it's lacking in a bit of tone which sucks. and if you're thinking about buying this guitar think about investing in into some rechargeable nine volt batteries because this guitar is a battery hog. I will go through a 9 V battery in about a week (playing 3-4 hours a day) easy. I'm giving it an eight out of 10 because of the bit of lacking of tone. you know it could just be my amplifier so, 8 1/2 than.

I got the blue Jackson DK2 S. looks beautiful I love it. I would play it at a heavy metal show or take it to church. you can take a flying "V" to church (well not my church)

well it's holding up very well I have had no problems with it I've only owned it for a couple months. I'm afraid that the toggle switches will be the first to go because I play with a lot of aggressiveness!!!! I'll give it a nine and a half out of 10, so I'll put ten because I rounded down last time.

overall I'm pretty happy with the price they paid ($640 cad) I live in Canada. one of my concerns is that the resale value on it will not be so good, o'well.
the things I don't like about it is that it's lacking in tone, it's not very versatile and is a battery hog
on the positive side, plays good action is very good looks beautiful and you can get some crazy sounds of this thing, and wicked pic harmonics!!!

alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard
Transparent blue finish on flamed maple top
jackson jt-580 lp lisenced floyd rose
duncan designed pickups in bridge and middle poisition (hum, single), the sustainiac in the neck
5 way pickup selector, 1 volume, 1 tone and 1 gain knob (for the sustainiac), one on-off toggle and the 3 way switches for the sustainiac again
chrome hardware

mine is a pre-2006 model so it doesn't have the original duncans

the sound is just brilliant. i was worried about the duncan designed picks but the sound great anyway. i play it on a randall 15 watts practise amp. the alder makes it sound really clear and sharp at the same time. the cleans are clean enough with the single coil. the sustainiac works great as a regular neck picup but when you turn it on it makes a really weird feeling at the first time =) it kinda makes a magnet-field over the strings to let'em ring. you have get used to it a bit cause it feels a bit noisy at the beginning. the feedback feature works great too. you turn it on and it feels like a rockstar feedbacking his guitar on stage to his full stack (not kidding).
the floyd is pretty fun to play and it works flawlessly. i tried some hi-pitched dime screams, did some extreme diving stuff etc. and it stayed fine tuned.
the floyd and the sustainiac works great together by the way.

when i first got it (a few hours ago), the bridge was kinda wierd. i had to open the nut locks, loose the screws at the back and tune it again and it came out well. it was really easy to tune it tough the floyd anyway. not any other flaws. the action and the pickup height is ok.

i just had it for a few hours but i gigged very mad on it and it just stayed fine. no problem with the tuning etc. i'm sure it'll be reliable on stage.

never dealt with 'em.

it was the best deal. i'm playing for about 2 years or so and this is my first hot guitar. i think i'll be pretty happy with it.
try to get the new 2006 models, they have improved bridges and pickups.

2006 model made in Japan
Transparent blue over flame maple veneer
Super strat body style (alder), with a bolt on maple neck and rosewood fretboard
1 Seymour Duncan JB (TB4), 1 Seymour Duncan stacked single coil, 1 Sustaniac driver/pickup in the neck
1 volume, 1 tone, 1 gain knob for the Sustainac
1 five-way lever switch for pickup selector, 1 on/off toggle for the Sustainiac, and 1 three-way mode selector for Sustainiac
Jackson licensed Floyd Rose and locking nut
Jackson branded tuners
25.5" 24 fret scale, 14" to 16" radius

This guitar is exceptional for its feature set, feel and sound while set at an appropriate price point. The alder body does give accentuation to the midrange which really brings the single coils to life (the Sustainiac has a high quality active single coil sound to it and matches nicely with the Duncan stacked suggle coil in the middle). The stock JB is a great pup. I changed mine out for a Duncan PATB-1, as a preference vs. any issues with JB. The 2006 models do not have the Duncan Designed pups.

While this is not an American made Jackson (it also doesn't carry the U.S. made price tag), the action was tolerable but a little too high and the neck had a bit too much relief. With a little TLC, and some filing under the locking nut to bring it down just bit, it now plays as well as any high quality guitar should (it is really nice). The adjustments took about an hour, and are kind of standard for any new guitar. So I can't see this as a fault. The Jackosn licensed Floyd is of good quality, the fine tuners on the bridge could be a little smoother but they work fine and the system stays in tune as well as any other Floyd/Schaller locking trem. The tuners on the headstock are decent and have no issues that I can detect. The top is a veneer, but it looks very nice with no issues at all withe finich as a whole. The binding on the neck and headstock is very well done, the neck has a great feel and finish. The only difference I can differece I can see between the US DK1 and the Japanese DK2 are the veneer vs. solid top, the quartersawn maple for the neck on the DK1, the ebony vs. rosewood fretboard, and the Original FLoyd Rose vs. the licensed Floyd. The DK2S also has the Sustainiac, but I did not see a US model with a Sustainiac. Overall it is a great guitar.

It is far too soon to tell, I have only had it for a week.

I have never contacted Jackson, so I have no opinion here either.

I wrote this review due the previous reviews regarding poor hardware, etc. The 2006 model is done very well and a is a different guitar than earlier models. The new ones come with Seymour Duncan pups vs. the Duncan Designed and the hardware is the standard high quality fare. I bought it for the Sustainiac and I am very happy with this guitar on every level.

See any other review here. It's a pretty basic metal guitar with a kick-ass effect built in for almost nothing. What a bargain!

Like some of the reviews below, I have to admit that this is a $400 guitar and I never expected anything more when I went looking for a guitar with a sustainer system. The 'Duncan Designed' pickups are pretty dull sounding overall - muddy and the just sound pretty low grade. I never bought it for full on metal so I'm not bummed about that too much although I'm probably going to throw some Dimebuckers into it(based on the reviews here). I picked it up for the sustainer only. I didn't want to retrofit any of my other guitars with a sustainer system (not that I could reasonably get one into my Jazzmaster or my Tele), so I thought I would give it a try. I wasn't disappointed at all. It's a $400 guitar with a crazy-cool effect built on. That's about it.

I bought the guitar from Musician's Friend and it came perfectly set up. The guitar itself is beautiful - The jumbo frets are perfect, the satin neck rules, and the overall finish is right on. The guitar is a looker. The hardware, though, sucks. I broke one of the cheap locking nut clamps within 6 months and had to replace them and I had to replace the tremlo bar because it wore through so much that it wouldn't stay in place for anything. I haven't had too much trouble with the imitation Floyd Rose, but I plan on replacing that soon. The tuners seem okay, but I will probably replace them, too. They seem to keep the thing in tune so I'm not in that much of a hurry.

It's a pretty guitar. The Japanese Jacksons seem to be in line with the USA's. Sweet little thing (factoring the Sustainiac).

Once I get everything in tune (which is a bitch with any Floyd Rose), just stays that way. Nice.

I use this in the studio only and it's never let me down (if I approach everything ready to do what I need it to). I won't ever gig with this, but I won't ever use it as my main guitar anyway. Seems solid.

Never had to deal with anyone at Jackson, but I have heard great things about the support for the Sustainiac.

I've been playing for maybe 10 years as a home recording hobbyist and maybe 5 years really seriously. My main writing guitars are a '96 CIJ Jazzmaster and a late nineties American Standard Telecaster. The stuff I have been recording lately is Fripp-y ambient with a sort of big sounding MBV-like atmosphere. I go for more of the 'fluff-on-the-needle" sort of indie than chugga chugga metal. That's why this guitar really has made itself part of my 10+ guitar family. With the Sustainiac and huge amounts of reverb, chorus, and delay, I can generate a nice backing feedback sheen. I'll go to an Ebow if I want to do any single string stuff, but the Sustainiac just kills with the chorded stuff. Before I picked this up, I used to really annoy the neighbors with my Fender Deluxe Reverb feeding back in the middle of the night. The Sustainiac brings it down to a workable level and for that alone, I really appreciate this guitar.

I played a Fernandes Native a long time ago and I think that the Sustainiac beats it. With the Floyd Rose, I can generate the most solid, atmospheric feedback that I could hope for. Very controllable even though it took a bit of practice to control the whole thing. The guitar feels like just wants to pull away from you with the Sustainiac running. Cool feeling that has helped me get some really interesting textures.

Once I get some real pickups into it, this thing will absolutely rule. A lot of fun. If someone is looking for an inexpensive way to generate simulated Frippertronics, this is a great guitar. For someone looking for a metal beast, I'd look elsewhere. The Sustainiac alone is worth the cheap price.

The features on this guitar are astounding and for what your paying for this guitar with such a great feature is fanominal. The sustainiac feature is great for solos. Although it is a hassel to change the 9v battery used to power the sustainiac.this guitar has a great feel and an amazing features. The shark fins on the neck make this guitar look even better!!!There are many more great things about this guitar but it would take me a long time to explain!

This guitar is perfect and is underrated from what i've seen on the overall grade. THIS GUITAR HAS AMAZING SOUND.i f u no how to use it...so get out there and buy one of these sweet babys. This guitar takes rock and roll and shoves it in peoples faces. Overall kick ass sound.

The finish of this guitar is amazing. Resembling a fender guitar but it has a great paint job and amazing curves and edges to make it look bad asssss!!!The pickus are duncan designed and are great. I was reading a comment someone submitted and he says " yea when i wanted to go clean i heard some distortion blah blah" my friend your equipment has to suck then becuase i have a line 6 spyder 2(which is an amazing amp you ppl should check out and i don't hear any distortion on clean. the action fit and finish is amazing.

This guitar can withstand live playing. I played in a gig downtown toronto with my jackson(then swithed to my zack wylde) but it sounded amazing. If you plan on getting a new guitar i recommend this baby.i play rhythm guitar and the odd fill like izzy in guns and roses but this guitar has never failed me.

I bought my jackson at long and mcquade in oshawa canada. When i saw it at first oe of the locks were missing and they replaced it right away and a few knobs. If you need a music store that suits you find a long and mcquade near you. go to www.long-mcquade.com to find out locations and more.

AMAZING!!!KILLER!!!!OUSTOUNDING!!!! ETC!!!!!WORTH IT TOO!!!!!

2002 model made in Japan.24 jumbo frets,shark-fin inlays,2 single coils and one humbucker,Sustainiac pick-up,3 modes:harmonics,normal,blend,Liscensed floyd rose bridge,1 volune,1 tone,1 knob for the sustainiac,Maple body,Rosewood neck,...

I play mostly metal and this guitar has a good potential but needs a little bit more chunck and clarity, so i replace the bridge pickup for a EMG-81 so now this guitar is a Metal machine, screaming Harmonic and heavy clear palm-mute sound...I love it!If the EMG was feature on this guitar I'll give it 10 but I give a good 8.

This guitar looks really good,and has no scratch and stuff like this.

I have some problem with the sustainiac and the volunme knob but it's ok.

I hate fender!!!!!Since jackson was bought by fender It sucks!I have A problem with my sustainiac pickup and they don't want send a new one to my music store so it takes 7 weeks and the store was obligated to pay 400-500$ for that.My warranty was still go so...fiuuuu

I've tried a lot of guitar but it seems that this one is perfect for me.I Love It...amazing neck,GOod sound with the add-on of an EMG-81 and I think jackson beats the ESP.

Japan, 24 Jumbo Fret, solid alder, black cherry (metallic).
H-S-S. Floyd Rose liscensed trem, etc. Neck sustainer/active single coil.

Note: this guitar did not include the flame maple top, so don't be sad if you paid more and got the transparent colored flame tops.

Wanted to contribute my 2 cents worth. I'm a home hobbyist type of musician, but been at it for over 20 years and have a 20+ guitar collection, so possibly some value to my opinion. I'm not going to say great things about the tone. I like the neck pickup through my little Vox Pathfinder (very round toned amp). The neck SC has the best tone through that amp, but I can't really get a great tone clean out of any of the pickups on my Fender Super 112 or Marshall VS 80. But I'm relatively happy with the neck, which is a good thing since that the reason to buy this particular guitar. But I find the bridge and middle pups to be a bit dull, flat, lifeless, lacking definition, character, etc. So I am definitely searching for suggestions for replacements for the middle SC and the bridge HB. Probably the SD cool rail and a JB is about as good an idea as any (I'm more into classic rock tone). After that, I think I'll be a happy camper. I already have enough guitars, but I wanted to be able to play with this sustainer. I think it may not be as controllable as the Fernandez system, but is is also a pickup. Its hard to prevent the sustained note from howling out of control like a guitar place next to a powered up amp. But with some skill or practice, it will possibly be useful. In any case, it's fun and has three modes, Sustain, Harmonics and Mixed. This was a bargain priced guitar, and with another $200 in replacement pups (parts n labor), I think I will be pleased to have this guitar join my family

Everything seemed fine EXCEPT for the edge fretwork. It's going to need some buffing to keep it from gnawing at my paw. The action seems rather good, it's easy to play with the JUMBO FRETS!, looks like a decent attempt at factory intonation. The HB was not properly positioned, so I had to raise it. The neck and middle SC pups appear to be screwed directly into the body, so (unless I'm mistaken) no adjustment there unless a replacement is installed. One hard to see but easy to feel nick on the back of the neck I will have to smooth out. But overall, the feel of the guitar and action is sweet. Feels good in your hand even if the fret edges will remove some skin cells.

Haven't had it long enough.

Possibly being slightly generous at 7, but I don't want to to think I'm saying it's crap, but most of my guitars sound better, PRS, Gibsons and Fenders. But I do like the feel of the neck and the action and the sustainer is fun. For the price, how could I resist?

This previous poster is Correct on the hardware and pickups:CRAPPY

I too had the locking nut problem.. the clamp nuts are PLASTIC coated with a thin metal! They snap off real easy! The chrome hardware is extremely cheap. You can see bubbles in it.. So its molded on some inferior metal. BEWARE OF THE INSIDE!!!! The soldering job is piss poor aka slapped together and burnt pots.
If something goes wrong it will be a BITCH to fix on your own. I too swapped out the stock pickups for a dimebucker. GOD does that sustainer scream with REAL pickups! The stocks are too weak to get the demo sounds on the sustainiac sites. I sent mine back.

stocks are ok, but seriously hurt the reputation of the sustainer. It just doesn't perform well with them. Like I said a dimebucker brought the sustainer to life!

Superb craftsmenship. No flaws. Set up pefectly. LOW ASS Action!!!!! Fast neck(satin)

The hardware WILL fall apart! Even a freaking Kramer's hardware is better than this!

After you play with the sustainer it's not all it's cracked up to be in my decision. Also, the guitar is NOT black cherry. It's goddamn metallic purple. Blind Bastards!

Good features: satin finish on neck=super fast playing. Inlays and frets were immaculate. Right up there with USA Gibson Fret work.
Sustainiac installed. This sustainer hardware costs $200 alone! I paid $360 for a brand new DK2S with the sustainer!!!!! THE SUSTAINER LIMITS YOUR PICKUP SELECTION. When the sustainer is on you can only play on the bridge humbucker. When sustainer is off the neck driver becomes an active pickup. 5-way switch for standard stuff. The pickups are weak compared to seymour duncans. I put a dimebucker in.

The sound is nice, kicks ass with real pickups. Easy to replace stocks.

Ok,

first I'll praise Jackson. This is a Japanese imported guitar and is 2nd best to a USA model. The finish was flawless HOWEVER their black cherry looks like a dark metallic purple!??????? The part where this guitar really lacks is the hardware(tremolo, nut). It is CRAP!
Had the guitar for a few hours and the stupid ass string clamp screw broke off!? By looking at the floyd rose copy you feel sick because it's the crappy ass chrome on top of sub-par hardware. I'd sooner take a ESP or Ibanez floyd rose copy!

replace the floyd rose. it works, but for how long. CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP

Super once you put aside the cheap hardware and stock pickups

Made in Japan, sustaniac driver pickup, 24 frets, sharktooth inlays,bolt on neck, licensed floyd and duncan design bridge and middle pick ups. Balck in color.

What I did was upgrade the bridge pu with a j90c usa jackson pickup and block the floyd rose(I really hate those things). Also upgraded the tuning keys with grover tuners. Now with the upgrades It beats some usa guitars(pretty much all the bottom line usa guitars some higher ones too). The body is perfectly balanced, the neck feels and looks great, the sustaniac is killer and now the guitar totally shreds.Without the modifications I would probably rate the guitar a little lower do to the floyd and the low ouput duncan design crap. But if you like how it is upgrade the pickup and youll love it.

I do all my setups myself so to rate the setup before hand (either by the store or someone else) is just retarted. But on the other hand it was super easy to setup(after the floyd being blocked) and once setup great it has never changed.

Great live and studio guitar,very solid and dependable. Made in japan and USA jackson guitars are simply the best. Also you can gig without a backup just make sure to have good strings on it.

never delt with

I love this thing, I could never bare to get rid of it let alone it get stolen. And excellent metal guitar,excellent value. Buy this guitar before they stop making them. And if someone that works for jackson or other guitar companies read this, dont put a floyd on all your guitars unless its a real floyd rose. Thanx

First of all, I will state that I will try to give an objective review (no offense to anyone else) and you may feel that my ratings are a bit low. Let's be realistic: this is a $500 guitar. Well I think you are all familiar with the features on the guitar and want to find out about the Sustainer Driver. For more specs try http://www.jacksonguitars.com/gear/gear.php?op=3&partno=DK2S_Dinky The sustainer driver is a marvellous device which more people should use. Infinite sustain until the batteries run out. Controllable feedback at any volume. There is even a third mode which sustains whatever note you play and fades it into a harmonic. Then again, there is no substitute for natural sustain of a guitar but this comes close at least. This guitar came with a hard case and a catalogue. No manual though. I am giving it an 8 because, just think about it, how many production guitars have the sustainer driver? Fernandes has their own model on their guitars but this one has the Sustainiac Stealth - different companies but I do not know which is better. The Floyd Rose gives me some pain but it justifies its existence with what it can do. Maybe I will get an Original Floyd Rose Pro in the future.

I play traditional metal and some clean stuff (blues, folk) also through effects and an amp I am too embarrassed about to cite! I guess my gear does not reveal the guitar's capabilities in their fullest, even if it is a $480 guitar. The sustainer driver is- sterile sounding as a pickup. Can't get harmonics too easily but it is possible with this pickup. I was amused that the sustainer was more silent than the humbucker in the bridge! It is an active pickup when you don't use its "sustaining" properties - TAKE THE WIRE OUT OF THE JACK WHEN YOU'RE NOT PLAYING! This is to ensure longer battery life. I think mine lasted for a month and a half and changing batteries is painless, just open the compartment at the back of the guitar. Why do I imagine some people bitching about active electronics? Anyway the other pickups are reasonable, considering the price (they are Duncan designed pickups). I think I will replace them in the future, not because they are bad but I would rather get better pickups.

Well when the guitar came there was very little I had to do. It came to Singapore from the US and all I needed was some tuning. No flaws on the guitar but I noticed that they used the wrong screw for the backplate! It was just ONE screw and it did not make much of a difference so I will stop niggling. Everything was perfectly set up by Guitar Xpress before I got it. The guitar is black and smudges easily. The controls worked fine but I was hoping the volume pot was a little further away from the strings so I tightened the knob and now it's fine.

I have played live before but this is quite a new guitar. The neck has warped on the bass side I think due to the climate changes, from Japan to USA to Singapore (where I reside). I will get this problem rectified soon; the action is a little high now to compensate for the buzzing due to the warped neck. I am no professional but I played this guitar in school and it's pretty solid. The bridge maintains tuning stability relatively well even after some abuse.

Sorry I have not dealt with Jackson yet.

I got this guitar from Guitar Xpress and Lloyd really helped me a lot even despite all the problems I caused for him. I checked the prices of this guitar elsewhere and Guitar Xpress sells Jacksons for the cheapest price. If you have to get one, trust me - it is in your best interest to get it from them. My uncle has lent me his 1970+ Fender Stratocaster which has better sustain but the pickups are VERY noisy as you know. I will remind him to change his pickups! I also have another Aspen guitar given to me (20 years old) and you can imagine how god it is. Still, this Jackson is my most precious possession and I will not part with it. If you like the Jackson Dinky guitars but cannot afford the USA models then I think this model will be the best Jackson has. I think it will be a long time before I will get another electric guitar (if ever) because I am just thinking of upgrading this one when I make up my mind. Although this is subjective, the guitar just looks killer and it even surpassed the pictures I saw of it on the internet. Overall, a wonderful guitar that withstands daily playing. It has been doing so for a few months I think.

This has pretty much the standard rock guitar setup: 24 fret, double locking trem (Jackson JT580 LP) flamed maple top, maple neck w/ rosewood fingerboard, alder body etc. But where this guitar comes into its own is the sustainer, with the sustainer in the neck postion, a duncan designed h/b in the bridge and a duncan designed s/c in the middle position. The control set up is as follows: master volume pot, master tone pot, sustain pot, sustain on/off mini switch, sustain mode (3-way) mini switch.

I play a wide range of types of music, but broght this mainly as a rock guitar (obviously.) I usually play this through a Marshall half stack, with a few effects beforehand. Baring in mind the purpose of the sustainer in the neck (to be used to keep the strings vibrating while the bridge h/b picks up the note) i was fairly impressed with the performance of the sustainer when used as a pickup. Allthough i find this sound to be a bit hollow for my liking, it suits clean styles surprisingly well. The Duncan designed h/b in the bridge has a good sound for most types of music, and works for pretty much any type of sound you need. However, because of the active circuitry inside this guitar, it causes the bridge p/u to distort sligthly even at low volumes, at first i fort this was the p/u itself, but when i had it checked out, found it to be the electronics onboard. This dosent matter to me, as most of the time this p/u is used with distortion anyway. The middle pick up seemed a tab boring for me, and so out they went, and in came a new set of duncan rails, which sound 10 times more impressive, i also made the choice to add a real duncan JB into the bridge, and got this coil tapped via a push/pull pot. Once i had done this i cant find a single problem with the sound on this guitar.

I've only had one problem with this guitar, and that was a damaged pot, but that can't be avoided, as it just wore out over time. The guys at the store i got it from got me a new pot in a few minutes and it was sorted. Appart from this, the guitar plays beatifully for a guitar of this price, and i am very impressed with the overall playability of the guitar, with nice, low action, and good intonation.

I risked a gig with this without a backup (dumb) but it went fine, and it seems this will last a long time, even if you play it live. I replaced the strap buttons with strap locks (im parranoid) but i reality i didnt realy need to, because the ones it came with held it fine. Overall i can depend on this guitar to stay in one piece!

Like I said, it only broke once, and the guys at the store didnt need to send it away even, so i cant complain.

These guitars (well any guitars) cost a hell of a lot more over here in the UK, for example the list price for one of these is #700-#800! where as in the US you can get it from about half this, and this is true for most makes of guitar. However, i managed to find this in a sale for #500, so in that respect i think it was a good buy. I tried out loads of other guitars before getting this one, but this was the one which seemed to have the best features and sound of the lot. If someone stole this i think i would try and get annother one, if i could afford it... But you gotta love the sustainer though, rockin on...

Holy shit this things got the coolest thing i could imagine on a guitar... A SUSTAINER. Untill i picked this thing up i thought it was a custom thing only. Anyway, it's got double locking tremelo, 24 frets, shark tooth inlays, 1 duncan designed humbucker (bridge PU) and 1 Duncan designed single coil (neck PU).

I don't use the single coil but the humbucker sounds great. I kinda had to screw with the height of the pickup because it was too bassy at 1st but i fixed that with no trouble. Only problem I have with this guitar is that harmonics are hard to get which is a defenit downer because my band plays fast and I try and use lots of harmonics but it's still definetly possible, just a little harder. Other than that, it's great.

Action is probably the sweetest i've ever felt especially since I switched to 13-56 gauge strings and people who have done so know it's hard to get a comfortable action without getting fretboard buzz. I got it right out of the box and it has absolutly no flaws. I got mine in that cool looking blue with black stripes color and it looks beautifule. Everyone who see's it has complemented it, it's just that nice looking. This guitar is just as comfortable playing sitting down as it is standing up especially when you get into those "high-note" solos.

I've played a show with this and it did really well. It was sturdy and stayed in tune through every song. I'de definetly feel comfortable using this without a backup (even though u shouldn't)

I have no idea, i've never dealt with them and i KNOW i won't have 2.

simply put, this guitar is badass and rather then sitting here and reading about how cool it is, GO BUY IT! I was wanting to try other guitars but i'm sure i found the one thats gonna stay with me when our band gets famous :) haha. I don't ever down tune this guitar so i keep it in standard and i was gonna buy a different one for our alternate tunings but i like this guitar so much i'm saving up to re-buy another one!

Tons of goodies... Double locking Floyd Rose tremelo system, shark tooth inlays, rosewood neck (nice and comfortable), duncan designed humbucker and single coil, active sustainer (its fucken badass!), easy access battery...

I simply love it, its got bright tone with a warm side u know? It's weird but ya, its got the best of both worlds. I don't use the single coil at all but it sounds good for what its for. The sustainer is so amazing, i can't imagine living without it! its got three settings- normal, mix, and harmonic- on normal, it sustains as long as u want it to with no need for the amp, u can literally turn ur amp off, plug something into the jack, and u can still hear and feel it working. On mix it gives you a mild harmonic with a less dramatic sustain. On harmonic, it gives u insane screeches and if you hold a note and switch between the three, u can get some cool sounding shit. Extremely clean or extremely distorted, either way, this guitar is impressive.

I got it right out of the box so it had absolutly no scratches or flaws what so ever. the action and intonation were beautifuly set and i got it in the blue "with black stripes" color so i still can't help but wonder, how the fuck is that so good looking? haha, but seriously, you won't be disapointed

Well, i just got it yesterday and it seems like a sturdy guitar, but then again i don't know yet. I'de probably use this without a backup but then again, its never a good idea, especially with floyd rose!

My friend dealt with them once when i was there and they were complete dicks about a repair that was under warrenty but he just screwed it up and blamed it on them! haha, i don't c y u would have 2 deal with them, it's a great guitar!!!

Great price, great guitar, definetly a happy customer and so will u!

2002 japan model,transparent red on a Alder with Flame Maple Veneer finish.24 jumbo frets bolt-on maple neck,JT580 LP Double Locking 2-Point Tremolo bridge, duncan design pickup on bridge and middle position and an active sustainiac pickup on the neck position.Chrome hardware,Shark Fin Position Inlays and a bindin on the neck and headstock.I give a 10 for the nice features.

I play metal and hard rock(metallica,slayer,pantera,soad),and this guitar is simply what I needed.The clean sound Is very good and the harmonic and good.I use a shitty marshall lead 12W and a boss metal zone and this guitar a little more cruchy fat sound.This is why I will change the brigde pickup for A EMG-81 and the middle position for A EMG-SA.But those pickup do the job for the momment.The sustaniac pickup is simply amazing you can hold a harmonic during 3hours if you want.I'll give a great 8 for the sound

This guitar is simply set perfectly, the neck is adjusted perfectly the pickup are ok and this guitar simply look great!

Jackson guitars....

1 year warranty with the company...

I've play for 2 years now,So I needed a good guitar.This one was the right choice.I recommand this guitar for those who want to hard!
LONG LIVE ROCK N'ROLL!

Black cherry finish on basswood body, 24 fret, sharkfin neck inlays, bound bolt-on neck and headstock, chrome hardware, JT580 double-locking tremelo, humbucker Duncan Designed humbucker brudge and single coil middle pickup, Sustainer neck pickup, on/off switch for Sustainer, 3 way toggle switch for Haronic mode, mix mode, and sustain mode, 5-way p/u selector. I give this category a '10' because I can't imagine any more doohickeys you could get on a guitar.

I play mainly hard rock/metal, and this guitar suits my style perfectly. I'm using it with a Line 6 POD and V-amp2 for direct recording, and frankly, every guitar I've owned sounds the same through my POD (Which is great). I have noticed that without the Sustainer on, you can hear a faint distortion when playing clean, which is a bummer. I can eliminate the buzzing/distoriton by flipping the Sustainer mode toggle to the Harmonic mode, but it's still faintly there. If I was a blues or clean player this would be a definite problem with this guitar. I mainly play with only the humbucker, and the sound is great, if not a bit "smothered" sounding. Not bright, but dark. The neck Sustainer pickup acts as a normal pickup when the Sustainer is not on. When set to the neck pickup and you turn the Sustainer on, it automatically switches the humbucker on. The neck pickup sounds a little dull and flat by itself normally. Don't get me wrong, you can get the guitar to sound pretty good for clean or dirty, it just takes some tweaking. It seems that there are some minor sacrifices that need to be made to live with the Sustainer. I bought the guitar because I had played a Jackson PC-1 (The Phil Collen model with the Jackson sustainer system) and was really impressed with the Sustainer on that model, so I ordered the Dk-2S with visions of Sustainers dancing in my head. I must say that I'm dissapointed. I have to think that the Jackson Sustainer is probably a better unit. I mainly wanted to use Sustainer for it's Harmonic mode, but it seems that it only comes through when soloing on the high notes on the B string. On all other strings it creates uncontrolloable feedback with the strings muted. The sustain mode holds notes and chords forever, but I don't see much use for that feature yet. You can really feel it through the whole guitar when it's in this mode, which does a good job of massaging your lap and stomach, but other than that I don't have much use for it. I will probably replace the stock humbucker with a good Dimarzio Evoltion or Seymour Duncan JB, and keep the Sustainer off. Out of the box, the Sustainer is a neat little oddity to have, but I would'nt let that influence my decision to buy this guitar alone. I will try the guitar through a tube amp and see if the Sustainer works any better, but for now I give it a "thumbs-down" rating.

I must say I was really hesitant to buy a Jackson. Years ago when I was really into metal, anyone who was anyone had a Jackson, and being 18, I could only dream about owning one, as they were God-awful expensive, and well over $1000 (More than the car I owned at the time). Now I'm older and can afford the price, but I still can't being myself to spend so much money on a guitar. I've played the USA models and I really can't see the difference between them and the Japan models. I ordered my Jackson through Guitarxpress.com due to recommendations from the Jackson bulletin board, and was severely impressed! My guitar has a mirror smooth finish without a blemish anywhere. The neck is straight and the binding is flawless. Guitarxpress sets all of thier guitars up before shipping, so I can't comment on how these are set up out of the box, but anyone who's a fairly accomplished guitarist will set up their guitar's to thier liking. Even though mine was set up from the store, I still raised the pickups, changed strings to 9's, and lowered the action as low as I could get without any string buzz, which is about 1/8" from the 24th fret. My Dinky now comes with chrome hardware, which is a much needed improvement from the satin finish last came on them from last year's models. The Floyd Rose copy tremolo seems solid enough, and I like the fact that the locking nuts on the bridge are much easier to reach than on an original Floyd, which is under the plate. So far it even stays in tune with the most extreme bends, which amazes me. I have nothing but high praises for this category. I'd put this guitar up against my Ibanez RG-570 anyday.

Since this thing seems so well built, I would rely on this guitar for any gig. As with any Floyd equipped axe, I'd certainly carry a backup. The strap buttons are huge and should withstand anything short of that dumb-ass guitar spinning that was once considered cool back in the 80's, but I always install strap locks anyway.

I spent much time surfing and reading as much as I could before buying. I highly recommend you do the same before buying ANYTHING. If you're particularly interested in a Jackson, go to thier bulletin board and read up. Jackson owners seem like proud parents, and discuss everything from their favorite colors to the best strings to use, and you can gain some good info from owners as to what to look out for. My biggest complaint is that thier site offers no e-mail address to send questions to, so I see support down the road as challenging should I need help. It does come with a lifetime warranty which is cool. (But then again, so do Epiphone Les Pauls, and we all know how those are built!)

I would buy one of these again. They're so damn cheap ($350 for the regular DK-2 without the Sustainer) that I'm gonna buy another one to screw around with. I had an excellent experience with Guitarxpress.com, and it really made a world of difference knowing they were so eager for my business and helpful. I received it with all the factory paperwork, and he even threw in a 2002 Jackson catalog and price sheet that Jackson wants $5.00 for! They were so confident in the Jacksons they sell, that he offered to take it back and pay return shipping if I was'nt 100% satisfied! I know I sound like a commercial, but I was really impressed with the way they do business, and that definitely impacts my buying decisions. I've owned Peavey's, Charvels, Fenders, Gibsons and Ibanez's, and I put this above them all for the price. I would probably just get a regular DK-2 without the Sustainer if I had to do it all over, just because I can't justify the extra money for something that I probably won't use too much. Some other people will probably find it very cool, so try one out for yourself and make up your own mind.

Basiclly a DK-2 but with the Sustainiac Plus System. Made in Japan YES!! Has 3 knobs. 1 Vol. 1 tone. 1 mix. 2 toggle switches 1 on-off and 1 normal, mix and sustain modes. all cool. Duncan Design pickups in the bridge and middle. Sustainiac in the neck. Bound neck 24 frets, sharks teeth. Cool Back Cherry, which is a cool purple.

I tightened all the screws and everything I could then started to really see what this Sustainiac Plus system is all about! I played the heck out of it and so far I love it! I ALWAYS wanted just that little more sustain (as I love the marshall sound but they to me need that little extra push, that's why I traded in my AVT-150 head for a Johnson Marquis, don't laugh it's a great amp - I can get the very same Marshall sound out of it but with more sustain) Anyway I have all the sustain I could EVER dream of now, I just dial it in the way and amount I want!

The first thing as with all guitars I check is it's tuning. Intonation ... very good! Using the tremolo also was very good, you can dive bomb or pull up all you want and it comes back to A=440! This is very important to me, if it's not in tune it's in the trash! I had to remove the trem cover and tighten the screws a few turns but this is to be expected, this leveled the tremolo with the body. The neck is very straight and action is very low, overall excellent I must say!
It takes a few minutes to get use to the "Feel" of it but after you do the guitar becomes ALIVE ... I mean you can feel the power (it kinda vibrates) It's so cool to hit a low E chord and it sustains into feed back and you feel your guitar vibrating ... kinda like hitting the note with you and the two of you are one! WOW is all I can say, this thing is a monster! It's like a new pal playing the guitar with you. And no I'm not wierd, you play one for a few hours and you will know what I mean!

I am glad that I already know how to play loud, as you need to mute the strings your not playing. This might take some time for a beginner guitarist to learn but this guitar will help many and even myself be a better player, this guitar opens so many new avenues I can't wait to play it more! The only down side I see for this guitar is it does not sound like a DK-2 the neck pickup has it's own sound, I like it and by no means is it bad, it's just different, kinda like a semi-acoustic type sounding single coil? To me it's cool but I am glad I have a Strat if I ever need that Stratty single coil sound. I Also have a BC Rich mockingbird neck through and I love the sound of playing on the neck pickup and getting that full sound you can only get from a humbucker in the neck and bridge postilion, that's why I have many guitars, to each thier own.

This one Japan Built, very sturdy. Finish tight ... you can bump it and it won't hurt it!

Never used them, never needed too!

Bottom line --- The Jackson DK-2S is a very very good addition to my guitar collection and I RECOMMEND it! IT's A rock in roll BEAST! Fantastic! Excellent indeed! Hard to Believe they did it for the money..... But money WELL SPENT indeed!!!

ZigiStar

P.S. My old saying "Sooner or later you'll own a Jackson!"
My new saying "Sooner or later you'll own a DK-2S"