Samoth- full circle

Still pertaining to ESP- I recently searched for old Emperor pictures hoping to see them in their face paints or maybe a glimpse of how Ihsahn looked like with longer hair, he, he... Yes, I found them but I also found out they started with ESP guitars. In the collage above, you'd see Samoth wielding a black M-series type ESP, we know these are the early ESP models because the headstock was the Jackson type design. He then embraced a BC Rich, mostly seen during the IX Equilibrium era, moved on to Jackson & finally back to the ESP.

Separated at birth... Episode III

Do you remember Jackson's Warrior model? Yes, it's the one which ignited a character clash of sorts with Ibanez's Xiphos. But we learnt that both guitars was inspired by a certain BC Rich model. But Jackson's discontinued Demon (pic above)...

...& Ibanez's 540P (also discontinued) looked very similar, yes? So maybe the Xiphos episode wasn't the first design bout between the manufacturers.

The new & the old

Here's another look at Chris Broderick's fresh Jackson signature model. In the mean time, I'm just not attracted to the body outline; the offset design looks wayward but I'm sure the ergonomic considerations far out-weigh the need for good looks per se.

Can't help but look at the Ibanez... This is the final collaboration before one of metal's most talented guitarist parted ways with his preferred brand name instrument. It's all history now.

NOTE: This was a custom model based on Mr. Broderick's specs; note the ZR bridge in there (which is currently exclusive to the S-series + extended tuners)

Re-string weekend: Jackson DK2T

I've been playing my Jackson DK2T for the last couple of days & the default strings finally gave way to grime & rust. I bought a pack of GHS Infinity Steel ($9.30) from the good people at TY Music; I'm a fan of steels lately for their inherent brightness. Friends reminded me of their abrasive property but I'm not too concerned with that as I employ minimal string bending. Don't squint your eyes because the wound strings you see there are indeed black- the Infinity Steel features black coating for the wound trio in this .009 set. The coating here feels much thinner than DR's Neons but let's give them some time to prove their durability.

Great Scott!

Scott Ian has new Jackson signature models out this spring- the single pickup model looks enticing. Wonder why the traditional Jackson shark fin fretboard markers were not used...

Jackson: DK2T

I tried to ignore this guitar at yesterday's Swee Lee (Katong) sale but maybe the orange (Jackson calls it October Pearl)  has some voodoo to it so I brought (bought, more like it) it home. It's a DK2T discontinued in 1999, the fact that it's still in good condition & available in the store gave rise to many implications but they were not important. What's important is that it's a good guitar & I got it for a good price.

It's a Japanese production but it doesn't matter anyway...

... because the Duncans in there (they are the guitar's default pickups) made it favourable tone-wise. Well, at least for me. The pickups:

• Neck: Jazz
• Bridge: JB

The generous rear bevel means it's a joy to play both sitting down & strapped on; it just molds itself to the body. The post neck-plate bevel on the other hand, did very little to promote upper fret reaches but it's not as repulsive as the Les Paul's bulk at the same spot.

Since I was in the neighbourhood, it's off to BEEZ's to have the Orange Drop cap installed...

... as well as the push-pull coil split switch.

When I reached home, I had a set of SITs .009 set of pure nickel strings in there to quell the inherent brightness- an alder body coupled with a Duncan JB in the bridge manifested lots of rich top end when I heard it in action at BEEZ's. Thusfar, it's all thumbs up with the DK2T especially after I revised the action to my playing comfort. Maybe one of the reasons why it remained unappealing while it was still resident in the store might be down to its colour; to many of us, it's too 'loud' a finish.

Interesting tuners (slight return)

The gearless LSR tuners seen in Mr. Hoffman's Jackson, are not new...

... Jackson used them before in their limited edition Roswell Rhoads guitar.

Hoffman's tuners

I've been wanting to know what the Hoffman brothers are up to these days; they were some of the more formidable players in death metal not too long ago when they were in Deicide. It seems that the Hoffman brothers have their own outfit, Amon. Fans would know that Amon was what Deicide used to be called before the name change. They have an album out & it's certainly on my to-get list.

Anyway, Eric Hoffman here is seen with his Jackson King V which is equipped with a set of interesting tuners. The guitar also sports a Kahler bridge.

Jackson: SLS-3 Soloist

Here's a Jackson guitar which is rather removed from its other siblings in terms of design. It sports a 3 tuners per side headstock & tapered body edges.

The SLS3 also sports a rear, bass-side taper. In Ibanez-speak, it's an S-series but not quite. The manufacturer wisely left the rear treble-side alone, no tapering there & it managed to avoid the design liability, otherwise, Ibanez would be all over the situation. I wonder if both manufacturers traded silent blows by stealing bits of design stealth from each another because much later (the SLS-3 debuted in 2008), Ibanez came up with their Xiphos design which, in Jackson-speak, is a Warrior by another name (you could say Jackson ripped BC Rich off with the Warrior design because it looks like the latter's Stealth model).

Whatever the case may be, the SLS-3 is a wonderful guitar for us players who rate design ergonomics highly. The guitar is light-weight & has lots of wonderful tones for drive/ distortion-inclined fans, dispelling the myth that more wood equals more ear candy. The neck profile is a winner with shredders but it's not Ibanez-thin so it attracts fans who don't shred to save their lives, especially so when it features a pair of Duncan '59 humbuckers which aren't exactly shred-grade. It's not accessible price-wise for many of us, listing for slightly more than $3K but if you value the SLS3 for its capacity, that would be 'reasonable'. I managed to try this guitar at Swee Lee recently & enjoyed the experience, definitely a worthy guitar in my books.

Offset truss rod

This is a neat innovation by Jackson- an offset truss rod placement. Why is this necessary? It's because this guitar's neck sports an asymmetrical neck profile; it's thicker on the bass side, thinner on the treble side. You won't be seeing this in the shops any time soon as it's currently limited to the Custom Shop models.

Jackson Chris Broderick

Chris Broderick looks happy with his new guitar. If you wonder why you see Fender in the background, well, Fender owns Jackson.

6 & 7-string versions available (this pic from iheartguitar blog). I was expecting more in terms of feature/ innovation but that's about it from Jackson. Congrats Mr. Broderick, sir, on your new instrument. I'm with you for your immense talent, regardless of the brand name you embrace.

Broderick... to Jackson

WEF 2011, Chris Broderick is no longer with Ibanez. He is now in the Jackson camp. More updates to come but on the possibility of why he switched camp, maybe this quote (from the man himself) would shed some light:

I am lucky enough to not have to pay for my LACS 7 strings now but it took a long time and it really is about marketing and not ability.

And more recently:

“Let’s just say that the events that occurred with them this last year left me feeling like my guitar company wasn’t any where near as loyal to me as I was to them”.

No worries Mr. Broderick sir, there are too many of us here who believe in your abilities more than your brand preferences.