Tag Archives: charvel

Jackson Made in Japan DKMGT Dinky — Fender Era

The Aware Guitar Player
4 Comments

Jackson Made in Japan DKMGT Dinky
Average used price range: $300-$400

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This is Jackson’s made in Japan model DKMGT that was made sometime in the 2000’s after Fender’s buyout of Jackson and included EMG HZ pickups with a 20db Afterburner swtich. This guitar I had acquired during a trade for my Marshall tube combo, and this isn’t the only Dinky, or Jackson I own. I own a MIJ DK2 and a MIJ KE3 Kelly Explorer, plus I’ve also been able to play several other Dinky models. This is honestly one of the best I’ve played, and it also has one of the skinniest necks I’ve played on a Dinky up to this point.
The options that came on this guitar were two EMG HZ pickups, carved archtop alder body, string thru (surprisingly good for sustain, even with a bolt on), multi radius 12”-16” fretboard, and an active After burner switch that adds a 20db boost to the pickups when the tone knob is pulled up like a coil tap.

Neck Feel:

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The neck is most comparable to an Ibanez Wizard 1 with binding. Even though comparable in thickness, the main differences would be that the nut width is slightly smaller and the neck doesn’t have as much shoulder on it. It didn’t match the neck thickness or profile that’s on my DK2. The DKMGT was much thinner across the neck, not as flat, and not as wide at the nut.
The bolt on joint on this guitar’s is very bulky and limiting. The neck joint starts becoming difficult around the 17th fret, and getting to the 24th fret proves uncomfortable enough to be undesirable to reach to.

Fret Work:

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The frets on this guitar are very wide, wider than my DK2, and wider than some custom shops Jacksons I’ve played, but they’re rounded enough where they don’t hold up your fingers when sliding. This is a high quality Japanese guitar. I played this as my workhorse guitar for a good portion of three months for about two hour sessions a day. I didn’t need re-tune it at all, it didn’t go flat, sharp, or drop a step when playing. In that time as well, the frets stayed consistent and didn’t start buzzing, even through season change, at around 0.5-1mm string action off the fretboard.
Two hand tapping on clean has decent volume. Doing fast legatos and string skipping on this guitar are near effortless because of its large frets and skinny neck. While there is binding on the neck, you still feel the fret edges slightly, not pokey or a cut your hand type, you still know they are there when sliding on certain parts of the neck. When putting on new strings, string bends start out feeling tight, but as your fingers oil up the strings they loosen up and you can utilize the multi radius fretboard easily. Because of the flat radius on the end of the fretboard, it doesn’t fret out when bending as high as you can go, even though my DK2 has the same radius and it frets out in several spots.

Sound:
The EMG HZ’s are surprisingly versatile, when put on a clean channel on a tube amp they sound snappy and clear, but under distortion they aren’t as mean as their active counter parts. Under distortion, they sound metal when you want them or Rock when you want, with an EMG 81-ish tone, but when you turn on the Afterburner switch it makes them sound much more powerful and gives shredding moves and solos a hit-you-in-the-face sound. Unfortunately, when switching the Afterburner switch off again, the pickups sound much more hollow and quite, less pleasing at least to say, it made me want to keep the Afterburner on and not go back to the bypass sound.

Finish:
I had gotten the dark Forest Green color, which I liked. It wasn’t an in-your-face green that was overly standout-ish. Under certain light you could see that the green had a slight sparkle flake look. The finish wasn’t the most solid, but sturdy enough. It did get some dents in it from what I thought was minor bumps, but the finish never chipped for me.

Options:

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The string thru for me provided a lot of sustain for the guitar, more than I thought it would because of the bolt on construction. The sustain lasted as long as my Gibson LP Studio, SG, and even my Washburn Parallaxe. The string thru made this guitar good for straight shredding. No fancy Floyd sounds, even though I think it would have made this guitar ideal for me. But it’s more sustain and tone versus whammy tricks, it’s a give and take.

In Conclusion:

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Guitar Level: Pro
Best Fit: Live/Studio/Workhorse guitar.
Best for Rhythm or Lead: This guitar could fit either real easily.
Has Value for studio use: If you need a guitar that’s good clean; versatile, but can have either a quieter or punchy Metal tone for either rhythm backing or searing lead work that comes with an extremely thin neck, yes.
Worth the Price?: Nowadays this guitar goes for about $300-$350 used online. With this guitar you get decent options and outstanding Japanese quality. This guitar is a player with probably one of the skinniest Jackson Dinky necks out there, if what you’re looking for that’s straight shred and don’t mind the Dinky neck joint, than yes. If I had played this in a music store and didn’t get it in a trade, I would have forked up the money for it.

70’s Gibson The Paul with Dimarzio Super Distortion Pickups

The Aware Guitar Player
2 Comments

70’s Gibson The Paul with Dimarzio Super Distortion Pickups

Used price range: $800-$1200
One Sentence Summary: “Gibson: Finding ‘The Paul.’”

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This is one of those 70’s Gibson guitar that you don’t find often because they hidden in people’s collections. This was a guitar that throughout my guitar playing years that I wanted to have, especially the earlier model with the walnut body and ebony fretboard. So when I found one in a local music store, I jumped at the opportunity to play it. The one I found had two Dimarzio Super Distortion pickups installed, but after playing it, I have since changed my mind, as why, I’ll explain below.

 

Neck feel:

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This was my main reason for not wanting to get the guitar after playing it is because the neck didn’t connect with my hands. The fretboard is near exact in feel and width to my 1999 SG Special Limited Edition with an Ebony fretboard. The neck, however, wasn’t a thick neck, like the 50’s Rounded Profile on my SG, to make up for its skinny in width fretboard. It had a small V-like neck. It didn’t have the shoulder deepness on the neck like a Gibson 60’s Profile. Because of the small neck and satin finish on the neck, it felt easily breakable while holding it.
The fret access on this was very good. Much like an SG neck joint, it was close to its skinny body and made it easier to hit the 22nd fret on the low E string.

Fret Work:

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The fretboard on this guitar was, as stated earlier, near exact to the Ebony fretboard and frets on my SG. The action was average low around 1-2mm off the fretboard, and didn’t suffer from severe fret buzz. The ebony fretboard made it easy to fret down on, making legatos and fast playing happen easily. However, when bending and doing vibratos, the frets felt scratchy.
While two hand tapping on clean the guitar performed excellently because of the high quality Ebony fretboard. Legatos and trills were fast like a shred guitar on this thing. When sliding up and down the fretboard the fret ends didn’t feel like a bother. Finally, the guitar didn’t fret out with big bending.

Sound:

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The Dimarzio Distortion is what it is, It will sound similar if not the same no matter what guitar you put it in. The neck Distortion pickup even had the same tone set but warmer than its bridge counterpart. You get that 80’s Metal clean and distortion tone no matter how you put it. The pinch harmonics were extravagant and had a lot of sustain, I love them, but I feel they held the guitar back a bit tone wise. I expected more tone with the walnut body it had.
Because of the pickup combination, they sound near the same as the Epiphone Ace Frehley model Les Paul that I played next to it, the only differences was that The Paul had more output on the bridge pickup while the neck pickup on The Paul was a little cleaner sounding and Dimarzios on The Paul overall had a bit more flare.

Finish:

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There wasn’t much of a finish on the guitar, it was a satin finish all across the guitar. The neck felt faster because of the satin neck, but it felt delicate, it’s not something I would be swinging around on stage without fear of the headstock or neck breaking. It didn’t feel like it had enough reinforcement without the thicker finish you usually get from Gibson. I could see why a lot of these stay in their cases, not because they’re bad players, but because they’re more meant to be collector guitars.

In Conclusion:

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Guitar Level: Pro (in current setup)
Best Fit: Studio/Collector/Home Player guitar
Best for Rhythm or Lead: This guitar could fit either real easily.
Has Value for studio use: In the current setup with Dimarzio pickups, if you’re comfortable with the smaller neck, Yes. Even though, stock, you don’t get more than the standard Les Paul options, with Dimarzio pickups you can create all the tone hacks that you want. The pickups in combination with this guitar will sound clear, clean or under Distortion, and fit the best when you’re trying to recreate 80’s Metal tone or the lower tuning Metal of today.

 

Worth the Price?

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Yes, It’s a rare collector guitar that’s pleasing to play, and sounds maybe even better with the Dimarzios than stock, but I told you why I didn’t want to buy it. For me it was a no because, I can’t stand having a guitar that I don’t like playing. The neck wasn’t right for me and would affect how often I’d pick it up, I wouldn’t spend $800 for something I couldn’t feel comfortable playing.
But there’s the lesson, sometimes because you have an ideal guitar from a webpage standpoint, it doesn’t mean it’s actually the ideal guitar for you.
Bluntly, GO PLAY AS MANY GUITARS AS YOU CAN!

Washburn Parallaxe PXS10FRDLX

The Aware Guitar Player
3 Comments

New Price: $899
One Sentence Summary: The Metal Guitar to Keep an Eye on.

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The Parallaxe series is Washburn’s current attempt to shred their way back into the Metal market since their hayday in the 80’s. Competition is stiff, as the Prarallaxe series goes belly-to-belly with current Metal giants like Jackson, Schecter, Ibanez, ESP LTD, Dean, and BC Rich… God, they’re walking into the fray aren’t they? How does this series differentiate from the competition? Why should you go and buy another Super-strat Style guitar when there are then thousand out there? I’ll tell you why Rock Gods or Goddesses.
The Parallaxe series simply boasts options no other brand has at a comparative price range, and out-plays even some USA made guitars. I’m won’t say “At a fraction of the cost” because that sounds diminutive. When I say it out plays some USA guitars I’ve played as far as tone AND playability I’m very serious.
Washburn simply refers to this guitar as “The guitar without need of after market modifications,” which if you’re going to throw $900 into a guitar, it makes a great difference. The options that come on the PXS10FRDLX are an Original Floyd Rose(Korean), Grover 18:1 Locking Tuners, Seymour Duncan Jazz/Distortion (a combination that isn’t found on any other production guitars from other brands), Stephen’s Extended Cutaway (makes a BIG difference on the higher frets), individual series/parallel coil taps, and a 37mm brass block with spring silencers. All options you can’t find on any series of guitar out there.
Let me put it this way, with $900 you can rent a monster truck for a week. Let that set in the next time you want to buy a guitar. If I had to battle a guitar versus a monster truck I’d want the guitar that comes with all the options, and I won’t have to spend the extra two hundred dollars to put the features I would want on the guitar myself.
As positive about this guitar I am about this guitar, I am not bias. I will tell you the true ins and outs on this guitar.

Neck Feel:

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First off, the neck is directly comparable to the Ibanez Wizard II profile. It has the same neck thickness and fretboard width, difference being, the neck shape on this guitar is more of a thin “C”. If you’re used to rocking an RG, though, switching to a PXS10 is an easy convergence. I can’t say that about the whole line just right now – just this guitar.
The Stephen’s Cutaway makes a big difference on upper fret access. This neck joint is easily superior to other neck joints such as Ibanez’s bolt in, neck through, The Stephen’s Cutaway also fixes the problem most set neck pose, such as on most Les Paul copies, which have quite a bit of bulk blocking your ease on hitting the higher frets on the low E string. Stephen’s Cutaway eliminates big-bulky neck joints when playing. The joint is in an extended crecent shape, making it easier to a lot easier to hit low E number 24. I can actually reach the middle of the neck pickup with my third finger the joint is so easy. Now try that with your guitar and see how that goes. Why is that signifigant? Because I can hit the 24th fret with ease and have extra room to spare, that means less struggle to play more complex licks higher up. The more ease you have with playing the better you play.

Fretwork:

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The guitar is made in Indonesia, but don’t let that dissuade you from it. The Parallaxe is not like other cost-cutting beginner to mid range guitars which have fret and quality issues that usually get made in that country. The fretwork on this guitar has beat out most Korean guitars I’ve played. It has out played and has less issues than my MIJ BC Rich NJ Warlock, and my MIJ Charvel So Cal. The frets on this guitar are polished to reflection and perfect for sweeps, legatos, trills, two hand tapping, and scales. Because the size of the frets though, my fingers do feel like I’m fighting the frets to slide up and on the G, B, and high E strings. I believe it’s because of the tall hight of the frets combined with the wide width. If you want a suggestion on a guitar to reference to with frets I would suggest some of the Ibanez Iron Labels series with ebony fretboards. I feel the fretboards on those play similary to this guitar.
The two hand tapping on a clean channel on this guitar had very high volume, higher volume than most of the guitars I own. This is honestly the easiest guitar that I’ve ever played as far as doing legatos and trills. The frets are nicely cut away from the edge so I barely feel them when sliding. I can bend a whole two steps quite effortlessly across the fret board without it fretting out even though I believe it’s a 12” radius, which is really good considering I’ve played several Gibsons (including one of my Gibson SGs) fret out after a step bend at certain parts of the fret board.

Sound:

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This guitar is loaded with a Seymour Duncan Jazz/ Distortion combo for a fitting Heavy Metal, Melodic Metal, Rock, Progressive, you name it. It is a very versatile set especially when both can be coil tapped. The Duncan Jazz was designed tonally to be more articulate than other Duncan pickups under high gain, which it accomplishes in this guitar. The tone is very warm and clean, but a lot clearer than other Duncans I’ve played and it’s also has a little less output, especially compared to it’s bridge counterpart. The Duncan Distortion is a loud and aggressive monster! I would not suggest it for combos because the thing has so much high end snap and output it tends to make the speakers crackle when on the clean channel. Under High gain the Duncan Distortion is very versatile pickup, you can go from playing Iron Maiden, to Meshuggah, to Muse (if you like) and this pickup just might sound better than the original track. Distorted, this pickup has a lot of bite and aggression perfect for wild hallowing solos. Clean, the Duncan Distortion has a lot of high output articulate snap. The coil taps Don’t simulate true single coil tone that well. They lighten the sound of the pickups and lower the output, which I can see one would need in recording situations where e the high output of the Distortion pickup is optimal. They sound the closest to single coils when in the middle position and bridge in bright clean mode on your amp. The series/parallel coil taps don’t whine as much under high gain as I’ve experienced with other regular coil taps, and that’s a plus.

Finish:

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The guitar has a glossy finish on the body and neck, but not so much on the neck where it feels cheap and your hand gets stuck trying to slide up and down the neck. It’s a light amount of gloss. The finish feels solid even though it’s has gotten a few tiny dents already from constantly getting moved around. I’ve slammed it bad by accident a couple of times and it hasn’t cracked or chipped on me. The guitar is set up with black chrome hardware, which on the Floyd Rose is already starting to wear away from daily use. I wouldn’t expect it to stay black unless it’s going to be a case queen.
One word of warning in case you’re buying off the internet with a stock photo. The color and the degree of flame varies on this guitar: In most pictures, you’ll see a photo of this Parallaxe with a bright red finish, but the one I bought had more of a maroon/red burst finish and one side of the veneer had a lower level of flame than the other side. One side looks like an AAA flame while the other has an A flame and in certain angles matches the other side.

Options:

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I’ll start with the Buzz Feiten Tuning System in this section. If you don’t know what the Buzz Feiten is, basically it’s the way the guitar comes set up for intonation purposes.
First, the nut is brought closer to the first fret to help with sharp notes and the bridge saddles are set up in a way to help with accurate intonation throughout the fretboard. Unfortunately, when I got this from the factory, they didn’t set up the tuning system right. The guitar came in severely flat, especially towards the first frets. I had to set it up properly myself, kind of mooting the point of having it to begin with.
Next, the Korean Floyd Rose Original. The Floyd Rose put on this Parallaxe is sometimes referred to as a Floyd Rose 1000 Series, which is exactly the same as the German Floyd Rose and made from the same hardened steel components. The bridge is of very high quality. If I didn’t tell you it was Korean you wouldn’t feel the difference between this and the German one. The saddles aren’t sharp on your hands. They feel nice and rounded out with its contours. When it comes to vibrotos and whammying it can take a lot of abuse and still hit point zero afterwards. When I use the whammy bar I usually use it a lot and in song that require a lot of use from it, like Altitudes from Jason Becker.
Finally, I’ll cover the brass block and direct mount pickups. Both options are known as tone enhancements. I would say the biggest difference the brass block makes is sustain. The sustain on this guitar is actually longer than on my neckthrough guitars such as my BC Rich MockingBird ST and Korean 10 String Bich. That’s something that’s real important for things like sustain note bending, dive bombs, and having the correct sustain for any song or solo you want to play. Because it’s always a pain when you’re trying to do a song correctly and your notes keep dying out too soon. As for the direct mount pickups, I’m not sure how much of a difference that really makes with tone. That could possibly be another element that helps this guitar sustain for so long though, because having the pickups mounted to the body allows them to pickup on more resonance from the wood when playing. I feel that both options are there to help improve sustain, but are also small parts of the whole tone.

In Conclusion:
Guitar Level: Pro
Best Fit: Live/Studio/Workhorse guitar.
Best for Rhythm or Lead: Being Floyd Rose equipped, this guitar leans more toward being lead and is made more specifically towards lead playing.
Has Value for studio use: Most definitively. If you’re looking to change up your sound or put more depth into your recordings, this guitar’s tone packs a punch in its pouch and it’s also a guitar that can work with you and your tonal needs in the studio.

Worth the Price?

When I was out searching for a new guitar this one stood because it offered the stuff that simply wasn’t on other guitars for the same price, the small little upgrades that were probably really cheap to put on for Washburn. Even though these parts are probably cheap for manufacturers, it shows a lot of care put into this series and the player having a great guitar. These parts are easy for other companies to put on their guitars for around the same price range, but they choose not to because they expect you to buy their name basically and love the guitar because “I bought an such-n-such and all such-n-suchs are great because it’s a such-n-such.” And these companies expect you to scream these words to the hills so everyone buys one so they can make the extra $20 per guitar. The PXS10FRDLX provided to be a better guitar than what I’ve seen out there for the same amount of money.