Customising a '98 Kelly KE3-R

[snake_pearson]

Id have told him, "bend over" and showed up to the next show with it in hand. Im not a fan of the Beast, but forbidden by the drummer? Nah, fuck that. You should have forbidden that bitch from playing off beat live and from ever referring to himself as a musician. Fucking drummers.......

Haha notice how I called him my "old drummer" Yeah we got rid of him about two months ago after he started forgetting parts.

In all honesty that fucking top horn kept digging into my stomach (and I ain't even that big) and its huge and neck heavy. I just keep it because its the most obnoxiously metal guitar that I own and I wanted one really bad when I was in high school.

The other guitar player and I play all Jacksons live, mainly Rhoads.

[snake_pearson]

Have you heard the joke about the drummer who got tired of people thinking he was stupid? He decided guitarists got more respect, so he sold his drumkit and went to the nearest store. "Hi," he said to the storekeeper, "I'd like to buy a Jackson Soloist, a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier and the finest rack of effects you can supply." "You're a drummer, aren't you?" replied the storekeeper. "How do you know," asked the drummer. "Because this is a McDonalds."

Add borrowing money from me and I think this actually happened....

[logan]

Ha ha ha!
Seriously! We had a drummer back in the day called hellhammer, guy ended up getting sectioned for a while... guy was mental - ended up buying a guitar and an amp combo from a carpark outside a supermarket!
Plays with a dark metal outfit now I think....
Joke summs him up far too well!

Il get you an answer on the neck asap Snake!

Iv just sold my DKMG on the evilbay - just got to sell off my MG modded JSKV and im all good to go roswell rhoads hunting.... I know its an odd one; im not sure wether to get a real one, or try and build one with a 24 fr reverse neck and floyd?

I worry that if i get a stock one, il either not play it and sell it - or customise the squirells nibbles out of it ? but surely it would look good in that sandstone finish.....

Right, the upside with the DiMarzio straps is definately the lack of button - so nothing to relocate your left lung whilst attempting to solo.... downside is it is all a bit ibanez looking...

Oh - i recon im happy with full shreds as a neck pick up... screaming deamon, i find a bit wet, already ordered a white SH-8 invader for my V as a result of the kellys crushing tone - one thing I have come across, tripple shot mounting plates from seymour duncan... soon to be on the kelly too I feel. Allows you to select single coils, in phase, and other crazy shit you probably never need but really feel you want...
All in a pick up ring... makes a suprising difference -

Appologies for being brief - working late = short breaks :/

[snake_pearson]

Sounds good man. Just let me know on that neck!

Roswell Rhoads? As rare as those are I'm not sure I would mod that much at all man. Plus the whole crop circle neck inlay thing and the head stock fit that guitar pretty well. Might just want to build a body if you are skilled at would working at all.

Interesting bit on that triple shot mounting thing. I'll have to look that guy up on the net when I get off work (same boat as you...down moment while at work here). I would never use half that stuff, but it sounds fun to put on a guitar just to toy with.

[logan]

Roswell Rhoads? As rare as those are I'm not sure I would mod that much at all man. Plus the whole crop circle neck inlay thing and the head stock fit that guitar pretty well. Might just want to build a body if you are skilled at would working at all.

Ha ha! Firstly thanks for all your kindness dude! and I shall let you know on the neck too - Im just awaiting a reply from a few guys im building for at the moment (if im honest id buy the neck for myself right away but im broke after forking out for the V!... I may still if i get an ebay sale!)

As for the rossie, I agree that it is a unique and far too rare instrument to go chopping into, thus my conundrum!

I dont think id take too well to playing a non floyd, 22 fret guitar without a real headstock... and wouldnt want to own a guitar i didnt play, so was tempted to try and build a body an apply a *real* jackson speed neck and of course fully floyded and pretty much your usual shred spec (EMG 81 18v Im thinking...) but i have never seen nor know anyone whos seen a roswell rhoads! I guess im just spinning cobwebs, but in theory it wouldnt be any harder a project that the KE*7* im mocking up at the mo (building a body based on a KE3 template for a DR7 neck) -
I should point out that I NEVER try to fob my work off as a *genuine Jackson Custom* or similar, I think we are all too discearning to be able to tell the difference, and Im quite proud of my work - all be it a few decades behind that of Jackson custom shop :£

Does anyone own a snakeskin kelly? Il agree with Snake on this one, I remember in the late 80-s early 90s you couldnt buy a thrash album without a KE3 or SL1 in snakeskin adorning the cover... but where did they all go? Iv still not tracked one down! (not that I could actually afford one... but we can always hope)

In other news a guy made an offer on my DK2 on evil bay - i accepted and he posted:-

"Hello not at home so dont know about an offer on guitar and not interested in it i will investigate when i get home sorry for the m mess around"

Why would you not be interested in my Dinky? and why the F*ck wont you pay up now youve won it? damn these people.....

Ok - rant over -

[logan]

:idea:PS - thinking about it, iv answered my own question here havent I - dont buy a rossie, buy a kellystar !

[snake_pearson]

In other news a guy made an offer on my DK2 on evil bay - i accepted and he posted:-

"Hello not at home so dont know about an offer on guitar and not interested in it i will investigate when i get home sorry for the m mess around"

Why would you not be interested in my Dinky? and why the F*ck wont you pay up now youve won it? damn these people.....

Ok - rant over -

What an asshole. And now you've got to open a dispute or else Ebay will charge you the final value fee. I hate having to do that. I'm glad Ebay protects buyers (as I'm quite often one), but it can really screw sellers sometimes too. I've got a better one for you on the Evilbay front. (I realize there is a forum for this, but its part of a conversation!)

About two years I was real hot for an American Kramer Voyager (crazy elongated star shape, triple pickup, original floyd, sweet as hell looking although it would probably be a bit large for me. It's similar to a kelly star, just bigger and pointier). Finally found one in white with the OHSC kramer case. Somebody had yanked the kramer neck off it and put an Ibanez Wizard I neck on there, which really interested me and I thought might be badass. Now that I'm a little wiser, I realize this was absolutely moronic as the original 80's Kramers had 22 frets, so the intonation would have been completely off, but I had just gotten out of grad school and hadnt bought in a guitar in awhile, so I was a tad rusty. Anywho, I snag it for $350. I tell the guy right away I had to transfer more cash to my paypal and I will get him the money in about 3 days. He says no prob. So it's night time on the third day and I get a message asking where the money is and such. I see the transfer has finally gone through, and I pay him. Granted at this point the man has my money. I get a message the next morning saying that I was too late and he had sold the guitar to someone else, but he would sell it to me if I paid more than the other guy, which he said was $500! OR he offers to take the money and put it towards an acoustic (Guild or Martin maybe) for sale for like a grand. I tell the guy hell no that this wasn't right and I that I wanted my money back ASAP! I was ridiculously pissed at the time and grumbled during my student's speeches that day, but in hindsight I really dodged a bullet there with that neck. I would have ended up blowing another $100-150 bucks on true Kramer neck (or a Jackson if I didnt care about bringing it back to spec, which I rarely do ). And then there was the Dinky fiasco, where I had to go through a huge dispute and it took almost 2 months to get my money back. Morale of the story: don't be a nice guy and wait to open a dispute if you start to sense the other person is getting flaky.

But I digress....

I feel you on the Roswell conundrum. That's why I was so hot for the Kellystar. You just never see them. They can be a little pricy because of their rarity (people will try to charge you $600 for a stock X series Kellystar...yeah, about that... )

I think that would be your best bet. There was someone a few months back on one of the forums selling a black KSXT with OHSC, EMG 85/81, all black hardware, and a black original floyd for $500. I damn near bought that sumbitch. Only thing that it needed was the back of the trem route needed to be lengthened since its routed for a JT500. Plus then you can totally slap a DK2 neck on their and have one sexy looking metal machine.

I will tell you, I am terrified to mess around with 80's import BC Rich's, but I would kill to score one of these or even better yet, have a Rhoads painted like this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34810544@N08/5158747142/

I found a Platinum Ironbird in that exact finish, but the 80's Platinum's were shit plywood guitars.

[snake_pearson]

I should point out that I NEVER try to fob my work off as a *genuine Jackson Custom* or similar, I think we are all too discearning to be able to tell the difference, and Im quite proud of my work - all be it a few decades behind that of Jackson custom shop :£

Same here. I take alot of pride in telling people that I did my work myself, and I think you should too. That level of personalization is what makes a guitar truly yours and what differentiates it from the strange and standoffish piece of wood hanging at Guitar Center and your personalized instrument of metal devastion!

[logan]

Dude you know! Luckilly the retard messaged me that response through ebay - so i just reported his email immediately under "other" and "lying bastard" then pasted his whole message in - damn it things were easier when A/ we had guitar shops in this country and B/ kids liked metal instead of emo and bought jacksons BCs ESP and Ibanez instead of strats and teles :/

Man you you I nearly bought a kelly star instead of my ironbird (back in the day) but at the time an 80s Ironbird was worth more and I thought "thats clearly more metal" WRONG! it was awesome in sound, but it was made out of 1/2 tonne of mahogany and near 3" thick... thats why I refinished her and sold her on, I just didnt get on with it - im sure most jackson players will agree - unlike BC richs early stuff, jacksons fit - they just do, Iv never felt uncomfortable with my KVs or my KEs, granted the whole strat dinky soloist thing really passes me by but with a long neck scale and a 24 fret neck it was miles long and just really awkward...

Looked awesome though...

Ah the Roswell things been with me for a while... Over here, kelly stars can go for as litle as £450 - or as much as £1300 depending on wether the person thinks / knows what they have is worth -

But Roswells seem fairly cheap, 2 black ones (one in britain one in france) went for £140 and £320 recently! Again, i thought about bidding, and decided no - im a man of metal, i need an axe that will perform, and the rhoads would look sweet as, but would it really scream like a V should? with crushing tone, and hammering notes? hm i wonder... So thus I found a KV2 for £750! used they are still around £1300 here from what i can gather, depending on rarity and condition / spec / finish etc...

so I guess I really should look for a kelly star - you got any videos of the star in action? would be cool to hear the difference between the kelly and th kstar as they are similarily equipped! :idea:

Right.. recon im off to go badger ebay some more and relist a JSKV with EMGs and a DKMG! shout me if any of you are interested! *joke*

Other than that, im having issues extracting a serial number from the *refretted* neck of the KV2 - they sanded the thing off when they refretted - nightmare...
Iv rubbed with pencil and paper and can make out an 8 and a 7 but i need a better plan to guarentee the number...

Any ideas welcome!

Many thanks as always guys!

[logan]

Same here. I take alot of pride in telling people that I did my work myself, and I think you should too. That level of personalization is what makes a guitar truly yours and what differentiates it from the strange and standoffish piece of wood hanging at Guitar Center and your personalized instrument of metal devastion!

Ah I had an idea on this one a while back...

Surname is Logan, my *buisness* is LCSUK (Logan Custom Shop UK) and my logo is just the family crest - as im only starting this as a buisness in my spare time, im not making money, just improving my knowledge and customising as i go! helping fellow brethren out etc.. so to point out my work without defacing the work of Jackson (if it were a gibson id cut the heastock off obviously... lol)
I use pewter crests on stardard bwb truss covers, or aluminium (anodised or sheet), and have been dabbling with these laser cut neck plates from FSR custom shop (Canada)

[snake_pearson]

But Roswells seem fairly cheap, 2 black ones (one in britain one in france) went for £140 and £320 recently!
!

Damn! For that much I would totally scoop one up! Weren't the Roswell's USA made? I'll have to creep my old Jackson catalogs later...

Roswell's were made out of different materials too (I thought aluminum was involved somewhere...), so they probably sound a tad different as well. As far as the Kellystar, its actually alder (both the Kellystar models were alder, even though most X series guitars are Basswood). It's a weighty little beasty...I'll have to throw it on a scale to let you know. As far as the tonal difference goes my Kelly XL always seemed to be a tad off sounding and a littly muddy (even with my 18v Emg's and the big brass block on the JT 580lp) until I put the Original Floyd with 37 mm big block on it. Night and day difference. Sounds way tighter, tuning issues are gone, whammy all day long and doesnt go out of tune. I will see what I can do about vid or sound. Our last show I played my pink guitar (affectionately known as "The Clamdigger" ) and vid wasn't too bad, except our first song when my Line 6 G90 wireless decided go out on me. There's the rest of the band headbanging away while I'm shaking and smacking my wireless pack. Had a good laugh about it when we watched the video at practice though .

I'm digging the crest truss road cover! Looks very classy!

[logan]

Sorry for the delay firstly!
back once more to terrorize with my doings...
Kelly is going to stay blue, but likely to respray the rear and sides and pretty much set on pinstripes of some kind...
Also recon i will be heading for an original floyd having spent a bit of time on my KV -
Its all about the feel of the bend and the tension, i now see exactly what Snakes saying!
Its a funny thing, as i never really noticed the difference between ironbird and dinky, I guess because they were so different in sound feel and temperament!

Also looking into rebuilding a floyd from scratch - uprating all bar the plate and sadles.

This may take me a while financially, but im definately feeling the benefits!

In addition, has anyone dealt with the tremel-no?
Man i hate it so so much. ball ache in a box... what posseses people to use them il never know... I use my floyd as was intended, like an animal, so unlock the tremel-no and deep c effort.... and low and behold, it doesent bend properly, looses all feel and acts like some cheap chinese trem effort off shebay... so I remove the whole unit and BAM perfectly respectable floyd, bending properly, trilling and holding harmonics through bends, and of course now holding tune perfectly!

The zero return device is my next stop - its like a trem blocker but with a sprung block to allow reverse floyding (upward) and still retaining its zeroing ability even with stupidly heavy gauge strings (like mine..) - or so it says....

As for the neck snake, im propper skint this month with bills (thus the overtime) but if its still about when i have the cash the price is no issue dude! Any parts your up for selling always let me know and il have a word around these ways if im not interested/with finance! genuinely appreciated though!

Last but not least, you have inspired me - my next project is looking to be a bengal kelly - unless i can find a kstar that is!

[snake_pearson]

Oooo Bengal Kelly sounds hot. Still waiting for my snakeskin guitar though lol.

Ugh, just rebuilt a floyd. The EX Pro project I have been lamenting was a $200 purchase off Evilbay that came with an original floyd rose and a case (dont believe its Jackson, but its fitted and after some of my patented repairs will work just fine, at least at home for sure!) Well, I start really looking at it and something seems off. Baseplate was genuine schaller, the trem arm bushing was good, but the insert blocks were weird sizes and looked like cheap crap and one of the fine tuners was the wrong size. Then I notice the low E saddle is cracked. So i start taking it apart to clean it and come to find out they put shitty licensed saddles that were a different size on a good Original Schaller baseplate. No wonder why the guy said he had tuning problems
So I thought about a couple alternatives, but I ended up getting true schaller saddles. I figured if I am going to the trouble to build this thing I might as well get quality. I've read too much sketchy reviews on the Graph tech saddles and how easily they break. I will tell you, night and day difference getting those saddles. They fit like a glove and are great quality. I do have two Korean Floyds (Pink Rhoads and Kelly) and they work perfectly. Quality is a little nicer on the German Floyd, but I wouldn't pass up a Korean floyd for $100 on ebay. That's where I got mine. I always put true schaller posts and inserts though.

If you are going to get saddles I would suggest Guitar Nucleus. Cheapest place on the net for a full set of brand new Genuine Schaller saddles. it was like around $90 to my door, I'm sure UK would be a bit more.

What floyd are you planning on rebuilding?

[logan]

Awesome! Well, Iv heard the same with the graphtech stuff - although its got great tone, its not for abuse and im looking for harder components and greater clarity and sustain - so iv just avoided them like the plague!

As for the floyd! Iv got a genuine FR on the KV2, but it just doesent sound or feel anywhere near as good as the one i rebuilt on the kelly, so im going shopping at floydupgrades come pay day - :-
Spec to be:-

Floyd rose base plate
Floyd Rose Saddles
Floyd Rose Arm
Floyd Rose Arm Bushing

Custom Silicone Hose Grip (for arm) - ebay

Titanium String blocks
Stainless Steel Saddle Screws
Stainless Steel Block Screws
Brass 43mm L Sustain Block
Stainless Steel Neck Nut Clamping Screws
Noiseless Strings
Brass Spring claw

Also looking into that zero return effort... il try and find a link to it

http://www.floydupgrades.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70&products_id=222

Yeah the stabaliser is for the kelly though, not the KV -

Im really after a kelly now for my own personal abuse... i want to properly build one for shred rather than super low tuned stuff, whats the best kelly body for a thrashy sound?

I hear the performer bodies are considerably lighter and give out serious sustain compared to the jap KE3s? is this actually true? Iv not played anything but Jap KE and JSKE (indain I believe?) Iv been hunting that maple neck for this bengal project for a while - but have got no where, so thus tempted to either go non jackson neck and reshape it or get a genuine jackson neck and just live with the fact it wont be maple!

Il throw up a few sketches once iv got them coloured! Il also try and link to a video of the kelly in action as she does just sound unholy now! im thinking i may stick a couple of those triple shot mounting rings on there before xmas too... they just allow you to get so many tones out of one pick up - its like having 4 pickups in each position without 300 weight of switches like some kind of 60s NASA shit! lol

What switches/pots do you use? Ive been using switchmasters and allparts for a few years now, im happy with their performance but im wondering if theres better out there - wiring is not my strong point!

What colour is your "Clamdigger"? (love that name!) is it metallic pink? thats genuinely growing on me! was definately up for kawasaki green... but from the new look jackson website i see that theyve beaten me to it! thus im back to bengal for this next project!

[Twitch]

That a Kelly Star, eet ese a bad ass!! No?