The age old import Jackson Question - OFR in place of JT-580LP ?

[lepard]

This one has been discussed many times but here's another take on the subject. I absolutely HATE JT-580LP trems. That trem has been the one thing that has kept me from playing this wonderful Bengal DK-2. Drop in replacement ???............ maybe. Took me 10 minutes to do the swap-out but had a couple problems. First, the treble side front corner of the OFR is just barely touching the body in the trem route. Any contact whatsoever, no matter how tiny, is going to completely screw up the tuning. 2nd, spring tension seemed significantly off after the swap, may have to add another couple springs to the stock setup that already had 3 springs.

This won't be hard to fix. I'll just have to pull the trem, grind a tiny bit of wood out of the trem cavity with a dremel(could probably just sand a bit but a dremel will be quicker) and then use some black touch-up paint on the dremeled area. I'll have to take the guitar to work tomorrow since my dremel is there and finish it up tomorrow.

[Mudlark]

I've read the swap often works trouble free, but there can be exceptions.

[lepard]

Done and damn what an improvement. This was NOT a simple drop in mod. I had to dremel out some space on the upper right corner in the trem route, touch up the paint in the route and the spring tension was all off, even using the same strings, Floyd springs, everything the same. I could not get the Floyd level without adding a 4th spring to the setup.

God I love this guitar now. One thing about Japanese Charvel/Jackson imports I have noticed over the years: the 86-93 imports are significantly better than the mid-90's to whenever the Japanese production ended. The fretwork is just not the same on the later ones. I've owned a played a bunch of DK-2's over the years and the fretwork is just not up to USA quality on the later ones, not even close like on the earlier models. This Bengal DK2 is the exception. It has an absolutely perfect neck, perfect fretwork and never needs a trussrod adjustment. This tremolo change now makes this guitar wonderfully exceptional. I will NEVER sell this thing. Absolutely love it now.

[Number Of The Priest]

So what bridge is that, really? It resembles some of the "Jackson by Floyd Rose" bridges that come on the imports these days. I think Mudlark was recently wondering if these were actually Floyd Rose Specials or something else.

But, nice work! You're hitting out out of the ballpark with some great import Jacksons lately.

[lepard]

I've had this one for a few years, just never really played it because I hate JT-580's. Yes, the trem is a late model "Jackson by Floyd Rose" which is just a Floyd Rose Special I'm assuming.

[Johnnyryche]

Nice upgraded and very cool DK2M!

[rjohnstone]

Looks like Jackson tightened up the JT-580LP route.
My 2001 PC3's route was huge compared to yours.

[Scream And Fly]

I love those guitars. I've owned my DK2M since it was new in 2007 and it has been one of the most stable and easy to play guitars I've ever owned. In your case, I think I would have preferred to grind out the corner of the bridge, rather than the guitar itself. I've always loved the 580LP in my guitar. It's always been really rock solid.

[Mudlark]

Never thought of grinding the corner of the tremolo in these tight situations. No doubt that'd work in many circumstances.

Those logo'd tremolos started showing up on JS series sometime around 2013-14 or so. They've never been identified in Jackson's listings, unlike the Special, which is oftentimes listed as a Special. I thought they may be a Special, but it's an uneducated guess.

[Scream And Fly]

They seem to have the hardware of a Special, not sure though. The sustain block is stamped with the "FR" scripted logo. Interestingly though, the string block studs (what the fine tuners push down on tune) angle higher on the Jackson version. In any event, I think it's a good bridge and definitely a direct swap for an OFR.


I always thought the 580LP was nearly as good as an OFR. My original 580LP is still rock solid. So much so that it's astonishing. The Japanese-made 580LP is a very good bridge.