Belated NGD - Adrian Smith SDX

[TKEblue]

I've been wanting to hotrod one of these since they came out. I never knew the neck wasn't angled though..that is pretty disappointing. Decked does look better imo, but I like the angle for playability. I also didn't know they hid the truss rod.. I guess it's not really enough to dissuade me from wanting one though..

That rosewood looks great btw!

How hard would it be to remove the sig you think?

[Genebaby]

It would be a bit messy to remove the sig, it's all under clear so the best thing would be to remove all logos and only re-apply the Jackson logo. That's how I see it anyhow.

The truss rod location on all these kinds of guitars bugged the hell out of me too so they are all modded to allow me to put a 5mm rounded hex tool in there, with the neck pickup wound all the way down and out of the way. Saves a lot of headaches when doing adjustments.

[Mudlark]

Then I took it to a shop with a PLEK machine

May I ask the cost of a PLEK job?
I wonder if a neck can be PLEK'd while unattached to a body?

[TKEblue]

May I ask the cost of a PLEK job?
I wonder if a neck can be PLEK'd while unattached to a body?

You could but it would be like sending just the neck for a fret level. They may need to string it up and relevel/adjust. Plus the plek supposedly does awesome setups.

I called for a quote at Norman Music, in Norman, OK a year or two ago and they said $200. Will likely vary from shop to shop though.

@Genebaby; Still not enough to put me off, just not a fan of Adrian Smith or of guitars with signatures on them. Possibly a candidate for a strip and oil job. Then do your truss rod access mod...would be pretty sweet!

[Mudlark]

That's $270 CAN. I was quoted $20 a fret at one place, but another well known guitar maker did it for $160. It was a very good job. I like stupid low action, and it was stupid low with much less buzz than I could achieve before.

I'd give it a shot to compare if I could find a PLEK in my area...highly unlikely.

[TKEblue]

That's $270 CAN. I was quoted $20 a fret at one place, but another well known guitar maker did it for $160. It was a very good job. I like stupid low action, and it was stupid low with much less buzz than I could achieve before.

I'd give it a shot to compare if I could find a PLEK in my area...highly unlikely.

I believe the PLEK website has a locator.

[Number Of The Priest]

Highly unlikely indeed. As of 2015, there are only two in Canada (Vancouver and Ottawa). Source: https://www.guitarscanada.com/index....-ottawa.73168/ Not sure if there are more of them in Canada by 2017 though...

[TKEblue]

Yorkville Sound in Pickering
Weston Instruments in Kanata
Bruce Guitars in Vancouver

Those are the 3 Canadian locations according to the PLEK site.

[Mudlark]

Not bad. I'll email sometime.

[Number Of The Priest]

That's really amazing to me. The whole point of these guitars with the Floyds on top of the body and no rear routing is that they have the angle in the neck pocket. This is a first for me.

Here is another good photo of a Floyd that sits on the body surface rather than floating high above. Credit goes to chrisolsen for this photo: http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/150...bout-for-YEARS

[VitaminG]

nice one, Vic. I would love a strathead Jackson. I don't mind the decked Floyd either.

[Genebaby]

Thanks Gary, it's a groovy axe for sure. Decked Floyd's are cool, but when you need to go lower but can't, it's an issue, which makes me wonder about how you set the action on a deliberately decked Floyd, like an EVH style guitar where it's meant to rest on the body. Do you shim the neck to adjust? Never really thought about the mechanics of it before.

Good talking today, I'll call you again soon, more to discuss.

[Number Of The Priest]

Agreed, assuming your truss rod relief is correct, and if the Floyd is already as low as possible but your action is still too high, you would need to shim the neck.

[Genebaby]

Agreed, assuming your truss rod relief is correct, and if the Floyd is already as low as possible but your action is still too high, you would need to shim the neck.

Yes, that's why I think I'll get that 1 degree shim.

Does anyone know if those Warmoth pick guards line up with these screw holes?

[TKEblue]

Well, I would think that the same issue would exist regardless of bridge type. If you had set the neck flat with a hipshot bridge and your action was too high, what would you do?