Review of my white DK2M

[RacerX]

Wow! You wrote a novel!

Gonna paste it onto Harmony Central?

[Grandturk]

Use a piece of foil or some other metal.
Paper will break down over time and will eventualy cause some play in the neck .

I've never seen this happen (I've had a piece of loose leaf paper shim in the neck of my strat since 1990 with no problems) - but go with what you think is best. Regular Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil would be fine.

[Adam]

Edit: To RacerX

I... don't know. I'm not very well-known over there, and I don't know if the huns would be receptive anyway. Also, if you think this was long, you should have seen the ones I posted on The Gear Page about changing Carvin pickups and stripping/tung oiling a neck!


About the shim.. I'm torn between paper and foil now. I've never had to shim a neck before, and all my other guitars are set-neck. What to do? What to do?

[Grandturk]

About the shim.. I'm torn between paper and foil now. I've never had to shim a neck before, and all my other guitars are set-neck. What to do? What to do?

I don't think there's a best answer. Dan Erlewine makes shims out of maple - shaving little peices that fill up the entire pocket to ensure total contact.

[slayer]

Nice review man. I agree, a better quality Trem should be used. They should come with an OFR and be done with it. Jack.

[Adam]

I don't think there's a best answer. Dan Erlewine makes shims out of maple - shaving little peices that fill up the entire pocket to ensure total contact.

Well I'm no Dan Erlewine. I don't have maple to shave or anything to shave it with, so it looks like I'll be sticking to common household items.

I'll try paper. If you've been using it for 16 years and it works for you, it should work for me. Thanks for your help!

[jcm800x]

Nice review, mine set up very easy without having to shim so your problem may be unique but at least it's an easy fix! I agree with your gripe about the trem, it does stay in tune nicely but it sounds thin, whimpy sustain block and an overall cheap feel. I put in a super III and it helped a lot, next will be a steel block!

[rjohnstone]

I've never seen this happen (I've had a piece of loose leaf paper shim in the neck of my strat since 1990 with no problems) - but go with what you think is best. Regular Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil would be fine.

I'm not saying paper won't work... hell I've used a match book cover from time to time when I didn't have any metal shims around.
My point is paper is affected by things like moisture and it can swell or shrink. More so than the wood in the guitar itself.
I always prefer to use brass shims or compressed foil because they will be consistant from one day to the next.

[Adam]

I'm just going to use hair from my dog's brush and be done with it.

[Bengal65]

Nice review man. I agree, a better quality Trem should be used. They should come with an OFR and be done with it. Jack.

Exactly! Excellent review and appreciate the time you took to go into great detail.
It sounds on par for $600 guitar. I was thinking of getting a white one, but am going to hold off for a made in USA Dinky. I only have one import and it's a Charvel. I'm not real fond of imports, they just don't feel or sound right to me.

Oh, just a side note, Fender has used card stock (business card) for years for shimming and many folks discovered these after taking apart vintage Fenders and examining them. Dan Erlewine is one and has written about it. Of course, Dan recommends the profiled wood wedges for contact, but the card stock seems to work fine.
Congrats on the new instrument

[Adam]

Thanks! It's been a while since I've owned a non-US instrument, but the specs were too good to pass up. There is nothing like the DK2M in US models, so I went with it.

I shimmed the neck, raising the edge of the fretboard about 1mm higher than it was before, and that made a huge difference. I may raise it a bit more, but it's probably not necessary.

Oh, and I got compliments from my very discerning bandmates on the tone at practice last night. It looks like the JB is sticking around. It's much hotter than I'd always thought those pickups actually were, and the balance is perfectly suited to this guitar. It's a big, loud, warm-sounding guitar to begin with, especially considering the cheapo floyd bridge, which should make it pingy and choked-sounding. I can only imagine what this thing will sound like with a Floyd Pro on it.

The Jazz in the neck is not doing anything for me. It's dark, weak, and lifeless. Inadequate for singing leads and too muffled for nice cleans, so it's going. Honestly, the bridge pickup sounds beefy enough with plenty of bite, so I may just put something like a Sustaniac in the neck and be done with it.

[QuantumRider]

I shimmed the neck, raising the edge of the fretboard about 1mm higher than it was before, and that made a huge difference. I may raise it a bit more, but it's probably not necessary.

Did sticking a 1mm thick layer of dog hair in the neck pocket diminish the tone or resonance at all?

[texasfury]

.

[illumina]

even better question......

are you using a Macro lense on those mega-close shots?

[Adam]

Yes, macro lense indeed. It's the only way I know of to get stuff like that to focus properly.

And the tone is... hairy. And bitey. And organic.