It's here, it's here! My DK2M was waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. I went over it with a fine-toothed comb most of the day yesterday, and I definitely have some info to pass along.
First things first - It looks freaking wicked. I will not make you wait for pics (not the best quality - low light conditions, but flash sucks):
Personally I rather like the natural headstock. The black binding sets it off really nicely, IMO:
The guitar feels light on a strap - I'm guessing it's probably around 7.5 lbs. It might be a touch neck-heavy, but not so much that the headstock will dive - just enough that I feel a little downward pressure towards the front of my left shoulder when wearing a strap. If I let it sit right where it wants to, it hangs perpendicular to my body, which is just fine from a playability standpoint and is worth the trade-off in total weight.
The tone unplugged is loud and full, and the volume of the individual strings is nice and even (which I test by playing some big ol' cowboy chords in 1st position and listening for drop-outs). Noodling around on it, I didn't detect any dead spots on the fretboard, which points to good wood used for the neck and a good fret job from the factory.
The neck profile and compound radius is very comfy. It's the thinnest-necked of all my guitars, but still chunky enough that I don't feel like I'm "pinching" it to play (like I do with Ibanez Wizard necks). They super-huge speedbump frets are nice, too.
Overall the ergonomics of the instrument are surprisingly comfortable for a SG/PRS-type player like myself. When comparing it to my Hamer Monaco Elite (which is a really nice, lively guitar) it was light night and day. The DK2M really feels like it conforms to your body. I'm actually surprised by how comfortable I am with it, because it's been a long time since I've owned any guitar without any backwards tilt on the neck, or with 24 frets, or with the 25 1/2" scale length.
I've got more to report (fit and finish, tone, set-up), but I'll leave you all with this for the moment and post the rest in replies to this thread in a few minutes.
First things first - It looks freaking wicked. I will not make you wait for pics (not the best quality - low light conditions, but flash sucks):
Personally I rather like the natural headstock. The black binding sets it off really nicely, IMO:
The guitar feels light on a strap - I'm guessing it's probably around 7.5 lbs. It might be a touch neck-heavy, but not so much that the headstock will dive - just enough that I feel a little downward pressure towards the front of my left shoulder when wearing a strap. If I let it sit right where it wants to, it hangs perpendicular to my body, which is just fine from a playability standpoint and is worth the trade-off in total weight.
The tone unplugged is loud and full, and the volume of the individual strings is nice and even (which I test by playing some big ol' cowboy chords in 1st position and listening for drop-outs). Noodling around on it, I didn't detect any dead spots on the fretboard, which points to good wood used for the neck and a good fret job from the factory.
The neck profile and compound radius is very comfy. It's the thinnest-necked of all my guitars, but still chunky enough that I don't feel like I'm "pinching" it to play (like I do with Ibanez Wizard necks). They super-huge speedbump frets are nice, too.
Overall the ergonomics of the instrument are surprisingly comfortable for a SG/PRS-type player like myself. When comparing it to my Hamer Monaco Elite (which is a really nice, lively guitar) it was light night and day. The DK2M really feels like it conforms to your body. I'm actually surprised by how comfortable I am with it, because it's been a long time since I've owned any guitar without any backwards tilt on the neck, or with 24 frets, or with the 25 1/2" scale length.
I've got more to report (fit and finish, tone, set-up), but I'll leave you all with this for the moment and post the rest in replies to this thread in a few minutes.
Comment