New Member, Custom Kelly Plans

[ascrane]

Hi, folks I just joined. Soon I am going to be the owner of a Jackson Kelly. I did have some questions for you folks to get things started though...

Here is a link to the guitar I am purchasing:

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/msg/205640301.html


It looks to be in great shape but the owner is not sure of the generation/exact year of the guitar. I was only curious because it had the "professional" logo on the headstock and the dot inlays instead of shark fins. He says he purchased it in the mid-90's. I did some research and it looks like the "professional" series were Japanese productions of the classic American models...but any details would be appreciated.

Secondly, here are my big plans for this guitar! (Any purists might want to shield their eyes). I already own an EMG 81 humbucker from a previous project guitar that didn't work out, and I plan on buying an EMG 60 to accompany it for this Kelly. I was hoping that I could sand the finish and paint off the body, then make changes to the woodwork to accomodate two tone knobs for the humbuckers. At that point I was not going to re-apply black paint, but instead...one of my friends works at a polymer-textile research company, and while talking to him we decided it would be awesome if we put a layer of carbon fiber on the back and front faces, and sealed it with a "wet" looking clear coat. He has a lot of experience putting carbon fiber on wood surface and it wouldn't cost me much. It would look something like this:

http://www.lextasy.com/images_produc...knob_b1371.jpg

So silver/black from a distance, and when you get up close you can see the pattern. What are you guys thoughts on the details of this project? Any weird issues that might get in the way (I have woodworking experience and also electrical/soldering experience)? Also, I did some research but could not find a clear answer to this question: is it feasible to have an active and passive humbucker installed simultaneously? This would save me from buying the EMG 60 right off the bat. I noticed that someone uploaded a youtube video of them shredding to some song earlier on this board, and it looks like they have an active/passive setup:

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57165

Thanks for your input everyone!

[HoWheels]

It looks to be in great shape but the owner is not sure of the generation/exact year of the guitar. I was only curious because it had the "professional" logo on the headstock and the dot inlays instead of shark fins. He says he purchased it in the mid-90's. I did some research and it looks like the "professional" series were Japanese productions of the classic American models...but any details would be appreciated.

The 93 Kelly Pro was a bolt on with dots.

http://www.audiozone.dk/CatalogScans/JC1993/pages/JC1993Page27.htm

I believe 94 and on had the sharfins for the pro series.

-a

[ascrane]

Wow, you guys are pros. It hadn't even been 10 minutes and you managed to find a catalog page with the exact guitar. Kudos to you, HoWheels. So according to the text on that page, this was the first year the Kelly was mass produced? I almost feel bad wanting to strip all the paint off and put big holes on it now. But...not bad enough to prevent me from doing it.

Since that issue is settled...any thoughts on the design plans?

[mrsung]

nah, kellys have been mass produced as early as '90, iirc. maybe sooner, im sure someone else will chime in. probably about the same time as this thread is moved to the Import Jacksons category

[RacerX]

I believe 94 and on had the sharfins for the pro series.

-a

Well, Howheels, ain't too pro, cuz the above statement is incorrect

http://www.audiozone.dk/CatalogScans...4-95Page07.htm

Body is poplar BTW

and

the carbon fiber would be very cool & unique.

[HoWheels]

Well, Howheels, ain't too pro, cuz the above statement is incorrect

http://www.audiozone.dk/CatalogScans...4-95Page07.htm

Body is poplar BTW

and

the carbon fiber would be very cool & unique.

According to that link, the one with dots is the Kelly Standard

-a

[Sabre]

Nevertheless, the guitar itself looks in pretty good nick.

[RacerX]

According to that link, the one with dots is the Kelly Standard

-a

Yeah, so?

Standards are still under the "Professional series". The way you are writing is confusing Especially with s around.

[ascrane]

Well thanks for your help so far guys. But there is still one unresolved question: Is it possible to have one active and one passive pickup installed simultaneously? Like I referenced earlier, the guy in that video has one EMG humbucker and two passive (I'm assuming) single-coil pickups. That shouldn't be much different.

[kelly user]

well i dont think there would be any major problem but in my experience of electrical your going to have to rewire it completely and you might get more feed back than you would like oh yeah if you do rewire the passive use copper wired it improves the sound to another level and i dont know about the carbon fiber depending on the thickness of it might muddy the sound in the passive pick-up but the emg should be fine