DK2M Red Ghost Flames now $599!

[slayer]

It seams the regular DK2M`s are having some neck pocket issues also Man, Jackson better nip this in the bud pretty fast!! Jack.

[Jackson-Charvel]

At least Jackson's necks don't look like this:





Everything looks normal until you get to the headstock. How can they screw up the headstock that's the signature trademark of a pointy neck. Heck even those crappy 80's copies were able to at least get the headstock close like those Formula 1 or Fame made by Hondo.

I emailed the guy in Canada making these and importing them from Hong Kong. If he can get them to fix the headstock and add binding I may bite, but not now, the angle of the point makes it look stubby and blunt, not cool.

[Newc]

Well, it's not supposed to look like a Jackson headstock because it isn't a Jackson neck.

As for the DK2M RGF necks, can the neck heel be shaved down on the high side or is the board itself warped?

[Carbuff]

On mine, the board seems fine. Its either the neck heel or the pocket. Slash took his apart and found the neck heel to be off. Since he makes bodies to sell, as a business, Im gonna take his word for it. Ive thought about shaving it too, but I will probably just return it. Also, there is another thread somewhere, the classifieds, I think, with someone selling a regular dk2m with this same issue, so its difficult to tell where the foul up is. I didnt notice the problem at first until it was pointed out to me so I dont know if that guy with the neck even realizes that it might be an issue.

[z1n]

can the neck heel be shaved down on the high side or is the board itself warped?

I think this would have fixed the problem on the one I had. I thought about doing this too but decided to just send it back.

[pjg]

On mine, the board seems fine. Its either the neck heel or the pocket. Slash took his apart and found the neck heel to be off. Since he makes bodies to sell, as a business, Im gonna take his word for it. Ive thought about shaving it too, but I will probably just return it. Also, there is another thread somewhere, the classifieds, I think, with someone selling a regular dk2m with this same issue, so its difficult to tell where the foul up is. I didnt notice the problem at first until it was pointed out to me so I dont know if that guy with the neck even realizes that it might be an issue.

That's me. It doesn't affect playability but it's there. I was going to take the neck off and shave it down anyway so it wouldn't have really mattered much but the project is running into some road blocks.

[MountainDog]

On my RGF blem, the bottom of the fretboard was almost touching the body on the BigE side, while the bottom of the fretboard was about 0.100" (1/10th inch) above the body on the LittleE side. Shaving that much didn't seem worth it, so I sent it back (by the way, my replacement for that blem just shipped out to me yesterday).

I just looked at my white DK2M. It has a slanted neck pocket and a slanted neck heel to compensate (difference per side is about 0.100" (1/10th inch). The bottom of the BigE side is touching the body, while the bottom side of the neck on the LittleE is above the body by maybe 0.040".

So as delivered, the DK2M has a slanted neck pocket and slanted neck heel, but they combine to make the neck flat to body within 0.040", so that's liveable. I guess if my in-transit RGF comes in whacked out, I'll probably shave it so it matches the white DK2M.

Since others here said their RGF neck pocket was straight, I'm thinking maybe they forgot to slant it by 0.100" to make up for the slanted neck heels.

End view of DK2M, BigE side of pocket is taller than LittleE side:



BigE side neck pocket measures 0.737":




LittleE side neck pocket measures 0.639":




Side View, BigE, fingerboard touching body:




Side View LittleE, fingerboard bottom about 0.040" above body.

[Carbuff]

I dont think that the neck pocket is slanted, its the body behind the plate that is slanted or contoured. I think the neck pocket is flat with the top of the body. I could definitely live with that. I wonder if its the missing neck humbucker on the RGF that makes this problem more noticeable. If it had a neck hum like your dk2m we might not have even noticed it.

[wilkinsi]

I feel gutted for you. It's inconsistencies like these (and even worse problems) that made me turn from BC Rich to Jackson (when Rosetti took over... shudder...).

[RobRR]

Its not the pocket thats slanted like that, its the plate-side of the body... just checked three of my dinkys and theyre all like that. Its an optical illusion. BUT, I just looked at my DK2M and the board is closer to the body on the low E side, only by about 1-1.5mm or so but still...

[MountainDog]

My replacement DK2M RGF arrived yesterday. Guitar is in mint condition other than a couple fingerprints. The neck feels great, slightly thinner than my white DK2M. Fret ends nice and smooth.

Here's the neck angle:





Here's the treble side pic:






Here's the bass side pic:





I measured, and the neck heel is equal on each side by a few thousandths of an inch. The body pocket on the bass side is about 0.015" deeper.

The neck pocket has some paint overspray that sat higher than the wood, and the radius of the right side wall to the bottom was kinda rounded. Both would cause the neck to sit higher on the treble side (this pic is how the guitar was received, I did not dremel yet ):





I cleaned up the excess paint, and used a dremel to square up the bottom of the route. I also put a 1" long by 1/4" wide 0.032" shim on the bass side of the pocket alongside the rear screw throughhole to lift the bass side:
Treble side after:





Bass side after:






In case you didn't notice something else different in those last two pics, I submit the Red Ghost Flames H/S ! Started working on it at about 10pm, finished at 1am. Routing the control cavity for the 3-way took longer than routing the pickup cavity. The routing was done freehand only using tape lines as a guide by the way. I took the pickup location and switch locations from my Charvel MAH Strathead H/S.

[rjohnstone]

Nice mod.
I think it looks better as a H/S.

[quiksilver]

Looks great! Nice work!

[Jackson-Charvel]

Holy crap thats sweet! This is an idealized version of a 24 fret 3DR/Predator only it's a Jackson, nice job!

Dumb question, but after you template for the neck pickup, is it painful to make the first cut into the wood? haha.

[tanpsi]

Nice!, yeah it's a modern Predator!