Jackson KE2 - Cavities. Is this normal?!!

[Sober.]

Hi Jackson and Charvel enthousiasts,

Most recently I decided to complete strip down the hardware of my KE2 because I had some problems with the electronics. This was the ideal moment to shield everything as I experienced some problems with feedback.

When I opened up the guitar I was amazed with how badly everything was made... And I'm wondering whether this is normal? The pickups cavities are very rough and as the shielding cables are attached to bare wood, I guess they are completely useless... In the bridge pickup cavity you can see some wax residue, does anyone have an idea what this is?



Thanks in advance for all the information and input! I'm pretty furious to find this kind of finish in such an expensive guitar....

[Corpsegrinder88]

Thats normal. you'll find that on every high end Jackson, even imports, My PRS same way. They tape that stuff off to keep from getting paint in there. i mean your trans black top is just a veneer. very thin piece at that. but they always use nice pieces of flamed maple before slicing them into veener. but dont worry about that.. Those wires are ground leads to your pots. for grounding purposes

[Sober.]

Thats normal. you'll find that on every high end Jackson, even imports, My PRS same way. They tape that stuff off to keep from getting paint in there. i mean your trans black top is just a veneer. very thin piece at that. but they always use nice pieces of flamed maple before slicing them into veener. but dont worry about that.. Those wires are ground leads to your pots. for grounding purposes

Thanks for the quick response! Aren't those shielding wires obsolete as they are fastened to something non-conductive? If the the cavities were painted with conductive paint or shielded with copper tape, I'd understand why they'd attach a cable... So everything is connected to the same ground.

[straycat]

The grounding wires and finish are normal.Why would you finish something that is not seen?
The wires do act as a ground thats why they are there.
I would say that residue you see is over spray from the clear coat.
You could use shielding paint in the cavities but really no reason to do it.Shielding tape is a pain it the ass IMO and does nothing on a guitar with no pick guard.
Nothing to worry about.

[1337storm]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the ground wires in the cavities does absolutely nothing if the cavities are bare wood with no shielding.

[Axegrinder87]

You're wrong. Jackson>you

[straycat]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the ground wires in the cavities does absolutely nothing if the cavities are bare wood with no shielding.

Then answer me this why did Jackson do it?
Google Faraday cage that might answer your question.

[len]

Then answer me this why did Jackson do it?
Google Faraday cage that might answer your question.

http://bit.ly/11eYdVg

[walshula]

I could be wrong but I have seen a lot worse in the pick-up cavities myself. Shit, even on my 2012 Broderick I had to clean up some rough wood in the cavities and they are direct mount pick-ups w/ no rings for the world to see. No attention to detail anymore! I see no issues in there and if it came factory that way you better believe they do know what they are doing, atleast in the USA shop.

[Jayster]

You're being a bit OCD, I understand after spending the big bucks you want everything to be perfect! But, this isn't an issue. Did you love the guitar before you looked under the PUP?

[Axewielder]

Typically there is shielding paint put down in the cavities, then it is painted over with color/clear and a patch is left exposed for the ground lugs. I'm not sure what happened here. But, even when it is done correctly, I don't think it makes much of a difference. I mean, it only shields the back of the pups anyways...the whole face of them is totally exposed (assuming you don't have covers). This is really a puzzling subject to me. I would agree that just a naked ground lug accomplishes absolutely nothing. You can add shielding paint if you want, I've done that before on bodies I had painted elsewhere. It is a bit of a mess. Some of the paint shops that I've dealt with in the past seemed confused about shielding paint as well and didn't do it right. I used to be anal about this, but these days I could give two shits.

[straycat]

Just think if some body loved the guitar until they looked in the pick up route and thought shoddy work then sold the guitar because of it,that is true OCD.
Or sent the guitar back to the factory because of it LOL I think the guys in the shop that built it would be laughing their asses off.
I have one customer that has OCD and he is ridiculous at times.Counts the number of turns of each screw when I take the pick up rings off for example.
Every six months or so he has me put new pick up ring screws in it because ...... well...........Hell I don't know why to be honest.

[Hellbat]

I dunno. I think it's weird that there wouldn't be shielding paint in there. What is the point of the grounding strap there if it isn't actually grounding anything?

It's been like 4 years since I changed out the pickups in my RR1T and I can't remember if there was paint in there or not.

[VitaminG]

just changed the pickups in my Fusion Plus. Shielding paint in the control cavity but none under the pickups.

[xenophobe]

That's weird, almost all of my Jacksons have had shield paint in the cavities, and none that looked that rough...