Jackson/Megadeth Project King V complete!

[Brian]

Looks awesome! Something weird though, look how far from the bridge the bridge pickup is. Looks at Brooke's pic above. The USA KV-1 has the pickup right next to the bridge, but on the pro, it's farther away like on the USA Custom. I wonder why the inconsistency in bridge PU location. My KV-1 has the bridge PU closer too.

Yep! That was another one of the things that was inconsistent on the KV's.

The spacing on mine is the same as Mustaine's KV with the Megadeth logo that Jani now owns. The KV1 spacing is closer to DM00292, Dave's silver KV.



This one is slightly different than the KV1 spacing. Very close though.

If you notice, the pickup spacing on the KV2 is closer together than the ones with Kahlers or tunamatic bridges.



This looks to be about the same distance as the routing on my custom. So maybe that config is just a Floyd route?

[AK47]

Daves original KV was a 22 fret body neck and they just added a 24fret board so the pickup ended up a little further away. I wish I still had the copy of the original WO that shows Daves notes on how he wanted the fretboard on his Megadeth logo guitar.

Later they changed it to butt up against the fretboard on all KV models except maybe for Floyds?

[Brian]

Daves original KV was a 22 fret body neck and they just added a 24fret board so the pickup ended up a little further away. I wish I still had the copy of the original WO that shows Daves notes on how he wanted the fretboard on his Megadeth logo guitar.

Later they changed it to butt up against the fretboard on all KV models except maybe for Floyds?

Here's the work order.


Thing is if this was the case and it was a 22 fret body the pickups should be further apart instead of closer together. The bridge would be in exactly the same spot either way due to the scale length. So if the fretboard extends into the body further the pickups should be closer together. On his original Megadeth logo guitar they're closer together like the Floyd route. They're further apart on his Silver KV's and even further on the KV1's.

Here's a decent pic of the original Megadeth logo KV where you can see the close spacing like mine and the KV Pros.


Weird!

[Brooke]

And all absolutely gorgeous guitars!

I love how you just pulled the work order out of nowhere.. That made me laugh.

hehe

[AK47]

Well there you have it I guess who ever does the routes that day decided?

One other thing I heard was that in 92 Dave's actual silver KV was copied at the factory in Japan. That is why the specs are dead on except the silver paint is different(pro series kv) I dont know if this is true either have you heard anything like that Brian?

This was on the Pro series guitars just to clarify.

[Brian]

Well there you have it I guess who ever does the routes that day decided?

One other thing I heard was that in 92 Dave's actual silver KV was copied at the factory in Japan. That is why the specs are dead on except the silver paint is different(pro series kv) I dont know if this is true either have you heard anything like that Brian?

This was on the Pro series guitars just to clarify.

Hrm, I don't think that's the case because the KV Pro is more similar to the Megadeth logo KV than the Silver KV.

The pickup spacing is the same and they modeled the headstock shape after the Megadeth logo one which had been broken and repaired which is why it has a unique shape to it (shorter).

There's also the body differences between the Pro and the US custom models. The neck joins the body on the US models below the 19th fret. On the Japanese Pro models I believe it's just above the 19th fret. Minor, but I have been told I am a screw counter lol.

The Silver paint on the Pro models is definitely different than Dave's US models. I still don't know what it officially was. Trying to get word from Mustaine himself via the webmaster over at Megadeth.com. Maybe I need to buy some of Daves "Legends" coffee to get his attention...:ROTF:

[AK47]

Hrm, I don't think that's the case because the KV Pro is more similar to the Megadeth logo KV than the Silver KV.

The pickup spacing is the same and they modeled the headstock shape after the Megadeth logo one which had been broken and repaired which is why it has a unique shape to it (shorter).

There's also the body differences between the Pro and the US custom models. The neck joins the body on the US models below the 19th fret. On the Japanese Pro models I believe it's just above the 19th fret. Minor, but I have been told I am a screw counter lol.

The Silver paint on the Pro models is definitely different than Dave's US models. I still don't know what it officially was. Trying to get word from Mustaine himself via the webmaster over at Megadeth.com. Maybe I need to buy some of Daves "Legends" coffee to get his attention...:ROTF:

His first silver KV or DM010 had a shorter headstock from being broken his main stage one had the longer headstock. Japan aparantley copied his number one or DM010.

Now is that body 19th fret spacing issue something that is unique to the Pro series guitars or is it possible Daves number one could be like this?

Just trying to see if there is any truth to the Japan copying the actual guitar myth.

[Brooke]

His first silver KV or DM010 had a shorter headstock from being broken his main stage one had the longer headstock. Japan aparantley copied his number one or DM010.

Now is that body 19th fret spacing issue something that is unique to the Pro series guitars or is it possible Daves number one could be like this?

Just trying to see if there is any truth to the Japan copying the actual guitar myth.

All that I can add, is that my KV pro Fricken rules... and I'm very very difficult to please with quality of guitars.

[Brian]

His first silver KV or DM010 had a shorter headstock from being broken his main stage one had the longer headstock. Japan aparantley copied his number one or DM010.

Now is that body 19th fret spacing issue something that is unique to the Pro series guitars or is it possible Daves number one could be like this?

Just trying to see if there is any truth to the Japan copying the actual guitar myth.

Here's a pic of DM010


As you can see the headstock on this one is the normal Jackson shape. Also this one has the unique control configuration that came on the KV PCS series guitars. The pickup spacing is also closer to DM00292 than the Megadeth Logo KV. So I don't believe this one was used in Japan for the Pro Series either.

There are lots of stories about this guitar. Unfortunately, I don't know which are true and which are false.

I don't believe that DM010 was Dave's first KV refinished Silver at a later date. The primary reason for that is because of the serial number. Jackson didn't start using the "DM" designation for the KV guitars until the early 90's and they stopped shortly thereafter. So if this guitar was originally made in 1986 like the article states, there's no way it would have a "DM" serial.

I also don't believe Dave paid $3000 for it in 1986 lol. As you can see based on his work order that I posted here from 1986 (which is apparently the first King V he got from Jackson) that he didn't pay anywhere close to $3000. Plus, the first King V he got from Jackson was never refinished Silver, becuase Jani in Finland currently owns it. So.. uh yeah.

The body/neck joining thing is something that is unique to the Pro Series. That's just how they made them in Japan. You can see in that pic above of DM010 that the neck joins the body just below the 19th fret.

[AK47]

Thanks for clarifying that Brian as you can see there is tons of misinformation out there regarding Dave's guitars and I am no help reguritating what I hear.

[DocNrock]

Turned out great!

Love the price on that wo $1165.50 + tax (yeah, 1986)

[daisp]

Nice job dude! Looks great! I love the Kahler Flatmount also, that was a nice touch.

Yeah that looks awesome!

[Mazrim]

Awesomeness! That's a wonderful job.

[zeegler]

Daves original KV was a 22 fret body neck and they just added a 24fret board so the pickup ended up a little further away. I wish I still had the copy of the original WO that shows Daves notes on how he wanted the fretboard on his Megadeth logo guitar.

Later they changed it to butt up against the fretboard on all KV models except maybe for Floyds?

Well, we were discussing the bridge pickup, but the change to a 24 fret neck would move the bridge back on the body, and therefore farther away from the bridge PU.

[zeegler]

Well there you have it I guess who ever does the routes that day decided?

One other thing I heard was that in 92 Dave's actual silver KV was copied at the factory in Japan. That is why the specs are dead on except the silver paint is different(pro series kv) I dont know if this is true either have you heard anything like that Brian?

This was on the Pro series guitars just to clarify.

Wow, there's so many rumours about Dave's guitars. I wish he would come on here and straighten us out.

From what I understand, his first KV was the white one with HSS pickup config. Then he got his black/Megadeth logo one right?