I am getting set to build a custom Jackson guitar and thought I would share the progress as it all comes together, I have ordered the body (Jackson DK2 with custom skulls paint job) and some of the other parts, I am using authentic Jackson parts where ever possible, as soon as I start receiving the various items and begin the assembly process I will post pictures documenting the progress.

 As of right now I am trying to decide on which pickups to order, the body is set up for a double humbucker at the bridge and a single coil in the center and neck positions, I am looking at the Duncan Dimebucker or Screamin' demon, and possibly hot rails for the singles.
I will only settle for a reverse headstock Jackson neck with reverse sharkfin inlays, (some necks have reverse headstock but standard sharkfin inlays) I have my eye on just such a neck.
 I would really like to install an authentic original Floyd Rose tremolo but these things are expensive so I may settle on a licensed Floyd with the Jackson logo, (trying to keep everything Jackson you know).

 I will order custom skull knobs possibly like the ones I installed on my BC Rich Beast, and I seen some skull shaped tuners somewhere that might look cool too.

 Well anyways, that is the basic lowdown on what I am up to, it will probably be slow-go for a while as I trackdown and order parts, but I will update this thread as the dream becomes a reality.

 I plan to build this guitar into the ultimate metal shredder (technically speaking, as metal as a strat body style can be, I actually consider BC Rich Warlocks and Beasts to be a much more metal body style, or if we are talking Jacksons possibly the Kelly or Warrior) but considering the skulls paint job, this strat style body will be metal to the core once I am through with it!

Stay tuned!

A hot rail will be good, you need to have a straight clean pickup so you can create a sound drom the ground up, hot rail does that.

AHA!!! here is your pickup

you want the L-500eXtraLead

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pickup_Window/Introduction.htm

go to the L-500 and the Xtra Lead is way better than the dimebucker

that this is pretty bitchin'

and definatly get that bill lawerance, it's way better than the dimebucker, I can say that from experience, my friend has the high end dean Dimebage tribute guitar (with the dime bucker) and a custom with the bill lawerence, the custom has a WAY better sound.

Cool Paz!

Keep us posted with pics! 

Dave

Looks really cool.  Let us see the finished product whenever.

A good parts source, including hard to find stuff like screws, etc., is allparts.com.  Check out reviews on store sites like musiciansfriend.com and samash.com for info from users about customizing.  I saw a lot of pickup info there.  Authentic Jackson parts are fine, but (for me, anyway) there's better stuff out there, exp bridges and tuning machines.  Some of my Jackson original pots were  scratchy.  I replaced everything on my two Jackson SLSMG Soloists and what an improvement from the off-the-rack condition.  Well, I can't figure out how to post a pict here, but will if I do.  Cheers!!

dude that paintjob is awesome 8) 8) 8)

can't help you much with the pickups... i would suggest a duncan '59 for the neck (awesome tone), but it's a humbucker and wouldn't fit... hmmm

if i think of something i'll let ya know

Moach

  Here's the latest progress, Floyd rose is installed, neck is attached, skull knobs have replaced the stock volume and tone controls and the Bill Lawrence pickup is in place, however I don't have a clue how to wire it up, but I have books that describe the procedure, so it is only a matter of time. 
  I am undecided what to do with the remaining pickup holes, I never use the single coils on my other DK2 so I may just leave them empty for now.



  I recently aquired another Jackson, this one a DX10, it has the double humbuckers in both the neck and bridge position which is the set up I prefer, I had to make some adjustments and put new strings on it and now it is quickly becoming my favorite guitar, I did some recording with it today and it has a very powerful sound.

   I have never wired pickups, this is the first time I have ever attempted to build a guitar.

Unless you really, really know how to do it, you might consider getting a pro to wire the pickups, switches and jack.  Even if you want to "I did it all myself".

Customizing is fun, but wiring might be another story, and if it doesn't go right, someone will have to fix it. You'd be better off going in to a pro with clean parts, otherwise the pro is gonna have to unsolder and re-solder, and it could get messy.  There's also some other things that could happen:  ground hum or other noise, incorrect phasing, etc.  And you don't want a wire coming loose either.  It would be a good experience if you could do it, but is this the guitar you want to practice soldering on?

So consider it carefully.  And thanks for keeping us updated on this.  Cheers!

Sounds like it'll be OK then, so go for it.

any updates?

 It's all together and playable, I just played around at the wiring and soldered it together where they sounded best, only the bridge humbucker though, screw the single coils, not sure what to do with the holes right now, I hate single coils, but Guitar Center is running a special on Duncan stacked pickups for $29.00, maybe I'll stick those in the holes for looks and wire them later. Sounds good, plays great.

I just bought a transparent red quilted NJ series Warlock with the speedloader trem, so that is the flavor of the week right now, absolutely beautiful guitar, I'll try to get a pic of that one up too.

I'll maybe post a pic of the finished Jackson project at some point, but from now until Christmas it's pretty much 60+ hour work weeks so don't expect to see me around here too much.

 Here's a quick pic of the Warlock, it just happened to be sitting here so I snapped one, there was also a cool picture I took of my studio the other night on the card so I'll just resize them and post them now, the Jackson is away in a case so I'll try to get to that maybe Sunday (working all day Saturday).

Here is Warlock number 4:


Here's the studio at night, thats Warlock #3 (the hot pink one) in the picture.


 After playing a Beast, Mockingbird, Bich and Dagger (my other BC Rich's) the Warlock is still my all-time favorite guitar, I am digging the Jacksons (strat style) though, I have 2 DK2's and a DX10, I am eyeing a USA custom built bengal tiger striped SLH2, the cost is high but man it looks like a nice axe, so I am considering selling my Beast and one of my Jacksons to offset the cost if I decide to go for it, I would love to own one of the custom USA built Warlocks but you are talking upwards of $2500.00 in most cases, a little out of my range at this time.

I would like to get my hands on one of the red and black virgo's with the blood drop markers on the neck, used to see them a lot on ebay but there are pretty rare anymore.

Quote:


  Thanks, yes this is my little home studio I have been putting together piece by piece, it's come a long way from the little setup I had in the late 90's, I had a Fostex DMT-8, a Digitech RP-10 and a Yamaha PSR-80 keyboard, along with my original NJ series Warlock (#1) and a cheap bass, I recorded a couple of really awesome tapes and would give copies of them away, it was a good time.

  I have a much better income now and I don't drink, smoke or do drugs anymore so I am a lot more focused, the only problem now is even though I continuously buy new toys for my studio, I barely have time to play around in it due to working so much.

In case you haven't read in other posts, I work at the Humvee plant, and with the current situation in the world, the demand for Humvee's is very high which means many hours at work and the word is that next year we are to expect even more hours, so even though it's nice to have money to spend, sometimes I debate in my mind if it's worth it to not have a life other than working all the time, oh well, I guess it comes down to how you manage your free time.

  The rack gear sitting behind the Warlock sits just to the left of the desk in the studio picture, everytime I add a new piece of gear, some part of my recordings improve, I just hooked up with a Helicon Voiceprism off ebay, I can't wait to play around with that thing when it arrives.
  I only wish I had more time to write and record, I just released a CD October 29th that took me 6 months to write and record 8 songs, (by "released" I mean I finished it up and gave it to my friends and family who I thought would like it) the title is "Where's the head?" and it is my first attempt at a concept album. It's about a serial killer who has a fetish for taking the heads of his victims home and keeping them in his fridge until he decides to get them out and use them for a little personal pleasure, then when the heads start to get too funky, he throws them into the ocean and sets out to find some new ones, he eventually gets paranoid and kills himself, it's a nice little tale for the whole family to enjoy.

  It turned out okay, I'm not a perfectionist so there are a lot of rough edges, everyone seems to enjoy it and hasn't been too critical, I have begun work on my next CD and have one song complete, I'm going for a little darker and gloomier sound this time, WTH kinda experimented with several different styles of metal and even sounds that were very un-metal, but the overall flow was excellent, on the next project I plan to make a more professional sounding recording and pay more attention to fixing little mistakes that I let go on "Where's the head?".

  I thought about sending WTH out to some record companies just to see if I could get any reactions, but most of what I read in The songwriters market guide talks about bands, I am through with bands, it would be cool if someone thought my stuff was interesting enough to distribute, but I am no longer interested in playing in bands, I just want to create and record music on my own terms, but I am sure I am one of a million who do the same.
I listen to a lot of music and I'm confident that my stuff is worthy of a following just as much so as some of the crap I've seen make the big time over the years, just wish I had more time to put into it.

Tell me Paz...are you also an aviation enthusiast?
Im wondering cause I cant remeber to see any of your shots at the screenshot's forums ???