Yellow Saturday

It's a classic case of not having the funds to go out & enjoy some refreshing sights & smell outdoors. I'm that pathetic these days. If it incurs some spending, transportation fare included, I will re-think. So it was an indoor Saturday with my yellow Dinky. These Jackson strings (Previous intro: CLICK) are alright but I won't be re-visiting them; strictly a price consideration. 

These DiMarzio D'Activators are perhaps my favourite pickups for distortion application. Paired with the Snakestortion, things sound as mean as I want them to be without mushing out.

I have to thank my gear for keeping my lucidity in check. The depression domain is a very lonely realm. Distractions are needed to prevent one from doing stupid things that might be harmful. I remain gainfully engaged (no pun intended) with my gear while dealing with monsters. Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Yellow Sunday

Out & about. Actually, I was at Beez's to get the 3-way selector for this Jackson replaced. Usually, I would drop by Gloria Jean's (Esplanade) for a cuppa before heading home. These two kids are located near Gloria Jean's, of course.

I'm taking this opportunity to try these Jackson strings as well. I will not commit to this brand because the price is riding on the Jackson name for sure. We all know Jackson does not have a string manufacturing facility. They might get the parent company, Fender, to do it for them. However, the packaging, especially the grey plastic that contained the strings, are all hinting at a D'Addario affair. 

The activation

Before the DiMarzio Fusion Edge became the defacto pickups for Ibanez guitars that warrant attention but tamed to manifest limited appeal (so that they won't become exceedingly popular & overtake the established models in terms of sales), there were the D Activator models. These were manufactured by DiMarzio as well & mimic the responses of an active pickup without sounding too sterile in the higher frequencies. They were fitted into the ICT700...

... & the XPT700.

Subsequently, the D Activator X came into the picture (fitted into the DTT700 seen above). The slight variation- Version X has a richer midrange & surprisingly sounds good in clean mode. The manufacturer chose the rail design to signal to the hardcore X2N fans that the D Activator X can pull off an X2N with a more usable set of cleans.

Unlike the semi-abominable Fusion Edge, I like the D Activators. A pair is now resident in my Jackson Dinky here & they are just the deserving pickups in such a shred/ high gain profile guitar.

They are indeed very suited to angry music, the type that is distortion inclined with very little or no clean considerations. Unlike their more renowned counterparts, I hear more presence from these pickups & the higher frequencies do not wither under excessive gain or processing. I'm not saying the latter occurrence is a bad thing because for prog-esque moments that require dedicated intensity (Dream Theater is my best reference here), DiMarzios do the job well. I require an abrasive tone that would sound palatable when palm muted & the D Activators seem to fit the bill. 

Return of the yellow fellow

This was extremely bad. I was terribly upset upon seeing this. The corrosion/ rust was extensive & the parts affected were beyond salvation. Everything you see here was disposed.

The guitar in question is my Jackson DKMGT. To think that this guitar was kept in a hard case, well away from moisture exposure, for all that corrosion to happen still baffles me. It's the ultimate betrayal- to rely on a hard case for protection but it was secretly condoning an unbecoming activity. Anyway, all those parts were replaced. Replacement here refers to a complete makeover: Pickups, pots, 3-way selector, capacitor & screws. There was a default gain booster here which I had foregone. Instead, I opted for a 2x volume & 1x tone control configuration. The Tesla pickups were also replaced with a pair of DiMarzio D'Activator humbuckers which I like (a rare feat considering I'm not a DiMarzio fan). Well, all this- it's nothing Beez could not handle & the makeover was done in about 15min time.

D'Addario 9s in there.

My trusted, oversized DAW Shredline pick for days when only angry music is all I play. Happy weekend, everyone. 😁

Yellow re-string

It's the last day of November, spent some time with the yellow fellow here after a quick re-string. My ears are saturated with EMG tones (Charvel!) for the past few days so it's good to be hearing some passive action this morning. However, this DKMGT features an on-board gain boost so the passive tones here are quite a menace once distortion was in use.

Yellow Friday

Friday evening playing time, that's right- I was home playing guitar while others are enjoying some TGIF evening somewhere out there. Not me. I had my yellow fellow Jackson Dinky out & I'm just very happy to hear those Teslas in action which brought me to remind myself that the right pickups in the right guitar will give me a stellar tone. The more I play this guitar, the more I feel I should invest in such guitars (not 'Jackson' per se) but the reality is this- guitars sound better more appealing the more you know what needs to be done to them. That would take some time, of course. The more you spend time with a certain instrument, the more you could virtually hear what's 'missing'

The yellow fellow (4)

After the finish make-over, I still kept the booster unit in tact. I was thinking of doing away with it because it's seldom utilized but it's a default feature which is unique to this guitar so it's for keeps. The split coil switch was also preserved.

However, the default strap button made way for the Planet Waves version. I like how this dig into the slits of my straps, they also complement the use of locking contraptions like this one: CLICK

The yellow fellow (3)

It's pre-breakfast hours for many of us but I've just played my Jackson DKMGT. Someone wants to see the rear of this guitar so here it is. The stickers there are not my doing, of course.

The yellow fellow (2)

This was what happened to my Jackson DKMGT- cracks aplenty. It started with the ferrules at the tune-o-matic type bridge which contained the action adjustment studs. I couldn't raise the studs there due to extreme corrosion so out came a pair of pliers. The idea was to yank the studs out but it snapped, the pliers fell onto the body & dented it. Damage done, so I went for broke & chiseled out the bridge studs ferrules & that resulted in cracks similar to the ones you see above. However, the ones shown here are the string ball-end ferrules located at the body's flip-side. Those were showing signs of corrosion as well so out they went. I would've shown the broken stud piece here but that was thrown out of the window out of sheer frustration.

But everything's cured as seen above; all cracks were filled, leveled & the surface finished professionally.

Ditto the front side- restored to its glorious state. I had this done at a car garage- yes, you read that right, car garage. All the instrument shops & chaps doing air-brush restoration gave me unappealing quotes, the winner came from a friend who showed me his refinished guitar body & I was impressed with the workmanship- beyond my expectations for a non-instrument business entity but if you are professional, the subject doesn't matter.

Bro Fabian- kudos!

The yellow fellow (1)

This isn't a fresh catch, it's my Jackson DKMGT.

This isn't a new guitar either, it's the above DKMGT now in yellow. It was re-finished last year, towards the close of 2012 but was missing some spares. It's now completely revived a deserve a shot. What made me re-finish this one? To be cont'd...

Rectification (2)

The second guitar to have its innards looked into was my Jackson DKMGT. See the 2 push-pull knobs there? 

1. Coil-split selector
2. Turbocharger pre-amp selector

Since the Turbocharger (defunct) could accept other passive pickups, I had the EMG-HZ removed & replaced with a pair of Tesla pickups: Plasma 3 (bridge) & Plasma 7 (neck). The EMG-HZ are fine pickups, they sound good in many other guitars but in this Jackson, they are too fuzzy especially with the Turbocharger activated. The Teslas are simply wonderful in this application, a wonderful boom & some slicing lead tones to be heard.

Jackson: DKMGT

Here's another catch from yesterday's Swee Lee sale; Jackson's DKMGT (discontinued). This was virtually a forgotten guitar at the store with at least 5 year's worth of gunk & rust on board. I was talking to my friend, Steve, a few days ago who said that the players here are by & large fans of Fender & Gibson products; they don't feel 'safe' owning other brand names. I think I'm beyond investing in righteous brand names & forgoing good guitars per se. I'm not a big fan of those EMG-HZ there so they will leave their residence soon... More appraisal to come.