I am Jackson player but I have to admit I had lost a significant amount of info about this brand since 10 years ago.I had work for a music shop at the time and we did carry some Jackson but those are the old ones or what left of it since 2000.There were some Professional Series,Performer(Koreans then Japan for a short while before they stop) and a couple of San Dimas standard and a Dinky USA.
At that time Jackson was a hard brand push as given the fact that after 90's the heavy metal genre were pulverised by Nirvana and later Nu Metal.I couldn't understand this Nu Metal music.What are they? Who are he? Were they lemonade gangsters before this? First of all the guitar work that was in most of this Nu Metal are unlike anything I heard before.They shout all the time and I couldn't catch the phrases.These are not the angry rocker teens we know of.They are obnoxious kids with incomprehensible lyrics. I didn't buy their music so I'm guessing on this one.Anyway the rhythm do not stay on through the whole song enough and it's always get interrupted by the DJ work and Rap like vocal melody.By the way who allowed DJ's and Rapper's to be in guitar bands in the first place? and did you know it's impossible to recreate that DJ sound on a guitar. I lied to my students that in order to get that 3 mili second freak screeching sound,they have to buy 10 to 20 stomp boxes,all turned to 11 and all turned on at the same time.Then the question never come again after..haha
During that time I always had this feeling of dumbness and emptiness when I had to teach this Nu Metal to my students.But it was the music of that time and we had to ride the Nu Metal train,It's for the shop's revenue of course.
Some years after Nu Metal passed away,I finally figured out the good side of this poser metal genre.Before I indulge you on it.Let me bring you back to the time when I started to play guitar.It was a time when all of the music has guitar licks or riffs in it.Even Michael Jackson song had Eddie solos in there.Bands was churning out fast flashy rhythm and solos in every album release.
But I couldn't figure it out and for a teacher-less guitar newbie like me.It was a chaotic time and everything was beyond my grasp and comprehension. Every newbie seem to ignore the heavy metal rhythm(which is hard) for the solos(harder).Nobody was willing to teach for free. So without any music theory I thought all of those flashy stuff must have came from the guitar itself. Yes that's how dumb I was back then.Haha
And we're back to the good side.Then suddenly in 2000 the unthinkable happen.The music had slowed down as if the players had come full circled.It's like Star Wars the movie.They know they couldn't push the story any further than it is so they back up the timeline and called it Episode ONE knowing this would prolong the blockbuster future revenue.
The same thing was happening to the music industry.Nu Metal actually made newbies like me shelf the shredders dream(temporarily) and relearn guitar the proper way.Some of the Nu Metal song had easy to follow solos but most didn't have any solos at all.So it was easy for me to strengthen my students rhythm foundation before shoving any excerpt from "Hotel California" or "Stairway to Heaven" into their throat or ears.Nu Metal had left us with good guitar playing culture and discipline in general.Crawl before you can walk.Nail the slow long on and off interrupted rhythm in time.A metronome is not a watch to look at,it's a click to hear and play along with.Only then you'd be able to nail "I believe in a thing called wove" in 2004.What a good preparation eii? Anyway..
Before I forget about he Jackson DK2M in this post.First of all not all DK2M are the same.This 2012 model has its truss rod adjustment at the headstock.The current DK2M has that on the heel.Nothing to worry about.Just some minor changes that's all.They do this for the better I think. However I hope they put in them pickup springs now unlike this one.
Although the neck joint looks thick,the shaved off area is quiet comforting for upper register noodling.Never thought Jackson would go 3 bolt but I have to say this does holds fine.I didn't like the thin finish neck as that would invite hand filth and moisture(danger to exposed wood) in the long run.The job was a setup and that's that.
I give this DK2M 3 out of 5 stars.
Metal tech
yustech
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