Jackson DX2 Dinky

The DX was an interesting series that Jackson had going on for awhile. They looked great, but the wood choices were kinda iffy. Then again, at the time, it was standard fair for what was coming out overseas. The guitar has the following specs:

Basswood body with a figured veneer top
Maple bolt-on neck
Rosewood fretboard with 24 jumbo frets
HSH configuration
No binding
Jackson licensed floyd rose
Dot inlays
Five way switch
Master volume and master tone knobs

UTILIZATION

The guitar looks great, but considering it's one of those photoflame/veneer guitars, it should look great. The finish on this was good, but there were a few nicks. Considering that it was a used guitar, that's not really too surprising. The frets on this were pretty decent, albeit the ends could probably have used a bit more attention. The floyd on this thing is trash. I recommend replacing that with something like the original floyd rose. They tend to feel better and sound better too. Some claim this isn't true, but I'm a firm believe that the higher quality trems sound better. Also make sure to check for neck joint gaps as they can potentially hard tone as well.

SOUNDS

The stock pickups in this were your average Japanese stock pickups. The bridge lacked that note clarity and separation that the higher quality pickups tend to have. The basswood also wasn't helping it with these stock pickups as basswood tends to be a very picky wood. It's very middy and somewhat neutral/dark sounding, so a lot of pickups meant for alder or mahogany tend to sound very odd in them. The neck pickup got some decent clean tones, but I disliked the lead tone. I recommend replacing these with DiMarzios as they have some great models that work nicely with basswood. I can't comment on the middle pickup as I never use it.

OVERALL OPINION

These can be a bit hard to find today, but if you want a good gigging guitar, these can be a very good choice. They're fairly cheap on the used market, and with a good pickup swap. I also recommend replacing the floyd with an original floyd rose to help in terms of tuning stability and overall tone.