I promised that my next guitar would have a fixed bridge. With that said, it’s interesting that the guitar I recently purchased has a genuine Floyd Rose floating bridge instead. “Skully” happens to be my second American-made Jackson guitar with a genuine Floyd Rose bridge. Features include two Seymour-Duncan humbucking pickups, neck-through-body design, airbrushed custom graphic (skulls), mother-of-pearl shark tooth and name inlays, ebony fretboard, 24 jumbo frets, and wood binding around the fretboard. But the difference is the body. Unlike the traditional Strat-style bodies I usually end up with, this radical departure is a “Kelly” body.

I purchased this guitar because there is some superficial damage to it on a couple of the corners and sides, which brought the price considerably down (especially for an American-made guitar of this caliber). Structurally, though, it’s in great shape. When I purchased it, it had heavier-gauge strings that were tuned pretty low. This required a full night of performing a full set-up and restringing the guitar with lighter-gauge strings. Thanks to Dan Erlewine’s book, “How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!” I was able to successfully set up this great axe.

I also managed set up my Vester with heavier-gauge strings so I could drop the tuning to a drop-D down a whole step (to play those great Metallica “St. Anger” tunes). I just wish I would’ve known that I was going to buy the new Jackson when I restrung the Vester a couple of weeks before.

The following links open the pictures I’ve posted under My Hobbies – Guitar.

Barnes and Noble: “How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!” by Dan Erlewine