# NGD: Jackson DKA8 string



## sakeido (Jul 4, 2013)

Just got this in today... ordered it right after it was announced and it showed up today. Very nice looking guitar. Love the body carve, single sharkfin, white pickups, same headstock as my SLSMG. Everything looks killer. 

It isn't set up unfortunately so I can't stay too much about how it plays right now. MIM. The fret ends are nice and smooth, neck feels great. It feels a bit thicker than my sb cow7 when I would actually prefer a bit thinner for an 8. It doesn't have the big blocky traditional heel anymore... they ditched the plate and have sculpted away at it a bit. I don't think this is much of an improvement. It doesn't bother me at all access-wise since I've always played guitars like this but the Suhr heel feels nicer.

Pickups sound good but probably aren't my style so I'll switch those out soon. Killswitch is neat. Hardware is all good quality, PW locking tuners and a not-quite-Hipshot bridge. I forgot to take a picture of the jack. It's one of those recessed jacks like you'd get on the front of a strat. Very convenient feature, love it. 

I'll take some better pics soon. Just quickly snapped these pics and left the camera in low quality jpg mode by accident 

album - http://imgur.com/a/P8fc0


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## LolloBlaskhyrt (Jul 4, 2013)

Awesome guitar!! HNGD!


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## Daf57 (Jul 4, 2013)

Nice!! Congrats!


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## BucketheadRules (Jul 4, 2013)

You have the same amp as me!


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## ForwardProgression (Jul 4, 2013)

...., I want it now!


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## Valennic (Jul 4, 2013)

HNGD meng, mine arrives Saturday. 

Worth the cash? Fretwork quality? I know you said smooth, but I'm filled with asinine questions now that mine has shipped


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## sakeido (Jul 4, 2013)

Valennic said:


> HNGD meng, mine arrives Saturday.
> 
> Worth the cash? Fretwork quality? I know you said smooth, but I'm filled with asinine questions now that mine has shipped



Can't say too too much about if it was worth it or not yet  needs a setup first. It definitely made a good first impression though - the fret ends are great, I didn't check all of em but the frets I did were nice and level. Bridge is great and easy to tweak, pickups sound good, neck feels nice. Comes with planetwaves locking tuners when all my previous Jacksons had cheap crappy tuners. 

There are some minor flaws on the binding here and there by the fret ends and a minor flaw above the 22nd fret on the bass side.

Compared to the other 8s I've had, I like it a lot more than the Agile. Better fretwork than the RGA8 but I liked the neck a bit better on the ibby. Way better than the ESP 8s and most Schecters except those new SLSes


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## ForwardProgression (Jul 7, 2013)

moar pics! This thread is dead


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## axxessdenied (Jul 7, 2013)

Nice.... but, aspartame is so bad for you, bro....


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## BigBaldIan (Jul 7, 2013)

HNGD, love the old Atari'esque killswitch.


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## mphsc (Jul 7, 2013)

congrats sir, looks great.


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## mcd (Jul 7, 2013)

HNGD, now go clean your room


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## Valennic (Jul 7, 2013)

sakeido said:


> Can't say too too much about if it was worth it or not yet  needs a setup first. It definitely made a good first impression though - the fret ends are great, I didn't check all of em but the frets I did were nice and level. Bridge is great and easy to tweak, pickups sound good, neck feels nice. Comes with planetwaves locking tuners when all my previous Jacksons had cheap crappy tuners.
> 
> There are some minor flaws on the binding here and there by the fret ends and a minor flaw above the 22nd fret on the bass side.
> 
> Compared to the other 8s I've had, I like it a lot more than the Agile. Better fretwork than the RGA8 but I liked the neck a bit better on the ibby. Way better than the ESP 8s and most Schecters except those new SLSes



Just got mine yesterday, I know now what you mean about the setup. Strangest feeling ever . Very minor finish flaws on mine, but they're not exactly custom shops. . Can't say I agree with you on the neck bit, I love this thing to pieces, I've hated nearly every Ibby 8 i've played, minus the iron label. Either way, get this bitch setup and then CLIPS.


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## Samark (Jul 9, 2013)

Tough! HNGD


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## sakeido (Jul 9, 2013)

BucketheadRules said:


> You have the same amp as me!



the Blackstar? I love the hell out of the amp but unfortunately it doesn't sound good with the 8 string at all. Oh well, I got an Engl and an Axe FX too  



axxessdenied said:


> Nice.... but, aspartame is so bad for you, bro....



but is so tasty 



mcd said:


> HNGD, now go clean your room



the organic messiness of my studio is a key part of my creative process!!


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## frogunrua (Jul 9, 2013)

HNGD! I dig the killswitch and d activators in these guitars.


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## focusbob (Jul 15, 2013)

HNGD!


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## chopshop777 (Jul 15, 2013)

congratulations dude, beautiful guitar, it will serve you well for a long time, sorry including tax and everything if you don't mind me asking how much was the final price ? cheers. Ed


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## mulgreaux (Jul 15, 2013)

Nice - I want one of these little toerags.


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## sakeido (Jul 15, 2013)

chopshop777 said:


> congratulations dude, beautiful guitar, it will serve you well for a long time, sorry including tax and everything if you don't mind me asking how much was the final price ? cheers. Ed



I think it was $1,000us all in 

I finally got the allen keys I need to finish setting this thing up so more pics + a clip or two should be coming shortly


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## viesczy (Jul 16, 2013)

Dude, diet soda is poison! Lay off it!

HNGD!

Looks AWESOME!

Derek


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## CMBRUTALHEAD (Jul 18, 2013)

WOWWWWWWW


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## Tesla (Jul 18, 2013)

That's beautiful! Happy NGD.


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## sakeido (Jul 19, 2013)

some new pics. not sure what to do for clips I haven't come up with any good 8 string stuff yet


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## ForwardProgression (Jul 19, 2013)

The jack! The jack!


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## sakeido (Jul 20, 2013)

sorry good camera ran out of batteries, here is phone pic


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## AdamWe (Jul 20, 2013)

Damn, that guitar looks awesome. 
Congrats.

Do mind if you share some sound-examples? 
I would be very grateful. 

Greets AdamWe


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## Analog Kid (Jul 20, 2013)

Love it


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## ForwardProgression (Aug 25, 2013)

So, what guitar case did you get?


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## sakeido (Aug 26, 2013)

ForwardProgression said:


> So, what guitar case did you get?



did not come with a case unfortunately, not sure what I'm going to do for a case yet


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## maliciousteve (Aug 26, 2013)

How does it sound with the Blackstar?

I ask because I'm considering down sizing my rig (moving to a small place) to a Ht20 1x12 combo. I'm a little concerned with the amp sounding too muddy for the low F#


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## Konfyouzd (Aug 26, 2013)

Dog... Didn't you read that ONE post ab these? Worst guitar ever and kill switches are gimmicky!!! 

(If you took this post seriously, seek psychiatric help)


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## Cowboyfromhell (Aug 26, 2013)

Well im a maple fretboard fanboy so .......... Awesome 8 string it looks reaaaaaally nice i hope it plays too. HNGD dude!


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## sakeido (Aug 26, 2013)

maliciousteve said:


> How does it sound with the Blackstar?
> 
> I ask because I'm considering down sizing my rig (moving to a small place) to a Ht20 1x12 combo. I'm a little concerned with the amp sounding too muddy for the low F#



unfortunately it doesn't sound good through any tube amp I've tried haha. The Diezel VH4 sounded decent but not great, my Invader I didn't really like it, and the Blackstar is right out... did not sound good at all! was great on the top 6 strings and pretty good on the B but for low F, F# neighborhood stuff Axe FX is the only way to go. 



Konfyouzd said:


> Dog... Didn't you read that ONE post ab these? Worst guitar ever and kill switches are gimmicky!!!
> 
> (If you took this post seriously, seek psychiatric help)



oh totes, bro, i didn't realize until i read that post but this guitar does in fact suck more balls than i previously thought was possible


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## Dawn of the Shred (Aug 27, 2013)

Congrats!


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## MikeK (Aug 27, 2013)

Hows the string tension on this feel compared to the Ibby 8s?


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## AdamWe (Aug 30, 2013)

I recieved mine and was a little disappointed by the Guitar.
- Several frets (too much for 805,00 ) are "fretting out" (even adjusting the neck and bridge did not help a bit -> seems to be a flaw in the production-process).
- The Neckbinding has deep scratches (wood is visible) from the 24th to 9th fret
- Also the sound kind of the contrary of that what I hoped to get. (Too much mud - even in slight crunch)

The 1st and 3rd reason were the dealbreakers for me. 
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures (I already wrapped it for delivery again)

Maybe it was just a lemon... 

But I am kinda angry, since this guitar has some serious Potential to be a real badass guitar.

The things I liked:
- Has a cool look (the body reminds me of the Galaxy-Black on the RG2228GK and the fretboard is also awesome since I LOVE Maple).
- Stunning neck: It felt just incredibly nice (imo better than my Ibby Universe) also the neckjoint felt like it wasn't even existing.
- Cool features (Straplocks, Planetwave-Tuners, Kill-switch etc.)

In conclusion:
COULD have been a very nice guitar. I am kinda mad at the production since they wasted so much potential with this guitar.



MikeK said:


> Hows the string tension on this feel compared to the Ibby 8s?


Ibbies have a 27 inch scale so the string tension is already a little higher. The Jackson has 26.5 inch and stock 9-65 Strings (pretty wobbly) but with 10s on it feels a little nicer
Imo Ibanez made the better decision by choosing a 27 inch scale for their 8-Stringers. 


Sorry for the long post and bad english, folks. 


Greetz AdamWe


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## ForwardProgression (Sep 5, 2013)

Mine will arrive soon soooo what string gauge did you put on it?


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## sakeido (Sep 5, 2013)

haha still stock strings on the top 6. then a 56 for the B and a 68 for the F#. 68 for the F# is too loose I am going to step it up to a 75 soon


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## Jameslewis777 (Sep 5, 2013)

throw an .080 on that bitc


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## Rev2010 (Sep 5, 2013)

sakeido said:


> . 68 for the F# is too loose I am going to step it up to a 75 soon



I have a 26.5" scale Schecter and am using a .074 for the F# and I'll tell you ahead it's still a bit flubby. It plays ok, but if you do shit like tight fast Meshuggah strum patterns forget about it, the string won't keep up. I don't do anything that tight and fast but I still find I want something a bit more tense. Since I just got my 27" scale Carvin 8 I'm going to try the same gauge strings since the half inch extra scale length will create some extra tension and see how that goes, but you might want to look at a slightly heavier gauge for your DKA8.


Rev.


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## Eclipse (Sep 5, 2013)

That's hot stuff. Oh and cool Axe-Fx.


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## sakeido (Sep 6, 2013)

Rev2010 said:


> I have a 26.5" scale Schecter and am using a .074 for the F# and I'll tell you ahead it's still a bit flubby. It plays ok, but if you do shit like tight fast Meshuggah strum patterns forget about it, the string won't keep up. I don't do anything that tight and fast but I still find I want something a bit more tense. Since I just got my 27" scale Carvin 8 I'm going to try the same gauge strings since the half inch extra scale length will create some extra tension and see how that goes, but you might want to look at a slightly heavier gauge for your DKA8.
> 
> 
> Rev.



I used to play Sikth songs all the time, drop A on a 52 gauge string so I can handle the flub. I am not the biggest fan of how your tone changes with really fat strings 



tristanroyster said:


> That's hot stuff. Oh and cool Axe-Fx.



I remember like five or six years ago if you posted a pic with a Diezel in it everyone would go "WHOAAAA DIEZEL" but now the Axe FX is cooler. times have changed!


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## Wolfenstein98k (Jan 21, 2015)

Sorry to resurrect the thread, but I noticed you're in Aus and got it for $1000. I'm also an Aussie, and was about to chase one up second hand for $1050... may I ask where you got this one from? I'd love to get one new, and if I could save a bit of dosh, all the better! 

Thanks


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## sakeido (Jan 22, 2015)

sorry man I'm actually in Canada! 

$1,050 AUS for a secondhand one is pretty good, that's about $850usd which is maybe $200 more than the guitar sells for secondhand in North America. dunno what it is with Jacksons but they do not hold their value secondhand at all, mine is gathering dust but I won't sell it because I can't get anything for it


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