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Here is the story on this guitar. This, like the guitar I built earlier started from a bout with nostalgia.
I mentioned in that thread a certain bright red Charvel guitar with a floyd that I sold in the early 90’s and to this day wish I hadn’t. The main reason I sold it was I had just purchased a black Gibby Les Paul and was really starting to dislike all the pains a floyed presents, especially considering that I am anything but a whammy bar user.
Well, I still had the guy’s number who I sold it to and I was pretty sure he hasn’t touched it much in the years he had it, so I gave him a call and asked him if he still had it and would sell it back to me. At first he seemed really open to the idea and said he’d call me when he was available for me to check it out. No call several days later, so I called him again and this time he was very unsure about selling it, but he’d call me if he changed his mind. Two weeks later and no call.
On to ebay.
I lost 4 guitars to snipers then came accross this guitar with a BIN Price. The pictures were beautiful and the ad said excellent condition and 100% ready to play, so I pulled the trigger.

I emailed the guy the next day because I didn’t even think to ask ahead of time if it came with the bar, which it didn’t, so I placed an order with stew-mac and one arrived 2 days later.

I got the guitar about 5 days after the auction and the main thing I noticed was that it needed some cleaning up and the strings were very old and 2 of them were basically hinging by threads. I noticed that the bar I had purchased for it and the thread bushing on the guitar were defiantly not a match, but stew-mac includes the who assembly with their bars so a replacement of the bushing and I was in business. Then I took apart the floyd and cleaned it up then cleaned up the fretboard, reassembled the floyd and set the tension on it. First thing I noticed after getting it to pitch was that the action was still very high and I knew there would not be enough adjustment available. I then sighted down the neck and sure enough it was bowed pretty good.

I called a tech I know that has a shop some distance away and had no luck getting a hold of him for the next couple days. I have done truss rod adjustments on several occasions before to my other guitars but never on one this severe, but I decided to take the job on myself. I followed a procedure of make an adjustment of just under ¼ turn and let the neck settle for a few minutes. Tune the guitar to pitch and let sit for at least two hours. Check the relief again and go back to step one. It took about 6 adjustments over 2 days time, with that last 3 making all the difference in the world. I now finally have the neck with a very slight relief.

The body of the guitar is in near flawless condition. I replaced the stock Jackson pickup in the bridge with a JB SH-4. The neck is a lot thinner and a bit wider than any of my other guitars. That is exactly what I was looking for. I spent a few hours with it today and got to plug it in for the first time since getting it Monday. The neck is really nice fast playable. I have the action set to my standard 2mm above the frets without buzz.
I still don’t think I will ever purchase another guitar through ebay ever again. I think I ended up very lucky on this one.
Here are some pics.can´t see the pics....

Sorry it didn´t work out as well as you expected, I´m also getting more and more leary of axes on ebBay even though so far I´ve never been shafted

Ok, I fixed the pics, they were working fine earlier but there now seems to be too much traffic on other server so i uploaded them to photobucket

In the end, it turned out to be fine. The guitar is ultimately exactly what I wanted. The main problem I had with the whole experience was the unneeded stress. Overall, my ebay experiences have been extremely positive, this one has been too, just wish I didnt have to deal with the stress of dealing with the neck. I think I might email who I bought it from and suggest that they have items such as guitars checked out by a professional before they list them.

Looks great, man. I'm sorry you had all that trouble, but it sounds like you got it worked out. I think you ended up with a really good guitar in the end.

That looks like PS-2 to me... I have one and I replaced the stock pups with an Evolution and a couple of blade style singles and it smokes. I like the trem, even thought it's a cheap copy, it stayle in tune amazingly!

Enjoy your new axe!

It´s definitely a PS-2, or at least the body of one.... the Neck ans the quot;drive a truck thru the middlequot; dot spacing at the 12th fret lead to a Korean made one..

Not a bad guitar at all, no comparison to a USA or Japanese Jackson, and the korean ones were a bit spotty... but the good ones were still good

Wow! You guys know your jacksons. I had to do some research to figure that out on another PS-2 jackson I lost before I got this one. This one however displays quot;PS-2quot; on the trem cover.

When I finally got to talk to my tech (a little too late), he said he thought it was japaneese. So I take it that some of the PS-2's were made in Japan and some were made in Korea?

Correct... The japanese ones (the ´95 ones) and Korean ones (post ´96, I think in ´99 they were discontinued and the korean factory closed forever) can be told apart by the spacing of the dots at the 12th fret.. if they´re closer together than on a fender (ie Charvelish), then it´s jap, if they´re practiccly off the fretboard such as here it´s korean

OK, thanks

I did some more research and found that jacksons with a 7 digit serial beginning with a #9 are japanese made and the ones with an 8 or 9 digit serial beginning with a #1 are Korean made.

Well, mine is a 7 digit serial that begins with a #1. go figure.Oh and to clarify or correct myself. The quot;PS-2quot; is not on the quot;trem coverquot;. I meant to say quot;Trussquot; cover, but you guys probably figured that one out.

Looks like you'd done a very good job on straightening out the neck. It may be stressful for you to try to take care of the neck for three days without knowing if it would turn out OK, but at the end, I think you got the satisfaction of getting it set to the way you wanted. No pain, no gain. It looks beautiful. Congratulations!

thanks

yes, there is definately satisfaction in getting the job done well, but the main stress is related to the fact that it was more i guess an impulse buy that I didnt consult my wife in. Of course with the female persuasions being psychic, she knew what I had done the next day and commenced to giving me the riot act.

Then I receive a guitar with a nicely bowed neck and face the prospect of telling my wife that not only did i make such a selfish purchase but I also have to put even more money in it to even make it playable.

Well, her psychic abilities must have limits, because I dont think she ever knew anything about the neck being the way it was and thankfully, I never have to tell her as much.