RG Wizard Neck on a Jackson DK?

[JazzMac251]

So i bought this pretty decent jackson from a friend of mine on the cheap. I really want to fix it up and make it really nice. I really want a Jem, but they are pretty much prohibitively expensive for me at this point. I wanted to buy a Jem neck, but quickly found out that you pretty much can't get those anywhere. I did some research and found that the Japanese Wizard IIs that come off RGs are very similar in specifications, so i decided to get one of those - specifically a neck from an RG370.

It arrived today and, upon taking it out of the box, i realized that the neck joints are rather different. It's going to take some work to fit the RG onto the DK body. It will likely require some filler material to come relatively close to a tight fit. Wizard II is AANJ, Jackson necks are Fender-style. I also noticed that the two necks are very similar in profiles and specs already (perhaps not radius).

My question is this: do you think it's going to be worth the money/time to install this RG neck? Am i really going to notice the difference? Is the RG a nicer neck?

I wish i could be more specifc about my DK specs, but I bought this guitar secondhand from a friend and information from Jackson imports is notoriously incomplete. I do know that it's a Japanese made DK with sharktooth inlays made sometime in the 90's. I also know it's not the lowest-rung, POS DK's as it came stock with a double locking floyd rose and a nifty red-and-black swirly paint job. However, i'm reasonably sure it's not the upgraded DK Soloist model. I'm guessing a DK2 or something similar

I'm don't really know much about necks - especially not jackson necks - so i would really appreciate some input from you gear heads out there.

Thanks!

[cornstar70]

yeah man, sounds like a cool project. But, anytime you do these multi-brand retrofits it would be a good idea to find a local luthier to at least evaluate it, if not, do it for you. I don't think you should really be looking at the dimensions of the neck, but rather the dimensions of the mount and heel socket since that's where the parts are conjoined. I have both a DK2 and an RG570 and just comparing the two I can see that you're going to run into some problems. Jackson DK2 necks are cut short at the mount to where the fretboard hangs over the mount so it lies right next to the neck pickup. In order to mount the wizard neck to the DK2 body, your going to have to shave and square off some of the neck below the fretboard. And this, my friend, is a risky project. I'm sure there is more stuff, but just eyeballing the two, that's the first thing I noticed. Now, since I can speak for both brands, I feel that the wizard neck is superior. It's much more slim, smooth, and fast. The wizard necks are the best i've played. The Jackson neck is not bad, but it has more of a fender-esque feeling to it. The jackson neck is fatter. My opinion, if you can make it happen, then you would have one fine guitar. Me personally, I would have someone do it if you really go thru with it. So why the DK2 body? Does it have to do with the SSH configuration?

[JazzMac251]

@corn:

Yeah, i saw that too. good call. Also, the holes for the bolts dont line up as they should. on the RG neck there's one hole that isnt in line with the others in order to make room for a more pronounced taper going into the heel. this taper isnt going to sit flat with the rest of the joint.

I'm glad someone that has both instruments responded. Do you think there's significant difference in quality/playability with these necks to justify such an effort?

[cornstar70]

Originally Posted by JazzMac251

@corn:

Yeah, i saw that too. good call. Also, the holes for the bolts dont line up as they should. on the RG neck there's one hole that isnt in line with the others in order to make room for a more pronounced taper going into the heel. this taper isnt going to sit flat with the rest of the joint.

I'm glad someone that has both instruments responded. Do you think there's significant difference in quality/playability with these necks to justify such an effort?

Yeah, the Wizard is definitely superior. Like I said, if you can somehow get these conjoined, it would be an awesome shredder. The taper can cause a problem also. But I think a luthier could possibly put some kind of filler and/or wedge in there to correct that. I've seen some gnarly stuff from luthiers. I would get someone to evaluate it just to see if it's even plausible. Good luck

[cornstar70]

Hey man, if you do decide to pursue this, you're definitely going to have to provide pictures.

[JazzMac251]

if i end up going through with it then i'll definitely post some pics

[JazzMac251]

anyone else having any thoughts? are these necks different enough to justify the time and energy required to pull this off?

(bump)