Jackson and Scott Ian have teamed up again to refresh the Anthrax riff-master’s King V signature guitar in gloss Black finish, with gold hardware, and a super-cool old-school logo on the headstock.
Not that we are an easy mark but we would legit buy this on the strength of that headstock aesthetic, the gold marker pen-style Jackson logo, the angular six-in-line profile… It’s magnificent. But the rest of the guitar isn’t bad either. And at £739/$799, this Indonesian made X Series model makes for a pretty sweet deal.
“I just wanted something that really evoked precision,” says Ian. “I just wanted it to look tight, and look great. The black and gold combination, I just hadn’t seen one or anything like this in a long time. That’s always the hardest thing, coming up with something new.”
The last time Ian and Jackson worked on a colour finish this notable, well, it was not that long ago come to think of it. Ian’s Baldini Burst King V launched in March 2023, with the eponymous slime green burst taking its name from the late Dimebag Darrell’s nickname for Ian.
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That was unapologetically a metal guitar – and is Floyd-equipped, too. With its gold hardware and pickup coverings, the block inlays, three-ply pickguard and the adjustable TOM-style bridge, there’s some faintly Custom Shop about this. It’s the King V in a tuxedo.
“The colourway works amazing, and of course the old-school Jackson logo, that’s pretty much the pièce de résistance!” says Ian. “I love it. I love the way it came out, and it plays even better than it looks.”
This has a mahogany body, a neck-through-body maple neck that’s reinforced with graphite and a scarf joint. Nice and stable. The fingerboard is laurel – as you’d expect at this price – but when it is bound like this it scrubs up nicely. It conforms to Jackson’s 12” to 16” compound radius that is across most of its guitars right now (notable exceptions include the Misha Mansoor Juggernaut, which has a 20” fingerboard radius).
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It is equipped with a pair of high-output Jackson humbuckers, which might sound generic on paper but will get the job done for the hurly burly business of playing Anthrax-style riffs. Stomp… Stomp… Stomp…
And, again, at this price, this is the kind of instrument you would upgrade over time – you can always save up and drop a pair of Seymour Duncan electric guitar pickups in there. A JB at the bridge, ’59 at the neck would be on brand.
The X Series Scott Ian King V is available now. Watch the man himself introduce it at the top of the page. See more of it over at Jackson.
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