Megadeth (5)

Welcome to out sanguinary sect of worship,
Feel at home in our black conventicle,
As we anathematise,
All of those who oppose us,
Don't summon the devil,
Don't call the priests,
If you need the strength,
The conjuring. Obey!!!

Behold the flames rise,
From the compass' cardinal points,
Burn the sacred oil,
And, with the ashes you'll annoint,

Arrange the symbols,
Of the wizard, and, magician,
Light the candles,
Place the parchment paper in position,
Between its leaves place,
The lash from a black cat's eye,
A straw of a broom,
Fold, and, burn, and, centralise,

Don't summon the devil,
Don't call the priests,
If you need the strength,
The conjuring,

Jackson KV Dave Mustaine 'Megadeth logo'

Back when I was in high school, there wasn't Youtube, and in my part of the world there wasn't even MTV or any cable TV yet. You only saw how bands looked like in outdated import Kerrang or RAW magazines (which covered real metal in those days) passed around among all your friends. Your only chance of even watching any video of bands was to buy VHS videotapes, which was a risky proposition because they cost 2-3 times as much as a proper album on cassette. Equivalent to half a month's allowance! (And to think kids today can get it all for free on youtube, on demand!) One day I noticed a bunch of Megadeth 'Rusted Pieces' videotapes in the video shop bargain bin. I had to think long and hard about getting it, because the back cover only showed 6 video clips, with a runtime of only 40 mins. Not promising the greatest value on the face of it. But since it was half price, I decided to risk it though it would mean skipping a couple of school lunches. A real gamble! How we suffered to be fans of bands in those days!
Now if you've ever watched this video collection, and you're a metal fan, you already know how this ends for young me. The first two clips alone, 'Peace Sells', and 'Wake up Dead' are fairly intense and seeing them for the first time you already felt like you got your money's worth. Then 'Holy Wars' kicks off and you had no doubt that this videotape sums up all that is great about heavy metal. Today, Megadeth is the band I've seen the most times live (6x).

This modified Jackson KV with 'Megadeth' logo, is a replica of Dave Mustaine's iconic customised King V as seen in the 'Holy Wars' video amongst many other early live appearances from 'Peace Sells' up to the 'Rust in Peace' era. The period-correct logo is under the clearcoat, not a decal. Vic clearly approves. I saw some loser copycat guy and I say that because he was a real douchebag who called himself a "big-time Jackson collector who only buys USA Jacksons" who kept hassling me about this guitar, eventually got his own replica made, but on a KV1 with LSRs and got the wrong stubbier Megadeth logo on it! Epic Fail! WTF if you can't even tell that the logo changed over the years, and Dave's logo guitar wasn't even an LSR guitar!
Discounting some minor variations to Dave's own axe(s) over the years... this has pretty much accurate basic pre-KV1 specifications.

Jackson KV1 Black Pearl

A production USA KV1 in black pearl. Few guitars are as synonymous with an artist than this. It seems that Jackson and Dave Mustaine really got it right with this one. That 90s Jackson USA quality cannot be beat. From the luxurious inlays to the speed of the neck, weight distribution, perfect match tonally with a Seymour Duncan TB-4, what more can you ask for? The KV1 is the ultimate metal machine! For that period of 15 years or so he used pretty much nothing else. You would see him even record in the studio with them and think wow, he's so badass. Can you imagine only ever playing a double V with pointy ends and sharkfin inlays, but then do you wanna rock n'roll or what?
This guitar came with Sperzel tuners. The original options would have been LSR or regular Schaller tuners, if i'm not mistaken. Having owned several KV1s with LSRs I can tell you that they look nice but add no particular functional improvement over a typical set of Gotoh tuners. Instead there is the possibility of mechanical freezing from disuse. My opinion is there is no use having something on if you're going to struggle with it. I consider the Sperzels an upgrade functionally, and also since they look good on the guitar and any old screw holes cannot be seen.

The black pearl is a very interesting colour somewhat like gunmetal gray. I've read comments on the internet by some weirdos who think that Dave only used black KV1s. What they don't realise is that live or concert lighting is not usually optimum for photography. As you can see in the tour equipment photos the black vs black pearl side by side. Of course Dave was not shy about using the equipment that he endorsed.

Here is the old black KV1 with LSR tuners. Let go a long time ago as I felt unworthy of such a nice guitar lol. Of course I regretted it for many years until I managed to get another.

In 2010, I was in Chicago downtown the Loop and walked into the Borders to browse through some magazines. The new Mustaine autobiography was out, but I was planning to get it from Amazon for cheap, until I noticed this solitary sign on a shelf, so fucking small you would have just passed it by, that said 'Signing - Dave Mustaine'. You could get it signed the next day, if you bought the book at full price from the store. Now I can be pretty cheap, and by this time I'd already seen Megadeth live enough times already, their profile wasn't really as high as it was before, plus I already had solid plans for the next day. So I wasn't really sure, but, the fanboy in me got the better of me, and I bought the damn book, just hoping to meet the legend for once in my life.

Thinking I could sneak off for a half hour or so to get my book signed, I went back the next day. Damn! there must have been 300 people there already. I refused to believe that all these people were there, taking time off work, for the "Dave Mustaine-signing" so I brazenly walked in and upstairs, past everybody and I couldn't even see to the end of the queue, which was snaking along each and every aisle. Sure enough the queue was really that long. I was among the last few people allowed to join it, and I ended up queuing for almost 2 hours! To his credit, Dave signed a LOT of autographs that day. Can't blame him that i ended up getting 'Wame Mutain"

Jackson KV1 Korina LSR

Another KV1 in a striking natural korina finish. This guitar really is a work of art, the construction is flawless, the tone is unique, plays like butter and is my favourite model though Dave himself didn't seem to use his korina Vs that much. He also had a custom Korina-Anarchy V seen with both regular and LSR tuners. I suppose he wasn't too particular about it

Jackson KE1 Marty Friedman trans black

I must admit to giving Marty short shrift in this collection over the years. I don't mean overlooking his contributions to Megadeth; without him Rust In Peace would not have gained the legendary status it has today, and by extension the success of subsequent Megadeth albums. But rather I was never particularly enamoured with his oddball image, and really who cares about the solo Japanese stuff since he moved to Japan, not even the Japanese themselves (I'm sorry to say) however I gained much new respect for him after reading his autobiography which was very funny and well-written. He's proven to be his own person and not just Dave's sidekick in Megadeth, however it's obvious that is a rather sticky thorn in his side and he'd really prefer you not wear a Megadeth shirt to his meet & greets, lol.
So I mean over the years I delayed getting a KE1 because I'm not sure I wanted to add a single-pickup single-knob guitar to my already overflowing collection, before I realized how cool they actually are and that they are actually much more rare than KV1s, and by then the prices had shot way up.

The fact is Marty, the lead playing on Rust In Peace blew everybody away, Cacophony and Shrapnel stuff are well-loved as well, but nobody really shares your enthusiasm about the Japanese stuff! (shrug) That's just the way the cards fall man...