Anthrax's Scott Ian honors Dimebag Darrell with new "Baldini Burst" signature Jackson X Series King V guitar
An homage to the Pantera legend's "Dime Slime" models, the shred-ready six-string also brings a host of other upgrades to Ian's mid-priced line of signature King Vs
Anthrax electric guitar player Scott Ian has joined forces with Jackson once again to create a new version of his X Series King V signature guitar.
What sets this V apart from Ian's previous mid-priced X Series signature Vs in particular is its "Baldini Burst" finish, an homage to Ian's late friend, Pantera axe-slinger Dimebag Darrell.
You can see the thrash guitar ace put the new model through its paces below.
The "Baldini Burst" look – so named for "Baldini," Dimebag's nickname for Ian – is an homage to Dimebag Darrell's "Dime Slime"-finished signature models.
Finish aside, the guitar features a nyatoh body (as opposed to the mahogany bodies of Ian's other X Series V models) and a graphite-reinforced through-body maple neck sporting a 12”-16” compound radius rosewood fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets and pearloid block inlays.
The guitar's electronics also stand out, with a pair of Jackson High-Output humbuckers taking the place of the Duncan Designed HB-103 'buckers found on other X Series Ian Vs. The control set, however, remains the same, with individual volume and tone knobs and a three-way toggle pickup switch available for sonic tweaking.
Another new addition to the Ian X Series King V line comes in the form of the "Baldini"'s recessed Floyd Rose Special Double-Locking tremolo, with Jackson sealed die-cast tuners also highlighting the axe's hardware.
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"This guitar was 100 percent inspired by Dimebag," Ian says. "Darrell had what he called the Dime Slime [finish], and I had a Custom Shop [model] done as an homage to Darrell's Dime Slime."
"When I started playing that guitar live, people were flipping the fuck out over that guitar and how it looked. People were blown away [and asking] 'When is that going to be available?' Well, now it's available!"
The "Baldini Burst" Jackson X Series Scott Ian King V is available now for $899, $100 more than its Ian KVXT siblings.
For more info on the guitar, visit Jackson.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
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