Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland has officially unveiled his new Jackson signature model, the King V. The guitar does not emerge from a clean design room. It comes from a rejected left handed custom shop order, a customer who thought the ebony fretboard was not dark enough, and a tech named Kadaver who helped reroute an entire guitar to be played backwards.
Borland has been with Jackson for years, following his longtime rep Mike Tempesta from Yamaha to Jackson. He had a signature model at Yamaha, but the Jackson deal took longer to materialize. Borland has described it as a long time coming. The inspiration for the shape dates back to his childhood, watching Megadeth's "Go to Hell" video and seeing three Jackson necks in a row with shark tooth inlays. That image never left him.
The specific guitar that became the blueprint arrived around 2012 or 2013. Tempesta called Borland about a reverse headstock King V that a customer had rejected. The customer felt the ebony was not dark enough. Borland called the customer an asshole but agreed to take the guitar. When Tempesta opened the case, he realized it was left handed. Borland did not care. He took it anyway.
Borland and Kadaver turned the left handed guitar into a right handed project. They closed up the original electronics cavities. They rerouted new ones on the opposite side. They removed what Borland considered unnecessary features. The guitar became known as the Lefty, and it never left rotation. Borland has said that people online called the project stupid and ugly. His response was simple and direct. He told them they were ugly.
The signature model directly honors that guitar. It features a reverse headstock with the Jackson logo printed upside down, a small tribute to the left handed original. It has a Floyd Rose tremolo system, which Borland has used since his second guitar, a yellow Washburn KC-40V that cost him 300 dollars and taught him that he could not play guitars without a locking tremolo. He has compared his use of the Floyd Rose to a trombone player, using the bar to push and pull notes within rhythm riffs rather than just for solos.
The guitar also includes a Duncan Invader pickup. There is no tone knob. There is only one volume knob, and it has been moved far away from the pickup area. Borland has said he cannot stand guitars with the volume knob placed next to the pickup because it gets in the way of his whammy bar work. He watched Jack White's tech run through White's new signature Fender, which is loaded with extra features and hidden tricks, and Borland briefly felt bad that his own guitar had no tricks. Then he decided that was exactly the point. He wanted nothing that could cause problems on stage. He wanted the guitar to be bulletproof.
The input jack has also been relocated to the upper horn. Borland has had issues over the years with moisture getting into guitars during shows, and the new placement avoids that problem. He never keeps the spring cover on the back of the guitar. The springs remain exposed.
Borland's early guitar education was unconventional. He did not have an older brother to hand down records. His first albums were film scores. Then he discovered Minor Threat, the Misfits, and Metallica. His first guitar was an Infinox by JTG, a Humbucker Kelly knockoff that he bought for 80 dollars after mowing lawns in Nashville. He paired it with a 15 watt Gorilla amp from a pawn shop. He still owns that guitar.
The new signature model arrives during an unexpected resurgence for Limp Bizkit. Borland has noted that at nearly every show, Fred Durst asks the crowd who is attending their first Limp Bizkit concert, and 90 percent of the audience raises their hands. The crowds are young. They are throwing fireballs and lighting road flares. When asked about safety, Borland said there is no concern for safety. He said they are concerned for the fans, but the fans seem fine throwing fireballs at each other.
The Wes Borland Signature Jackson King V is now available. It has 24 frets, a Floyd Rose, a single Duncan Invader, one volume knob placed far from the pickups, an upside down Jackson logo, and no tone knob. It is the guitar Borland has been building toward since he flipped a left handed reject into a right handed monster. As he put it, people can talk about him. They can talk shit. He does not give a fuck.
