The King V is an electric guitar model made by Jackson Guitars.

Origin and history

The Jackson King V was originally named after Robbin Crosby of Ratt, his nickname being "King". Crosby popularized the guitar throughout the 1980s, however the guitar he played most often was his Double Rhoads guitar, a modified design of the Jackson Rhoads guitar. King V model surfaced as a downsized version of the Double Rhoads, which was designed and targeted for a shorter, more ordinary person. (Crosby was 6.5 feet/198 cm tall, hence the nickname "King"). Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine eventually became the guitarist most identified with using this model. After creating a custom King V for Mustaine (completed October 10, 1986), the company later began mass-producing a Dave Mustaine Signature Series King V, which featured 24 frets (as opposed to the typical 22 frets) and would become one of their best selling guitars. This line continued into the early 2000s, when it underwent massive changes and became the Y2KV, a guitar based much more heavily on the Gibson Flying V. Mustaine then sold his entire personal collection of Jacksons, and subsequently signed endorsement deals with ESP Guitars in 2003, Dean Guitars in 2007, and Gibson Family Brands in 2021. (Gibson, Epiphone, Kramer)

Variants of the King V

Listed below is the range of King V models in chronological order.

San Dimas/Ontario custom-shop era (1980s–1990s)

Ontario mass production era (1990s)

FMIC Jackson brand era (2000s–)

Indian bolt-on Jackson has a NHJ serial (I(N)DIA, (H)ARMONY, (J)ACKSON, as Indonesia already took the I coded serial), while the MIJ continued to use their sequential serial starting with 96, 97 or 98. The KVX10 use a jack mount plate on the bottom wing next to the cavity.