Kelly

An aggressive vaguely Explorer shaped guitar named after Bradford Kelly of Heaven in the early 80s (more specifically a ‘Special Explorer’ which had a larger ‘King Kelly’ body size than modern Kelly guitars). Since then many other players like Marty Friedman have made it a Jackson family mainstay. Kelly guitars usually have a typical Jackson neck, two humbucker pickups, a locking tremolo, 24 frets, and a neck-thru or bolt-on neck. That is not always however, there 22 fret versions with accordingly altered body dimensions and of course the three different body sizes overall. (See additional references at bottom)

A Marty Friedman signature USA Kelly from 1996. Poplar body until ’00 where its Alder body, optional quilt maple top. Quartersawn maple neck (neck-thru), bound ebony fretboard, 24 frets, pearl sharkfin inlays, single Seymour Duncan TB-4 bridge pickup. Kahler AMP3310 bridge. One volume knob. Finishes: black, snow white pearl, trans black, trans blue