WES BORLAND has spent decades building one of the most recognizable looks and sounds in modern heavy music. Now, that vision finally has a signature Jackson guitar to match.
Jackson Guitars has unveiled the Pro Series Signature Wes Borland King V KV, marking the first official collaboration between the company and the LIMP BIZKIT guitarist. Built to Borland’s exact specifications, the guitar strips away distractions and focuses on the essentials: volume, reliability, and enough firepower to survive the chaos of a live show.
“It’s taking me a long time to figure out what I need as a guitar player. For me, you just need volume, pickups, a locking tremolo system, and 24 frets, that’s it,” Wes Borland says. “Live, it just needs to be as bulletproof as possible. You know, I’ve been very rough with guitars over the years. I’ve come to realize that the more streamlined our guitars are, the less problems we have on stage… You know Jackson is fun, the over-the-top, shred-a-copter shapes and my outrageous stage costumes pushing the boundaries, this fits in more with that. The way people dress, it affects how you behave, and I think it also changes how I play guitar.”
The guitar features a Seymour Duncan Invader SH8 pickup, a Floyd Rose 1500 Series tremolo system, neck-through construction, and the King V body shape, a design long associated with Jackson’s most aggressive models.
One of its most distinctive features came by accident.
According to Jackson Product Development Manager Peter Wichers, Borland fell in love with a modified left-handed King V that had been converted for right-handed play, leaving the Jackson logo upside down on the reverse headstock. The look stuck.
“He loved it, so we kept it,” Wichers says. “That happy accident became one of the most iconic details of the whole build.”
The result feels appropriately Borland: unconventional, stripped down, and built to make a statement before a single note leaves the amp.
For players chasing technical precision, stage-ready durability, or simply a guitar that looks like it escaped from another dimension, Jackson’s latest signature model checks all the boxes, and it’s definitely resonating.
I make no effort to hide my love of Limp Bizkit and Borland’s playing, and I immediately hit the Jackson website, thinking about snagging one of these guitars for myself. Unfortunately, it’s currently sold out. I’m overdue for a new axe, and judging by the response, a bunch of other players are too.
