K. K. Downing

According to Guitar Geek's 2004 rig diagram, Downing used EMG 81 pickups on his Flying V's.

In this image, Downing can be seen performing live with his custom scallop necked Flying V. In a March 7, 2019 interview with full in bloom, Downing states that he's been using scalloped neck guitars since roughly 1984:

full in bloom: "Were you shocked when the ’67 Gibson Flying V sold for almost $200,000?"

K.K.: "Yeah (laughs). I was expecting, to be honest, about half that."

full in bloom: "I think on the (auction) site they estimated it to be around 10 to 20 thousand dollars."

K.K.: "Yeah, I think that’s probably just to get a massive audience. I don’t know how it works, myself. Obviously that was a 1967 Flying V and Gibson only made 111 of those guitars, and those guitars were put in some pretty famous hands, to be fair. I don’t know everyone that had one…I know Dave Davies from The Kinks had one. I know Jimi Hendrix had one. I know that Andy Powell from Wishbone Ash had one, still plays that guitar, he does. I know that Marc Bolan had one. I know that Keith (Richards) from the Rolling Stones had one. I do know where a lot more went, but there wasn’t that many to go around. Obviously I got my hands on one. Obviously the Schenkers had a couple. So they were bound to have been worth more than 20….I was offered $25,000 more than 20 years ago, cash there and then by a guy that went to a concert. That guitar was used on a lot of stuff, a lot of concerts. It was my flagship guitar, for sure. But I retired that guitar a long time ago because it was getting too valuable. So I’d never take it out on the road, and now I’m using scalloped frets and all of that sort of stuff. So, nice to pick up now and then but really there’s not a great value in that. I’ve still got some very, very nice and some very valuable guitars."

full in bloom: "You use the scalloped neck now, huh?"

K.K.: "I’ve been using the scalloped frets now since about 1984."

full in bloom: "Oh crap, I didn’t know that. (laughs)"

K.K.: "Yeah, yeah. Every guitar I’ve had since then has got scalloped frets."

full in bloom: "What would you say is the benefit of that? I have played on them before but it almost seems like it’s harder or something."

K.K.: "Yeah, but if you’re a little guy like me, not very strong hands and all that, then scalloped frets can really help. I use light gauge strings but it still takes a bit of pushing, here and there, really. Especially if you want to get those tone and half bends in. In particular, the main reason, especially when you still have got soft skin…I used to get calluses on my fingertips but I don’t really get calluses anymore because you’re using light gauge strings and scalloped frets. I find I can make those bends a lot easier, because, the thing is, you get fingertip friction and that’s why a lot of guys went to jumbo frets, you know, to get less finger friction. There’s not that much friction with the finger and the fretboard, so that does help. You can get your finger more sideways on the string when you’re bending, when you push it, as opposed to having to push down and then laterally. So, it’s just one of those things. Once I tried it, I just liked it and never went back. Way back we’d still play hot and sweaty clubs and so doing those bends just became a lot easier with scalloped frets, really….a bit more reassuring."

[...]

-full in bloom

According to EMG's official site, K. K. uses EMG 85 pickups in his guitars.

According to EMG's official site, K. K. uses EMG 81X pickups in his guitars.

According to EMG's official site, K. K. uses EMG 85X pickups in his guitars.