Co-exist

These days, I won't hesitate to go with the flow. Started with DiMarzios, played some Indonesian-esque tunes, sounded fantastic in all positions. Then I switched to some metal / heavy riffing which the DiMarzios couldn't really handle even after tweaking the amp's EQ for a bit. So out came the Duncans & everything was good, till I decided to return to those Indonesian-esque group of notes which requires some rounded top end - back to the DiMarzios. No blind loyalty (what's the point, I wasn't commissioned to begin with), go with what works.

Goodbye, October...

Ibanez - DB

Ibanez - Dragon Ball collaboration, might be the final feature for 2026 as it is unusual (from previous observations) for the manufacturer to release stuff in November / December. This is one of the many items released, a Japanese RG.

The fact that it features a block heel joint, it might be a tweaked Genesis RG550, however, it comes with a hard case. 

Pics: Ibanez

Prophecy Victory

The Victory model is now offered in the Epiphone lineup under the Prophecy Series. The body is not as curved as the Gibson version & it features an FR1000 bridge. Not my thing. Hopefully there's a simpler fixed bridge version along the way.

Pic: Epiphone

 

Break

Was at Malacca the last couple of days. Came here intentionally on a weekday to witness the quieter side of things. Had a great night walk by the river.

Main intention was to visit the Art Museum to get ideas for next year when I return to work (hopefully).

Managed to track this store down but they didn't have what I wanted. Had been a good time, walked a lot, clocked more than 20K steps each day. Tiring but enjoyable.

Rectify (3)

After rectifying the bridge saddle issue & looking into the bridge pickup height, I spent a few days playing this one. I like the Telecaster body outline, 22 frets & fixed bridge. These are simple features that help me focus on my playing. Pickups in there are the Super Distortion S models. The neck version has a wonderful grittiness that prevents notes from sounding too rounded & muddy.

A fresh set of strings before play. Someone was asking me why I keep playing cheap strings. Well, these are good strings which happen to be affordable - why not?

MoMM (68)

This is an under-whelming release. The closing number was annoying & uninspiring (> 11min). It's like they ran out of ideas for a song & it was stretched using minor changes to buy recording time. I actually look forward to this one but I guess the band's undergoing a downturn.