KX600

Neil Zaza's back with Cort. This KX600 is his doing. It's a simple design with delivery in mind. Pickups are Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers & we hope there would be passive options along the way. If only that headstock finish matches the body. Also, those inlays are too big for some of us. Anyway, looks aside, this guitar was conceived to not get in your way of achieving great tones & maximum playability.

Pic: Cort

PO Origin prices

Jackson's Pro-Origin 1985 models are in stock at Swee Lee, prices are documented above. Some of us would refrain from buying non-American products in this price bracket. Strangely, guitar players are a strange breed, price justifications are strictly personal. This is why Squier got away with the Hello Kitty guitars. But it's your money anyway, you call the shots.

Pics: Jackson

Pickguard

Solar guitars are featuring pickguards on some models, the one you see here is the A1.6DBOP. Not a fan.

Pic: SOLAR

Badder

This debuted last year. Waiting for it to appear in the stores here. There are more features in this one compared to the previous iteration. Let's see if this is riding on its predecessor's hype.

Pic: Digitech

Green P (4)

Just reached home from Beez's. This guitar had its electronics overhauled (90%) & ready to rock.

The pickups in this one are DiMarzios less the middle one which is a factory default Ibanez single coil: Crunch Lab (b) / Breed (n). I don't really fancy DiMarzios but since I have these lying around, they were put to good use. The sparkle finish isn't really obvious in this pic.

I nearly threw this away without realizing there's one more set left. Summary of what took place with this Ibanez RG2570Z:

• Body re-finish. Only the top part was done to cover the worn out surfaces & countless scratches. Green sparkle (mild) finish with a final lacquer overcoat. Took a few days to cure, leaving it in the sun helped. 
• Cleaned bridge. Thorough cleaning, wipe down + polish.
• Replaced pickups, pots & selector switch. Only bridge & neck pickups were replaced. Middle default pickup was left in tact. New, smoother & non-scratchy pots were installed. 5-way selector was also replaced. All pots + selector switch are Japanese products. 
• Removed all corroded screws. So many rusty & oxidized screws, all replaced.
• Clean other hardware. Thorough cleaning, wipe down + polish top lock & tuners.
• Fret re-dress. Some were re-crowned.
• Action set up. After shimming the neck pocket, a low, shred-worthy action was achieved.
• Cleaned fretboard. A good amount of gunk was removed & fretboard was re-oiled. Happy with the outcome.
• Cleaned headstock. Headstock was wiped down & polished. Love the shine.

So much work done but it's a fulfilling task for me. I am very happy to be occupied & applying my know-how & witnessing a dead instrument come back to life. It had been a good Saturday.

JT Micro

This was my final purchase of 2025. The beat-making adventure continues...