A-muse-ing

Before being admitted for my cancer treatment last month, I bought this guitar. It's the Epiphone SG Muse. I've been wanting to try / purchase one all along but Swee Lee only brought in the LP version, the SGs came in much later. The colours of these SGs are inspired by nail polish (not all, I was informed, only the glittery ones). My initial impression of this guitar - aMUSEing. More appraisal to come.

It's NYE so here's farewell to 2020... 👋 Please observe safety protocols if you are attending external celebrations, getting arrested/ fined today is just not worth it.

Now where have you seen that jersey motif before? Hmm... 😆

Pics: Man City/ Sweetwater

LTD 2021

The LTD camp did a Black Metal series featuring all black (no surprises there) instruments sporting a single bridge pickup in 2020. 2021 will see the Arctic Metal series unleashed unto the metal masses with white being the finish of choice for all things frosty & merciless.

There are a few models in the series, I'm just showing two here. Seeing these guitars in the LTD 2021 catalog implies a certain degree of success in terms of numbers. Players in general do not look forward to owning an instrument with a single pickup, it's a niche demand. LTD must have done something right along the way so the single pickup iteration is now riding on a colour variant. 

Pics: ESPguitars

Mustaine - Dean: Parting ways

Dave Mustaine is leaving Dean. This is his final week with the manufacturer & he managed to confirm this in a reply to someone in cyberspace. Rumour has it that he will be in the Gibson camp come 2021. There's a pic going round of the prototype, purportedly by a Gibson employee & he nearly got fired for it. I think Mustaine will be happy with whichever company that entertains his quirks. 

PIC: Grammy

Heavy resurrection

 

Folks, the other anticipation at the close of 2020 is the HM-2 pedal. What's the big deal, you ask? This was the pedal that single-handedly gave birth to the so called Swedish Death Metal tone. It's also noted that David Gilmour had one in his pedal board once upon a time so there's more to the HM-2 than being an exclusive slave to heavy music. 

However, the HM-2 would be released as a Waza Craft model. It means paying a little more than what it should list for without the WC extras. This is currently dividing the HM-2 camp into the purist vs revisionist movements. BOSS did a clever thing by asking fans to contribute to the design features of the pedal so the final manifestation has some user ownership rather than dictating the revised features per se. 

I would hear what the new HM-2 has to offer before committing to purchase. If there's any dissent for a good, angry distortion pedal, it would be a lack of midrange. 

Gen 565

 

This is easily the key highlight at the close of 2020 - Ibanez reintroduces the RG565 as a Genesis model. This means you get a Japanese made instrument at its most affordable. However, since the J-line series aren't here yet, those might just be the most affordable of the no-frills Japanese offerings.

The 565 should embrace the 550 details & would miss that 're-issue' tag owing to the neck construction; it's a contemporary 5-piece parallel attachment with a neck volute. All in all, it's good to see more Genesis models making the fold & I believe Ibanez fans out there would want to see other models inducted into this range of instruments; some S-models would be good. 

PICS: Ibanez

Home

 

Home after 52 days. Thank you for all your prayers & keeping me in your thoughts. Despite the discharge, I am required to undergo chemo for at least a quarter of the year as an outpatient. This will be costly & I would be clearing some gear to fund the therapy. One thing's for sure - I cannot afford to be trigger happy when it comes to gear acquisition now. Things have turned for me so it's embrace-&-move-on mode from now on.

Please be patient with me if the entries are less frequent but I'm looking forward to make up for lost time. ✌🏽