Japanese convention

Had been spending time with these two lately: Ibanez AZ2203N / Fender Traditional 70s (Japan). While both sport similar attributes, these are two different beasts.

Ibanez AZ2203N: Heavier than its Fender counterpart, more bass tones regardless of clean / distorted settings. The Seymour Duncan pickups love drive / distortion. The neck here is thicker than the Fender, to be more precise it's a thick D. Not saying the Fender has a thin neck but this one's thicker. 

Fender Traditional 70s Stratocaster: Lighter than the Ibanez, more treble-ish. Default pickups dislike excessive gain / drive. The neck profile is the typical Fender C, the edges are not really rounded & this will affect those thumb-over-the-edge players. Thinner frets, will not appeal to shredders or those peddling bass notes most of the time. 

Will one of these guitars replace the other in terms of needs? No. While both are single-coil equipped, the voicings on offer here are rather different. If you thrive on modern single coil tones, the Ibanez is a wise pick. The Fender is, well, a typical Fender. The default Japanese pickups are clunkier & rather harsh, very suitable for those in-your-face blues tones. Not influencing any choices if you are in for a triple single coil guitar, just putting things in perspective. 

60th

Happy 60th birthday to the nation. I have stopped watching parades commemorating this day. I renew my allegiance in reserved retreat. While we are united on this day to acknowledge our roots & pride, people still remain subservient to the narrative that continues to bleed them. They are afraid to approach, understand & embrace change. They rely on people with curated narratives in ensuring their future are attended to objectively. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Strat-ty Friday

I will always have this urge to hear certain guitars in action. So it's a Friday evening, it's the holiday eve, time for some Strat action. This is my Traditional 70s Japanese Strat which could be purchased for $1.3K back in the day (pre-COVID). 

This is also my opportunity to share some opinion on the Alice guitar strings (.009 set) since the guitar requires a re-string before proceedings.

Unlike the Alice of before, there are no individual paper envelopes for each string this time round, only a single plastic one & I applaud them for this move. It's the perfect time to be showing some care for the environment.

The respective gauges were neatly latched into the holes as seen above so that strings don't get entangled when uncoiled for use. 

Despite all these efforts in upgrading their product packaging / presentation, the immediate impact here is the feel. The Alice of today still feels like a sub-par budget set, these could not match Olympia considering both are in the same price bracket. I have no idea if these should be installed immediately upon purchase but more than two weeks have passed before I got things going. I might give it a benefit of the doubt & maybe try another set just to eliminate this mitigating factor. For the record, the most repulsive strings that I've come across in terms of feel is the Orphee brand. This Alice set, I must say, sits above the Orphee but still not quite appealing. It's like some chemical reactions took place in the packaging before the strings were installed & the fingers could actually feel this difference.

Shimmed

This is my AZ2203N in prussian blue finish. This has been discontinued, the remaining finish in the catalog is the seafoam green. I left the default strings in tact since Day 1, those were a set of 10s. I brought this guitar out to have 9s in there instead. If you are interested, this is my personal take on the AZ2203N: CLICK 

After the re-string, the action felt wrong. Wrong here is that discordant feel when things don't go my way. As this is my guitar, it has to conform to my way(s), no compromise. After spending a day with 9s which felt very repulsive & assessing the situation, I decided to shim the pocket. This was the simple remedy that did wonders. The point I'm trying to drive at is this; we sometimes assume that a simple change in string gauge would not cause an adverse reaction to set up but that's quite a grave assumption. I'm not saying there should be a microscopic assessment of things after a change in string gauge but it's definitely a consideration if things don't click as well as before. 

E-II: SN 3

I'm not a fan of ESP's Snapper headstock but the reverse version here looks acceptable (to me). This is a pretty neat SN 3 (Available at Davis GMC: $2,900) with simple details that will spur you to play. I like everything about this guitar (HSS / fixed bridge / 22 frets) but I have stopped acquiring sunburst finishes (black is the other NO for me). Also, it's been a very long while since I acquire new guitars off the shelf. It's simply not feasible considering the intermittent employment status I am in. It would take me about half a year's time to recover & would interfere with my post-chemo expenses. Some difficulties in life would cascade into the various aspects of our well-being & prolonged till God knows when.

Pic: ESP

E 7

The ESP Japanese camp has released this gorgeous (to me) Edwards 7-string; E-M-II-7. It's a simple, no-frills guitar that beckons to be played. I believe those of us who are into good Japanese craftsmanship & value-for-money instruments, would want to see more Edwards available here. 

PS: For those of us who are still unaware, be informed that Edwards instruments now feature in-house ESP pickups. The humbuckers in the guitar depicted above are the ESP Custom Lab. This helps keep prices in check.

Pic: ESP Japan

GSME

For those of us who revere Taylor's GS Mini, look at what Sigma is offering. If you are bent on the GS Mini's build & dimensions, you can get this Sigma GSME for $480 (Davis GMC). Acoustics do not bring out the best of my guitar playing but I would not hesitate to recommend something very playable / comfortable for individuals who cannot quite come to terms with standard-sized acoustics.

Pic: Sigma

ND Deals @ Swee Lee

In conjunction with the nation's birthday, Swee Lee has rolled out some deals as documented above.

If there's anything that I'd recommend from this deal, it would be the PRS SE CE Standard 24 ($595). This is a wonderful no-frills guitar with above-expectations outcomes when it comes to playability & tone. Sure, those default pickups might not be ear candy to some of us but this is a very good consideration for a sub-$600 guitar.

The other would be the SE Silver Sky ($977). More affordable & more appealing than a Mexican Strat in this price bracket.

Pics: Steve's Music

New CVs

I believe these are the newer Squier CVs released lately. That CV 70s Strat ($649) has a four-bolt feature instead of three so the label here should not be taken as a measure of exact reference. No idea how many of us out there are obliged to consider a baritone Tele but it's included in this release ($749). Strangely, I find the single coil tone to be more appealing when it comes to lower tunings but for those of us who are using this at high gain settings, we just want something humbucking. 

Pics: Swee Lee

Roto promo

Great promo by Swee Lee - 3 for the price of 2. This is my personal experience with Rotosound - many strings were plagued by rust spots on various parts of the string length. This was years ago, pre-COVID days in fact. In view of the price enticements, I shall give this a go & share findings here.

Ibanez: July 2025 (6)

We bid farewell to July by understanding why the new Ibanez RGA20P1PB got flak from fans. The RGA isn't new, we all knew this. That dark wood strip running through the  middle of the body is a false indication of the body-neck construction involved. We would all assume that it indicates a through-body feature but on the flip side, we can clearly see the bolt-on design. So what's the point, Ibanez?

If this is your thing, then there are the fixed bridge version (RGA21P1PB), featuring the newer Gibraltar Standard III & its 7-string counterpart (RGA217P1PB). All models feature DiMarzio Fusion Edge pickups.

Pics: Ibanez

Rotating BOSS

Didn't realize this was new. It won't be a hit with someone like your truly here who doesn't give a hoot about creating a panned tremolo effect for guitar. That's how I understand the rotating speaker effect to be for want of a deeper appreciation of this effect type. Anyway, there's will definitely be fans of this pedal if Hendrix & Pink Floyd are your thing. Some contextual understanding here:

Pic: BOSS

New Holcomb

Mark Holcomb's new signature model sports a 25.5" scale length. So this makes it one of the few guitars which are not conforming to PRS' preferred 25" default scale length. For those who are interested, be informed that the fretboard radius here is 20" so it would appeal to those super-strat type players as opposed to those in the vintage camp.

Pic: PRS

SPlus promo

I have no idea if anyone finds the Yamaha Pacifica desirable these days but in due fairness, I'm sharing a good deal - The Standard Plus (Indonesia) is now $2,079 $1,660. An Ibanez Premium model lists for more & these are made in Indonesia as well. I'm sure there are players among us who won't mind paying a sum in this price bracket for a Chinese Epiphone. No subliminal advocacy here, just putting things in perspective price-wise.

Pics: Yamaha SG

In brief: Ibanez RG565R

The RG565R is Ibanez's extension of it's very popular (to those of us who find reverse headstock subliminally appealing, that is) RG565. The only differences here are the rosewood fretboard & shark tooth inlays. 

Likes

• Playability & neck feel
• Fit & fitting
• Value-for-money

Dislike

• Scratchy tone pot

The RG, regardless if its countless iterations, is clearly the fodder of extremists. The neck profile per se is the perfect lure for precision & severe fretting hand dexterity. With that said, the Super Wizard profile might be singular in its appeal. For deep & opiating blues bends with a preference for hooking the thumb over the fretboard edge, the Super Wizard might prove to be discordant. Since its inception, the guitars from the Genesis Series had been very imposing when it comes to fit & finish; deserving attention was given to these instruments to further the Made in Japan prominence. No fret sprouts or other technical aptitude flaws to report. We move on.

Tone-wise, the Infinity R (n) & V8 (b) pairing deliver both clean & distorted manifestations adequately. These are not the manufacturer's outstanding performers, just acceptable but by no means shabby. For an extended take on these electronics, kindly refer to my opinion on the RG565: CLICK. This might be unique to this guitar at the time of testing, it might not be a general issue but worth mentioning is the scratchy tone pot. I raised the tone knob slightly off the body surface thinking it was merely surface contact that caused this annoyance but the scratching persisted. Nothing severe but if you mess with your tone knob often (which would be the extreme minority) this might require prompt attention. 

Final say

Ibanez did well in preserving the RG565 appeal in the RG565R. These two instruments are nothing too different but steep opinions might refer to fretboard feel (RG565's maple vs RG565R's rosewood) as the deciding factor when purchase comes to mind. There are also excessive opinions out there pertaining to maple vs rosewood tonal differences. For those of us with an exorbitant appetite for distortion, you would hear your distortion more than the maple / rosewood so let's not split hairs to substantiate our preferences. 

Overall rating: 90%

Ibanez RG565R

• available at Swee Lee ($1,549)
• no bag inculded

PS: Thank you brothers Faizal & Ram (Swee Lee Star Vista) for your kind assistance.

Starcasting

I saw these recently listed at Swee Lee's web store. I like the idea that the Start-ish big '70s headstock was retained for this Squier Affinity iteration. Obviously, it's aimed at Tom Delonge fans but the signature version omitted the neck pickup, this one offers both. Might have given this a good consideration considering I have a steep interest in single humbucking guitars.

Pics: Squier

Osbourne: 22/7/2025

Ozzy Osbourne's passing (Wednesday, 22 July 2025) had a different impact on me simply because I'm not a fan. Just like I'm not a fan of Hendrix & Led Zeppelin among others. But I acknowledge the departure of a great individual who impacted a particular genre of music. When it comes to Black Sabbath, I prefer Dio on vocal duty. Do not wish to comment further as it might appear disrespectful to someone who's no longer here to defend himself.

Pics: NBC / Spotify

Stuff

Received stuff in the mail a couple of days ago. 

1. Seymour Duncan pickups. Bought these pre-owned pickups for a guitar with ring mounts but it turned out the holes in the flaps can only accommodate the bigger screws for direct mount. Haiz...
2. Alice guitar strings. My friend, Andy, sent this over (thank you, boss!). Looks like Alice up their game when it comes to affordability & quality. More on this in the near future.

Ibanez: July 2025 (5) DFS

New for July as well, but a China exclusive, is this RG550DFS. It's made in Japan & judging by the specs, it's a Genesis with gold hardware appointments & that exclusive pickguard. DFS stands for Die from Sorrow, a Chinese metal band.

The DFS affiliation is documented at the rear of the headstock. Will this be available here? Your guess is as good as mine.

Pic: Ibanez China

Congress

I have no idea the Congress brand name has electric guitars in their catalog. The ones depicted here are sub-$200 (Swee Lee), clearly levelled at beginners. My take on the Congress brand had always been that budget acoustic preferred by the void deck posse back in the 1980s. Wondering why Swee Lee, with their mighty lineup of brand names, is in need of another entry-level range of guitars to see them through. Hmm...

Pic: Swee Lee web store 

7 extended

If you are familiar with a 7-string in terms of feel & tone but wish for a lower, detuned performance - perhaps rivalling an 8-string - this one might be it. The Solar A2.7W-29 is an extended scale (29") 7-string with simple appointments. 

This is a neck-through model, so upper fret access is impressive. 

Pics: SOLAR

Solar: Summer sale

There is no Summer here, quite obviously. There's Summer elsewhere & Summer sales are happening elsewhere, not here. Good thing for us, there's international shipping so those of us without Summer sales to be throwing money at, we can still buy stuff from Summer sales elsewhere. Visit SOLAR's webpage to see good Summer discounts (unlike the sale discount figures here). 

Pic: Solar guitars

Black Saturday

Was at Beez's to get pickups fixed into my Ibanez RG521. Was there early to avoid the road closures for the NDP 2025 rehearsal but roads closed earlier than I expected. The good thing - the City Hall-Peninsula-Funan underground linkway facilitated regular pedestrian movements regardless of the road closures. Thank goodness.

The pickups in question are DiMarzio D'Activator X. I have these pickups in my Ibanez Destroyer so I know what to expect from them but strangely, in this guitar, these manifest more low frequencies. It might be due to the direct body mount but I like what I'm hearing.

Of course, a quick re-string before the pickups were mounted. So this pack of Harmony strings were left inside a bag at my storage space since March 2024 - yikes! But Harmony strings, true to its enduring nature, remain usable.

Fluence Friday

This is my Ibanez S61AL, not a new model, it was discontinued in 2020, lasting only a year in the catalog. I deem this model as one of the most alluring S-Series in view of its simplicity. Ibanez named the finish here as the Black Mirage Gradation which is absolutely my kind of finish as it resembles a burst but a more captivating iteration of it.

Anyway, I took this guitar out to replace this totally revolting knob. It's designed to promote grip as the volume pot here is also a push-pull pickup voicing selector but it's downright ugly. Ibanez refers to it as the Sure Grip III. 

As depicted above, the knob was replaced with a locking chrome aluminium version. I also took this guitar out to remind myself how unsuitable the Fluence brand name is for legato playing. This guitar, for me, is a riff machine extraordinaire more than anything else. The Fluence Modern pickups are sharp sounding. With added bass, it sounds very thumping for aggressive music. It also sounds good for those Tosin Abasi-esque slapped tones which is not my playing style. 

Price watch (98)

The most affordable Gibson Les Paul, the LP Studio, is available here. Let's put things in perspective, price-wise:

• 35 Guitar Ave (S'pore): SGD2,450
• Gibson official website: USD1,599 (SGD2,054)
• Music Bliss (M'sia): MYR7.890 (SGD2,388)

The last time I did this, I got put down by an individual (somewhere in a country whose cowboy president is currently going round with revised tax rates if you wish to trade with his country) who alleged that I was not objective in view of the exchange rate & existing taxes in place. That said individual highlighted the fact that we imposed a 9% tax on American guitars which is already a chronic figure when crying foul of price hikes. The last time I checked, our 9% GST covers all non-exclusive products, not just American guitars. 

I'm not trying to imply anything, just showing you folks what prices are like. Custom duties, exchange rates & dealer mark-ups are the expected considerations before we start to whimper at the figures today. These days, if you are in Malaysia, it's a good time to be buying Gibson instruments. Ironically, not too long ago, we see Malaysians coming here to buy Gibson stuff. How times have changed, rather quickly, mind you.

Pic: GIbson

Ibanez: July 2025 (4)

New this month but not entirely new specs-wise; the AZ26P1. There had been a couple of HSS models featuring both pickguard & pickguard-less iterations. Waiting for: 1) A non-black version 2) Chrome hardware 3) No Alter Switch.

Also new in the AZ Premium lineup; the AZ47P2K. 'K' here refers to the Koa top (basswood body). Also, if you think the Alter Switch is not for you, this one is devoid of that feature. Pickups are also DiMarzios (Air Norton / True Velvet / Tone Zone). 

 Pics: Ibanez

MOMM (59)

These two albums are on heavy rotation here in the mean time. Yes, it's a throwback of sorts, re-listening to great albums. Great here means good musicianship & totally delivering the genre's vibe. Also, I'm in need of inspiration & as related before, I always get some from drummers. 

The drummer for both albums is the great Nick Barker. He's been lying low lately after being diagnosed with kidney failure but still in high spirits & managed to distract himself from what's bothering him. That's the pertinent message here - do not live on in despair knowing there's still much in you left. 

The reason why I enjoy listening to him is his precision. He's very detailed without the excessive emphasis on speed. Also, those tight movements mean he's in control which reduces the chances of fumbling. To all those fighting on & living the moments one day at a time (your truly included), never give in & embrace what lies ahead even if your journey is bleak because that defines you.

Pics: Amazon / Metal Imperium

Ghul's in

I have no idea if there are The Kovenant fans here but that's not the point. Guitarist, Astennu, had been replaced by Ghul (Mayhem's current guitarist). If you continue to fray the band's cohesion (backline staff included) & couldn't stay professional while on tour (staying sober is the very least you could do), then you are replaceable. Now, that's the point.

Pics: Mayhem FB / Equipboard

Price watch (97)

Folks, the Ibanez RG565 (Genesis Series) is not a Prestige Model. Once upon a time, the initial batch of Genesis guitars were marketed as a Prestige lineup. Shortly after, Ibanez removed the Prestige association from the Genesis range. The RG565 was never part of this initial categorization.

On that note, the Genesis models, the RG565 listed above included, are indeed bang-for-the-buck Japanese guitars that reflect outstanding QC. Just because it's made in Japan, it does not automatically become a Prestige model. I have nothing against anyone selling a good Ibanez Genesis RG either.

Bored

Got bored. I know I cannot afford any ESP guitars in the near future so I entered some configurations in the ESP configurator tool. I'm basically a single pickup person & enjoy seeing a reverse headstock on my instrument, regardless of the brand name. So this was my natural choice. Something simple & extremely boring. Guitar is based on the current M-1 model.

The other equally boring version is this Horizon-II based rendition. Notice - no whammy bridges for both. It's not that I've averse to that kind of bridge but I don't whammy, so why have it at all?

Pics: ESP USA

Winter rails

Latest in the Seymour Duncan rails lineup - Black Winter. Yes, it's touted to be the fodder of those who are into metal music & beyond. The surprise - the neck version is actually adept to other applications & this include clean applications. No kidding. 

Pic: Seymour Duncan

Narrow

This was the big news over the weekend. The singlecut NF53 is now offered as an SE version. There is this rather strong association with the Tele by virtue of its outline but that's a convenient association at best. This guitar isn't essentially a Tele & the pickups in there reflects no attempt for it to be one - those are humbuckers. This is of course, unlike the Silver Sky which is a Strat re-interpretation (less the headstock). If you decide to part good money for one, you need to like the tone, first & foremost. There are no ready replacements out there. Let's see how much this would list for once it gets here. 

Pic: PRS

Ibanez: July 2025 (3)

One of the new Ibanez releases this July is the RG470. This one is the DX version which means it features shark tooth inlays. There is already an RG470 in sea foam green in the current lineup ($699). 

The other RG470 is this burst-esque finish with a flame maple top which is highly likely a veneer at this price point. It'll be interesting if this one would list for as much as its non-flame sibling.

Pics: Ibanez