SCA_SEW

 ... and the weekend is here. Had been Ibanez-ing the entire week with these two:

SCA220. After missing out on the S-Classic (SC), this SCA220 was the consolation. Inadvertently, this prepped me up to embrace the SZs which were introduced subsequently. The difference? Unlike the SC, the SCA features a flat back with a curved body top. The SC replicated the S-Series body strictly & had the input jack access on the body top. Pickups here are Seymour Duncan 59 & Custom 5 combo.

SEW761. One of my fav S-Series but it's breaking down right under my nose. The fretboard is coming off the neck & I didn't see this happening because it's on the treble side which I don't look at while playing. I only realized something was wrong when fret buzz began to be heard. It will be an expensive endeavour to get this fixed; removing the entire fretboard & re-glueing everything once more. It might mean the removal of the frets to get the job done. Re-fretting + re-glueing would cost me nearly the price of this guitar to begin with so it's a no go. I've re-dressed the frets of the affected area in the mean time. So far, so good.

An S

Looks nice but problematic. This  one has fret buzz past the 5th fret across all strings. We wonder how it passed QC & made it to the store shelf. To be fair, it might have turned problematic due to weather-related issues; Ibanez SEW761

The first thing I do when dealing with fret buzz is to check the neck tilt. Look at how this one was shimmed at the factory 🙁 There might be a reason for doing so but it's not addressing the current issue. If this shim is placed as such. it will elevate the neck straight up with hardly any tilt angle.

That was removed. I placed the shim at the pocket end as depicted. This way, the tilt angle would be akin to that of a Les Paul. I find that such a tilt angle addresses action related issues better. 

To be continued...

Ibanez 2021 (2)

I'm always looking forward to any S-Series developments & every year I'm let down somewhat. For 2021, Ibanez offers only three new models. The SEW761 you see above is a follow up to last year's model but featuring gold hardware this time round. How 'exciting'.

The S561 on the other hand, is the more laid back version featuring in-house Quantum humbuckers. I'm interested in this one for the HSS pickup combo & that no-frills look. Every year, the S-Series are overshadowed by other money-making models namely the RGs. Recently, the RGDs are also making headlines for the Fluence pickup/ multi-scale length iterations. It is therefore increasingly difficult for the S-Series to catch up in terms of appeal. Oh, well...

Not offered here (damn!)

In the mean time, I'm gassing for this one. It's a standard S-Series (SEW761) with a fixed bridge, nothing special. However, the HSS pickup combo is not something that happens to an S-series regularly. Judging by its pedigree, it should be affordable but it's NOT offered to the Asian market. Damn, you Ibanez!