Preferred

These images were from Malaysia's music maestro's FB page, Az Samad. He attended the Ibanez 2026 new models launch at Bentley Music, KL on 14th January 2026. FYI, Malaysia's official Ibanez distributor is Bentley Music, not Swee Lee. 

I'm not reading too much into this event but there are some implications here which, for the most part, is my personal anxiety for all things Ibanez since I'm an Ibanez fan from the start. If you share this perspective, then you can relate to some conceptual concerns.

Ibanez chose Bentley for a product launch ahead of the NAMM 2026 show. Ibanez chose to work with Bentley that observes domestic (Malaysia) operations as opposed to Swee Lee that has storefronts in seven other countries in addition to Singapore. I'm giving this a benefit of the doubt - maybe Ibanez & Swee Lee have other grand plans in the near future but the exclusive treatment of giving your distributor partial ownership when it comes to product launches is hard to beat, even priceless to a certain degree. 

In view of commercial interest(s), there might be a shift in operational trends & Swee Lee would do well to know what these are. I'm not a Swee Lee employee, I'm not professionally related to them as well. I'm just an Ibanez fan who sometimes tried too hard to acquire nuggets of info which are readily available elsewhere. I'm in no way implying there should be a preferential / exclusive treatment for certain distributors in view of how they flex their commercial muscle. These days, we don't go where the wind blows but to where the money flows. 

Pics: Az Samad FB

Music stores @ PP

Was away at Penang recently. I was last here 14 years ago. 

It's inevitable that I checked out the guitar stores there - at least the ones within reach. Bentley Music is located at Gurney Paragon, a shopping mall overlooking the sea. One has to climb five floors up to reach the store which was easily thrice the size of their KL outlet. I was hoping to come across some guitar string brands that are not available back home but the shelves were dominated by Ernie Ball. Guitar-wise, pretty much what Swee Lee has to offer but there are EBMMs in store. I saw a couple of Suhrs as well. Nothing too enticing here & there was this moron who tested drums & blasted the hell out of whatever he could lay hands on much to the annoyance of other shoppers.

Day 2 saw me here - Evolution Music House which is located in Plaza Gurney, adjacent to Gurney Paragon. There were less electric guitars on show, acoustics, drums & pianos dominated more floor space. Just walked around, no enticing string brands here as well. In my humble opinion, if you peddle instruments, do make it a point to train your staff to be versed in their job scope. The sales chap here kept using 'better' in his line of duty; I recommend you this one because it's better/ That black one there is even better/ This brand is better. No extended stay here as well; 5min tops. 

Bentley @ Damansara

I had the opportunity to drop by Bentley Music at Damansara off KL (Malaysia). The place is HUUUUUGE! Imagine Yamaha's Beat Spot here in (S'pore) - triple the size. Their show space is only occupying the 5th level, I have no idea if they are using other levels for storage/ education.

This is only the Ibanez section of the store (that's where I spent most of my time here), the guitars were all well-arranged but in terms of classification, it could have been better managed. Maybe as a player, I see the bigger picture in terms of grouping & comparative purposes (I'd personally arrange them according to their respective SERIES). 

If any guitar stores out there wants any inputs from me or maybe give me a managerial opportunity to further the cause of their commercial directions- I'll gladly consider. I've been to many guitar stores here (& elsewhere) & I'd say content-wise, they are not as progressive in terms of products turn over. There could also be more dedicated inputs for promotion largely due to the fact that store owners are sellers, they don't know nuts about their products. I guess this is my area of expertise, I know what's in & what needs to be cleared. A store that is moving with the times, moves on in so many ways (in $$$ especially). But we know dinosaurs are not running the show any more, we just need to know where to look (look at what they are doing, how they are doing it & when they are doing it).

As far as Bentley goes, they are doing alright :-)

Ibanez @ Bentley (KL)

The (discontinued) Ibanez RG1670 is available at Bentley (KL)- would have considered purchasing it if it's not black...

The mahogany body RG470 is also available, hope it makes its way (to the stores) here too...

KL weekend

It was a quick trip to KL last weekend, did some shopping & headed home. Saw this cat upon arrival. Cute.

No, we didn't go in search of some exotic cuisines, it was convenient dining for both days. Subway was still the healthier consensus, more importantly, the food was tasty but some of us find the non-fried meat a little bland. Carl's Jr is a blatant reminder to all fast food joints how their servings shrunk in the name of profiteering. If you miss the the huge burgers once served by Burger King & had long despised the blatant offerings of McDonald's, head to CJ, please.

The sight of this set my pulse racing (ok, maybe not much)- do they have the Ibanez-Uniqlo RG in store? (Click here if you don't have a clue what I'm talking about: DUH). Of course NOT.

Because Bentley is just round the corner, it was an inevitable stop. By the time you read this, their mid-year sale is over. Took a quick look around & left.

Bentley has an in-house tech handling non-sales, technical issues only. Maybe stores here should consider this as well...

In the evening, I simply enjoyed sipping my drinks while looking out of the window; it's an urban setting, quite removed from the usual beach front, holiday moments. That Red Coq there is a local alternative to Red Bull. It's an apt representation of the kampung heritage of the motherland but a potential catalyst for heated misunderstandings, imagine this daughter-mother dialogue:

Mother: Girl, where are you going?

Daughter: I'm gonna go get a Red Coq, be back in a jiffy...

Mother: ... (fainted)

 Or this student-teacher incident which is best avoided:

John: Miss Lina, you look weary...

Teacher: Yes, John, I overworked myself during the weekend.

John: Let me share my Red Coq with you then, it'll help rejuvenate yourself

Teacher: (Stood up & slapped John. He was hospitalized thereafter. Miss Lina never got married)

Bentley @ KL

If you visit Bentley Music in Kuala Lumpur now, please be informed that they are no longer operating on the ground floor. Everything's moved upstairs, there's an elevator serving the levels but floor space is now more compact.

No...

Was in KL (Malaysia), dropping by Bentley Music was inevitable...

I would normally not visit this music store (no disrespect to Bentley Music whatsoever, the sales people there are some of the most courteous I've come across- salute!!) because I get good deals back home and the hassle of bringing home an instrument which would entail too may probes at the customs; I'm not that patient dealing with uniformed personnel (Yes, you people are doing your job but sometimes you are too judgmental & dismissive...). An avid follower of this blog, brother Ijau D. Koceng, tipped me off to the availability of this guitar. The list price was RM2,190. After a few minutes of noodling & proving familiarity with an Ibanez guitar as well as a Marshall amp, I asked for some discount considerations. The salesperson calculated his provisions accordingly & offered me the best he could endeavour: RM2,050. Elementary math would tell us it's not even a 10% discount... dum dee dum dee dum... *sigh*

The RGR465M is the current RG350M in another manifestation. In terms of feel, they are definitely on par but there are more likable tones from the former as the default pickups are DiMarzios- the Air Norton sounds above average in there but the Deactivator is simply menacing so all you distortion mongers be informed. 

I didn't buy it. Yes, I was hopeful the RGR565 would somehow be reincarnated & now that its closest manifestation, the RGR465 is here to appease me (maybe), I should just shut up & buy one. But I didn't. It could have been better priced. Definitely.

Typing this entry while watching the 2010 Singapore National Day parade (not really watching actually, just hearing what's going on): Happy 45th independence to all Singaporeans...