Laser vampire

It's not in my nature to constantly check American web stores for Ibanez stuff. Sweetwater has an exclusive deal for the RG565, the finishes you see here are exclusive to them. I have a feeling these will be made into standard offerings come 2022 seeing how popular this model is. Also, we might see additions to the Genesis range unless the J-Line models take over as international offerings.

Ravens

Another Gibson-Guitar Center collab; the Raven LP & SG. Not high end by any means, just stuff to mark the occasion - you guessed it - Halloween. The LP is Special-esque, a flat top model. Ditto the SG, both blacked out, hardware included. Definitely won't reach here: 1) GC exclusive 2) No Gibson dealer. Hmph!

Pic: PG

Indigo

Fender camp's latest release. See anything new? It's actually that blue finish, based on some lost art of Japanese colour dyeing or something along those lines. Bottom line - nothing new, another Fender Strat & Tele. If you find this blue affair to die for then be informed that it's a limited edition, Japan exclusive listing for USD3.8K each. OK maybe that lipstick tube trio in the Strat is kinda appealing.

PIC: Fender Japan

Silver bird

Gibson has 3 exclusive models this summer strictly distributed within USA borders. One of them is seen above - the Firebird I in silver mist finish. I'm a sucker for single pickup guitars & this definitely triggered some serious GAS & I definitely prefer non-Steinberger tuners. There's very little hope of seeing one here. We can always do an online purchase but it entails a significant amount of shipping cost. Some things are just not meant to be.

Gibson 2019 CME exclusives

Gibson collaborated with Chicago Music Exchange for these colour exclusive SG Standards. In addition to the exciting colour variations, the guitars feature block inlays, tortoiseshell pickguards, non-PCB electronics & more importantly, T-Type pickups. Going down Gibson's history, the T-Types were highly rated pickups made between 1968 - late 1970s which are Alnico V-based. 

If only these were available as standard production, I would have considered one, really. The plan is to have an un-modded Gibson SG with a unique feature (colour in this case) which doesn't sound jaded (to my ears- I dislike Gibson humbuckers). Hmmph. 😒