Fan-fretted ice

This was one of the surprises this month, least expected as well. So who are the players looking / lobbying for a 7-string, fan fretted Iceman? I hardly see the regular / standard Iceman being played around so this iteration is a baffling manifestation more than an intriguing September release. The ICMS721, they called it.

Least we forget, the fan fretted 7-strings coupled with a pair of oversized Fluences was already done recently, yes? So this part of the instrument wasn't exclusive to the ICMS721. I don't see the Alpha camp giving up theirs in favour of the ICMS721 in the mean time, The way I see it, the Alpha has the upper hand when playing standing up. Ibanez has the statistics to back their manufacturing up, yes?

Pics: Ibanez

HSII: H-137

Nice to see Heritage has this Standard II H-137 out. I just love simple guitars for some of the music I play; less fiddling, more playing. There are only two finishes offered in the mean time, this one & a black version. It's already available at Swee Lee ($2,599). Hoping to see some other colours along the way. FYI, Gibson did a humbucking version of its LP Jr 😅

Pic: Heritage

Historia

SOLAR guitars had just released these baddies; classic-looking models despite the contemporary outlines called the Historia Series. Looks darn cool but I'm about done with such burst-type finishes in any iterations. Also, the pickups here are in-house brands but the ceramic magnets make them darn suitable for high gain applications.

Pic: SOLAR

Silence

This is the seemingly new, limited edition, American Pro Classic Strat that looks like the previous Strat you saw at your dealers'. The highlight here is the Fender Silent System which, according to the manufacturer's promo clip, includes a dummy coil to eliminate the single coil hum & it's battery-free. Have we heard of this tech before? The answer is rather obvious.

Pic: Fender

EnEpi

I must work incredibly harder because if Epiphone can accord a signature model to this guy (Jay / Enhyphen)...

Pic: Epiphone

Defenders

So this just happened - PRS announced a collaboration with Land Rover to release the SE Defender models. So finally we have... : 1) Matching headstock 2) Black pickguard.

I'm looking at this beyond the colour play or even the black 'guard inclusion. This is PRS telling the world that the Silver Sky label now is a worthy name to perpetuate other ideas instead of offering guitardom with the ultimate Strat alternative exclusively. It's like the Les Paul name perpetuating Gibson's extension of ideas; Les Paul Standard, Les Paul, Studio, Les Paul Deluxe, etc. Hopefully, the PRS camp would extend this beyond a limited edition offering.

Pic: PRS