PIII HH

Ending September with the knowledge that Ibanez is currently so in love with the Genesis 540PIII that this HH version featuring a throwback pickguard is one of the September 2026 highlights. Are you enticed?

Pic: Ibanez

Rotos for Kala

Needed some time away from guitars so it's a good time spent with the ukulele today.

Trying these Rotosound set. These are non-ball ends so some tying up is required. Nothing different from dealing with classical guitars. Immediate impression - strings give off a good volume projection. These are loud. 

But I'm not too agreeable with blue strings against a dark fretboard. That's about it. Nothing averse in terms of quality & performance, just that some of our vision (due to old age) are affected / easily fatigued by certain colour schemes. 

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