Indoor Saturday

Someone recently said that I like wood-looking guitars. He's actually referring to those unfinished guitars of mine, exposing the bare wood grain. This was of course, a default finish from the factory. I happened to play one such guitar today, the RGA32 you see above.

This was the original batch of non-Japanese RGA models; notice the absence of cutaway chamfering unlike the models of today. This guitar also had a default set of active pickups which I didn't fancy so they made way for a pair of Seymour Duncans: Distortion (b) / P-Rails (N).

Someone actually handled this guitar while I was at Beez's some time back. He said Ibanez necks are supposed to be thin which this one is not. Well, if you are not familiar with the Ibanez line-ups, there are various neck profiles for the various models offered. Ibanez got associated with think necks when the JEMs debuted, followed by the RG550, which retained the neck profile. Along the way, Ibanez did not limit thin necks to all the guitars on offer but they stuck to the Wizard name which became synonymous with thin necks. The really thin necks are the Super Wizard of the 1980s. The Wizard III profile which are equipped in many mid-priced models are definitely not thin. My RGA32 has a Wizard II version which is 21mm at the 12th fret as opposed to the Super Wizard's 19mm at the same fret.

Whatever the case, I'm not obsessed with thin-necked Ibanez guitars. I'm OK with any neck profiles as long as they facilitate my playing style. Re-string day today, a fresh set of Olympia 9s for my RGA32. 

Under cover

Sharing some stuff here since I received quite a few queries pertaining to pickup covers / cover installation. Do note that the pickups in question here are passive Seymour Duncan Nazgul & Sentient humbuckers.

Are pickup covers necessary? No they are not. Pickups work fine with or without covers.

Do the covers (regardless of the materials) impede performance? Thusfar, there have been no records / documentations to show a significant difference in performance between covered & non-covered pickups. The pickup's magnetic field are strong enough to penetrate the cover materials. If there was ever an anomaly that significantly affected output / performance, companies like Gibson for instance, would have given up covering their pickups a long time ago. 

What are the supplementary steps to be taken after covering pickups? If you are covering your pickups like how the manufacturers are doing it, wax potting would help prevent microphonic occurrences. If you are doing it for novelty reasons (like yours truly), it's a mere covering of the bobbins & pole pieces; drop in & ready to go.

Will a typical pickup cover fit into any humbucker? From my personal experience, this is the case with the flapless version (refer to the top-most pic of this post). As for the flap version (depicted above), the length is not universal. Wider pickups, eg. Seymour Duncan Trembuckers, would manifest minor fitting issues. FYI - SD Tembuckers feature a longer bobbin vs a DiMarzio F-Spaced pickup. DiMarzio keeps the bobbin length the same for both standard & F-spaced versions, only the pole pieces spacing are different.

What are the advantages of covering pickups if this doesn't affect performance? 1) Covered pickups are protected from the player's sweat or other external moisture interference. This way, the pole pieces won't rust / oxidize easily. 2) Covers also protect the pickups from pick scratches. Some of us tend to scratch the coil tape as well (the brute players especially) so the covers protect the tape & coil wires. If you intend to sell off the pickups in time to come, covered pickups would look more presentable once the covers are removed (obviously, duh...). 3) If you are bored or experience a surge in artistic assimilation, you can doodle on the covers with paint markers or simply paste stickers on them.

How much? Plastic covers are $3 each (average price), metal versions typically lists for $5 each or more.

Bottom line - covered pickups are neither inferior nor superior to their uncovered counterparts. It's a cheap, reversible, fun mod.

Dad's bass

Was at my Dad's this morning to check out his bass. He had been complaining to me about the tuners which were dysfunctional. My step-mum told me the situation had caused unnecessary anxiety. By the way, this is an Ibanez PCB54E.

It turned out that two of the tuners were dysfunctional. One was dead & quite impossible to turn. The other was the opposite; it was too loose & had a little play that failed to retain tuning. I bought a fresh set of tuners & replaced all four. Done.

Also, my Dad bought a standard scale replacement string set which were unsuitable for this instrument (too long). A little reading up revealed that the medium scale version was required. Easy fix - purchased from Swee Lee. 

My Dad used to play in a wedding band. He would ply his trade at the community centers here & was more active during his younger days. He gave up the solid body bass & opted for something much lighter in view of his senior years (he's in his 70s). He's currently undergoing UTI treatment & spends his days at home so this bass keeps him happy. I totally understand this need to be pre-occupied & not think of one's ailment so this is the least I could do for him. 

Purple S

Did another quick re-finish since the weather was good with eventual downpours in the evening. Nothing fancy, just my Ibanez S521. I will continue to hunt for used fixed bridge S-Series because I prefer it to the RG, really. I wouldn't pass the chance to acquire the older 22-fretted version if a good one comes my way but understand the fact that these are usually equipped with a whammy bridge.

As usual, Beez handled the electronics with ease. I tend to replace the default 5-way selector to a 3-way because these days, I do not fancy the split coil option.

That's right, I'm still pre-occupied with the metallic flake finish. Also, those pickups are passive humbuckers given the cover treatment. This guitar was strung with a set of DR 10s & tuned a half step down. It's designated for heavy tunes as the pickups on board are (Seymour Duncan) the Nazgul / Sentient pairing.

The return of pink

I just found out that Ibanez is returning the pink AZ2402 (together with the pastel blue version) to its catalog. Have no idea if pink is trending now or if there was a recent lobby for this colour to be re-introduced to prevent international unrest. I don't know.

I bought the pink AZ back in 2019. Didn't think too much about the colour, it's just something I don't own. I prefer a pink guitar without the picture of a Japanese mouthless cat character to hype it up. IYKYK.

Rock Lady

OK... didn't know this was actually a collaboration of sorts between PRS & Japanese Anime. Whatever the chemistry between the two parties, this one looks appealing due to its simplicity. That pink finish might not be everybody's thing but that didn't stop people from acquiring a certain Squier guitar with a Japanese mouthless cat character. Hoping this one wouldn't list for too much because it looks very objective & attractive. I'm even mentally prepared to forgive those two mini flick switches.

Pic: PRS