Ibanez RGR8270

Another October release by Ibanez but it's Japan-only in the mean time: RGR8270. I'm still not into the tree-of-life inlay; too excessive for me, will confuse my fretting hand movements. Also, I'm bothered by the covered bridge humbucker but the neck counterpart remains exposed. The neck humbucker there is a PAF 36th while the bridge & middle are True Velvet & Tone Zone respectively, the usual Ibanez favoured DiMarzios. 

Also not my thing - locking tuners when there's already a locking nut.

Pics: Ibanez Japan

Warwick / Sadowsky promo @ SL

Happening at Swee Lee right now, good till 29 Oct 2026. 

Rectify

Trying to understand what happened. When I took this out of its bag, the saddle was dangling, the guitar string kept it in place. I managed to recover the spring but the screw was missing. There was a hole in the guitar bag, it must have slipped through that & disappeared. First time this happened.

Tekton-ic

Folks, the current buzzword in the mean time: Tekton. These are PRS' new range of guitars aimed at the faster playing cohort. There are several models on offer; fixed bridge, whammy, FR whammy & 7-string extended scale. Looks like it's not a mere testing of the waters but a full blown consideration. I'm interested in the fixed bridge version but they don't offer solid colours for these. The most appealing version to me is this one pictured here.  

Solid colours are available for the FR version, this green one is a member of the family. These days, I'm no longer into the whammy stuff. I don't bend my strings so whammy-ing is out of the question. I've turned into someone who legato his way through with lots of chromatics 😅

Lest we missed it, the Tekton has an offset body design.

Thinking out loud:

• The fundamentals of the Tekton design were already manifested by the Vela & Chleo. Nobody would find this debut shocking
• The Tekton is a bolt-on make, which would appeal readily to the more aggressive / fast players. Jackson, ESP & Ibanez, the perennial shred favourites, had their models established in the bolt-on category so PRS doing a bolt-on to win over these players is the right move
• The FR version features an FR 1000 bridge, not an FRO. Implications: 1) Even PRS understood the 1000 version is good & reliable enough so no hesitations incorporating this into their guitars 2) Keeps costs down - also the reason no bird inlays are offered for the entire Tekton range
• Top carve isn't as deep as the core models, in fact, it's designed to incorporate some elbow relief so it's a smart consideration
• Thinner neck profile - manage expectations, please, it's not gonna be Ibanez thin. It's still within the PRS interpretations but that doesn't mean it won't be appealing

Pics: PRS

Okoume Eclipse

This was announced today - Edwards eclipse (E-EC-CTM) featuring okoume body & neck. The fretboard is ebony & the guitar features a pair of Duncans (JB / Jazz). There are currently three finishes available, this hematite (grey-ish), together with black & white. Very happy to see this happen because it reflects how ESP is reaching out to that group of players who are priced out by the ESP brand on the headstock or those excessively priced signature LTDs. That aside, even the regular LTD models are going for crazy prices these days.

Pic: ESP

Little issue

Playing the little one today. The tuning was a little cranky, I've slotted the problematic slots twice before & ensured sufficient lubrication to prevent further choking yet it happened again today. No re-slotting took place, I just flossed the slots & added more lubrication - problem solved.

I played this standing up throughout & it improved the upper fret adventures somewhat. When played sitting down, due to the shorter nature, playing the upper frets was a real challenge. When the guitar was strapped on, it somehow pushed the entire instrument towards the left shoulder so the fretting hand did not feel too awkward while playing. Of course, dealing with the narrower fret spaces was another issue.