Black magic

Was a re-string Sunday. A set of Martin Darco strings into my Ibanez RGR08. What does a name like 'Martin' mean to players in the solid body turf? Not much, really. But the Darco set is one of the most affordable & above-average out there. If you think you don't have much $$ to spare but in need of a reliable set of strings- there you go. Just be informed that the B string is a little thicker, going at 11.5 instead of the standard 11.

Sometimes we just have to go the other way to be inspired. I'm not much of an active pickup fan but I do own guitars with such pickups. The Ibanez RGR08 is one of them. Last weekend was my bout with crushing guitar tones which didn't really make the cut in terms of clarity. I kept blaming the amp for the short-comings but a quick switch to active pickups did the job. Active pickups were meant for simply that- cold, calculated, crushing distortion so they should be the rightful reference. We often try too hard with what we think would get the job done instead of embracing what were meant for it all along.