Edwards sale @ Davis

Ending March on a good note- sale of selected Edwards model now on at Davis GMC. 😁👍

Pic: Kind permission, DGMC

Greens

Now that the pair is complete, it's time to head to Beez's. 👍

Campbell's custom

This was announced recently- Vivian Campbell's Custom Shop signature Gibson LP. The fingerboard is still a non-wood selection (richlite) but I like the fact that there are DiMarzios in there (Super 3/ Super Distortion). It reflects the endorser's choice & not something steered by the manufacturer. In my opinion, Mr. Campbell deserves this deal but for the rest of us, the USD4,999 price tag is prohibitive. But then again, we remind ourselves that, at the rate things are going, they need the money.

The op

I have a limited tolerance for fuzz units. It's down to the fact that the guitar's lower notes sound rather repulsive through a fuzz pedal. I hear lots of ill definitions which aren't suitable for heavy music. However, the fuzz is the preferred unit for doom- Cathedral has loads of fuzz going, Enslaved's Isa album has some juicy, fuzz-laden tones for the solos. It has its applications, not for the picky though. The Op Amp version by EHX you see here- I like. It has 2 channels, one giving me that extra prick for leads & that's what I use it for. That setting is quite repulsive if one sports a Les Paul because it makes the overall tone sounds thin. 

Gio Rims

So Ibanez teamed up with Legendary Pictures for this Pacific Rim limited edition RGs.

If this is of significant fanfare, we wonder why the GIOs were chosen. 😒

Pics: Ibanez FB

Earth Hour 2018

It was a different challenge for me this time round, the Earth Hour 2018 episode (last night) was actually filled with guitar playing. Kept the front door open to enjoy the corridor lighting, brought my Kiesel DC, Blackstar FLY3 amp & an OD pedal to the door vicinity & sat on the floor. The account:

1. Sitting on the floor with the instrument resting on the lap is a numbing experience. The leg  cramped up easily & it necessitated some stretching every other 5min or so.
2. Poor lighting affects fretboard visibility & induced mistakes.
3. Poor ventilation due to the 'dead' ceiling fan meant sweaty palms got in the way of playing as well.

I could imagine those performers struggling to manage themselves on dark stages or other poorly lit venues. Most of the time, I wasn't looking at the fretting hand & relied heavily on feel which didn't pay off because it's not how I usually play. I compelled myself to play for 30min before retiring to the couch with the cat.

Our cat had been a darling throughout the episode, she chose to sleep after this pic was taken. 👍

Anyway, Earth Hour as always, is hype. It's only acknowledged by people who bothered & remained truly committed to the cause. Respecting the ailing earth isn't on everyone's life agenda. The residents here showed no special acknowledgements of what Earth Hour meant to them. Doubt if they even knew it took place. I'm doing this to create awareness for my little girl here especially so when the school shared the event during brief classroom moments just days ago. By doing so, we manifest a concerted effort in addressing common concerns, it should not be a lopsided affair; learning institutions do not bear the brunt entirely when education is concerned. Kids look up to parents as well & we make efforts to ensure  learning becomes holistic. In any case, I do not see  environmental awareness becoming an embraced philosophy in the heartlands. Mind you, even Earth Hour itself has a commercial slant to it so a genuine care for the environment must truly come from the heart.

Wishing everyone a good week ahead- it's the final week of March.

Genesis hike

The much anticipated Ibanez this year, among purists mostly, is perhaps the RG550. The Genesis version is now available at Swee Lee but they are all currently SOLD OUT. This time round, it lists for $1,299 which is $400 more than its debut price back in 2013. 

Satin stealth

Limited run PRS SEs Satin Quilt Stealth finish look the works but it's only offered in Europe, it seems. These people are definitely putting in good looks to existing models. On that note, we are still dealing with manufacturers churning out differentiated products for specific geographic demand. Hmm... 

Contact cleaning

This is one of my fav OD pedals (Ogre's Tubeholic OD) & it was acting up today- crackling, mostly. I half expected this to happen because the pedal wasn't in use for a while. Ladies & gents, the first thing to do if this happens to you is to apply some contact cleaner. Metal parts are notorious for oxidizing over time & that was definitely the case with this one. The input/output access was given a quick spray of that contact cleaner & it's good to go thereafter. 

Timely visits

Thank you everyone, for taking part in this timely poll 😁👍

The reason why I did this was to determine when to announce give-aways here. The good time to do so, it seems, is in the morning. I'm guessing that it's that time at work when you just need to do a quick get away online & coming here was it. It could also imply that you needed something to while your moments away during the morning break. Also possible- you dropped by during your morning ride to the office/ places of study. All points noted.

Coffee unplugged

Was chilling after work at home when it suddenly poured outside. There were moments when I'm inspired to play & this was one of them. Nothing too complicated, just simple finger-picked  melodies. I'm just thankful that when ideas happen at home, there's a guitar within reach to manifest them. 

Be thankful for what you have before everything is to be left behind when you leave. 🙏

Dogged

This is a Custom Shop piece by Gibson, commemorating the Chinese Year of the dog. Strangely, the news of its debut came after the Chinese New Year so the wisdom of this marketing move is questionable. Yours for only USD6.7K...

Selling: Grand Magus (SOLD)

My TCE Grand Magus pedal up for grabs:

• True bypass
• Box included
• 8.5/10 condition
• Queries/ confirmation through e-mail
• Self-collect @ CCK mrt stn
• Price is FINAL: $59

Thanks for reading 😁

Sale tales

A couple of sale events took place over the last two days (Yamaha still effective till 18th March). Due to some work commitments, being at either venues at a good time to grab something worthy was a forlorn thought. 

After reading about the extended queue at City Music & the announcement (on Friday 16th March) at their FB page advising people not to come after 6.00pm due to the overwhelming response, I must say that I have missed some good deals there for sure. Nevertheless, I wish City Music more good years to come for they have played a significant part in the gear scene here. 

So the Yamaha/ Best Spot store was my consolation destination. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just dropping by to maybe assess potential surprises but nothing came good from the effort. The good stuff were clearly taken away by keen buyers right at the start. I virtually walked into a store area occupied by boxed, less popular items with very little prospect of attraction & purchase. That's right folks, the good stuff, they were grabbed by bargain hunters on Day 1 (which was a week ago). Nothing for me this time. 😑 

MJ @ SDCS

This is Maricela Juarez, otherwise known as MJ at Seymour Duncan's Custom Shop. Yesterday marked her 35th anniversary of unwavering service for the company & she's carved a name for herself in this light.

Must say that I'm a proud owner of what she handled 👍

Extension

Got it? 😁

Head hunting

You know this guy? Recently he lashed out at people for the turning of his company's fortune. He blamed the consumers' stubborn mindset & their resistance to change, retailers for not being competitive when it comes to e-commerce & for being jerks when it comes to customer service- he blamed everyone else less himself. If you are a management academic, this kind of leadership are the types on board sinking ships. To think he's Harvard material... let's not get too personal.

What's happening now? Stakeholders are calling for his head to roll before they would agree to any forms of re-financing to see the issues through. Good sign- people still believe in the company & what the brand name means to the industry, there's still so much respect there so if you think you are in a decision-making authority & should act for the good of the company, you know what to do. I'm not here to applaud anyone's down fall, I feel for the brand name more than the people behind it. We can tell if the company is healthy through the people & products churned out. This picture you see above, do you see a stubborn entity wielding a tool so wrong & being proud of it? 

Anniversary sale

Happening soon at City Music.

Up for grabs include demo units. In my opinion, this should be the practice for stores here; display units should be cleared away when the time comes. These are in no way bad units, they experience some wear & tear, some dents even & would cease to be the true representation of its kind. See you there, folks!

PICs: CM FB

Vs are in town

Davis GMC is now the official dealer of V-Picks. The models you see above are in stock.

I've been using V-Picks since leaving the Gravity camp for personal reasons, not that the latter picks are bad. They are both awesome references when it comes to acrylic picks & are close substitutes in terms of material & performance dare I say. These boutique names are indeed costly but still within reach unlike boutique pedals. If you could recall, V-Picks used to be available at BGW so some of us here were already into the V-Picks experience before this announcement. Also, people like yours truly here have been buying them online as well (like this one from 2016: CLICK). If you are fans of the Dunlop Stubby, you'd do well to check out V-Picks. These might not be life changing for you but for those of us who insist on hard picks, these might appeal in terms of durability & comfort. 

PIC: Davis GMC FB

Unplugging 2018

It had been an Ibanez start to the year & this is another one to the fold. I've decided to add a strictly acoustic guitar, one without any plug in options. The AWJ54 is a scaled down acoustic much in the likes of Taylor's Big Baby & Martin's Dreadnought Jr. It features the current hype- an elbow rest- & a solid mahogany top, all for less than $400. I have a love-hate relationship with acoustics, let's see if this one stays put. 

Silver leak

There was a major  blunder recently when one of PRS' distributor accidentally listed the to-be-released John Mayer signature model- ouch! So now the whole world knows it's called the Silver Sky & yes, that headstock there is a little quirky but it's intentional. It's Mr. Mayer's request for some treble side clearance to facilitate his quirks just like a Fender headstock with that similar clearance. More info coming this way soon as we look forward to a Spring announcement. 

Blood page

If you think you know the last guitar you put away because you had enough of it, the best thing to renew your faith in it is to return with fresh ears. No, fresh ears would be impossible- more like fresh perspective. When I last played my John Page Ashburn you see here, I thought the Bloodline single coils were too trebly & twangy for my brand of music. However, a different EQ tweak (both at the pedal & amp ends) did renew some faith in this guitar. I was listening to Malmsteen's Blackstar prior to plugging this in so that helped somewhat. 

Many of us are too quick to give up on an impulsive investment. We think we made a grave mistake by doing so & getting rid of that guitar would end the nightmare. However, we might overlook the fact that some instruments fulfil different applications, just like tools. Screw drivers are not claw hammers despite getting the job done in a crude way; they're just not meant for that job scope. More often than not, it's the user who failed to assess the situation & bring out the right tool for the job. If you think you've given up on that piece of gear that sounded so wrong when you last used it, give it a rest. Come back to it when that awful tone stopped ringing in your head. You'd be surprised what some downtime could do for you. 

Ibanez: SA560MB

I managed to give this Ibanez SA560 a go at Swee Lee recently. I have a soft spot for 22-fret Ibanez instruments, knowing Ibanez have some models still made as such is a little assuring.

As mentioned not too long ago, this SA560 looks promising in terms of looks & specs. In person, even the default weight is awesome & the non-angled headstock did very little (if any at all) to affect tuning responsiveness/ stability. The DiMarzio Black Velvets in all positions are deserving pickups in this instrument. They did well to complement this satin finish which has a midrange inclination. OK so I like the single coils here more than the humbucker in this respect. 

However, one major let down here - no excuses, Ibanez, this SA560 is the highest in its tier & should speak something in terms of QC since it costs more than the lower order units- the frets were poorly finished. 😠 The treble side of the neck was laden with sharp fret ends for almost the entire length. Damn! There's no such oversight at the bass side so clearly, it's one that escaped production scrutiny. I do not wish to imply the Chinese end of Ibanez as problematic since the acoustic & semis originated from the same country of manufacture & are some of the best in terms of construction.

Worthy FG

Happening now at Sound Alchemy. I've played this model before but it's at the Yamaha PS outlet. Awesome projection & playability. Now that it's going at this price, I'd recommend it to players looking for a reliable instrument on a budget with no compromise in QC. 👍

Ibanez: RG521 (3)

I seldom get positive encounters when it comes to Ibanez's in-house pickups. The branded, third party ones fared better in terms of my expectations. These are namely Seymour Duncan & DiMarzio models. The ones you see here in my RG521 are the V7 (N)/ V8 (B) humbuckers, the former being a ceramic unit & the latter, alnico.

I have no idea what the intention was by putting a ceramic core model in the neck position but the Ibanez people have let me down in this aspect yet again. If there's a hope of getting people to utilize the neck pickup for distortion inclined tones per se, then it might appeal to the solo purists. Many of us rely on the neck for smoother tones & immaculate cleans, generally, us solo geeks included. We like our bridge pickup to handle a more aggressive take for riffs instead. It would be a splendid idea to swap the magnet cores in time to come; have a ceramic-based pickup in the bridge, an alnico in the neck. I'm not writing off the V8 here entirely but it fell short on most occasions when a stinging, aggressive distortion is dialled up. No issues with the neck pickup in this aspect, even the cleans sound very appealing for a strong magnet type. 

Good offset tones

Was at Swee Lee today & managed to re-try the Fender Offset Tele with a different amp. Nothing boutique, just the BOSS Katana amp 😁

This guitar is equipped with a pair of American Custom pickups. Whatever these were meant to be, they sounded impressive with high gain. I managed to bump the midrange & the bridge single coil was just menacing- totally unexpected. The guitar was also set up to be low profile so shred was no issue here, just too bad the default strings were rusty. These pickups are also the rare breed that do well on clean mode. Of course, mind the Tele honk but it doesn't get in the way. I don't mind the Tele details at the body but I can't come to terms with the Tele headstock being fused into an offset body. Just me.

35-versary

In conjunction with their store anniversary, every $299 (& above) purchase at 35 Guitar Avenue, entitles you to a lucky draw chance. Prizes are depicted here. So this marks the start of a good March 😁