Hola, Solar!

Let's end June on a positive note. The new look Funan Center is alive & kicking once more. On opening day, 28th June, the vicinity of FC was riddled with congestion, both the human & vehicular kind. The traffic was regulated by specially mobilized AETOS/ CISCO officers. Only legit parties with delivery/ occupancy (tenants mostly) accounts were allowed to enter the building's premises. The rest were resigned to roadside dealings which were bothered by constant honking & the afore-mentioned officers gesturing them to drive on instead of waiting. 

I remember the initial FC because Roxy Music was located there. The place, despite its tiled floors, held its rustic charm the way Queensway Shopping Center did before its facelift. After its first facelift, I remember FC for the Taco Bell located at the ground floor, the only fast food establishment I favoured because KFC was passe.

This time, I remember FC for Solar guitars! That's right folks, Solar guitars are now available at FC through Cristofori Music. My apologies for the lack of pics featuring the store itself & Launch Day occurrences. I was running late because my watch stopped- I thought I was early!

Nothing fancy, just the A2.6 in this alien fluorescent  lime green. Everything here is the works & I'm giving Solar guitars a definite thumbs up. This won't be my last- still have the baritone (sans Evertune bridge- sorry, not a fan) & singlecut on my list which didn't make the shipment this time round. 

My only gripe- the default capacitor. Solar guitars joins Gibson & Fender, among other well known brand names, in skimping on unseen features. Don't get me wrong, this one is perfectly functional but it's a .047uf used for humbuckers. Geez... There's no written literature restricting this pairing but we know how the .047uf beefs up the bottom end of your tonal spectrum so during testing time at the store, the guitar sounded extra boomy & affected lower notes definition. I was bothered by this but somehow, I knew it's something fixable (prior knowledge/ experience helps) so I proceeded with the purchase anyway.

A quick trip to Beez's next door (Excelsior Shopping Center) to get the default cap swapped out & in went the Sprague Orange Drop. It's not about capacitor supremacy but this one's a .22uf which brought back some top end sizzle into the mix but not suppressing clarity in any way. A more comprehensive appraisal to come, promise. 😎

Thank you to Dexter & all at Cristofori  music for the absolutely pleasant shopping experience despite the crowd. OK, so I was the first to purchase the SOLAR, they said, but only because I was running late. Cheers, everyone, it had been a happening June.

Selling: Ibanez RGR321EX

This one to go as well. Under-used & well taken care of 😌

• Ibanez RGR321EX (unpadded bag included)
• No trades/ reservations
• Strictly self-collect @ CCK mrt station
• Queries/ confirmation: subversion.sg@gmail.com
• Price: $399 (final, non-nego)

SOLAR @ SG details

Here are the details of the launch today. I walked past FUNAN Center yesterday & didn't see much human presence to indicate an official opening of the building. Anyway, a brief cyber-comm with the organizer confirmed the event & an assurance that every guitar purchase comes with a complementary bag less the V2.6C 😎

Vintera!

Summer surprise by Fender- the Vintera Series. These are Mexican models replacing the current Classic Series with immediate effect. According to the Fender official reference, selected models feature Tim Shaw designed pickups giving good value for money to those of us who do wish to tread the mod path after buying one. The guitar range includes the Strat, Tele, Jaguar & Jazzmaster while the basses are the Precision, Jass & Mustang selections. I'm just gonna pick a few to highlight here.

Good to see the 70s model being retained. I've tried the Classic model & personally, it's my favourite among the Strat range. The Classic version is rather heavy & give off that slightly thicker bottom end, no idea if this is gonna be the case for the Vintera.

Not a Bigsby fan but good to see a model in the series offering this option.

I just feel that block inlays for a 70s Jazz bass is simply a cool affair. 

Moving on to prices- the most affordable model is listed for SGD1,218 while the most affordable current Classic Series model will set you back SGD1,199. Would you pay $19 more for a revamped series of instruments with a potential to be better sounding owing to a set of 'revised' pickups on board? Also, the Vintera series comes with a complementary Deluxe Fender bag, remember to check this inclusion before you part with hard-earned cash. 

Pics: sweetwater/ Fender

Old & gold

Gotcha. Nothing old here but 100% new materials by Darkthrone. Knowing it's Darkthrone, 'new' is subjective. The manipulations will always end up as a Darkthrone serving despite a pinch of whatever other genre the band serves to embrace as flavour of the moment. Old Star has lots of doom to offer. With that, the inevitable slow-down-&-destroy pace that dominated the music from start to end. I can't say it's a definitive Dark Throne release like Soul Side Journey, Under a Funeral Moon, Transylvanian Hunger & dare we include, FOAD, but it's one of those releases that defies clustering. 

Production-wise, there seems to be an errant buzzing in the mix which doesn't sound musical (already evident in the second track, The Hardship of the Scots). Maybe it was meant to be as such or someone actually overlooked a dislocated EQ slider at the mixing console. At the very least, it sounds annoying. As implicated, the doom branding here has nothing to offer in terms of menacing intensity, everything is calculated & cold. There's no rush to prove anything. In fact, the mid-tempo, palm muted riffs remain to be one of the album's highlight (Alp Man) like Black Sabbath meets Cathedral only to be out finessed by Darkthrone themselves. Anyway, I like Old Star & glad they didn't pull off another punk episode. Here's wishing them other fine moments to come that could finally afford Nocturno a bass of his own. Then again, the point here might be to not own a bass & stay kult.

Classic/ Signature

New strings by PRS- the Classic & Signature series. These are supposed to be good stuff & more affordable, according to the manufacturer. Hope to see them here soon. 

Selling: Ibanez RG460 (SOLD)

Letting this go for a good price, please help spread the word- much appreciated 😎

• Ibanez: RG460
• Soft case included
• Tesla pickups: FH-1 (b)/ TV-S1 (n)/ TV-S2 (m)
• Other mods: Sprague Orange Drop capacitor/ Ernie Ball 5-way selector
• No reservations/ trades, strictly self-collect at CCK mrt station
• Queries/ confirmation: subversion.sg@gmail.com
• Price: $450 (FINAL, non-nego)

Item SOLD 😎

G vs D (Part 2)

No, the Dean camp does not take things lying down. It seems there's a fair bit of defence/ fight coming. They remind the world that their versions of the V & Z models were there for the taking back in 1976 & question why this is unfolding now. 

From an intellectual property perspective, we note that Gibson had filed the V design trademark registration in April 1997.

The Explorer design was registered in the same month/ year, just a few days following the V documentation. 

The way I see it, Gibson is pushing the courts for a legit recognition of its design which became increasingly difficult owing to commonality & the lack of perpetual protection. They are trying to show the courts the elements of infringement & design sharking should this be unaddressed. Dean is simply a scapegoat in all this considering the timing of things. You need not agree on this, it's just me coming from the legal end of how things are shaping up between these two guitar giants. I'm for mitigation, definitely. Legal proceedings are costly & subsequently affect the consumers as well. 

Solar @ SG

Anticipating this event next weekend- finally, there's an official distributor here which makes buying so much easier.

However, the models currently offered are pretty much limited- no singlecut/ Type E/ Type V/ Artist... On behalf of the keen SOLAR fans here, we hope that the distributor is as keen as us in seeing this brand through. We hope it won't suffer the PEAVEY fate where the distributor has very little interest in hearing out what the players want & bring in only selected models which they think has a commercial potential.

Despite being only 7 days away (less than 7 actually, launch day is 28th June) scant details are available. Hoping there'll be an autograph/ meet-&-greet session at the very least. Will share here once they come to light. 

Pounding Jaguar

Wasn't too happy with this one due to the default pickups- not hot enough for high gain stuff. OK so the Jaguars were meant to be as such.

So these took over- Seymour Duncan's Quarter Pound for Jaguar (SJAG-3). Not available at the shops, an online purchase. If you are interested, be informed that they don't come with the cover & claw. The default covers were not compatible with these Duncans as the bobbins for the QPs are slightly wider to accommodate the bigger pole pieces. Again, these are not available locally & the online order + wait delayed the installation. 

If you are after a more aggressive, fatter sounding Jaguar tones, these are the ones to get. I enjoyed the fatter cleans as well despite a less frequent usage but those who dislike excessive high end, be warned that things could be a little extreme especially when the guitar's Mid Tone is set to CUT. Whatever the case may be, I'm glad the SJAG-3s are serving my needs. 

Another positive episode with Seymour Duncans- my kind of pickups. 👍

G vs D

Ladies & gentlemen, in Round 2 of Gibson vs The World, we have Dean in the fray. The details are still fresh & scant at posting time, more to come for sure. Nothing new- trademark infringement. Gibson is actually putting the parent company of Dean & Luna guitars, Armadillo Distribution Enterprise Inc., in the legal spotlight. There are currently seven points of contention, among other things, the headstock design seen above...

... & the Flying V outline. Amazingly, the Les Paul singlecut outline was not included. 

Maybe the Cadillac's Les Paul/ Explorer dichotomy (above) was a clever segue out of legal contention. We continue to wonder.

I'm neither a Gibson fan nor a Dean fan- I'm a guitar fan. I acknowledge the fact that both Gibson & Dean plays an integral part in guitar history. If you are inclined towards a certain brand name, other brand names should not be a threat to your liking. If it does, it's called blind loyalty & it impairs judgment. The fact remains that one guitar in unable to replace another comprehensively. If the Les Paul can out-twang the Strat, Fender would have been out of business a long time ago. The opposite is true; till today, no Strat could manifest a thunderous bottom end like the Les Paul. In music, guitars remain to be the tools for musicians. Tools should not compete with one another. If one reigns supreme, there would be a false sense of absolution; you think you are an end-all reference to issues till you are shamed by that little problem that blindsided you. 

On a closing note, there might be hidden politics behind it all. We are certainly not privy to all the details & taking sides would show our ignorance more than anything else. Personally, I'm looking forward to the Gibson resurgence now that they are beginning to show more product focus. This recent development is like throwing a spanner in the works. Time will tell.

GSS @ CM

Thank you City Music for making this happen- you lead the way 👍🏾

That Gibson video

Very recently, Gibson had this video out featuring Mark Agnesi telling guitar copiers to beware of their backlash should they insist on making their guitars look like Gibsons. That video had been swiftly taken down. People are saying Gibson did that one in poor taste. Instead of getting ahead in terms of quality, they threatened competitors with lawsuits to keep things in check. They are deemed insecure & going about things with the wrong set of priorities. 

There is no wrong in upholding one's intellectual property (IP) but one's approach in handling it is a different thing altogether. I happened to watch that video before it disappeared & thought it was aimed squarely at a certain group of manufacturers & not a grand declaration of war in general. Reading into the finer points, Gibson is telling the world that it's back with a vengeance. The current CEO had it right thus far & they need to put a stop to others' practices that might have been ignored previously. Fair enough but be mindful of how you present that to the rest of the world. 

Let's say a product infringement occurs in the USA, can Gibson take immediate action? They can have an immediate removal orders but legal action against the responsible entity is not an easy affair. The party guilty of IP infringement need to exist in the same jurisdiction to begin with & that's through registration. Remember the PRS - Gibson debacle pertaining to the singlecut design? That's an easy one for Gibson because PRS is a registered entity in the USA. Try pulling this off against a Far Eastern copy & you would be hard pressed to even know whose ass to drag to court to begin with. 

On that note, I will not stop buying products like the Edwards here (E-LP-125) which is a blatant copy of a Gibson- there's no hiding that. Be mindful that Edwards did not intend their guitar to be a Gibson to begin with, it's their interpretation of the Les Paul reverence. They explicitly labelled the headstock as their own & not a Gibson. These guitars are also not meant to be on sale in the international market, the Japanese are content with proving their worth at home, they are not interested in strutting their stuff to the rest of the world. 

I'm not against Gibson & what it stands for seeing that everything is falling well into place for the company. In fact, I'm happy to see this happen because the Gibson name is a force to be reckoned with. The recent slump in reputation is an unfortunate downturn but it's been addressed & things are starting to be on the rise once again for this iconic brand name. What they can expect from me is total support. But be reminded that our support would sway if Gibson loses focus once more & chose to indulge in a commercial circus once more.

PICS: reddit/ ESP

The (short) trip

Wedding anniversary, short trip to KL. We've not been here for more than 5 years; way before they did the MRT construction at Bt Bintang. Now that it's done, there's less traffic congestion there & more pedestrian space. Anyway, I managed to drop by KL's Balai Seni (National Art Gallery) & came across this exhibit. The artist turned domestic artists' names into recognizable interpretations with familiar graphics & fonts. You should know where the above example drew its inspiration from. 

Managed to drop by Swee Lee's LOT 10 branch. No customers in store, maybe because it's a Monday. Come to think of it, there were scant shoppers on all other floors. It's not a good idea to locate a guitar store up on the third level with very low human traffic. Did not manage to drop by Bentley Music despite it being just across the road. We walked too much & was looking for a place to chill out. 

Petaling Street is fast losing its appeal. The place is suffering because authorities are keeping watch on the pirated wares sold there. The current inventory just looks rotten. There was no appeal to even browse the items. It was a quick round before grabbing a ride back to the hotel & prepped ourselves up for dinner.

No fancy dinner this time, we opted for a food truck night (@ Persiaran Hampshire, off Ampang Rd, across the road from Suria KLCC). So many choices at one place, that's the idea.

Capping off the night with an outdoor chill out- lights, wind & lots of looking up. 

The activation

Before the DiMarzio Fusion Edge became the defacto pickups for Ibanez guitars that warrant attention but tamed to manifest limited appeal (so that they won't become exceedingly popular & overtake the established models in terms of sales), there were the D Activator models. These were manufactured by DiMarzio as well & mimic the responses of an active pickup without sounding too sterile in the higher frequencies. They were fitted into the ICT700...

... & the XPT700.

Subsequently, the D Activator X came into the picture (fitted into the DTT700 seen above). The slight variation- Version X has a richer midrange & surprisingly sounds good in clean mode. The manufacturer chose the rail design to signal to the hardcore X2N fans that the D Activator X can pull off an X2N with a more usable set of cleans.

Unlike the semi-abominable Fusion Edge, I like the D Activators. A pair is now resident in my Jackson Dinky here & they are just the deserving pickups in such a shred/ high gain profile guitar.

They are indeed very suited to angry music, the type that is distortion inclined with very little or no clean considerations. Unlike their more renowned counterparts, I hear more presence from these pickups & the higher frequencies do not wither under excessive gain or processing. I'm not saying the latter occurrence is a bad thing because for prog-esque moments that require dedicated intensity (Dream Theater is my best reference here), DiMarzios do the job well. I require an abrasive tone that would sound palatable when palm muted & the D Activators seem to fit the bill. 

New 200s

BOSS has moved up the pedal chain by offering these pedals in their range. The new 200 series offer multiple features instead of being a straight up singular function, all that with the possibility of running things with dry cell battery power. No idea how that's gonna hold up with delay units but it's an interesting prospect. On my to-get list. 

In reverence: 57/08

These are PRS' coveted 57/08 humbuckers. They were revered by countless players who tried & admired them thereafter. They are not new, first released in 2008 (the 08 in the model's numerical reference) as default units & made available as independent, off the shelf items in 2017. Naturally, I'm not attracted to these pickups as they are not my thing; vintage inspired (mirrored after the '57 humbuckers, no surprise there), a whole load of clean propulsion & not much stead in the aggressive realm. 

But they made their way into my PRS S2 Singlecut Standard, not by choice but by designation. My plan was to turn this guitar into a formidable tone machine, sporting an unlikely pair of pickups but equally able to deliver death & destruction with whatever amp & effects at my behest. Not a simple feat but I somehow know the 57/08 is worth its salt.

Currently, the reviews & tone checks available out there, uphold the 57/08 as the refined manifestation of the Gibson 57 pickups. You'd hear & see the golden generation of players putting them through vintage amps & farting out excessive fuzz-laden tones which seems to delight guitardom. I'm of the opinion that such interpretations sound like cheap set ups, unworthy of being deemed as 'good'. I make no apologies in putting the 57/08 through high gain settings & grind a thousand notes per second just to prove that it's actually more than competent in handling intense music. We often pigeon hole a certain implement of a certain nature to be proficient in a certain assignment because they were proven worthy by a certain pool of consumers. It's only when a paradigm shift occurs that we discover an alternative prospect. 

Let me tell you where I'm coming from- I dislike the Gibson 57 tone. If your life depends on affectionate cleans & maybe an occasional dirty segue, then you are most probably a 57 fan. I can't stand how the 57 fails to hold a tight bottom end under intense distortion. There's a simple reason for this- it wasn't made to kill but to mesmerize. I'm definitely not a fan of that but secretly admire the 57's glassy treble; first class smoothness without being too piercing. When Paul Reed Smith dabbled in his electronic alchemy to re-interprete the 57, I somehow knew something awesome would manifest. He's a fan of the tone to begin with, a determined individual bent on making something great sounding a little more usable to a wider pool of players, not just the vintage worshippers. My enthusiasm died when I read that the 57/08 was not an open market product but were strict inclusions for selected PRS guitars. A good 8 years or so later, due to pressing demands & sheer admiration of the 57/08 tones, the pickup was made available to public but they are not cheap, mind you (USD210 each, damn!).

My sublime attraction to the 57/08 was inspired by how the late Jon Nodtveidt delivered crushing heavy tones through his LP Custom sporting default pickups (Reinkaos era). The message there was, the guitar & its default features were already good for the job, it's the duty of the user to make it sound potent. Similarly, the 57/08 was already churning out awesome tones, it's my job to make it sound killer through my set up. I see its potential in delivering good distorted tones & I'm not obliged to limit it to its coveted turf. There are other people doing just that & I do not wish to follow suit. I hope this is not seen as an excessive praise for the product per se. Personally, I feel that it's a pleasant surprise & the unlikely reference for heavy music. Thank you, Davis GMC, for bringing them in. 

Chakra Rails

This was conceived for Def Leppard's Phil Collen- DiMarzio Sugar Chakra. It was supposed to manifest a beefy-as-a-real-humbucker tone. I'm certainly not aware DiMarzio's current lineup of single coil sized humbucker are actually sounding below par. Hmm... 

Vintage @ DGMC

Vintage guitars are now available at Davis GMC. This fantastic Thomas Blug model is available in store- do check it out.

Idiot

Testing times. Put stuff up for sale, clearly stated details, yet some people insist on being idiots by not reading. If you think you are doing sellers a favour by introducing fresh terms to the agreement, then you are being very disrespectful to say the least. I have personally blacklisted such people, not worth the trouble- I'm being too nice. 

Bellamy - Manson

Muse's Matt Bellamy is now the legal owner of Manson guitars after acquiring a majority shareholder status. Now what he wants, he gets.

Launching: G-Series

Counting down. 😎

New Slinky-s

Folks, Ernie Ball has these new sets for you to consider.

PRIMO Slinky: 9.5/ 12/ 16/ 24/ 34 44

Nothing new here, D'Addario & GHS were among the names offering that in-between gauge. Unlike their counterparts, EB offers a 12 for their B string. Will definitely try this set (my PRS guitars all sport a set of 9.5s) as it's close to what I'm used to.

MEGA Slinky: 10.5/ 13.5/ 17.5/ 28/ 38/ 48

I currently have a set of GHS 10.5s in my Jaguar but the gauges are slightly different: 10.5/ 13.5/ 17/ 26/ 38/ 48. Will also give this set a try since 10.5s are something new for me. I dislike 11s in my Jaguar for standard tuning & reserve that for my extended scale length guitars for drop tuning.

MAMMOTH slinky: 12/ 16/ 24(W)/ 34/ 48/ 62

I have never tried 12s. As mentioned above, I prefer 11s for a slightly longer scale length instrument. For most instruments, a slight re-slotting of the nut is required for string gauges beyond size 50. If you wish to return to your preferred thinner gauge subsequently, bear in mind that the wider slot might cause buzzing. 

Good to know that EB has caught up with the other market players in offering a less familiar but in demand gauges albeit a little late. My beef with EB is that the slinky feel gets done with pretty quickly & strings feel dead thereafter. Also, EB is in my bad books for being unreliable in terms of string freshness; a new pack off the shelf doesn't guarantee a rust-free set.

Pic: EBMM

Selling: Gibson LP Jr Tribute DC (SOLD)

OK letting this go because... em... incoming 😎

Comes with a bag.

• Gibson 2019 Les Paul Jr Tribute DC (bag included as above)
• 9/10 condition (2mth old as at time of posting)
• Original capacitor replaced with Orange Drop
• No reservations/ No trades
• Self-collect: CCK mrt station
• Queries/ confirmation: subversion.sg@gmail.com
• Price: $799 (final)

Item SOLD: 14/6/19

Faded summer

No holding back- new LTDs for Summer 2019. The manufacturer released a series of faded finishes for the 400 series.

The 400s are top-of-the-line standard models before the series enter the Deluxe tier (1000s). I do check the QC for these models from time to time & must say that the finish had been done better over the years. Look out for the part where the neck meets the body; this heel area is the part vulnerable to sloppy treatment but the 400s had been well taken care of, unlike the lower tier models which are bolted on & do not manifest specific finishing issues.