Fourths

So the Hyper Slinky set went into this RGA32 because I had set aside this guitar for perfect fourth tuning. From low to high, the tuning for this one is: E-A-D-G-C-F. All strings are a fourth apart from each other. As the higher two strings are tuned up half step, the thinner gauge means it will compensate the tension. The Hyper Slinky set is available at Swee Lee if you are interested to try. 

To be continued...  + goodbye November 👋

Price watch (49)

OK, let's take a look at what's good for the money post-Black Friday / Cyber Monday. This Prestige RG, in my opinion, would be a good bargain if the headstock has less dents / chips. If you don't mind the relic-esque look then it's a good consideration. Then again, who goes for a relic'd Ibanez? People prefer to have the Fender / Gibson name on the headstock if their instrument looks battered / abused, agree?

No... please don't do this. You need to give a heads-up to buyers new to the scene that this is not a genuine article. Is it that difficult to insert the word 'copy' in the title?

This is a good one, condition-wise & the fact that it comes with a semi-hard case.

But please be informed that the guitar's neck & body are from two separate instruments (albeit the same model). Personally, I wouldn't mind this at all because the TL62 inherent features are kept in tact. Also, kudos to the seller for being up front about it & providing fair disclosure.

Final one for this episode - this American Strat, with reference to the price, is a good deal. FYI, a little after Y2K, the American Standard models were known as the American Series, the 'Standard' tag was dropped. These models feature steel block saddles with an offset screw location (as seen above). I'd rather you get this guitar than buying a new, off-the-shelf, entry-level American Strat (American Performer - $1,999). Yes, for recommended items, I will leave the seller i/d visible for your keen reference.

It's... Monday

It's one of those Mondays when things didn't quite work out as intended. My string muting today was almost non-existent even when playing slow. I would usually switch guitar if that happened but the demotivation today was intense. I stopped playing altogether.

I like to play this guitar because of the DiMarzios on board - the Air Classic. I have a love-hate relationship with DiMarzio pickups but the ACs have been pleasant all round; they just sound good clean & distorted. These are not really what I'd go for when shopping for DiMarzios - low output & a little wanting in the midrange. Sometimes you really need to hear these pickups in action to know if they really have something for you.

Hope it's not too late to wish everyone a good week ahead. 

Selling: PRS McCarty S2 Singlecut (SOLD)

Tough decision but had to let this go - treatment bills due next month, unemployed. I hope you understand that my price is final & I believe I have been fair in pricing my gear (if you know me well enough). I'm saying this because there's this idiot who offered 1/2 price for this instrument & acting like he's doing me a big favour. Reality check - the price of this guitar will cover my treatment bill for a single sitting & medication with some left over for maybe my transportation home. That's the reason why I'm selling this away as opposed to other guitars that would be listed for much lesser.

No mods for this guitar less the pickup mounting screws which I have swapped out to the chrome version. I wonder why PRS chose the black version to begin with when the hardware for the rest of the instrument are clearly not black. Thanks for reading & understanding. Appreciate if you can spread the word round.

• PRS McCarty 594 Singlecut (S2 Series)
• Bag included
• Condition: 9/10
• No reservations / trades
• Queries welcomed - email
• Self-collect: CCK / Yew Tee mrt station
• Price: $1,800 (final)

City Music SALE

City Music sale - last one at the current venue.

Making it a good deal for those of us buying our first instruments

Black Friday @ Davis GMC

 

Davis GMC has Black Friday deals for you - 10% off all online purchases with the code depicted above. Reminder - there are no Black Friday deals at the showroom, strictly online.

Bugged

Greetings from Malacca...

What has The Beatles got to do with these game claw machines, we wonder. They are not even playing the Fab Four's music in the background. 

MOMM (32)

Much anticipated Darkthrone release, at least for me. It's the band's 20th full length release & we know they are not halting production any time soon. Fenriz & Nocturno pretty much live in their own world where live appearances are not obligatory & the type of music they embrace are theirs to define. Are they moving away from metal this time? Absolutely no. They are moving away from playing fast. The overall vibe here is that of a blackened doom serving; thick distortion & impactful all the way. A good example would be Track 2: Impeccable Caverns of Satan. Also, there's a trip down memory lane with sections invoking Under a Funeral Moon & Transilvanian Hunger (eg. closing bits of Track 1: Caravan of Broken Ghosts). If you are new to Darkthrone, be warned that this is introverted music, the partners here don't give a rat's ass about what's trending & true. 

From the guitar end, this is perhaps one of the best produced, much replicating the tones of Eternal Hails but nothing groundbreaking. More importantly, it serves the objective of having dark, cold, in-your-face-music this side of black metal. So it doesn't hurt to get your instruments tuned to pleasantries as long as it serves the greater objective.

SG Tuesday

 

Started playing early, in fact, before breakfast. These two are my most enjoyable SGs, always bring out my best. 

SG Muse. The Epiphone SG Muse is simply magical, no mods here less the locking tuners. I even like the default pickups, a mix of vintage & contemporary tones especially for solos. I also love the coil split options here, awesome for crunchy tones. Also, this SG has the input jack located at the side so it prevents me from grabbing the plug instead of the control knob during frantic moments.

SG Special (2015). Despite being dreadful in terms of commemorative features compounded by the defunct robot tuners, this is the Gibson neck profile I wish was in all my Gibsons; wider & D-curved. That slight flatness does wonders for speed playing, that's what I noticed. I got this for 1/2 price, I'd acquire another if there's any more going round in the after market. 

Year-end specials @ Swee Lee

Looks like Swee Lee is not waiting for Black Friday for some good deals. Do visit their homepage & discover what's on good discounts for your shopping pleasure. 

Black Friday...?

This is Black Friday week. Traditionally, the final Friday of November will see commercial entities exploding with offers & discounts before the year ends. It's interesting to see if the local music stores here will take part in this event considering prices would go up come 2023 in light of the GST hike so it kills the buying enthusiasm. If there's a good time to make people buy stuff in anticipation of price changes, the time is now. Already, SV Guitars are making their intentions known, hopefully, others will follow.

Indoor Sunday

Nothing much today, staying indoors & spending time with the Ibanez SIX6FDFM. I believe this is one of my better sounding S-Series with DiMarzios: Andy Timmons (b) / PAF 36 (n). If you wish for ultra smooth tones without the treble bits prickling your ears, the AT-1 is the one to consider. If you like fat bottom end, this is the one to get as well. I have been spending almost the entire week with this guitar actually, wondering why it sounds way more appealing than some of the more costly Ibanez I have. 

I'm also having a good time with my current fav picks, the Northern Ghost Planchette, seen here in 3 different incarnations. I firmly believe that the pick you play has a large influence to your playing efficiency. Psychologically, it means having something that contributes to positive moments so you play better.

Am I watching the World Cup opening match later? Well, I have not subscribed to any WC package in the mean time & looking forward not to. The most anticipated football event is currently a platform for disgruntled factions clamouring for attention. Quoting Pantera: No good, For no one.

Selling: Royal Blue OD / Super Metal

Clearing under-used pedals, Royal Blue OD...

 ... & Super Metal. In excellent condition, as always 😎

• Mad Professor: Royal Blue Overdrive (Condition: 9/10, box included)
• Ibanez: Super Metal (Condition: 9/10, box included)
• Conformation / query: email
• Self-collect: CCK / Yew Tee mrt station
• No reservations / trades
• Final price: $110 ea ($200 for both)
• UPDATE: RBO SOLD

Black Friday @ SOLAR

SOLAR guitars decided to call their Black Friday deal the Black Sabbath Sale. Some good stuff going for good discounts & what I wanted & could really afford is... sold out. Just great! 

Pic: SOLAR FB

Black Friday @ SV Guitars

Sharing the good stuff by SV Guitars  😎

MOMM (31)

Year-end ritual - catching up with some reading. Also catching up with some albums I missed out previously. I'm always looking out for George Lynch post-Dokken stuff. This is one of them that I enjoy listening to, it's basically 1/2 of Dokken moving on with a similar brand of music. Lynch had not been at his best lately, less technical due to age so his older materials are what I'm after. I didn't really read the credits so it took me a while to realize Pilson actually did vocals here & he's very good.

Price watch (48)

Price gets a little tricky when collectibles are involved. The Ibanez HR Giger is certainly a collectible namely due to the artist association because that RG there is nothing special. In fact, it features the dreaded Edge III bridge. Pickups in this one had been swapped out but originals are included. $5K for this one - would you?

Carcass maker

Still overwhelmed by the huge tone Bill Steer gets from his Melody Maker. Yes - Melody Maker, that punitive Gibson singlecut revelling in starter-dom. As you can see here, it's modded to accommodate a pair of humbuckers; MMs do not feature that pickguard so we know it's a contemporary innovation. I totally understand how a simple, lightweight instrument would be the order of the day for constant live dates without taxing one's spine. Please hear it in action:

Pic: Guitar

Price watch (47)

If, like me, you are looking forward to the new Fender Aerodyne Special but can't come to terms with the prices, take note of the Modern Series Strat above. These are very similar to the aforesaid Aerodyne but feature a compound radius & an alder body among other differences. New, these were $1,999 so the above prices are rather reasonable. Tier-wise, these are definitely above the Aerodynes.

Dead head

If you visit the current Charvel web page. you will only see the Fender-esque headstock design. The pointy version is now extinct. We have been subconsciously fed with the desire to own a Fender. Even for a more outgoing aggressive music genre that is best represented by sharp edges, we made a compromise. Duplantier, Jim Root & Mike Martin, among other metal heavyweights, are treading this path so it adds relevance should your commitments be questioned. The Fender headstock outline is an iconic design, it screams Fender even if there's no 'Fender' on it. If you own a pointy headstock Charvel, consider holding on to the stuff that matters.

PS: We all know Fender owns Charvel, yes?

Pics: Charvel / All about guitars

Sale: Sound Alchemy

Sound Alchemy is having a sale for all their Japanese products till the end of November. Good time to check stuff out before the new GST rate kicks in.

MOMM (30)

There's something about this album that made it unpopular  when it comes to material selection for compilation releases. Level Best, for instance, featured no songs from Guaranteed. If you ever listened to any songs from Guaranteed, we could agree that all of them are well-crafted & perhaps showcasing Mark King & company at their level best (no pun intended). Allan Holdsworth was all over this album & perhaps this is the reason why it's not really pop-oriented; it is guitar inclined, somewhat. 

Aero Special... landed

Fender Japan's Aerodyne Special guitars & basses are now in stock at Swee Lee so it won't be subjected to the new GST rates next year. However, I find the prices disagreeable:

• Strat: $1,849
• HSS Strat: $18,99
• Tele: $1,849
• P-bass / J-bass: $1,949

Those figures are on the edges of the $2K bracket. Prices went crazy recently & things are not gonna get any better. When the initial Aerodyne models were available here, they were like $1.2K +/- ... those were the days. At the current listings, you are better off getting a used American Fender instead. The main draw of the Aerodyne Specials is that simple, no-frills look. It's downright attractive but I won't pay that much for one.

Pic: Chuya

Solid

A positive take for the acoustics, I must say. This November, Ibanez did a full solid take on two of their acoustic models. This one here - AE440 - solid African mahogany + ebony fretboard; definitely worth considering.

AAD440 in equal appointments. Both guitars feature magnetic pickups discretely located at the end of the neck in the sound hole area. I see more Ibanez models sporting this feature perhaps addressing the demand of players who want good popping, tapping & scraping sounds from their instruments which is not the forte of the under-saddle pickup.

Pics: Ibanez

Hyper

Someone knows I'm up to something.

To be continued... 

Out & about

Had been spending the day with this one. This peculiar one, to be more specific. Why? Gibson said in its spec sheet, this sports a slim taper neck profile but it's somehow more comfortable to play for me especially. Then I realized that the 70s neck spec includes a slightly wider measurement as well so the slim taper + wide elements left an impression on me in terms of playing comfort. 

But Gibson equipped strange & rather repulsive capacitors in this guitar; a pair of blue, very small ones, no bigger than a baby's fingernail. It somehow made the guitar sound very bright. OK so the mini humbuckers do sound prickly by default but if I could do something inexpensive to this guitar to make it sound more appealing to me, then the capacitor consideration kicked in. These Orange Drops are the .033uf & they smoothened the top end nicely. Beez did this swap for me in under 10min.

Ended the day with a brief chill-out at Gloria Jeans (Esplanade). It was brief because there was a traditional dance event at the outdoor stage so it was crowded, compounded by the usual weekend crowd. Definitely not the environment for introverted people like me. I prefer coming here on a weekday. 

Wishing everyone a good week ahead. 

Price watch (46)

Bummer. Was supposed to be at Nick Johnston's clinic but ended up not going due to work-related matters. Not really complaining as the clinic was a free event & I took up the request willingly. Despite portraying myself as unapproachable & misanthropic at work, I will empathize with emergency situations readily. Anyway, people won't approach you if they don't see you as someone dependable in times like this.

Ended the day looking at the above Ibanez AZ2204 listings. Two of them are the N version, while the other, just a regular 2204. These are listed for $2,699 new (Swee Lee). The Prussian Blue finish is a limited run, the black ones are still in production. After-market prices are reflecting a 10% +/- discounts so not much to be had in terms of price-to-satisfaction considerations. A used AZ2204N, if you buy one from Japan, lists for $2,059. Add $150 shipping / handling charges, you would still be a winner as opposed to buying one from the above listing. We need not be too worked up with the condition of any 2204 for that matter as these are relatively new in the market, they won't manifest 'relic' conditions unless there are major issues which the seller should disclose, eg. wonky electronics, parts swapped out, etc. I am NOT asking you to not buy from the sellers above, in fact, if they are open to further negotiations & prove to be very accommodating in many ways, we should support the local after-market dealings. 

OK, em... the fabled Japanese DS-1 for $500. The WAZA DS-1 will be available here soon, it's also made in Japan & has extra features for the money. I'm not equating the WAZA version with this MIJ counterpart but, yeah. It's your money. 

Covered goodness

I only have good things to say about the Seymour Duncan JB & '59. However, I don't fancy gold covers but on that note, these covers did something to tone. I'm not about to unleash dichotomy here by saying pickup covers are doing some magic when it comes to tone but the JB, being one of the raunchiest humbucker when it comes to midrange performance, somehow sounds very smooth here. The '59 also has its vintage livery a little souped up when it comes to contemporary overdriven tones. I do not wish to look too much into those covers doing their thing but rest in the knowledge that there might be other possible contributors to this difference I hear in the mean time. 

SLO stuff

It's been pedal-related lately, from SOLAR, BOSS & now Soldano. Not many of us could relate to the Soldano goodness unless some personal encounters happened along the way. Also, Soldano stuff are not readily available in this region & if they are, it's gonna cost a bomb. This newly launched SLO pedal promises to be a very close encounter of the real thing. Of course, we know better. Soldano goodness needs to be supplemented by features that would complete the Soldano pre-requisite, the very least of which is a cab speaker. There are plenty of the SLO pedal-related videos out there but if you have to watch only one, then please take time to watch the following coverage. At the end of it all, remind yourself that a Soldano pedal & a Soldano amp - these are two different things.

Pic: GG

Simple melody (3)

Belated conclusion. The Melody Maker I acquired back in September was equipped with a .022uf capacitor, wondering why that happened because clearly, the guitar has a single coil pickup on board. There's no wrong or right when it comes to capacitor values but there are preferred & suitable ones pertaining to the guitar's features. So that made way for this over-sized .047uf Orange Drop version; the only one I had then. 

Slicing

 

New from BOSS, be warned, high niche appeal. It's fair warning because only a certain group of guitar dweebs would benefit from the SL-2 offerings. These are most probably the sound scapers, shoe-gazers among us. Take time to watch the promo clip, please.

Lest we forget, the Slicer first appeared as the SL-20... 

Pic: BOSS USA