Strat & Explore

More Edwards guitars are making their way to Davis GMC. This Strat-like model is the wonderful E-ST-90ALR ($990). Available in store are two other finishes - burgundy & sunburst. If you wish for good tones, respectable QC & value for money, this is something for you to consider.

Also in stock: E-EX-12D ($1,500). No hiding its Explorer outline, this one is a scorcher tone-wise. I've played this one in person & it sounds a little hotter than the Gibson counterpart namely due to the Seymour Duncan JB / '59 combo. Also, at this price point, it's worth every cent. 

Goodbye, March... 👋

Pics: ESP Japan

American Soloist

Jackson's American Series Soloist SL3 is now available at Swee Lee ($3,699). This one was touted to be a promising guitar based in its pedigree but the fact that it features a lower tier bridge will be the deal breaker for many of us - especially at that price. 

Pic: Jackson 

Selective archery

The latest in the Archer range - Select. Select here refers to the selectable clipping modes. All those drive & distortion, it's about clipping. I'm somehow glad I'm ahead of this because my Snake-stortion pedal is about clipping as well (Snake-stortion: CLICK). But the Archer fanboys will say this one is about the Klon voicings, which is in an entirely different tone Nirvana so... there.

Pic: JR Audio

40th enticements

This is a sensible thing to do & I'm sure it would be appreciated by many of us - the Squier 40th Anniversary models were given good mark-down prices just days ago. My honest opinion - these were doomed from the start. Many of us wouldn't be too keen to pay for a Squier beyond the $500 price range because we have LTD, Bacchus, Cort & others alike which are really value for money considerations. Squiers are affordable second take on the Fender name & no amount of Anniversary related bling would entice the average buyer beyond a certain price bracket. Yes, basses are included in this discount exercise as well, if you are keen.

Pic: Swee Lee

Why?

The final sale happening at City Music now is offering this G&L ASAT  Classic Fullerton Standard for $1,305. Awesome guitar, made in the USA.

Meanwhile, the most affordable American Telecaster (American Performer) is listing for $2,049.

Given the price enticements, many of us won't go for the G&L. It's a good guitar, well-made & the discounts just made it a very enticing instrument with regards to value-for-money. Nope, it's a G&L & it's a no go. Considering the close history this brand name has to Leo Fender, we still won't budge. 

So what is really preventing us from buying a non-Fender, is our ego, really. For many of us, it has to be a Fender. We just have to go with that name because it's status symbol of sorts. Many people will understand this because they still aspire to acquire Mercedes & Rolex when other brand names offer better performance & quality. There's nothing wrong with getting a Fender. It's still the benchmark in the industry but if something more worthy is presented to us, we have to be wiser with our decisions. On that note, I'm not compelling you to get a G&L. At that discounted price, why not check it out, at the very least. If it doesn't click with you, then it's all about personal appeal. Nobody can fault you on that.

7 again

Every now & then, I will be yearning to hear lower tunings or play a 7-string guitar. Many people are of the opinion that it requires a re-learn when dealing with an extra string on the guitar. As for me, I see the 7-string as a 6 with an extra. I tend to isolate the 7th string's existence. It's like an extra kid in the team with a special need & will be treated as special from start to end but he's still part of the team. That's the reason my mind don't get messed up with chords & stuff with an extra string on board; just play the 6 stuff, ignore the 7th.

Also, there is this psychology of easier playing. Many players feel the strings are located closer to compensate the overall spacing on the neck, hence the 'easier' feel. I don't really buy into this belief but I tend to agree because I'm not the type who hooks the thumb over the edge so I don't feel the wider neck impeding play; my hand wasn't stretched out to begin with.

Nippon stripes

Some new but not that new stuff from Fender (Japan) - guitars with competition stripes. Specifically, stripes are located behind the bridge. The guitars are from the Traditional 60s line up, just given those stripes.

Not leaving out the bottom ender among us, there's a P-bass version & it's the only bass in this release. That's right, white finish only, folks.

Pics: Fender Japan

Foundry

Laney had been teasing this for the last week or so. It's called the Ironheart Foundry Loudpedal, a 3-in-1 unit which allows you to: 1) Use it as an amp. That's right, 60W of force right there at your feet 2) Plug it in as a DI unit so it goes straight to the mixing desk 3) A regular effects unit. Well heck, it allows you to plug in your headphones for silent practice when the need arises. When you're done reading this, please know that it's already available at Davis GMC (List: $250).

Pic: Laney

Ramadan

Blessed Ramadan greetings to all Muslim friends & blog readers. A post-COVID episode we would surely treasure.

Fortuna-ly

In the single coil domain, Fender's in-house pickups are the standard to beat. OK, maybe the Noiseless models are not exactly likeable. Fortunately, Ibanez's Seymour Duncan Fortuna single coils are, at the very least, above expectations. These get my absolute thumbs up because they sound impressive in clean, crunch & distorted modes. Twangy? Yes, but not Fender-y, so to speak. I'm just grateful that in this aspect, I have a non-Fender to refer to. The Fender experience is unbeatable but some other brand names offer their own interpretation of the single coil goodness. What's preventing us from trying them? Ego & blind loyalty.

Flip-flop S

This used to be unplayable (Ibanez S521). When I was dealing with it, the action at the 12th fret was 4mm (both Es)! It was reduced to 3mm at the said fret & the area past the 14th fret was unplayable across the board (no pun intended). The owner had no clue how to rectify this anomaly. I would imagine sending it for a professional repair & the diagnosis of the situation plus a repair quotation would deem it unworthy.  Once again, it's a case of an Ibanez in need of neck-fret attention which could not be addressed just by raising the action. Yes - the body was refinished in flip-flop green.

At a certain angle, it looks blue. This is an attempt to capture that blue but it's not quite obvious through digital manifestation. 

In the true spirit of being unprofessional, the rear's original finish was kept in tact. 😅

To be continued...

Differences to note

Just want to document this here so that fellow tinkerers would take note. These days, some pickups do not come with the extended mounting flap (R). The flatter version (L) are usually equipped in direct mount cavities. This extension, is also referred to as the pickup's leg in certain guitar forums / discussions. 

Also, the flat flap version comes with a shorter pair of screws (black) to offset the need for a shallower reach in the absence of the pickup's height extension. This is important because if you use the regular mounting screws which are longer (chrome), it might poke through the body's rear resulting in surface damage.

Reverse liking

It seems like this Fender (Japan) is creating quite a stir Stateside. I saw this on the manufacturer's webpage yesterday. Nothing special in the appointments. Perhaps the anodized pickguard & reverse headstock is proving to be a quirky appeal. OK, some of us are turned on by gold (hardware). 

If this design looks familiar to you, it was done in 2015 under the Hendrix monicker, complete with the slanted bridge single coil. 

Back to the Japanese guitar in question, I am currently turned off by anything black / sunburst. I will make the exception if the guitar is well-playing & appeal to me tone-wise. Under these considerations, Telecasters appeal to me more. The guitar is currently under a Japan-exclusive offering but we know this might not be the case in our part of the world.

Pics: Fender Japan / Guitar

Elementals

The recently released Fender Elemental Series (Japan) are now available at Swee Lee ($1,699). I find the price decent, in fact, I'd rather go with these guitars than pay for the over-priced Aerodynes. 

 

Antigua Friday

The Telecaster is just a simple wonder. It's one of those guitars that lets you focus on playing rather than being bothered by features. My beef with the Tele is the slab body design. These days the rear belly cut is present in many design but the elbow relief is quite absent in majority of the Tele models. These days, I prefer lesser frets on a Fender so the 21 you see here is a personal preference. More frets letting you play better is a juvenile philosophy.

Revival Thursday

Not too long ago, this guitar was unplayable. It's been looked into & the following tweaks were done...

The primary fault was the chronic fret buzz. It seems that someone tried to file the frets down to get rid of this but was unsuccessful. There were black marker stains on many frets. It's the typical (& correct) approach of identifying problematic frets & marking them down for filing. The stains would be gone when the filing's done but in this case residue black stains were not taken care off.

A closer look revealed a need for proper neck tilt. I managed to shim the neck (hence the visible maple bit you see above) to raise the rest level as well as rectify the tilt angle. The neck was also bowed & that was easily attended to via a quick truss rod tweak. Action was re-set for a set of 9 - 42 but there's residue string buzz. Culprit - popped out frets. These were hammered in. Only 2 frets underwent minimal filing. I wonder what happened to this guitar along the way & the way it was re-set up disappointed me because it was still unplayable but put up for sale. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

The default Ibanez Quantum pickups meant nothing to me. Seymour Duncan JB / Jazz are the replacements. The gold pole pieces - inexpensive tweak to match the hardware livery of the guitar. Adds zilch to tone, of course.

The 5-way selector is the circuit board type to supplement the coil split option. The terminals are well-labelled but you need to follow the replacement pickup manufacturer's colour code which might be different from the Ibanez pickup colour code (seen above).

This gap between the saddles might be minimal but it caused string misalignment (against the pickup pole pieces). Noticed the other saddles are seated properly without gaps in between? Well, so much for QC.

Also replaced - tuners. The default ones were locking version but it added weight to the headstock & the neck dive was intolerable. Easy fix, yes?

Scratchy midweek

While playing this morning, there was a drop in signal from the amp then it went dead for a while, before coming back to life. The immediate reaction was: Darn! Tubes are dying. However, a quick peek revealed glowing, healthy tubes. 

A few moments later, it happened again & I messed with the Master volume control & the amp crackled rather fiercely. However, after switching to the clean channel, everything was working well; no issues with any of the controls. So the quick conclusion was the problematic Master volume control & we all know dead amp pots are a little challenging to swap out. I grabbed the contact cleaner which was nearby & gave the volume control a good spray. For a more effective result, the amp head was laid on its back to allow the cleaning fluid to flow down. That, folks, was the cure to this mess - dirty contacts. I'm wondering why this was the case considering I play almost every day so the Master volume control was always rotated. 

This Waxco Tech brand is, to my knowledge, the cheapest contact cleaner out there (less than $5 if prices remain true at Mustafa Center) but it's the least pleasant in terms of odour. If this bothers you, consider the Servisol, 3M & WD-40 brand instead.

Tele Tuesday

Started early today as well. This is my fav Tele (in the mean time). One pickup, 21 frets - go!

But not before a quick re-string. Ernie Ball - not my preferred strings but this is what I have in the mean time; better than playing corroded strings.

Managed to insert felts for the strap buttons; one of them already fused with the finish. Darn 😕

I still wipe my strings down after each play despite whatever conspiracy theory suggesting the expendability of strings. Screw that.

SG Monday

Started playing early but this SG required some looking into.

Left this aside for a while. Slight neck bow occured & I'm still trying to figure out what happened considering it's not exposed to drastic temperature changes. Then again, the weather had been erratic lately. I'm also tired of dealing with Gibson tools that came default with the instrument; these rust very quickly so the multi-tool you see there was a separate acquisition. I also noticed the pickups like lowered itself into the cavity, geez... So that was taken care rather quickly. 

Between SG & Les Paul, I favour the former not because it's a 'better' instrument but it fits my handling quirks. Being someone too accustomed to an Ibanez, the SG's double cutaway suit me better. 

Ichika @ SG

Was alerted to this.

Asked around but nobody knows anything. About a few hours later Swee Lee confirmed the date but further details are pending confirmation. Watch this space.

Pics: Ibanez

Review quickie: JOYO US Dream

Pic: Amazon

This distortion pedal is an affordable effect unit you can add to your pedal board. JOYO's US Dream is less than $70 (Amazon) & looks like a winner. 

Likes

• simple layout
• sturdy built
• overall distortion range
• price

Dislikes

• distortion at higher settings
• footswitch

If you wish for a simple pedal that works, then this is it. The US Dream is not to be likened to a certain orange BOSS pedal because its distortion gets a little raunchy past 2 o'clock. It kicks harder than the orange counterpart & on that note, the overall distortion sweep is a little more dynamic. After spending more than an hour fiddling the controls, I noticed the VOLUME control cuts / adds to distortion intensity in addition to, well, controlling volume. However, the distortion at higher settings get muffled up pretty quickly so pushing the tone control to sharpen the overall voicing is necessary. 

My beef with the US Dream in terms of tonal performance is that it lacks warmth for lower distortion settings; crunchy blues tones sound like a tamed hard rock performance more than anything else. On that note, it makes single coils sound extra prickly. Do note that the foot switch is a little dodgy out of the box, please stomp with care. 

Overall rating: 70%

JOYO: US Dream

Availability: Amazon ($64.50)

Unplugged Friday

Weekend is here, rare off day today so it's a long weekend for me. Nothing major this morning, just some unplugged moments with the cat. I sometimes wish I could do more on my free days but I have meds to deal with. The weary side effect just makes playing a challenge most of the time. These days I tend to avoid / delay medication as much as possible but I risk getting internal infection leading to breathing difficulties, severe skin rash leading to passing out. Imagine all this happening while I'm on the go, don't think people around me would know what to do. They couldn't give up their seats for me in view of my medical condition let alone render the necessary help. 

Wishing everyone a great weekend ahead. If you have kids, school's out, term break is here.

Flying service

This was sent to me about 3 weeks ago for a re-string & re-set up. It's a BC Rich NJ Series Jr. V, belonging to a friend.

The guitar was basically in need of an upkeep; wipe down, dusting off, tightening of screws, that kinda thing. The FRS seen above was wiped down thoroughly. I also swapped the low E string saddle to the A position. Reason - It's oxidized by the picking hand, so it's moved away from that position. It's the next best thing to a total replacement.

Headstock - thoroughly cleaned, nut was shimmed. The strings were touching the first fret due to wear so it's an easy fix. When I clean / polish the headstock, I make it a point to remove the tuners so that all surface areas could be accessed. This also gives me the opportunity to clean the tuners as well.

Thorough cleaning for the fretboard as well. Accumulated grime / dirt can be removed rather easily using oil-based fluids. Tougher stains require alcohol treatment, I usually use medical swabs available at pharmacies. The side effect of using alcohol is the drying of wood surfaces which can be countered easily with conditioning fluid. Also, grime / dirt at the fret edges were dug out using any metal implements, razor blade / pen knife blade is an easily available example.

All done & good. Guitar is pending collection this coming weekend. 

MOMM (38)

It's a midweek ear fodder episode...

Memoriam: Rise to Power

I'm not really a fan of 2021's To the End, it sounded reserved. For this kinda music, singing about warfare, death & destruction, you just have to sound dangerous. OK maybe, after a few outing pivoting on the same theme, your band decided on variety; it's all understood. Rise to Power is Memoriam going up the perilous pathway once more. Guitars sound thicker in this release as well.

Rod Stewart: Some Guys Have All the Luck (Best Of)

I bought this double CD release because I wish to hear the older Rod Stewart song which are not played on the radio much. Air time favours his other tracks with a pop-friendly slant; Have I Told You Lately, Downtown Train, Rhythm of My Heart, et al. To me, Maggie May, The First Cut is the Deepest, Young Turks... these are equally important, otherwise it's not a comprehensive take in understanding all things Rod Stewart. Amazon has some discounted listings + free shipping so why not.

Wrangling

Fender is currently collaborating with the denim brand, Wrangler, for some gear merchandise. Are people aware of the Wrangler brand name today? The younger ones in particular. We could all agree Levi's is the name to beat in this game. For an up-market appeal, maybe Versace & Armani.

But if you are in the same age group as yours truly here, the Wrangler name, in its heyday, is up there with Levi's. Of course, back then, we have Lee, Lee Cooper, Yane & Amco, among others, fighting for attention. Are we missing something in terms of Wrangler being on the rise in terms of denim wear leading to a Fender collaboration? Hmm..

Pic: MR

If darkness

My days of looking forward to Metallica's music was over a long time ago. There are members within my music circle who are still ardent fans & they prompted me to this new track saying it's a come-back material. Listen to Hammett's solo starting at 4:17 & consider if it's a botched take or not - to think that this guy used to write some of the most memorable solos in metaldom. Metallica is still treading the commercial overtones trying to appease the black album posse. Nothing has changed.

Price watch (56)

The Ibanez SA120 is an affordable instrument, less than $500 new. This one, according to the seller, had mods done to it & the asking price is reflecting that. You'd agree that for that kind of money, it's a hard figure to deal with; >$1K for a used, entry level Ibanez with a shaved neck & the Ibanez decal removed. Oh dear...

Shred box

Not suppossed to but... Only this one.

Re-string Friday

Weekend is here! Time to get lost in gear indulgence once more. Of course, for someone like me with very little else to do, this is something to look forward to. The RG550 gets a re-string, GHS 9s this time round.

It also gets a new set set of string lock shafts. These are replaceable so it's something not to get too worked up over when they become rusty / corroded. 

No permission

Every now & then, I come across unauthorized use of my guitar pics in cyberspace. I make it a point to check. I'm actually OK with it but do credit it to source, especially when you use it for commercial intentions.