Founder's Day Sale

If you're not bogged down by any festive expenditures then this might be for you.

Warrior Dave

Jackson & Dave Davidson continued their collaboration into the Warrior zone. Many conformists out there would find this outline a little repulsive but it's compulsory consideration for all those dwelling in the metal zone.

Those of us who are not into maple fretboards, it's available in ebony as well but with a reverse headstock. Specs are decent; DiMarzio Pickups (Occult) & an FR1000 bridge. This is a Pro Series model FYI.

Pics: Jackson

GRX... new colours

Ibanez's April highlight is actually a trio of GRX in three new colours. That's right, colours are new, the GRX40 had been a Gio mainstay for a while. 

I used to own the RX40 (Korean) & the vibes are obviously different from the current GIO interpretation. If you look carefully, the RX has a slightly deeper treble-side cutaway compared to its GIO counterpart. Despite being an Ibanez fan, I would recommend a Jackson JS model over this GRX40 in terms of value-for-money consideration.

Pics: Ibanez / I-wiki

Horizon BOSS

The Edwards camp released a Horizon 7-string with a BOSS GK synth pickup. Not quite obvious here as it sits between the bridge humbucker & the FR bridge. The pickups on board are ESP's in-house Custom Lab models. Currently only offered in black. 

Pic: ESP Japan

 

Eid 2025

Eid greetings to all Muslim blog readers, friends & acquaintances. Another sombre episode this year but I'm becoming more desensitized to such circumstances. It's all about setting priorities for your celebrations. Nothing grand at my end especially when I'm a little under the weather & overwhelmed by this cracking headache for almost the entire day. My holiday in a nutshell. 

23

Another cheap & cheerful, not to mention worth my time & effort, resurrection episode. This is a Peavey Extreme 23, my kind of guitar but that body outline could have been more appealing.

To be continued...

P-Jumbo

Don't check the Ibanez acoustic lineup too often, missed this. It's a jumbo in the Performer range. FYI, the Performer Series of acoustics are Ibanez's most affordable. On that note, this PJ50E does not sport a solid top, even the soundhole rosette is a water transfer type.

Pic: Ibanez

SL-2

New from the Jackson camp - another American Series Soloist but this time, it's an SL-2.

Difference? It's a through-body construction.

Pics: Jackson

 

Double trouble

Digging deep into the annals of history, Gibson decided to revisit that sunburst model with uncovered pickups. The thing about these pickups, they are double cream. DiMarzio has registered this colour combo as their design proprietary. Oh, this LP is called the Double Trouble. 

Pic: Gibson USA

Powers

Powers Guitars. Boutique stuff. This A Type PF42 will set you back $5,999 & it's available at Swee Lee. At this price point, a Gibson or PRS makes more sense in terms of after-market value. 

Exotic veneer

PRS did a good thing for their SE Series, these are now given an exotic top (limited run). The ones you see here are the burled ash version. The flip side of this move is, of course, to bring prices up. You actually won't mind paying more for a lower series instrument given such a stunning top. How much? $1,349 for this iteration. Compared to a hyped up non-American Fender, I'd go with this one in view of its value-for-money consideration. 

Pic: PRS

Raya deals @ SL

If you are in the mood for more gear this festive season, these are the discounts offered by Swee Lee. 

Pic: SL webstore

Review quickie: Artec Giovanni pickup

The Artec pickups are under the Giovanni Series of electronics, manufactured for electric guitars. These are very affordable pickups available at Amazon. Magnets used are either Alnico II / V. The high powered GHXTN model here features Alnico V magnets.

Likes:

• clarity
• price

Dislike:

• clean tones

Both the bridge & neck pickups manifest clarity we often hear coming from notable brand names which list for much more. The bridge pickup, would appease all the distortion fiends out there, especially the ones who peddle heavy music. The clarity of the neck humbucker is useful for solos. A strong midrange / treble response is heard coming from both models & on this note, the clean tones on offer are acceptable & would require some modulation (e.g. chorus) to mitigate a more appealing response. Certainly not the pickups to get for jazz.

Final rating: 70%

Availability: Amazon

Ptice: $30.05

Tap tool

Started playing very early today. Despite not being my thing, the nylon string is a good discourse for tapping practice. It's mostly psychological; the gauge of the strings felt pretty much the same across the neck so it gave this feeling of familiarity. Also, I prefer the sound of tapped nylon strings as opposed to acoustic strings; each string sounded fat as opposed to unamplified metal strings. For us to become better, it's always good to play out of our comfort zone so the nylon string guitar is here to stay with me. The more I struggle to play, the more efforts I make to improve my playing. Hopefully, the better I become.

Solar FF

So it finally happened - Solar did a fan-fretted model. Looks the works but those slanted humbuckers, should you dislike them along the way, are there ready slanted replacement models out there? Pictured: A1.6AN-FF.

Pic: Solar

Advanced

Absolutely my kind of Strat - hard tail, big headstock & blank fretboard. Folks, this is the Player II Advanced which was released recently. Despite the upscale appointments you see here, it's made in Mexico.

The Telecaster version is also available but not quite the Tele tones with dual humbuckers as seen above. Both guitars a available at Swee Lee now ($1,849) but I find the price disagreeable for a Mexican. Also, do note that Swee Lee refers to this as an FSR Player Plus while the rest of the world acknowledged it to be the Player II Advanced. Same guitars, though.

Pics: GWonline

D3

Re-visiting al old friend. Not that old compared to my BOSS DS-1. I kept the MXR Distortion III away for a while as the tone settings, in its upper frequency position manifests excessive hissing. Of course, this required my amp to be toned down in terms of presence which I didn't bother doing. Also, the D3's application for a certain music genre wasn't part of my plan on some playing days. It's back out now to  address some riff ideas, not to mention giving deserving boosts to solos. I find that, despite its rather small size, the average MXR pedal is rather heavy. What say you?

Positive recovery

The great Brian Setzer (certainly on of the greats in my book) lost the ability to play in February due to an autoimmune condition. As he plays regularly as a pro, he was advised to go into hiatus for the sake of recovery. Just days ago, the media was informed of Setzer's positive recovery but not in its entirety. On a personal note, it's simply good knowing one of my guitar heroes not giving up & walked away from it altogether. Reminded me of myself when I was down with cancer; the thought of not being able to play any more was real. This was especially true when some of my nerves got damaged by the chemo & some skin condition happened along the way that prevented me from simply handling the instrument. 

Godspeed recovery to Brian Setzer as we await his return to rock the house once more - heck, yeah!

Pic: usweekly

Of strings...

Strings update. I've settled down with these two brands which are downright affordable & good.

Affordable: These are sub-$7 per pack for gauges 9 & 10 sets. If you pay more for a set of strings, chances are the product is riding on its brand name. Also, it might have undergone certain treatments hence costing more. 

Good: These are normal strings. By this, what I mean to convey is the fact that there are no additional steps to add to string life or conjure a certain feel during play. Also, good here means they don't deteriorate quickly but it depends on the player's hands & body fluid upon handling. If you play every day & do a good wipe down, these will at least last you a month.

Darco strings are available at City Music / Sound Alchemy, Olympia strings are available at Music Theme / Ranking Sports.

MOMM (58)

Staying home indoors for me is always an opportunity to catch up with good music.

Sinatra: Best of the Best

I'm not someone who would refuse good music regardless of the genre. Commiting to Sinatra's catalogue of tunes is an agreement to go back in time & discover simplicity at its best. Of course, this genre of music has an emphasis on vocals with everything else being necessary accompaniment. This gives me an opportunity to understand the workings of being in the background & supplementing the star of the show. We know of Sinatra's famous numbers like Fly Me to The Moon, Stranger is the Night, et. al & these are downright enjoyable. The rest of the numbers require some patience to embrace in view of the tempo.

Inferi: Vile Genesis (2021)

Inferi is a tech death outfit, featuring Sanjay Kumar & Malcolm Pugh. Sanjay was not the guitarist in this release, Mike Low departed after this recording episode. I'm consistently looking for current bands matching the technical & musical commitments of Atheist. Most often than not, tech death bands often go astray from the metal plot. Vile Genesis offers a good offering of both but songs structures are not as polished in terms of being impressive. Hoping to hear more from the band while Athiest remains to be the standard to beat.

Sizes

Since I had these two out for a re-string, let's take a look at the relative size of a Minion Dinky against its standard sized counterpart. The Minion is almost a headstock shorter than its JS brother. This would be a welcomed feature for those of us with smaller body frame / hands. Despite the pre-conceived notion that smaller-sized guitars are for kids, it is definitely appealing to adults as well, especially for those of us who are averse to heavy instruments.

I play more riffs than solos on the Minion. I exert more force while doing so & the Minion's shorter neck means I can move faster / easily up & down without getting tired too quickly. As for solos, it seems that my fretting hand is more accustomed to wider fret spaces especially at the upper neck register. I've owned a few small guitars along the way & the Minion seems to hold tuning very well. Of course, this is after the default tuners made way for a replacement set which are still affordable but more reliable. For the record, the Minion sports a 22.5" scale length while the standard-sized JS is 25.5". 

Red Dinky (3)

A belated conclusion to this episode but a conclusion nevertheless. The JS12 underwent a pickup swap. The rail type humbuckers you see here are Artec pickups. These are very affordable & they are quite singular in offering; good for distortion. The cleans here are as good as those default ceramic Jackson pickups to begin with. I went with this pair due to its rich harmonic content which can be rather excessive especially if you wish for unobtrusive solos in the neck position. 

So we conclude this episode of a forgotten guitar brought back to life. It's not a perfect reincarnation but a deserving one for something largely unplayed with minimum wear. On this note, the Jackson JS12 is my recommended guitar (despite being a firm Ibanez fan) for those of us looking for something affordable but not shabby with lots of potential for greatness along the way. In fact, the JS12 doesn't feel like an entry level Jackson considering how well these are constructed & put together. Of course, the default tuners remain its Achilles heel when it comes to wholesome gratification. 

Previous episode: CLICK

MOMM (57)

Throwback moments when I was re-organizing my music a couple of days ago. Sort of.

Defecation: Intention Surpassed (2003)

This is Mitch Harris through & through, relentless guitar attack from start to finish. It's fair to say that the creative bits in Napalm Death's music are quite the efforts from this man. There are too many guitar players out there who can manifest intense riffs but churning out addictive hooks requires a good know how of the instrument. Mitch Harris is such an individual.

Dave Uhrich (1992)

One of the lesser known shredders who is under the radar & an Ibanez endorser (he's still playing one today). This is how things were back then, recording technology that does not mask off sloppy techniques. Guitar tones in this album were not as crisp & crystalline compared to what DAWs can offer today. Nevertheless, Dave Uhrich, together with Rob Balducci & Jon Finn, are guitar forces to be reckoned with at this side of shredtastic guitar playing.

Platypus

Gibson re-visits the Firebird by calling it a Platypus. That's right, this on-reversed headstock version is called a Platypus by virtue of its headstock construction; one piece, flat version which resembles the bill of a Platypus. 

Anyway, a non-reversed headstock Firebird had been done before - the Firebird Studio around 2017-ish but this one featured a pair of standard humbuckers.

Pics: Gibson

D3 Jr

Some of the best pedal tones can be had from the VFE brand which is sadly defunct. SV Guitars brought in plenty of these when the shop was still around at Peninsula SC & they cleared for bargain prices during the closing down sale. I managed to grab a few, this Distortion 3 Jr is one of them. It's basically an OD / Distortion pedal just by tinkering with the MODE knob. It's actually a clipping control, more OD-ish soft clipping turned anti-clockwise. Anything past the noon position, you'll be in distortion territory. There's also an internal trim pot to either boost the lower or higher frequencies. Neat.

 

Culprit

This is it, the official Dime Guitarz revelation; the Culprit. This design was overseen by Dean Zelinsky. If you find its outline familiar...

... it's because it had been done before. The Culprit design was previously manufactured by Washburn. Really glad the headstock of the current Culprit adopted Dean's ML design. The are currently scant details over at Dime Guitarz's website as other iterations are on the way to turn the Culprit into a full range.

Pics: DGZ / Wiki

Hinds left

Brent Hinds leaving Mastodon is a big deal. He had impressive vocals & lead guitars on many of the songs. In the mean time, Ben Eller, by virtue of his ability to master Mastodon songs at short notice, is currently filling the void.

Pic: Rolling Stone

ESP 50th: LTC EC

So all is not lost. The other ESP 50th Anniversary commemorative guitar is an LTD Eclipse in this splendid gold finish (25 = Silver, 50 = Gold, 60 = Diamond... get it?). Pickups on board are Seymour Duncan's Alnico II Pro / Custom. The tricky bit - will this even be available here? FYI, these are the ESP versions: CLICK

Pic: ESP

Assassin

New from Solar - X1.6FR Assassin. A simple guitar both in features & colour scheme. That red humbucker there is a Seymour Duncan Nazgul so it's clear who this guitar is for. The bridge - Gotoh 1996, is more than competent when it comes to an FR type performance.

In fact, this Japanese iteration hold its own when it comes to performance & reliability. By default, it comes with a thick brass block & steel saddles. Of course, a single pickup guitar will always be a niche appeal but there are fans for sure.

Pics: Solar / Gotoh Japan

Mummies

I refer to the V-Picks Mummy as my comfort pick. These are 2.75mm but light as heck. Those deep etchings are essential for me as they help me deal with careless moments; the pick would still be between my fingers if I loosened my grip. In addition to those, the Mummy sports a bevelled, rough edge which helps with aggressive music. Also, if you don't already know, it reduces the chirping sound when dealing with plain, unwound strings. The red version there was a custom order, otherwise, all Mummy picks are colourless. 

Rock

 Let's see how this turns out to be...

Review quickie: Jackson Dinky JS12

Jackson's JS Series are the manufacturer's affordable, no frills range of instruments. The JS12 is a basic, 24 fret guitar featuring a pair of in-house Jackson humbuckers & a non-locking whammy bridge.

Likes

• well-made, good overall QC
• good playability
• price

Dislikes

• in-house humbuckers good for high gain applications, bland cleans
• unstable tuners

This is perhaps my favourite entry level player in the mean time. Nothing excessive here, just functional & rather inspiring. Those default pickups are quite the epitome of affordable guitars; good for distortion applications & cleans are left wanting. The frets get my thumbs up, no sharp edges & all seated evenly making play time very enjoyable. Even the electronics are very acceptable for the money. The tuners could have been better. Not asking for a superb performance but these are rather unresponsive & don't hold tuning well. They should at least be functional. They felt tight initially so were loosened slightly but doing so induced some play & a lack of grip. During play many of the strings went out of tune rather quickly. Best replaced if you are relying on this guitar for some professional episodes.

Final rating: 76%

Jackson: Dinky JS12 (no bag)

Availability: Swee Lee

List: $299

Ibanez: March '25

Nothing really exciting from the Ibanez camp this March, just some acoustic guitars. This AAM100E features a solid spruce top & sports a 25" scale length.

The AAM100E features an extra sound port to theoretically project sound to the player's ears.

Pics: Ibanez

Ramadan 2025

Ramadan greetings to all Muslim friends & blog readers. Another sombre episode for me but it had been like this for a while. 

Smoking tuner

Darn... it took this long for the real cigarette at the headstock look to materialize.

It's just a tuner made to look like a lighted stick, absolutely nicotine-free. 

If you don't grow up watching 'ol Slow Hand play guitar, maybe you won't understand 😅

Pics: UG / Tunerette

Price watch (91)

Tread with caution. Best to avoid.

Glaring differences between the sus model & an EGEN8: 1) Awful finger grip design 2) Oversized inlay + that wood between the 24th fret & the pickup ring 3) Wrong input jack location 4) The various EGEN models never featured this bridge.

Misaligned

Did a set up for one of my friend's SG & noted some string misalignments. A quick comparison between the culprit (L) & a spare (R) tune-o-matic bridge revealed misaligned string slots. Folks, we always assume a centre detent is the correct position for the slot but it also depends on the spacing at the nut as well as the hard tail. Sometimes the slots at the bridge need to compensate for those. The guitar in question is a Gibson.

Ibanez: 2025 (7)

This is one of the new NAMM '25 models, RGR6BSP. Nothing really refreshing. A reverse headstock RG with the brand name blacked out & a blank fretboard - these had been done before.

The fanfare here is actually the blue hardware which is semi-invisible due to the instrument's dark overall colour scheme. It will have a stronger novelty pull if it's a Japanese model instead. Imagine getting blue replacement parts for this instrument in time to come.

Pic: Ibanez