Departed

Taking a break from gear updates today as I bid farewell to an old friend. He was my ex-school mate. We kept in touch along the way. He managed to send over some food when I was on chemo & stayed indoors due to the COVID outbreak. His mum was one of the school canteen vendors back then so I jokingly said I missed his mum's cooking & the food arrived a couple of days later. It was a sudden death on the early Friday morning, he did not make it to the office. 

Reminds me of how fragile life is especially for individuals like myself; immuno-deficient & a high likelihood of a recurring cancer. It was a blazing hot day & my knees barely made it at the end of it all. 

Sphalerite

Not new. The RG8870 had been in the catalog since October 2024. Just wanna announce its presence here (Swee Lee, $4,899). It took seven months. Some people give birth after seven months, yes? One more time - this finish is called brown sphalerite.

Pic: Ibanez

Mother

This is a trio of single coils designed for Philip Sayce. They are affectionately referred to as the Mother single coils. Apparently, these are on a limited run of 500 units but high demand necessitated the production of more units to come but expect a back-order queue if you are interested in these. Have yet to see them at Davis GMC & not expecting to see them any time soon.

Pic: Seymour Duncan

PRS SE Studio Standard

Have not been keeping up with the PRS SE releases / development. PRS SE joins Fender (Mex) & LTD in manifesting excessive asking prices that betrayed their initial affordable pedigree. We notice that top tier features (or variation of these features) are being cascaded unto these models to justify higher prices. The Studio Standard you see above is listing for $1,149. Basically, this is an SE CE given the gloss treatment & a more celebrated set of pickups. Price is nearly double that of the SE CE's. 

Based on price alone, it's unfair to speculate the instrument's worthiness. Individual discretion is required. If you think it's worth parting money for this type of guitar, by all means, please do so. As it is, just by the sheer visual reference, I deem this price to be agreeable. It's already available at Swee Lee if you are interested.

Pic: PRS

Volante

Kramer has the new Volante model flying its shred-friendly flag. 

It has a quilt top variant to entice you in equal parts. Pickups are Kramer's own Neptune humbuckers & the bridge is an FR1000 unit. Still trying to figure out why the Volante is a necessary release in view of the numerous shred-tastic models Kramer has in its catalogue. On a personal note, I associate Kramer with the pointy / banana-esque headstock, this headstock design is a no go for me.

Pics: Kramer

Gibson Singapore ...

This is taken off the Gibson Singapore FB wall. Apparently, there is a unifying banner in cyberdom to fortify the Gibson name in this country. What used to be a simple distributorship under Swee Lee is now a band of commercial entities distributing the various Gibson brands. Sad to say that none of the stores listed here has a full or near catalog-worthy line up of guitars on offer so certain segments of the guitar community are not being attended to. I'm calling out Cristofori as being the worst on this list in terms of product availability. I would reserve further comments in the hope that the good people at Cristofori might be suffering from delayed shipment & other unforeseen circumstances that are threatening their distributorship goodwill. Hopefully.

Stick 'em up!

Some people said I've desecrated my guitars with undeserving stickers...

• These are my guitars so exercizing some creative liberties are within my discretion
• If I feel better with external implements on my guitar, then everything else does not matter
• These stickers were done on pickguards which are replaceable when the need arises
• I have some guitars to spare when it comes to manifesting artistic considerations, so why not

Bottom line - others need not go with your flow. Whatever makes you happy.

Compact Iconic

The good people at EVH had released a bedroom-friendly (size-wise) 5150 tone for the common folks - the 5150 Iconic 1x10 combo. Despite being accommodating to many indoor guitar players in search of a good tube tone without spending excessively, the driver here is a 10" unit. 

After years of playing real amps (not a plug-in fan), I'm of the opinion that 10" drivers are more appealing for cleans & bass tones. I guess driven tones thrive on something slightly bigger to supplement that driven / distorted signals. Then again, I might be tempted to invest in one if the price is right. Right might be wrong for some of us.

Pic: EVH

H&K to Thomann

The Hughes & Kettner brand had been acquired by Thomann. The German store now has an amp brand & in-house guitar brand (Harley Benton) to expand its reaches into the music community. Do you recall which store here brought in the H&K brand of amps? Clue: Store has ceased operations.

Pic: H&K

Tactics

Finally, we get to feel the Bacchus Japan quality here at Davis GMC. This Tactics24 ($1,350) model is from the Tune-up Series. Good appointments here but the pickups are in-house. Please take time to hear them in action before being dismissive. In my opinion, they are above expectations. Also, there's something about Japanese craftsmanship, regardless of the brand name, that makes them feel exclusive.

Pic: Deviser

Criss (2)

My effort to re-discover Criss Oliva. Took a while but very happy with these two initial purchases. More to come, of course.

 

Starmast

As anticipated, the Starmaster (Japan) is available here (Swee Lee: $2,199). It's a limited run affair so... there.

Pic: Fender

 

Vesak

A day of rest. A day to recuperate. A day to reflect on why life had been like this lately.

 

JW

I've seen this discussed elsewhere. Those extensive features should make this guitar very desirable, but it just doesn't appeal to me. It's like an excessively upgraded Tele, so excessive that it ceased to be desirable. The Jack White Tele is yours for $5,499 (Swee Lee).

Pic: Fender

Price watch (94): Internal conflict

We could all agree that at the end of it all, price matters. Look at these Jacksons, the standard size JS12 is listing for just $20 more than the Minion. There is already a very niche appeal for the shorter-scaled Minion models & its further pressured by that slight price difference. The standard size JS will definitely be more appealing in the after-market. Both these guitars do not come with bags. The Minion requires a smaller bag, the Minion Series bag to be precise so that's $75 more before you bring it home. The Koda EGB ONE bag can fit the JS12, no issue, it's only $15. You do the Math, it's clear which one is more appealing for those of us with a limited shopping budget.

The American Performer P-bass is $250 more than the Japanese Heritage Series 60s P-bass. The Performer is Fender's most affordable American, while the Heritage is currently Fender Japan's top tier range. We all know how the Japanese make their Fenders - absolute respect for QC. Folks, that marginal difference, which one would you choose?

A Premium Ibanez (Indonesia) lists for more than $2K while the demure but irresistible Genesis (Japan) is about $500 lesser. Tough call, yes?

Disclaimers:

• decision-making is more than just looking at listed prices, other factors come into play (product appeal e.g. limited edition, discontinuity, playability, etc.)
• the figures above are domestic retail prices, many of us tend to veer into the dark side of the after-market more often than not
• buying anything, not just musical instruments, is a personal choice, regardless of the external influential decision-making politics involved

Pics: Fender / Ibanez

 

Glide

The new (2025) Ibanez Glideline Series of instrument cables are touted to be one of the best in the industry when it comes to signal transfer. It's now available at Swee Lee: 10ft ($49) / 20ft ($69).

Pic: Ibanez

 

Criss

Pic: Rock Bio online

I'm re-visiting the 80s because I am fully aware of how rotten music is in the mean time. Just tune in to any contemporary radio stations & listen to those plastic, cut-&-paste tunes... there's hardly any musical instruments involved. 

Anyway, one of the lesser known guitar icons back then was the late Criss Oliva (1963 - 1993). I only managed to listen to Savatage's Streets: A Rock Opera (1991) which is not quite the reference album if you wish to hear what Criss Oliva is all about. You need to go way back to the debut release, Sirens (1983). This is a challenging endeavour because those albums were on cassette tape format. The only way to go is the re-press option (CD) which are rather obscure unless the record label did / is doing a catalogue revival.

To be continued...

Bass as well

The Fender (Japan) models recently featured here with gold hardware - it's available for bass as well.

Ditto the competition stripes. Contrary to convenient assumptions, I'm not anti-bass... 😅

Pics: Fender Japan

CE 22

I'm a closet admirer of bolt-on PRS guitars after the Silver Sky experience. The CE 22 already existed in the annals of PRS' history but only the 24 fretted version remained in production. The revived CE 22 here is simply gorgeous with those silhouette inlays. Like many core models, the price of this one is semi-prohibitive. Since it's a limited edition model, let's see if it gets here at all.

Pic: PRS

SF727

Beneath the boring facade of releasing an acoustic bass & a starter acoustic guitar for the month of May, Ibanez had this SF727 out & it's both good & not good.

Good because it's a deserving addition to the S-Series which, as we all know, is living in the shadows of the RG highlight. 27 frets - yes, it goes beyond 24, Duncan's Nazgul humbucker in the bridge & those reversed shark tooth inlays are just very evil. In a good way, of course.

Not good because it's a Euro only release. Dammit, Ibanez! Why??!!

Pic: Ibanez

G & JS

Because my chemo had turned me into a partially disabled person for the most part, walking is the only exercise that is considered safe for me. On some mornings, I would travel East to just walk by the beach & enjoy some morning air. It's not a cure for cancer, of course, but it makes one think less about dying.

As for the rest of Sunday, it's indoor time with my two reds. OK, so the Ibanez is a copper finish but it's leaning towards the red side, so ... there. I ended up playing the Jackson more due to its inherent tone as it helped me manifest some riff ideas I had in mind for a while. Sometimes, the right tone will get you through. Another typical day for the ill health & budget stricken individual. 

Poll

It's Polling Day here. The outcome for this country, is rather predictable. People here had been falling for welfare-laden politics without the realization that the funding comes from their tax dollars. The government is basking in their glorious competency / potency while riding on the people's money. Every time, all the time.

Pic: ASIAone

Ibanez: May 2025

It's an acoustic May for Ibanez. First up, we see this AEGB25E acoustic electric bass. Looks fine with that thumb rest & an overall dark hue.

Next up, it's a starter V30NJP. That JP there stands for Jam Pack, a beginner approach for newbies who are just getting into all things acoustic guitar. Note that Ibanez stated this to be a 3/4 model but the scale length suggests a travel-type dimension.

 Pics: Ibanez

Labour Day

Labour Day. Commemorating the blood, sweat & tears of labour everywhere, not just in this country. Strangely, the labour chief here is an individual with direct affiliations to the government. We wonder how labour interests could be fairly represented under such circumstances.