Thank you & goodbye: Ibanez RG2610

Parted ways with my Ibanez RG2610 just moments ago. While it's still worth it, handing it over to a deserving owner was no loss to me. I have a few other Ibanez & Japanese guitars to be delisted from my inventory. I have other plans but still geeking out on all things guitar. 

Single maintenance

Was at Beez's yesterday for an electronics make-over for the guitar seen here- my Ibanez RG2610.

Culprits: 1) Dead volume pot. Contact spray couldn't cure this. Discarded. 2) Corroded input jack, thought it was my cable but it had been this one all along.

Subtle changes along the way 😎

A set of GHS 9s in there & it's as good as ever.

Was raining, so a good serving of latte while waiting.

For a good dose of metal-esque, over-the-top distortion, the Seymour Duncan Full Shred in this guitar always comes up tops. Initially, I thought this pickup was solo-inclined as the name suggests but it's a diabolical riff monster given the right amp. This is one of my guitars with a good inherent sustain & is a perfect example of a bolt-on construction having very little to do with a poor performance in this aspect. 

The great single pickup Sunday

This had been my playing set up today, I really enjoyed the solitary Duncan Full Shred in my Ibanez RG2610. People would whine; how useful can a single pickup be but Alan Holdsworth proved everyone wrong. No, I'm not trying to emulate the guitar wizard (i do borrow some of his ideas...) but it's a challenge to myself- how can I be commanding, working within certain limitations? This led me to focus on picking/ fretting techniques as well as utilizing the guitar's volume control.

As you can see, I still adopt a minimalist approach by only having the Ibanez TS7 in between the guitar & amp. Again, it's not about the JVM's inadequacy distortion-wise, I just play better with increased drive saturation.