Greenie midweek

Will always make time for this guitar. The middle single coil got a green treatment but remained stock. There's no denying that this guitar is actually nothing special, just a commemorative S-Series given a very loud colour. Those green Seymour Duncans: Custom (b) / Jazz (n).

Hidden filth

This is the bridge pickup cavity of my Ibanez S1XXV. The white gunk there- dust. The fact that it didn't get mixed into the finish means that it was there after the paint was applied. Highly likely, it's the bits from holes drilled into the cavity. The inspection label, all initialed, implied that the situation was acknowledge before the cavity was covered (by the pickup). To give the benefit of the doubt to the people whose initials are clearly seen here, they might be inspecting the instrument for something else & dust busting isn't part of the job scope.

It's a shame that Ibanez (Indonesia) didn't put in that little extra bit of consideration in ensuring the cavity was cleared. I simply had to brush the dust off, nothing to it, really. I can imagine the factory, being equipped with tools, machines & implements to attend to this simple feat but it wasn't done.  Job attitude contributes to the goodwill of the company, remember that, my friends. 

Greens in green

The green Seymour Duncan pickups seen in yesterday's update went into my Ibanez S1XXV. They are the Custom (b) & Jazz (n) pair. I'm happy to hear a very commanding bass response coming from the Custom & it was conceived to be as such right at the factory, giving a much needed lower frequency boost to a dual action whammy bridge equipped guitar. The guitar was re-strung with a set of D'Addario NYXL 9s. Something will happen to that black single coil pickup 😁

Thanks to Beez, of course, in seeing this swap through. The factory default single coil wiring had to be revised to accommodate the Seymour Duncans. Beez handled that in a jiffy. 👍

April is here!

Coated deterioration

Do coated strings last forever? Here's proof that they do not. When you keep playing coated strings, the coating itself wears out & leaves the string exposed. This way, your strings are like ordinary, uncoated strings. The guitar you see above is my Ibanez S1XXV, the default green coated strings were worn out & rusty. In fact, the rust is threatening to eat into my frets. This is the reason why you shouldn't keep rusty strings in tact, replace them ASAP.

I've since replaced them with a fresh set of D'Addario steels & had no obligations to have another green set in there. The frets were all cleaned up too.

The resting greenie

The greenie Ibanez (S1XXV) finally gets a lush resting place. So my objective of giving deserving hard cases to both my 25th Anniversary models had been met. This puts a close to my March gear expenditure.

The case in question here is Ibanez's RG140C.

Ibanez: S1XXV Anniversary marking

That 25th Anniverasry stamp is the only indicator of the Ibanez S1XXV's special existence. Otherwise, it's comparable to the standard S570.

Ibanez: S1XXV... keeping them green?

Ibanez's S1XXV comes with a set of green strings- I've no obligations to replace them with the same set of greens...

Ibanez: S1XXV (mine)

So I went with the green- not too particular about the finish but this one has that slimmer neck profile among the rest. Before someone 'discovers' it, thought I'd grab it.

Anniversary necks

So it's another Ibanez 25th Anniversary model rant, eh? Yes, it is & it's a material entry after trying the S1XXV yesterday. I discovered neck profile differences, not a marked one but the type you can make out after spending some time with one model & noodling with the next almost immediately. 

Now, don't go into the stores & DEMAND you try a few units just to get lucky, the stores don't have that many extras to begin with. Don't be too picky because these anniversary models are token repros, they were NOT manufactured to the exact original specs. Sheesh.