Fluence Friday

This is my Ibanez S61AL, not a new model, it was discontinued in 2020, lasting only a year in the catalog. I deem this model as one of the most alluring S-Series in view of its simplicity. Ibanez named the finish here as the Black Mirage Gradation which is absolutely my kind of finish as it resembles a burst but a more captivating iteration of it.

Anyway, I took this guitar out to replace this totally revolting knob. It's designed to promote grip as the volume pot here is also a push-pull pickup voicing selector but it's downright ugly. Ibanez refers to it as the Sure Grip III. 

As depicted above, the knob was replaced with a locking chrome aluminium version. I also took this guitar out to remind myself how unsuitable the Fluence brand name is for legato playing. This guitar, for me, is a riff machine extraordinaire more than anything else. The Fluence Modern pickups are sharp sounding. With added bass, it sounds very thumping for aggressive music. It also sounds good for those Tosin Abasi-esque slapped tones which is not my playing style. 

Ibanez 2019 (3): Initial sadness

Damn it. This is the only new Ibanez S-Series for 2019: S61AL.

Thanks for having the Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers in there but gone are the maple neck (walnut/ panga panga) & mahogany body (nyatoh). If there's any implications to all this, Ibanez is telling us that the active pickups would render body wood consideration less significant.

This makes the S61AL the only other S-Series to be featuring active pickups in a regular production model. The last time we see this happening was the S920E (above) & that's been done with in 2014. Instead of the active push per se, the Fishman electronics feature 2 voicings via the volume knob's push/ pull facility. Together with the coil tap feature, this would make an interesting tonal palette.

I sincerely hope there are some other regional exclusive models for consideration or Ibanez would be releasing subsequent variations by Summer NAMM (high hopes!). Having only a single addition in  the midst of others is a sign of impending extinction.