Selling: Ibanez SZ520FM (SOLD)

Another one on the let-go list: Ibanez SZ520. Ibanez hard case /  bag included, you choose. Please note, this guitar sports a 25.1" scale length.

• Ibanez SZ520FM (hard case / bag included)
• Condition: 8.5/10
• Pickups: DiMarzio / IBZ
• Tone capacitor: Orange drop 
• No reservations / trades
• Self-collect: Yew Tee MRT station
• Query / confirmation: subversion.sg@gmail.com
• Price: $550 (final)

Item SOLD to a nice fellow metalhead 🤘🏼 (19/3/2022)

In a heartbeat

Last Sunday was also about my Ibanez SZ520FM. The SZ Series were once Ibanez's best sellers appealing to the general guitar-playing community instead of just the shred dweebs. These were set-neck monsters with great sustain (there were through-body makes in the Prestige line up) & a meatier neck. They were simply good.

If you think Nita Stauss' Jiva model started it all, be informed that the SZ520 was there first albeit a slight variation going into the upper frets area. The heart beat/ cardiac waves are indeed unique & appealing. 

Last Sunday also marked the end of my relationship with Bare Knuckle. I shouldn't compel myself to like pickups that don't appeal to me just because of the hype. I'm in the Duncan camp for sure with occasional distractions only to return to my first love. The Dimebucker works fine for a slightly sharper response when peddling bass notes so the black metal tendencies remain healthy if need be. The neck there is a Pearly Gates with lots of definition during solos; I'm definitely not into the woman tone in any way. That kinda tone only sound pleasant to my ears for clean, jazzy applications. 

On that note (forgive the pun) - hello, October! 😎

An evening with pigs

Yesterday evening's playing time saw me bring out my Ibanez SZ520 for a WHACK! moment. It's supposed to be a riff only session but the neck BKP Warpig has that very 'stunned PAF' tone that I really like. In fact, I like it more than the bridge Warpig for its tone. I'm definitely not comparing it to its bridge counterpart for a like-for-like evaluation which is rather ridiculous considering the the two different positions they are in (it's akin to evaluating a front vs rear wheel performance).

I played standing up & strapped this guitar rather high up for an optimum playing condition; very Mark King I'd say.

Swine tone

So the Bare Knuckle pickups went into my Ibanez SZ520FM. It's a pair of Warpigs.

FACT: The bridge Warpig features a distressed metal cover salvaged from WWI. It was alleged to be coming from a Mark V tank which was disintegrating in a trench. The neck Warpig includes parts dipped in toxic sludge believed to be the ingredients in making Agent Orange fluid. 

MYTH: The Warpigs are ordinary high output humbuckers with a tweaked bass response for some smooth jazz/ fusion overdrive responses or grinding low-end notes in an extreme metal distortion setting. No pigs were slaughtered to manufacture these pickups.
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Obiter dictum: A decomposing torso was discovered floating in Bedok Reservoir yesterday. In the recent wake of an uproar by Woodlands residents, when a dead body was discovered in their apartment block's roof top water tank, there might be furious demands by citizens in asking the authorities to replace the entire reservoir with a fresh water body just like the eventual replacement of the aforementioned water tank. He, he...

Ibanez: SZ520FM

Remember the Ibanez ISG35 bag I mentioned a few days ago? Well, that was bought for this guitar; the discontinued Ibanez SZ520FM.

When the SZ520 was released, it was a 'first' in the SZ range to feature a flame maple top & a new fretboard inlay, the 'cardiac heartbeat' indicator. But I didn't buy this guitar for those reasons, I have always admired how the S-series fundamentals were manifested to become this set-neck model. The feel of the instrument was a departure from the typical RG/S shredder affair. It was a bold move by Ibanez back then, I had my reservations but after trying one at Swee Lee (I tried & bought the SZ320 first) I knew this guitar was a success.

The body's flip-side...

... but more importantly, the pickups. The SZ series will be remembered by Ibanez fans as the Seymour Duncan-Ibanez collaboration. However, these pickups were not a made-in-USA affair (the ones in the Prestige SZ models, were), they were Korean & differentiated from the Duncan Designed models featured in many budget guitars like some Squiers. 

Instead of the 6-in-line Ibanez headstock designs of the S-series, the SZ featured a 3-by-3 design instead. I can't stand looking at this headstock for long because it reminds me (all the time) of the S-Classic models which I really wanted but not available here. *SIGH*

The headstock's flip-side view with the Korean i/d numbers. By virtue of this identification, we know it originated from the same factory which currently handles PRS' SE models.
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Obiter dictum: I was watching late night news while doing this entry; it seems that the MRT's North-Eastern Woodleigh station will be officially opened later today. According to the authorities, the station remained close for years because the neighbouring population was insufficient to supplement the station's operational costs. But many of us would see this as a poor excuse to deprive the opposition ward of good service amenities. Now that the Potong Pasir constituency had been recaptured by the ruling party, we would expect such things to happen. But if the authorities choose to say that the population is now in good numbers to trigger the stations operations, are there any statistics to back this up?