SC Monday

Yet another episode of staying indoors. The guitar if choice today was this PRS S2 Singlecut Standard in gold finish. Nothing fancy / special, just a singlecut with a limited run finish.

While playing, the knobs were rather stiff. A quick check revealed no deterioration / anomalies. A quick contact spray treatment did the trick. Those huge orange drop caps were replacement units for the default ones. The two volume pots are Gotohs while the tone pots (with default push-pull coil split options) are default units.

The humbuckers here are also replacement units, the 57/08 models which, as the name suggests, micmic the Gibson 57 models. I hear more treble coming from these pickups so they are my kinda pickups. Costly pair but worth every cent.

A pack of fresh SIT .0095s for the playing experience today.

Yamaha 2026: SC

This got me really excited - Yamaha released the singlecut version of its Pro & Standard Plus models. I need to try these in person. Despite the rather substantial price difference there, the Standard Plus (Indonesian) might hold its own since specs are very close to the Pro (Japanese). Trying not to look at these guitars too much, it's anxiety inducing.

Pics: Yamaha

Narrow

This was the big news over the weekend. The singlecut NF53 is now offered as an SE version. There is this rather strong association with the Tele by virtue of its outline but that's a convenient association at best. This guitar isn't essentially a Tele & the pickups in there reflects no attempt for it to be one - those are humbuckers. This is of course, unlike the Silver Sky which is a Strat re-interpretation (less the headstock). If you decide to part good money for one, you need to like the tone, first & foremost. There are no ready replacements out there. Let's see how much this would list for once it gets here. 

Pic: PRS

Review quickie: Burny RLC-60 SW

Pic: Amazon

With the demise of Fernandes, coming across the copy models under the Burny monicker would be next to impossible especially in this country as there were no official Fernandes distributors here. The RLC models popped up at Davis not too long ago & I gave the RLC-60 SW depicted above, a try.

Likes

• Playability
• Overall construction, fit & finish
• Tone

Dislikes

• Weight

I have a personal interest in Gibson copies, especially the Japanese-made ones. The RLC-60 above, is not new. It debuted way back in 2018 / 2019 & these were the revived version. The initial impression was absolutely positive as this NOS was somehow kept away well & suffered virtually no deterioration. Everything, from one end to the other, was in very good condition. Since it was made to mimic the LP Custom, only the weight proved to be rather spot on (heavy!). The neck was rather trimmed down & did not manifest that proverbial bulk. In fact, it was very shred-worthy despite not being too slim either. The pickups here could be considered a hit / miss affair. I deem them as a hit because these captured the vintage vibes rather well without wimping out when distortion kicked in. 

If you are interested, do act promptly as this might be a chance acquisition by the store in view of the clear-out owing to Fernandes' closure. This is a good guitar but many of us would rather have 'Epiphone' on the headstock for a peace of mind in this price bracket but that's brand snobbery. I'd rather you embrace the wholesome goodness this one has to offer & live with the lesser known label. 

Rating: 80%

Burny: RLC-60 SW

• Availability: Davis GMC
• Price: $1,300

SC Sunday

Early start to guitar-ing. Feels like playing a singlecut today. Every time this happens, I will always have a PRS in mind, not a Gibson. So today's guitar of choice - the SC250.

Re-visiting the pick that kick-started my custom order itch; the DAW MAN guitar pick. I'm sticking to the ones with rough / unpolished edges for aggressive music. This one does not disappoint every time.

S/C 8

Was trawling the net for live Meshuggah stuff & came across pics of Marten Hagstrom playing this beast. It seems that some Ibanez interest groups had documented their interest as well. Looks like something is in the works & it's a matter of time when details would be made public.

In the mean time, this is one of the pictures released by parts manufacturer, ABM Guitar Parts (Germany), that is responsible for the bridge & tail piece of this beast. 

 Pics: Fillmore Audi / ABMGP

Review quickie: G&L ASAT Classic Fullerton Standard

Pic: glguitars

G&L is Leo Fender's final guitar goodwill before his passing. Things are as Fender as it gets but due to the non-Fender label on the headstock, he was at liberty to differentiate his designs & explore refinements. The ASAT is a Telecaster offshoot but this Fullerton Series (Standard in this case) has its own take on the Classic label label. The ASAT CFS sports an alder body & a rosewood fretboard on this particular model. The maple 'board variant is available for an identical price tag.

Likes

• good balance for both sitting down & strap-on applications
• overall construction / fitting / finish
• versatile electronics & tone
• playability
• price

Dislike(s)

• classic by name only

There's no hiding the Telecaster impression here but the ASAT Classic is a proven progression in terms of sonic applications, mostly. The overall feel is arguably Telecaster in whole but some of the purists among us would miss the 3-saddle bridge feel. The audition model was impressive in terms of build quality; virtually faultless. 

Tone-wise, the ASAT, despite its Classic moniker, is a contemporary singlecut instrument. If you expect a Tele-esque twang, it is present but not overwhelming. I would pin this down on the pickups; these were conceived to be modern-sounding more than anything else. If your life indeed depends on the cowboy twang, you should not exceed crunchy overdrive settings. Everything beyond this would bring you into other musical territory which you might not associate with a Tele-looking instrument - prog & metal among others. Also, I managed to dial up some of the best lead tones from this guitar which seems to fancy higher amounts of gain. All in all, the ASAT CFS is a versatile instrument that conjures a certain vintage conjecture but would most likely leave you with a fine discovery of contemporary antics.

Final rating: 90%

G&L: ASAT Classic Fullerton Standard

Availability: City Music

Price: $1,740 (bag included)

Copper pink Friday

I am in no mood to usher in the new year. It's when you have nothing to begin with, the enthusiasm to celebrate any occasion gets suppressed. In any case, I'm not the type to get all hyped up at the turn of the year any way. 

Spent the final weekday of the year at home playing the above guitars - the pink one because it's one of the smoothest bridge humbucking tone I own & the copper one because those are some of the best-sounding distortion-friendly single coils I've come across. Not being an ardent single coil fan, this means a lot to me. What do I have planned for the NYE tomorrow? Nothing much, might be more of the same that happened today.

Selling: PRS McCarty S2 Singlecut (SOLD)

Tough decision but had to let this go - treatment bills due next month, unemployed. I hope you understand that my price is final & I believe I have been fair in pricing my gear (if you know me well enough). I'm saying this because there's this idiot who offered 1/2 price for this instrument & acting like he's doing me a big favour. Reality check - the price of this guitar will cover my treatment bill for a single sitting & medication with some left over for maybe my transportation home. That's the reason why I'm selling this away as opposed to other guitars that would be listed for much lesser.

No mods for this guitar less the pickup mounting screws which I have swapped out to the chrome version. I wonder why PRS chose the black version to begin with when the hardware for the rest of the instrument are clearly not black. Thanks for reading & understanding. Appreciate if you can spread the word round.

• PRS McCarty 594 Singlecut (S2 Series)
• Bag included
• Condition: 9/10
• No reservations / trades
• Queries welcomed - email
• Self-collect: CCK / Yew Tee mrt station
• Price: $1,800 (final)

Odd

I have no idea why PRS puts black screws in there when the rest of the hardware are chrome...

So out with the black, in with the chrome. These are minor changes that won't devalue your instrument. The original details can be restored if the guitar is to be sold or can be included in the sale, no big deal.

Single Mc

I can't play leads with this. Ok, let me re-phrase that - I'm not inspired to play leads with this one. The bottom heavy, dense bass notes are too tasty too ignore.  This guitar screams Dissection through & through so it's riffing madness with this one. It's also one of those guitars with default pickups that make me happy. These 58/15 S humbuckers sound like 59s in terms of cleans & drive response; very close in deed. I'm just not too into the bird inlays, wasn't a fan at the start, won't become one any time soon. I bought this guitar for the tone & playability, colour / finish was the last consideration. I missed out on the green / blue versions & glad I grabbed one before price hikes & COVID setting in, making purchases a waiting game more than anything else. A lot of how this guitar sounds like is down to its scale length - 24.594" a very 'relaxed' tension when it comes to the wound strings. I have 10s in there.

Bridging

Got that midweek itch to play a PRS so out came the S2 Standard.

 Managed to replace the default hard tail bridge with the adjustable version. The only reason for doing this - I have plans to have thicker gauged strings in this guitar & de-tuning. This is to complement the 57/08 humbuckers on board for its sonic potential. These pickups sound great for heavy stuff despite whatever vintage expectations PRS embedded into its profile. Add to that, some great clarity for single note definition. The immediate effect here is that palm muting feels more immediate. Maybe it's a psychological by-product of owning a new contraption coupled with high hopes of it transforming some playing aspects to become 'better'.

This is the final time a set of 9.5s are in this guitar, going forward, strings will get thicker.

Joe 'Carty

PRS has a limited edition McCarty 594 singlecut to show. It's an endorsed, Joe Walsh version. Only 200 of these will be offered, all signed by the man himself. The critical differences here are namely the custom voiced 58/15 LT + humbuckers & a slightly thicker body.

The way I see it, Mr. Walsh is very happy with how the guitar sounds; it's a celebration of the single coil clarity in a humbucking format. Maybe this will work for some of us too, hearing lots of twang in a non-single coil guitar but I wouldn't spend money on humbuckers to sound like a single coil. Usually I'm not a fan of such tones but the crunchy voicings here are simply great.

Pic: PRS

Review: Edwards E-LPC

 

In the Les Paul domain, only a Gibson matters. Even if a particular model succeeded in outdoing the Gibson in every way, the Gibson will hold true to value & appeal. The Edwards brand name is ESP’s sister label which deals domestically (Japan market). If any of these instruments make their way out of Japan, it means that favoured dealers are bringing these in on private terms. As such, we don’t see any advertisements or outright promos pertaining to the Edwards products. Everything is done exclusively; you either commit your following to the brand name’s limited cyber presence or you are the type who embrace Gibson dearly & its sister company, Epiphone. 

 

Construction/ fit/ finish

The E-LPC here is obviously a Les Paul Custom copy. I dare say it’s a copy because Edwards made no attempts to differentiate its physical attributes from the Gibson version less that brand name & the absence of a split diamond inlay at the headstock. Everything else screams Les Paul Custom from one end of the instrument to the other. As the QC is overseen by the ESP hands, production standards are above average. In fact, it’s so good, being in this price range, it seems unreal. A couple of demerits here, firstly, it’s that excessive lacquer build up at the neck-body joint, particularly obvious on the bass side of the strings. Secondly, the glue for the upper fret inlays are also excessive. In fact, you would see more glue than inlay here but the pearloid finish masks things up fairly well. It would take an extended observation to notice this imperfection & on that note, both issues are really forgettable flaws. You wouldn’t notice them unless you get into sleuth mode in the name of fine observations. Top marks here, definitely.

 

Playability/ tone

My first impression of this guitar has to be its weight – a hefty 3.8kg. If you are a Les Paul purist & believe in the magical weight category, this will have some mojo going. The guitar sounds jangly unplugged without being excessively bright. The neck width is a good 2mm wider (at the nut) than the Gibson spec. Also, the rear carve is more of a Fender C-type albeit a lot thicker but not as thick as the Japanese offset Telecaster. So it’s fair warning to you if you think you can get away with a Custom-esque feel for way less money – not quite. It’s good to know the fretboard here is ebony, in line with what Gibson started with historically. As such, the feel is simply smooth with a deserving hardneess without being synthetic. 

 

Tone-wise, I think I expected a little too much from the in-house EH-1G humbuckers. These sound very rounded & lacking definition in some settings, especially under extreme distortion. In clean mode, things remain fat & creamy. That neck pickup can definitely pull off some good jazz tones & I like it a lot more than the bridge counterpart. On hindsight, the humbuckers are very 57-ish, vintage in spirit with a good potential for hard rock & a very rounded top end. I’m still trying to get used to that top hat type control knobs, especially their looks from a playing angle. However, the in house ESP pots work well & are not scratchy.

 

Conclusion

Is the Edwards E-LPC the definite alternative to a Les Paul Custom? My frank & direct answer – no. Is it then a worthy investment when it comes to emulating the Les Paul Custom? Again, my frank & direct answer – heck, yes! Do not commit yourself to believe that it’s a Les Paul Custom by another name just by how close (very close indeed!) it looks like to the actual guitar. In the true spirit of the Les Paul Custom, the neck carve could have been more accurate. The tone on offer here is also a love / hate affair & it wouldn’t win over fans of modern high gain tones. The E-LPC shows the world that Edwards has good standards in production & listing for good money but people tend to take issue with the fact that they are downright copy cats. Be informed that copy models are not the only thing Edwards does. 

Overall rating: 85%

Edwards: E-LPC

Availability: Davis GMC

List: $1,150

Likes

• impressive Japanese QC
• smooth tuners/ pots
• quality ebony fretboard
• price + bag included

Dislikes

• weight
• vintage type pickups, limited dynamics

Single solar

A new batch of SOLAR guitars are in. This GC2.6 singlecut is one of them (SGD1,379). It's like a year's worth of wait (June 2019) for some new SOLARs to make it here but it's a scant affair. Disappointing, to say the least. We could have bought these new models online, direct from the manufacturer's homepage but some of us chose to support local enterprises by buying from them instead. Time to re-consider.

Eye of the Tiger

This is too good to ignore. More importantly, I used to own one. If you want a good singlecut design on a budget, this is highly recommended. The neck profile is a little flatter than the average Les Paul profile making it great when it comes to fast licks. OK, so this is not a Les Paul & it has no obligations to replicate one. Uno got it right tone-wise, by including those Tesla UNO Custom humbuckers. These are not available separately & they are simply good all round. More importantly, it's on sale & costs way lesser than when I first got it: CLICK 

PIC: SV Guitars

Black Friday @ DGMC: Recommendations

If you are looking for a good grab this year end & wish to take advantage of some bargains, do consider the PRS S2 Singlecut (Sale: $1,690). 

Even the semi-hollow version is worth considering (Sale: $1.950). Two reasons 1) The S2 models are no-frills players, well made & absolutely worthy of the asking price 2) The Singlecuts will be discontinued in 2020, this is your final chance to consider a good one out of the Gibson offerings. Yes, Gibson is still the go-to name but there are worthy contenders out there surpassing what Gibson has to offer in many aspects. The final batch of Singlecuts are equipped with adjustable wrap over bridge so you need not worry about intonation issues. 

Moving away from tradition but still in singlecut territory, the E-II Eclipse is another worthy consideration (Sale: $1,700). Please be reminded that the pickups here are active models so being excessively vintage in terms of tone is not quite it. In my opinion, the Eclipse is the most popular non-Gibson take on the design, it's selling well everywhere, State-side included. Even the aggressive music proponents do not shy away from the more reserved Eclipse outlines; Gary Holt (Slayer), Ted Aguilar (Death Angel) & Teloch (Mayhen), among others. Now you know why PRS is not too keen in keeping up with the numbers & they have other more defining models to fall back on to.

Moving on to the acoustic side of the sale, this Takamine P3NY is one heck of a player (Sale: $1,450). Not many of us look East when it comes to acoustics but Takamine had been the quiet success story this side of Martin & Taylor. The P3NY is a parlor-sized instrument; the scale length remains as standard while the body width had been trimmed to accomodate two things: 1) Less overbearing body size for playing comfort, especially so for the smaller built players among us 2) Less boomy tone much appreciated by the finger pickers & those excelling in arpeggios & single notes as compared to chords. 

Where I'm coming from

I've personally played & tested the models mentioned above  (OK, I bought some...). They will never be an ultimate, end-all reference when it comes to choice. More importantly, you should be doing some reading up & testing prior to purchase. Use personal recommendations (like mine) as a final reference before buying. On my part, I'd be up front with what these instruments have in store for you in terms of objectivity & appeal. As far as price-to-satifaction ratio is concerned, this is the best time to buy as prices are slashed but not for long, of course.

Discontinued: PRS S2 Singlecut

It took me a while to realize that the Singlecut will not be offered in the S2 Series for 2020. So if you wish for one next year, you either eat sand & save up for the PRS Core McCarty SC 594 or settle for an SE Starla/ 245 Standard (more selections in the Signature range). The good thing is, PRS had ensured their SE models go one up in terms of QC & features for 2020, befitting of the slight price increase (I see this as inevitable). Players in general tend to lean towards the Gibson side of things when it comes to a singlecut offering. PRS is wise enough to pick this hint up & chose to focus on their more appealing flagship design, the double cuts & it's not surprising. 

If you are still interested in the current S2 take, be informed that Davis GMC still has a few of them in stock including the limited edition semi-hollow version (not listed on PRS' website). 

From Jericho

Have not been playing for a few days. Busy + tired, totally uninspired. Had the urge to play something singlecut but not an LP. Not in the mood for a Fender as well so out came the Jericho. I used to despise the singlecut design; how can one play well if there's an upper bout restriction. I realize that once you get more playing proficiency, you would not mind some design restrictions because you have the ability to overcome whatever's in the way. I urge you, if it's within your capacity, to embrace some restrictions; it teaches you to adapt which is a very important consideration in music.

Wider, please

My hand is telling me to lay off Gibsons for a while. That narrow, rounded profile is not doing the fretting hand any good in terms of wide stretches. Ironically, wide stretches are better done on wider, thinner necks. I'm avoiding any Ibanez necks in the mean time, trying to condition my hand to accept thicker, rounder stuff but it's difficult. I've been playing thinner, wider necks since day one, anything different, the hand would tell me to quit playing & switch to something else. So for the last two days, it's the PRS S2 SC250 which sports a wider feel but not Ibanez thin.