Fender: American Pro (2)

Not to be over-shadowed by the offset models in the new Fender American Professional series, the Stratocaster receives the new treatment as well.

The Telecaster- of course.

This includes the Deluxe resurrection, now equipped with the Shawbucker pickups. All instruments in this posting has a USD1,399.90 MSRP. When they reach here & sport a domestic price tag, look forward to pay about $2K for one. What this implies: You have to fork out more for an American model featuring standard or dare I say it- level quality features- compared to the American Standard models. The psychology of this change is that, if the American Standard attributes & prices were invoked to rebuke unreasonable upward revision of prices, they will state the fact that the American Pro instruments are simply not the American Standards. These are entirely new in the catalogue & you should not make non-objective comparisons, they say.

Where have we heard this before? Ibanez. That's right, you would think that the Iron Label instruments are entirely new in their offerings & differ significantly from the Standard models? 

Was Re-string Sunday

Last Sunday saw the white Fender Jaguar getting its re-string. This was how the bridge saddles looked like. It seems that a respect for set-up just doesn't exist any more (from the warehouse). After re-instating the proper radius, some of the strings rested on the action adjustment screws & this caused some buzzing to occur. Maybe that's the reason why the saddles were slanted as such in the first place. But that's plain laziness.

A set of Pyramid 0095s for the white feline & we're good to go. It's always a joy to play the shorter scaled Jaguar even more so once properly set up. 

Social experiment

This was a rather wicked experiment I did last month but deemed necessary. I posted a used pair of Gibson pots in the after market. The price was increased from $40+ to the current $60 depicted here.

Here's the catch- I was giving them away for free, it's just a matter of clicking the ad & reading further. Conclusion:

1. People don't click ads, they make hasty conclusion based on the title. I have PMs pertaining to the price & telling me they see a lower price tag elsewhere in the shops- for goodness sake, CLICK THE AD! As many of us access such ads via our mobile devices, we get lazy. We engage others on oversight & this has a potential to breed conflict.
2. People are brand conscious & they continue to be so. I actually get LIKEs for such over-priced stuff so that goes to show what kind of people are out there looking at your items for sale. 
3. People are not motivated to address absurdity. They tend to mind their own business for the greater good. It might end up in a potential clash which might affect one's reputation anyway so if others want to sell a used knob for $50, it's none of their business. Friends, we need to at least flag a ridiculous proposal accordingly with due respect. Do not judge others before knowing why they tag a certain price to an item. Some of these people are proxy sellers; they know nuts about what they are selling, they are doing it on someone's behalf. Product knowledge is next to zero. Some are also noobs who would benefit from our insight but always engage others amiably. We don't prey on others' ignorance because we started off as one once.

Fender: American Pro

The new Fender American Professional tier was officially announced just days ago.

The specs look promising. Both the maple fretboard Jaguar & Jazzmaster are on my 2017 to-get list. The MSRP: USD1,499

Here's a summary of what was & what's to come.

New gain

Mesa has a new baby. For gain junkies? For clean mongers? For both, actually. The TC-50 is touted to be both headroom-friendly for cleans & a gain monster once you switch channels. Add to that the ease of swapping power tubes for some voicing variety (bias select switch at your fingertips). I'm sure many amp geeks out there are good with their Mark V 25 but in my opinion this is worth checking out. Something to look forward to in 2017 😉

Strat set up (3)

These days, I don't whammy. I would usually tighten the whammy screws into the body so the bridge won't pivot up when string bends are employed. Remember to protect the guitar body if you use extensive screw drivers like mine here. I would usually lay a cloth down there but this is a suggestion of what you can do if you are in a hurry. Since the cavity cover is there, use it. 😙