Secret Agent

This is a Brad Paisley - Seymour Duncan collaboration, a Telecaster neck pickup. It's is supposed to be there in an Esquire, tucked away under the pickguard hence no mounting flap seen here. That's the reason why it's called the Secret Agent - presence unseen. It's unfortunate that the sound bytes / demo videos only showcased a certain genre application, for all we know, it might be just as good for heavy metal.

On that note - goodbye August 👋

PIC: PG

Red boomers

GHS boomers are now red. If you purchased them online & received this version, know that it's legit. Like D'Addario, they are packed well with very little chance of rust spottings unlike Ernie Ball.

Skyline cover

If you grow up listening to 80s pop music, A-HA would be a familiar name. Take on Me is easily one of those memorable MTV moments. Manhattan Skyline here is their less catchy take on pop fodder with a generous serving of melancholy. 

Fast forward 2020, some 30+ years later, Manhattan Skyline re-surfaces as a cover by, of all people, Ihsahn. It might be an attempt to keep the Norwegian flag flying. It's an interesting metal/ prog slant but the guitar tones here are not my thing; lacking bottom end.

OWB

Just another new finish for the Ibanez AZ2204 - Off White Blonde. Nothing much, folks. Move along, now.

Reconciliation

Once upon a time, I had my mind set on a gold top Les Paul. It was a '57 reissue & available at Swee Lee's Bras Basah branch (the unit is now occupied by Art Friend's rear extension). I tried it in store twice just to confirm it was what I wanted but that fat neck made me re-consider my options. At that point in time, Ibanez & Fender were what I was used to & those neck profiles were nothing close to what the '57 felt like. Then the PRS happened.

At that point in time, Davis GMC was still fresh with the PRS dealership & there was a McCarty in store but it was flame-y & sunburst-y which was not my thing. I like flat colours & embraced a non-distracting top early. My idea of owning a guitar is one that would propel my talent & artistry, not something that distracts others from my incompetence. Playability & tone above all else; it's like this from the start.

The LP consideration was called off because my wife-to-be back then offered to get the McCarty for me if it could be customized to my specs & that was an easy feat for Davis GMC to handle. I have no further custom specs in mind as I already liked how the McCarty plays & sounded so I opted for a gold finish as the only 'custom' option. Back then, the McCarty was indeed offered in a gold finish but limited to its P90 version (above). I finally took ownership of this guitar in 2003, it didn't make it on time for the wedding.

Sixteen years on, the gold top Les Paul made it to the fold. I avoided getting one any earlier because the price was just wrong. One would have thought that a gold top would continue to manifest an inflated price tag but the Gibson CEO change in 2018 led to a deserving price cut. I see this as the coming of age; I couldn't erase the gold top memory totally. Some distractions happened along the way but handling the gold top way back then left a haunting mark on me. It became a bucket list item & rightly re-visited now when I am more financially stable to review what I missed. It took a while to understand that one instrument could not be a perfect replacement for another. 

Tribute (Part 2)

This Gibson selector switch label is conveniently referred to as the poker chip by the Les Paul community. It looks worn & could have seen better days so a replacement was acquired. Whatever surface it covered got cleaned up as well as seen here.

Please be informed that there is an adhesive cover on the underside that needs to be removed. It's an included feature because:

1. Majority of the Les Paul surface is curved so the adhesive ensures a definite adherence to the surface
2. When fixing the selector back into its slot, tightening might displace the chip so the adhesive ensures it stays put.

Before putting it all back together again, I managed to take a look into the cavity & the wood shavings were all there. I wondered why these were not blown away at the factory but it seems the finish was applied with these bits still there - yikes! They were scraped out in no time. This confirms the fable of  manufacturers hiding imperfections & ineptitude in discrete places. I believe this won't be the case for the higher end Gibsons but we won't know for sure.

Alright, everything back in place.

To be continued...