Eco-Music

Do you environmental friendly?
You can express your support on eco-friendliness through your music!

Sorry about the broken photo.

Dr. Epiphone

To all the Gibson/Epiphone fans, Swee Lee has something for you.

The posters describe it all. However, this is definitely not for me; I am not that much of a Gibson/Epiphone fan.

Temptation?

I went down to Swee Lee Katong to check out what is for sale this time round.
Sadly, they are all the old sales, mainly consist of leftovers of the past 2 sales. However, don't let the word 'leftover' think they are lousy. Some of them are still worthwhile getting.

Remember the Smash Box I was talking about? Well, I saw a couple of them at the sales today. The price was too tempting. S$63 for SM7 (listed price is about $126 and 50% off that price is the promo price)? Definitely tempting. However, I still manage to resist it. I can't be buying stuffs mindlessly and need to gauge my needs and my wants first before buying.

In conclusion, I bought nothing. =P

Smashbox for me?

As I went to SV guitar to grab a few strings, I managed to try Ibanez Smashbox SM7 with an Ibanez S770FM ATF.
A friend of mine asked what is the differences between S570B and S770FM (They differ in price by $80).

S570B WH

S770FM ATF

The 'FM' in S770FM means 'Flamed-maple'. It is made up of a flamed maple top with mahogany body unlike S570B which doesn't feature a flamed-maple. Do take note that S770FM has a neck binding which stretches over to its headstock. This could be the reason for the price difference. Spec-wise, they are the same.

SM7 is a good distortion pedal. However, it is a bit too fierce for the type I'm looking for. I tweaked the drive to 8 o'clock and it is already very distorted, enough to cater metal-type of songs.

It has 'void' function which serves as a built-in noise gate. It also has a 'smooth' and 'sharp' feature. 'Sharp' gives you the crunchy tone while smooth gives you clarity. Sadly, it is not really the one I'm looking for. =(

Shark's Warzy.

I happened to pass by Guitar 77 and I decided to take a look inside.
In the end, I ended up trying Shark Warzy Drive with a Schecter Blackjack ATX C-1 (which was randomly given to me.)
It had been at G77 since long time ago but I never had a chance to try it.
1. I was too lazy to try.
2. There's always someone else trying something else.

First impression on it: it is just like any other metal distortion, or so I thought. Its distortion would be somewhat special, especially if you are the type who play Visual Kei. It has the 'Japanese' feeling (as I would term it) which couldn't really be explained in words. However, anyone exposed to such Japanese music will immediately recognise it. I guess this is why this pedal is so popular in Japan.

It has double boost feature, which I think is rather excessive. One boost would have been more than sufficient. Double-boost is just too noisy.

Labour Day SALE

Guys. Make your trip down to Swee Lee Katong this coming Monday!! Why?

This year seems to be a prosperous year for Swee Lee. I have lost count on the number of sales they had made. It is far more than last year. =)

What are you doing!!!

It always pisses me off very badly whenever I see someone else not handling my guitar properly. To me, regardless of what guitar it is (a TMG or a Gibson), all guitars need to be handled with care.
What I want to bring up today is 'How people scratches their fretboard'. I was reconditioning my Squier when i discover a scratch at the 21st fret. Nothing serious you may say, but serious enough for me to irritate me.

How do you normally strum when you are playing an acoustic guitar? Where do you actually strum?

I believe it should be as shown above.

I just can't understand why people can't apply this same concept on electric guitars. In fact, it really irritated to see people strumming at the 19-21 fret. This is especially true when they are standing up and play. It should be at the pickups instead.

Guitar pick is made of plastic but given enough force, it is able to scratch the rosewood fretboard especially when you are using the picks made of similar material as Stubby.

The "Pawn Shop"

Pawn  Shop? Pawning your guitar? Nah.. It's just a name.
I am still wondering why Fender would give their new guitar model the name "Pawn Shop". 

Fender '51

If anyone can recall, this '51 isn't something entirely new. Previously, there was already a squier version of it available, which was discontinued. This Pawn Shop features a push-pull spilt-coil system and the pickup selector comes in form of a 3-Position Rotary.

Fender '72

A modification of '72 Thinline? Somewhat I guess, just that the bridge pickup is an Enforcer and not a Wide-range. However, '72 Thinline is a Telecaster. This is more like a stratocaster featuring a telecaster's headstock. The same goes for '51. No pickup selector for this guy. It comes with a tone blender instead but they serve the same purpose.

Mustang Special

The old mustang features a set of single coil. The Pawn Shop is equipped with Enforcer™ "Wide range" Humbuckers. It also feature a different bridge; a '70-style Hard-Tail Stratocaster bridge. No tremolo bar this  baby.

In remembrance of 'hide'

Coming May 2 is hide's (X-Japan) 13th Death anniversary. It is nothing to celebrate about but it serves as a reminder that such excellent musician had once lived. 

In remembrance of hide, Fernandes has revealed a limited-edition guitar, namely JG-hide Model.

This guitar is handmade and a duplicate of the same one hide had used during this 'Psyence a Go Go' solo tour. In the youtube video below, you will see hide featuring this guitar. This guitar is limited to only 200 pieces worldwide and I doubt it can be found in Singapore. Most of the 200 should still be in Japan, I guess. It is selling for  ¥180,000 and this is approximately S$2723.57.

Hide - Rocket Dive

He was with the Spread Beaver here, not X japan.

The FIRST custom-made fender for a Chinese guitarist.

Well, Fender has made a Custom Fender guitars for various artists like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and many others. In fact, it wouldn't be a piece of ground-breaking news even if Fender has endorsed another artists at the west.

Fender making a Custom Fender for a Chinese guitarist is something new though. In fact, this could be the first time Fender has ever made a custom guitar for a Chinese artist. 

The guy's name is Liu Lin. Here are some pictures of his guitar. The special feature of this guitar is, his name is engraved at the 12th fret.

(I wish it was much redder. xD)