New sound recording for Benihanahime

Benihanahime neo classical by Adrian Goh

So today is a day of restringing and recording. There isn't a better time. Feel of fresh strings under the fingers. Anyway, for interested peeps, this is the sound of Evolution neck coupled with a Basswood body. This is recorded with Ibanez Floral RG550 "紅花姫(Benihanahime)" . Once again, pardon the sloppy playing.

Ibanez Custom Jem 570 "紫心姫(Shishinhime)"

"紫心姫(Shishinhime)" started out as an Ibanez RG570SA which I've gotten for myself during my trip to Oklahoma USA. I bought this from Ebay and had it shipped over to my hostel in Oklahoma. I wanted an all original RG with super Wizard neck and Original Edge tremolo at that point of time.

I took the liberty of ordering a set of Dimarzio Evolutions while I was there, and had them fitted in once I was back in Singapore. There are no better place to buy Dimarzios. The guitar electronic parts were in bad shape and had to be given a total overhaul. All electronic parts are being changed into Gotoh while Orange drop and treble bleed mod is being added, as per all my other guitars. The guitar later went on being the same way for the next 2 years, without major change or whatsoever.

Recently, there is this seller on Ebay who was clearing his store of all the OEM Jem bodies that he has ever made. One of them is this one featured in the photo. It's made of Alder, Flame Maple and Purple heart. Now, how rare is that? Without second thoughts, I bought it and gave it 4 coats of Tru-Oil finish, bring out the luster of the wood. Unfortunately, the Purple heart, which was purple when it arrived has oxidized and faded to a dark brown shape with a hint of purple. Nonetheless, the body still looks awesome.







The good thing about the OEM Jem body is that it doesn't require me to dowel and redrill the neck. It actually fits like a glove. However, the things that I had to do was to sand down the router marks and fill up the wood chips with the wood dust i acquire from drilling the tremolo claw and stud holes. Especially those caused by routing.

This unique combination of wood gave the guitar a tone that is high on the treble side yet, thanks to the alder wings, it gives off tight and deep lows. This balance out the reflective harshness of the 2 hardwood, maple and purpleheart. Evolutions also sings beautifully with this body as it retains the warmth of the neck and the hotness of the bridge while at the same time being balanced out by the tone wood of the body, making it sound less muffed up compared to basswood.

The neck measures 17mm on the first fret and 19mm on the 12th fret with a flat radius of 430mm and sports a Bulbinga stripe which acts as a separate hardwood to counteracts the neck tension, therefore making it more resistance to neck warping. The thin profile of this guitar coupled with the flat radius of the fretboard makes this guitar a shredder's dream. The action is set to 1mm on the 12 fret giving players the lightest touch possible next to a scalloped neck. Due to the flat radius, players are also able to do high note bending effortlessly without choking the notes halfway.

This guitar got it's name from the purple heart body it sports. "紫心姫(Shishinhime)"means "Purple Heart Princess" in Japanese. As purple heart is a rare timber being used for guitar building, it seem that this would be the only fitting name for the guitar.

Ibanez Custom Jem 570 "紫心姫(Shishinhime)" Specs neck type: 3pc Made in Japan Super Wizard neck with Bulbinga Stipe fingerboard: Rosewood with dot inlay body: Alder, Maple and Purple heart with Hand Rubbed Oil Finish fret: Jumbo frets bridge: Ibanez Original Edge Bridge neck pu: Dimazio Evolution Neck bridge pu: Dimazio Evolution Bridge Neck Specs Scale: 648mm/25.5" a : Width at Nut 43mm b : Width at Last Fret 54mm c: Thickness at 1st 17mm d : Thickness at 12th 19mm Radius: 430mmR

Ibanez RG520EXQS "青鮫牙(Aosamega)"

"青鮫牙(Aosamega)" started out as a RG570EX neck I purchased from a guy who got it from Tom Lee music Hong Kong. Apparently, Tom Lee was selling Ibanez necks. I had a chance to try out an old RG550 and was deeply addicted to the super thin profile of the original wizard neck. At that time, I just bought Aohimaru "青火丸" and decided to just swap the neck over.



After swapping the neck over for a short while, I decided that I actually like the profile of the Made in Japan Wizard II neck and would prefer to keep the guitar as it is. I proceed in switching Aohimaru "青火丸" back to what it was, reinstalling the original neck.

I began hunting all over Ebay for a MIJ RG body and I happened to chanced upon a silver RG520 Body which was supposedly a RG520QS body, made of mahogany. I haven't own a mahogany bodied guitar up till that point and decided to try it anyway, considering that how rare it is at that time to get a Mahogany bodied RG.

I took a gamble, bought it and sanded it down. True enough, it was really a RG520QS, with that Quilted Salepe Veneer. I was astonished. This body later went on to house Ibanez RG(5)270DX "Frankenstein" . The body and neck has a colour mismatch but all is good for the time being. The guitar was then fitted with Dimarzio Evolutions (Since they are my all time favourite Pick ups). Surprising enough, the Evolution paired up nicely with the Mahogany. The warmth and the Treble of the Mahogany body paired up evenly with the Mid bass overdose of the Evolutions.

Recently, I've been surfing around for another guitar body to match up the color of the neck and eventually found a RG520QS that is in blue. The quilt on this body isn't as nice and more subtle but nonetheless, I wanted to retain the mahogany tone within this guitar. I went ahead and bought the guitar, transferred everything over and hence, "青鮫牙(Aosamega)" was born.

As all the parts used to construct this guitar are made in Japan parts, it is technically a made in Japan Guitar. Japanese craftsmanship is still evident in this guitar, in terms of the wood routed, painted and precision. The neck is actually an Ibanez Super Wizard Neck, the thinnest neck Ibanez has ever made and I would believe the thinnest among all electric guitars.

The neck measures 17mm on the first fret and 19mm on the 12th fret with a flat radius of 430mm. There was once, to my horror, I found lacquering flaking off the neck. I am pretty particular on stuff like that and I decided to just sand off everything, and refinished to my favourite neck finish. Hand rubbed oil finish. The neck has aged to a golden hue thus far but nonetheless, baby butt smooth. My favourite part about the Super Wizards is that it also sports a Bulbinga stripe at the back and not because of cosmetic reason. The Bulbinga stripe acts as a separate hardwood that counteracts the neck tension, therefore making it more resistance to neck warping.

This guitar got it's name "青鮫牙(Aosamega)" from the way it looks. "青鮫牙(Aosamega)" means Blue Shark Fang in Japanese. RG570EX necks are fitted with mirror shark tooth inlays and since the color of the guitar is blue , I decided to just call it Blue Shark Fang. In addition to the Evolutions, the guitar is also equipped with the Orange Drop and Treble Bleed mod.





Ibanez RG520EXQS "青鮫牙(Aosamega)" Specs
neck type: 3pc Made in Japan Super Wizard neck with Bulbinga Stipe
fingerboard: Rosewood with dot inlay
body: Transparent blue Mahogany body with Quilt Salepe Veneer
fret: Jumbo frets
bridge: Ibanez Original Edge Bridge
neck pu: Dimazio Evolution Neck
bridge pu: Dimazio Evolution Bridge

Neck Specs
Scale: 648mm/25.5"
a : Width at Nut 43mm
b : Width at Last Fret 54mm
c: Thickness at 1st 17mm
d : Thickness at 12th 19mm
Radius: 430mmR

Ibanez RG(5)270DX "Frankenstein"

This isn't actually my first guitar but it's as close as a first can get. I've actually gave my first electric guitar away to my cousin who wanted to pick up the guitar. Well anyway, this is the first decent electric guitar I bought for myself in 2002. For those who hasn't read about my story on how I eventually get to this, you can find the story here.

This Guitar went through a lot in terms of modification and is considered my test bed for future modifications to come. It originally was an Ibanez RG270DX which was made in Korea. I have nothing against guitars that aren't made in Japan or US but this particular piece isn't very well constructed. The locking nut holes are not well drilled and half of it has been drilled off. Nonetheless, I have sentimental values for this guitar as it is the first guitar I ever bought with my own salary.

The guitar started out with only pick up swap of Dimarzio Evolution, neck and bridge and FS-1 installed as it's main modification. For the longest time it was my main guitar. I was once paranoid about rusting parts and I had the stupidest idea of putting dehumidifier together with the guitar in the bag. The dehumidifier burst off and the contents leaked out without my knowledge. Just after months of returning from the World of Warcraft, I open up the bag, to my horror, most of the parts are rusted. I decided to give it an over haul and this was the second time I modified the guitar again. The whole guitar is being refitted with superior hardware, Gotoh locking nut, Gotoh Floyd Rose licensed tremolo vibrato bridge and Gotoh tuning machine heads.

So, there was once where I managed to try one of those old RG550, where the neck is super thin (17mm first fret and 19mm 12th fret). I decided that I wanted to sand mine down to achieve the same thickness. I bought a pair of vernier calipers and measured the neck. To my horror, the neck measured 20mm on the first fret and 22mm on the 12th fret. It's totally different from what a wizard neck should be (19mm on the first fret and 21mm on the 12th fret). So I proceed and sand down the neck. It took me about 3 hours with a palm sander, to sand the neck down to wizard II thickness. But I was happy with that for a while and kept it that way. I refinished the neck with hand rubbed oil finish.

After that, I read from project guitar forum on how to do a material finish such as the Jem 77FP. Once again, my the DIY bug in got the better of me and this guitar came out as the first choice for an experiment. It was a fun DIY but none the less a lot of hardwork.

After building and assembling a few Ibanez I accumulated an extra Made in Japan (MIJ) Mahogany body and decided to transfer the neck over to the body instead. The new body, a RG520QS body which I sanded down and refinished with Tung Oil. Once again feeling that the neck was still too thick for my liking, I proceed in sanding it down to the thickness of prestige wizard (18mm first fret and 19mm 12th fret). It has a slight different feel compared to a prestige neck though. As I didn't scalped the shape of the neck, the sides are still beefy while the back is flat. To my surprise, the neck is actually quite comfortable. Due to the 400mm radius actually allows comfortable chording while the flat back allows the thumb to grip comfortably and usually keeping the thumb in an upright position. Thanks to the new thickness, it also allows easy scale running without the hindering of baseball bat kind of necks. Due to it's combination of a Korean neck and Made in Japan body, I named it the Frankenstein. The guitar went through a couple of pickup changes. At one point of time, this guitar is fitted with Dragonfire Screamer pickups. I wanted to find out cheaper alternatives and since these screamers are made by Artec, I was more than willing to give it a try. The sound is pretty decent for a pickup about a quarter of a Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan. The main problem with it is, I find the pickup too bassy for my liking. I wanted something with less bass but more mid bass.

The next pair of cheaper but good pickups I've tried are Entwistle Dark Stars. These pickups are special in the way that they are designed around Neodymium magnets instead of the conventional alnico or Ceramic magnets. These pickups are high output and are hot. Soundwise, these pickups are really decent for it's price. Entwistle Dark Star shall stay in this guitar.




Ibanez RG(5)270DX "Frankenstein" Specs
neck type: 3pc Made in Korea Wizard II with Prestige thickness neck
fingerboard: Rosewood with sharktooth inlay
body: Oiled Mahogany body with Quilted Salepe Veneer
fret: Jumbo frets
bridge: Gotoh Licensed Floyd Rose Bridge
neck pu: Entwistle Dark Star neck
bridge pu: Entwistle Dark Star bridge

Neck Specs
Scale: 648mm/25.5"
a : Width at Nut 43mm
b : Width at Last Fret 54mm
c: Thickness at 1st 18mm
d : Thickness at 12th 20mm
Radius: 400mmR

Entwistle Darkstar Neck Neo Classical Test by Adrian Goh

Dragonfire neo classical test by Adrian Goh