Various Ibanez AANJ Neck and Body Fitting

So, you want to assemble your own Ibanez? You want a real Ibanez you can call your own? Easy! All you need to do is to get an AANJ neck with AANJ heel joint body and put them together. Hey if it fits, it should work right?

Fast forward this after you get the parts and then you realized that, the screw holes for the neck doesn't align with the ones in the body or Vice versa? Why is that so, it's all AANJ! Well, for starters, Ibanez has AANJ necks and body being produced by 4 countries through out these years. Namely Japan, China, Indonesia and Korea.

You can ONLY match a neck with a respective made in the same country body if you do not intend to do further modification. My Frankenstein is a good example. It sports a Korean made neck with a Korean made body. No, the screw holes didn't align at all. I had to fill it up and drill in new holes. Yes, it's troublesome. So the next time you decide to build an Ibanez from parts you assembled all over the world, make sure you get parts that are fitting!

Ibanez and Fender Uniqulo Shirts!

Sorry for the no action lately. Life has been busy once more. However, I haven't given up on guitar yet. Nope, it's my greatest passion. Anyway, check this out! Finally the Fender T-Shirts from Uniqulo is out! To make it more awesome, there is also a collaboration for Ibanez and uniqulo! Yes, these are limited edition, as per all Japanese products! Show how big of a fan you are to these Awesome guitar brand names. Yes, I have gotten mine!

Steel wool?

I was taught that I should use steel wool and lemon oil when cleaning fret boards. I was taught to use steel wool and lemon oil when I want to clean my frets. I didn't know what it is for but now I do. I actually realized what steel wool is. My personal stand on steel wool is this. I will NEVER EVER use steel wool on my guitars. I will also not let anyone who uses steel wool to clean fretboard near my guitars.

This is the main reasoning. Steel wool is actually abrasive. It's like sanding down your fretboard a little with sandpaper and lemon oil when you clean your fretboard with steel wool. Do I want more micro scratches on my fretboard? No, I don't think so.

The question is, what do I use then? To clean fretboards, I prefer the application of lemon oil and a soft toothbrush. SOFT! No point using toothbrush with hard bristles. Those are actually abrasive also.

For fret polishing, I will usually tape up my fretboard with masking tape and polish it with metal polisher. Do note that those are actually abrasive too so, it's better not to let any seep into your fretboard.

So the next time someone tells you that they are going to use steel wool on your fretboard, my advice is, take your guitar and go to someone else.

Dream Theater live in Singapore

It has been a really busy week. It felt like forever since I posted something on the blog. One good thing did happened this week though. Dream Theater live in Singapore! It happened yesterday actually and I was too tired to actually post about it yesterday. Anyway, Andy McKee opened for them and as expected, "Drifting" was the first of his songs. Sorry that I do not have a picture of him.

As expected, the concert was electrifying. The only thing that irks me a little is that my favourite songs weren't played. It felt like a promotion for their new drummer, which also cannot be blamed.

John Petrucci was phenomenal and his mastery of the guitar was simply breath taking. The best part of the concert was when there was a technical fault and John came to the mic and told everyone that they can't hear anything from their in ear monitors. They actually played a song without being able to hear themselves. How amazing is that! 

Why is it amazing if it's a technical fault? Well, I know for sure that these guys aren't just air guitaring or lip singing to a CD track. It's the real deal. I honestly don't understand the point of going to concerts where the singer just lip sing.

All and all, it was a pretty good experience. The volume was a tad bit too loud and I actually had my ear plugs on. I know, rock concerts are suppose to be loud but honestly, I prefer to keep my ears intact for time to come.

P.S. There was this kid who was sitting beside me doing Air Guitar/ Air drumming/ Air Keyboarding and vigorous headbanging for almost the whole concert but kept still when Dream Theater played "Pull me Under". Honestly, the whole row was shaking because of him and he kinda hit me a few times which lowered my experience int he concert. At the very least, do your homework before going to a concert and know that "Pull me Under" is a signature song of Dream Theater. Not "On the back of Angels"

Uneven Fret Logic

This is my first post in a while. Been really busy with my new temporary job. Anyway, let's talk about uneven frets. I am no math wizard and I do not know how to calculate the uneven-ness of frets. However, i do know how to rectify uneven frets. Uneven frets can be the main cause that makes a guitar unplayable. The epitome of all the frustrations that prevents you from achieving dead low action.

What does uneven frets causes? For starters, fret buzz. Think of it this way, when your action gets too low, the string rattles against the higher frets and prevents it from ringing. Hence, guitar techs will always advise you to raise the action to prevent buzzing. Well, there is another way, fret leveling.

What fret leveling does is that it's a process that levels all the frets making sure that no each fret is taller than the other. Just even 0.005 mm might actually cause the string to buzz. However, this is a nifty little knowledge which I will tell you on how to locate your higher frets. Whenever your action is set low (1mm on the 12th fret) and you receive a buzzing note, it is ALWAYS the next fret that is taller. Nothing magical or the need for complex math formulas. Just file down a little, the next fret and the fret buzz is cured!

Wonder why no one told me this before I killed some guitars trying to find this out....

Cavity Shielding

Chinese knockoffs aren't shielded. Wait, that is pretty expected. In fact, they aren't even painted with carbon shielding paint. I had a big roll of aluminium tape sitting around in my room and decided to do a full make over for the guitar my friend gave me as a souvenir. I took out the pickups and shielded the cavity with the aluminium tapes.

What does shielding the cavity do? Well it prevents microphonic sounds coming from the pickups and reduces feedback noises. However, a well wired electronic circuit is actually pretty quiet. However, since I have a big roll of the tape lying around, why not just shield it anyway. Who knows I might face the problem of microphonic sound leakage one day?

Not too shabby for a DIY job if I must say so myself.

Gift from a Friend who just got back from China

I am sure it looks good in this picture. Trust me, close up, it doesn't look as nice.

My friend recently got back from a working trip in China. He was kind enough to buy me a souvenir from China. A Al Dimeola PRS copy. Point to note; I am not endorsing copies and not encouraging in general but this is what to expect when getting one of these Chinese copies.

1. Expect the frets to be uneven.
2. Expect low end pickups.
3. Expect low end electronics.
4. Expect low end hard ware.
5. Expect painting imperfections everywhere.
6. Even though it looks like Mahogany under the clear, it might just be a veneer on the top. Underneath it can be Basswood or Plywood.

This souvenir was an eye opener for me. I wanted to know how bad these guitars can get to compared to even the Made in China branded offerings such as Squier and Ibanez Gios. Well, these guitars look good from really far. If you aren't one to tinker your instrument, I highly suggest never to step into this realm. As a matter of fact, I don't encourage anyone out there to part their money for replicas unless you want it purely just for the looks.

Anyway, my friend was kind enough to get me one of these knowing of my crazy obsession with electric guitars and my recent new found love for the Latin Jazz Fusion guitarist. I had to at least make it playable. After my tinkering, the guitar is actually pretty playable. Well, at least to my ridiculous level of standard. There are a lot of mods which I have done to it to make it playable. The next few post will purely be about how I DIY and make this guitar playable. To be continued.

P.S. AGAIN, I DO NOT ENCOURAGE ANYONE OUT THERE TO GET THESE AS REPLACEMENTS. THIS POST IS PURELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE AND THE SOUVENIR IS PURELY TO SATISFY MY CURIOSITY.

Selling my Limited Edition Fender Japan Aerodyne Telecaster

SOLD!
I am selling a Made in Japan Black Fender Japan Aerodyne Telecaster.

Neck pickup is a P90 pickup while the bridge is a standard Telecaster Bridge pickup. It sports a 22 fret (Most MIJ are 21 frets now) neck and has a narrow D shape kinda profile. From what I gather, these are limited edition runs and are considered rare by Fender collectors.

Specs are as follows:

Model name: Aerodyne Telecaster
Series: Deluxe Series
Colors: black (polyurethane finish)
Body: basswood (unique radius/carved top)
Neck: maple, C-shape, (polyurethane finish)
Fingerboard: rosewood, 7.25 in. radius (184 mm)
No. of frets: 22 medium jumbo frets
Pickups:
-- 1 Vintage-style single-coil Tele pickup (bridge),
-- 1 Vintage-style single-coil Soapbar pickup (neck)
Controls: master volume, master tone
Pickup switching -- 3-position toggle:
-- Position 1. bridge pickup
-- Position 2. bridge and neck pickups
-- Position 3. neck pickup
Bridge: standard with 6 cast saddles
Machine heads: Fender/Ping Vintage-style tuning machines
Hardware: chrome
Pickguard: none
Scale length: 25.5 in. (648mm)
Width at nut: 1.650 in.

Unique features: unique radius/carved top, cream binding on top of body, knurled chrome dome control knobs, rear mounted controls, matching painted headstock, silver applique logo

There is a small paint crack near the input Jack at the cream binding. There are some rust on the saddle height screws but it doesn't affect the performance. The saddle height screws can still be adjusted. The volume knob is frozen and buyer will probably have to get that changed.

Other than the above-mentioned problems, the guitar is in near perfect condition. As a matter of fact, the guitar was probably played less than 10 times. This is a first hand guitar. Meaning, the buyer will be the second owner.

Guitar has been setup and neck is straight as an arrow.

Looking to sell at $1150 (Buyer change the volume pot) or $1200 (I change the volume pot for the buyer). Both prices are negotiable. Low-ballers WILL BE IGNORED. A Fender soft case will be provided and I will restring the guitar for dealing.

Please drop me an Email @ fae.kildare@gmail.com to deal

SOLD!

Very Cramped Cavity

Went visiting Beez today. It has been a long time since I last spoke to him. About 9 months ago. He was doing wiring for a Tokai single cut model and it's interesting that his customer wants it wired with 2 9V batteries instead. Yes, the EMG 18V mod. As you can see in the picture, how cramped the cavity is, with 2 9V batteries. Also, note how professional and clean Beez's wiring work is!

For people looking to have their guitar well setup or electronic works done well, and by well, I mean WELL, look for Beez at "Look for Beez" in Roxy square 2, first floor. His shop maybe small but he gets the job done.

The New Elixir strings

This news isn't really new news but I just manage to read this recently. The new batch of Elixir strings are only coated on the low E, A, D strings. The E , B, G strings aren't coated and they are no longer using anti rust steels for their strings. You can note it from the new packaging. Without coating on the high strings, it kind of defeats the purpose isn't it? Wouldn't stainless steel strings do the same job of not rusting and longer lasting life?