Honkridge
UNACCEPTABLE!
Ok, so I'm on a break at a gig and up comes this guy. "Hey, I like your playing and I play guitar too..." We strike up a friendly conversation about gear and I can see that he's had a few. When he gets going about how much his guitar gear costs I start to lose interest and look for a way out. I think he senses this and wants to show me how magnanimous and MAGNANIMOUS he is...He blurts out, "I'm gonna give you a guitar!" Now I'm really looking for a way out. "Breaks almost over, I gotta get back...". He says, "Gimme your address and I'll send it." He stumbles a bit. There's no way in hell I'm handing out my address to anyone at a gig but to close the door on this guy I give him the address of the warehouse where our bus is parked during the week.
Well about three weeks later I get a call and there's a package for me at the warehouse. I'm like wtf. They say it looks like a guitar. I head down there and wow this is waiting there.
Ibby RG421 Japan 2002. I'm pretty blown away! I did some research and the RG 421's are kinda the mid tier shredders with the Japan version being better than the Indonesian.
It's in decent shape and dirty. I clean it up and put it thru its paces. Pros: Plays great, straight neck, hardly any fret wear (probably played for a week then put in the closet). It's lightweight too. Quartersawn neck in the "Wizard" profile which wasn't as thin as I was expecting. It's pretty similar to Warmoth's Standard Thin. Pots turn smoothly with no noise. Tuners are Gotohs and feel great.
Con's: A few paint chips, crappy bridge (not steel and cheap saddles) missing ferrule on the D string thru (how did that happen?) Pick ups (V7 and V8) sounded muddy but have a reputation where some like them but many don't. I read an article on how to remove the metal spacer and replace it with wood and the muddiness is greatly reduced. I might try that. I also have some spare Dimarzio's laying about so I'm not going to PANIC yet.
I replaced the bridge with an all brass thing that dropped right in. It's a bridge I've had success with on other guitars. I was amazed there were no problem retrofitting.
I ordered some ferrules from Allparts, should be here soon.
I'm gonna bust out some Jason Becker licks on this thing...lol not really.
I had the guys return address on the package and I wrote him a letter of thanks and assured him if he ever wanted the guitar back I'd be glad to ship it to him...
The end
Well about three weeks later I get a call and there's a package for me at the warehouse. I'm like wtf. They say it looks like a guitar. I head down there and wow this is waiting there.
Ibby RG421 Japan 2002. I'm pretty blown away! I did some research and the RG 421's are kinda the mid tier shredders with the Japan version being better than the Indonesian.
It's in decent shape and dirty. I clean it up and put it thru its paces. Pros: Plays great, straight neck, hardly any fret wear (probably played for a week then put in the closet). It's lightweight too. Quartersawn neck in the "Wizard" profile which wasn't as thin as I was expecting. It's pretty similar to Warmoth's Standard Thin. Pots turn smoothly with no noise. Tuners are Gotohs and feel great.
Con's: A few paint chips, crappy bridge (not steel and cheap saddles) missing ferrule on the D string thru (how did that happen?) Pick ups (V7 and V8) sounded muddy but have a reputation where some like them but many don't. I read an article on how to remove the metal spacer and replace it with wood and the muddiness is greatly reduced. I might try that. I also have some spare Dimarzio's laying about so I'm not going to PANIC yet.
I replaced the bridge with an all brass thing that dropped right in. It's a bridge I've had success with on other guitars. I was amazed there were no problem retrofitting.
I ordered some ferrules from Allparts, should be here soon.
I'm gonna bust out some Jason Becker licks on this thing...lol not really.
I had the guys return address on the package and I wrote him a letter of thanks and assured him if he ever wanted the guitar back I'd be glad to ship it to him...
The end
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