Its always a different story when two strangers that heard about one another sat down and have chat.As human we tend put out our good manners when interacting with another.We react accordingly and justly as the situation progresses.Each of us go through our journey in life while we listen,converse,share or debate those accumulated knowledge in order to be corrected or give correction about things that relates to the hobby.At least that's how I generally like to assume us guitar dweebs.
Visual comprehensionMovies,I know most of us love watching them.The thing about movies is the story is presented based on what the genre is,We all commonly will have a bit of sense about it by the promos and posters. The producer aim is to have the audiences see,feel and react to what's being projected on screen. Interpretation in most time isn't need but rather we do hit and miss prediction about what's about to be the outcome is.I can say while watching we men fantasies to be hero or villain on the screen,while our woman do more less the same.In the end we all walk out of the theater with the understanding of what the movie's about.Some of us felt it was great and some of us don't.Some of us admit it was scary while others felt it was not.This is the thing about visual presentation.We are watching another person creation,He controlled the sequences of event while we take it in our mind minute by minute.
Written and narrative interpretationI'm not much into reading especially novel or those kind of thing but read and imagine each of the below lines.
"He's all alone in the cold dark alley"
"The beach landing were premature and the young soldiers were being hit hard by machine guns"
"He drove his tongue inside her,shattering off another moan that was music to his ears.She was quite an instrument to play,so finely tuned"
I'm sure each you of understood the above 3 excepts.I didn't put any visual nor pictorial for each of it for you to begin with.The interpretation and imagination is being create by you.Your mind will bring you to that cold dark alley,you mind will imagine the war zone on that beach and your mind will try to simulate that taste as you like it.
What's the point of this post?
Well...being blunt honest is good but can be a bad thing when the truth is being spun by someone you never meet before.From what I heard people always say that I write crap about peoples guitar when in my opinion it really is or vice versa.People say I'm anti-fake guitars and players.The power of self interpretation.Only now I realize its beyond control and can be misunderstood. Alright now let me try to clear the accusation as nicely,as amicably.
To begin with,when I speak crap about a guitar,I'm referring to the brand not the person who own it,for he/her/them,could be the victim of his/her circumstances.I point out what I think wrong,I give my opinion why with the acquired experiences but its in no way is the ultra absolute.Of course opinion may change as we age so does the technology of guitar so mine too could be as well.As for now suffice to announce my present opinion supersedes the past.
I'm anti fake guitars and its players? How some of us had indeed miss read what I wrote in the past.Dear some of us,when I write about fake guitars,I'm talking about the sellers exclusively.How they coined it as replica,custom,copy etc...when its not.I'm just shedding some light on what you about to buy.Should you already know and its what you want at the time then go ahead.Objection overruled!
But what about those that don't know the status of such guitar from these sellers.Wouldn't you want to know?Wouldn't be frustrating and wasting your hard earned cash for what you thought was but when really its not?There's the long way and there's short way learning.The average earners take the former and the well to do can opt the latter.Call a spade a spade.I believe there's nothing bad about that.
Where is he going with this and where's the bloody Ibanez buyers guide Yustech?
Okay its about the Ibanez Trem bridge and I'm going to go as far back when the working ones were introduced..I know there's the Pro Rocker,Hard Rocker and so on but those are too ancient for me write about.Here goes.
The Lo Pro Edge - above
according to how I saw it in an old Ibanez catalog,its initially featured on high end model,the slightly low got The Other One.
The Edge(The Other One) - above
Nothing low end about this one aside from the position insert thread lock in fact its as good as the Lo Pro Edge.As expected with the help of Mr Vai,Satch,Gilbert and other men in spandex,The RG sales began to surge.What do we(Hoshino) do in this situation.?Talk to the marketing people of course.Find a way.Found a way Ibanez did by broadening the model range.Of course Ibanez don't want all of them fitted with Lo Pro Edge or Edge.They needed another bridge to fit the lower models.So Ibanez meet Mr Takeuchi and The Thing was born.
Lo TRS 2/3/pro whatever(The Thing) - above
The bridge is okay but there just one thing.Its a threaded arm so the thread will become loose after a while deeming it useless for years of wanking(trem arm play).The faulty threaded arm style only works for Fender because it never work in the first place.Unless for light playing.Threads only work best for fastening or worm screw operation.One direction(forward or reverse).Any yaw to it will invite damage or failure.Any idiot that held a screw before knows this.Getting the arm tight as where you like is another issue,some will,some won't,if your's is then consider you've won a lottery but as soon as it become loose,consider your winning's gone.There's also a single locking variant that they put in some of the lower than lower model e.g. RG270 etc..I'll not be touching on that.Sales were good,money poured in Tremolo Research and in 2002/03(correct me if I'm wrong) Ibanez felt the need to reinvent the Lo Pro Edge/Edge.Out came the New Thing.
Edge Pro/Edge Pro II/Edge III(the New Thing) - Edge III above
Learning from past generosity(mistake).Ibanez made sure this time each trem goes in the right guitars.The Made in Japan got the Edge Pro while the rest model gets either the Pro II or Edge III.A couple years later Mr Vai and Mr Satch decided to ditch the Edge Pro and went back to the Edge.Rust prone bridge and tonal changes could be the reason why.The Edge III received complain from all players that have tried better.Stability and loose arm are the main issues.Yes I know there's the ZR but I'm not writing about bearing hinge trem,only pivot style here....moving on almost a decade later Ibanez created the Evolution.
Edge Zero/Edge Zero II with ZPS (the Evolution) - EZII above
These were indeed an evolution of double locking trem,good ballance string to spring,thumb screw spring adjustment.Personally which ever Ibanez you've bought that has one those is fantastic.Then Ibanez realized they're putting in more than they should.Guitar players became smart,Most would settle with lowest model that has the EZII with ZPS.Why buy the Premium when you could get the same hardware on a RG350DXZ.Yup..its all about the hardware,never mind the pickups.We'll upgrade those when we ready.By the way nothing wrong with the stock pickups.Its the hardware!Its the harware!Its Ibanez own.The powder coat is thin but still its superb!
Well.. sure enough Ibanez found away around this.Introducing the Iron Label! but there's a catch. Ibanez put in a set of EMG's but took away the tone pot and ZPS. Not long after we saw the demise of the ZPS in some standard models..The ZPS is now for the Premium and selected models only.Despite that with or without the ZPS,people still has faith at the Edge Zero II featuring the conventional rectangle zinc block.No worries,we can just put in the Tremol-No there.Its 3 in 1(Float,Fix or Dive only).Its not a loss,not a loss at all.Well I hate to tell but you do have to worry.For 2015(onwards) The Ibanez R&D(Retarded & Dysfunctional) dept has came up with a new trem for us smart asses stingy guitarist.Behold!the newest of them all..the LCCT(Latest in Cost Cutting Technology)!
STD DL(the LCCT) - above
It looks similar to the old Takeuchi but I doubt the two are related.Looks more like a cheap knock off wannabe if you ask me.Why design a new bridge when they(Ibanez) can revive the extinct TRS look alike but this time they've made an improvement.This one is a upgraded classic,its no more threaded arm but with thumb tension collar.Righty tighty,lefty loosy just like the FR.Yup.it took them 20 years to figure that out by them self but hey,better late than never right? You know what I think,it looks more like the trem sold by Aliexpress only without the Ibanez stamp! There isn't a sign of Ibanez proprietary to it!
Yustech opinion to his friends that intend to buy - best to stay away from the STD DL for now,its performance and reliable is still unknown yet.Give it a year or two then we all can be sure of its grid position in the formula dive/pull championship.We don't want a banana tree bearing fruit twice in other words wouldn't want Ibanez to pull another Edge III maneuver for the second time now do we.Forums are always the best reference.If you can't wait then go ahead.Its your money,your rights as consumer,worst comes to worst you could shove in a dead battery,a block of Daiso wood or this to hold it still.But best if you could hunt down those with EZII or better,new or used.For those who could wait and want to know which Ibanez to avoid for now.Pictures below,some still spots the Edge III.
I'm a trem player,I'm on your side,I'm your friend and friend don't let another friend waste his/her money for something that doesn't work as it suppose to.
The writer acknowledges Ibanez is a great guitar in its own right,this post is solely touching on their tremolo system.
Thank you.
2 comments:
"it looks more like the trem sold by Aliexpress only without the Ibanez stamp!"
"a banana tree bearing fruit twice"
words of wisdom :)
Thank you Mr Ijau.Wisdom for what's ahead.
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