Blog - The Guitar Learner

“Only they who believeth in their guitar quest shall be granted passage”

PRS SE made in Indonesia, is it worth the name Paul Reed Smith guitar?

PRS SE Custom 24, yes, before we talk about my , let’s check this stuff. This kind of questions happen all the time since USA guitars built their lineups overseas. People tend to underestimate the built quality of factories in developing countries because of poor quality control and cheap parts, even the risk of being stolen and sold illegally which would cost a big loss for company brand and products.

First doubt went to Japanese guitars compared to US made, but Japan guitars fought back with even better qualities. years after that, the doubt went move to china, Korea and Indonesia. There are so many minor details which showed that the overseas productions is just crap with muddy pickups, unfinished neck and poor fret crowning etc. and people started to think that it’s just blind brand developments with profit oriented only.

BUT, I think Paul Reed Smith guitars made a big difference here. I just got one of its series, the PRS SE custom 24 guitar Amber Fade limited edition and it’s just like Paul said:

“It looks good, it plays good, and it sounds good”

i thought it was a overly bold statement but now i get it

PRS SE Ltd Edition Custom 24 Amber Fade has nice finish, the glossy one, great color. The knobs work smooth and fine (although it’s too slippery for me 😀 ) the bridge, saddles and nut are great, it is set for the 0.09 – 0.46 strings gauge so it plays like butter, great precision and craftsmanship

i made the sound check:

PRS SE Custom 24 Amber Fade Ltd Edition

and it sounds great!

one positive thing after another is, the PRS SE keep their high standards since their Korean made… i fell the same vibes with the early PRS SE model made in korea

Paul Reed Smith SE custom 22 semi hollow

Paul Reed Smith SE Mark Tremonti series

and definitely it pushes away my thoughts in doubting the “made in Indonesia” guitars. this guitar is worth to collect.

Paul Reed Smith SE Ltd Edition Custom 24 Amber Fade

Paul Reed Smith SE Ltd Edition Custom 24 Amber Fade

PRS SE Ltd Edition Custom 24 Amber Fade

Paul Reed Smith SE Ltd Edition Custom 24 Amber Fade

PRS SE Ltd Edition Custom 24 Amber Fade
May 28, 2021
Pocket Guitar Aeroband, A New Way To Be A Musician
I have something interesting to show to everyone. Usually I talk about tone woods or guitar wiring schematics, but this time is special. It’s a musical gadget integrated to our cellphones through apps. yes, it’s pretty much involving nowadays technology and it’s fun. it’s Pocket Guitar Aeroband.

Pocket Guitar Aeroband

Pocket guitar aeroband shape is similar to Guitar plectrum / guitar picks and that’s exactly how to use it. we will be doing air guitar show! just strum it after connect it to phone and the sound of clear and nice folk acoustic guitar will come out throughout the phone speakers.

Aeroband Pocket guitar

well, okay i’m just too rushing it because I’m so excited. First download the Aeroband app on phone Apps store, install and open it.

Aeroband App

Pocket Guitar uses bluetooth as the way it connects to phone, so make sure the bluetooth devices is turned on

make sure to activate GPS on the phone too. This gadget seems like use Accelerometer and gryroscope system to detect the hand strumming, so let’s do that.

i made lots of pic to help my explanation so here they are:

connect Pocketguitar Aeroband

click go and we have this on the screen:

aeroband pocket guitar

choose pocket guitar and we’re good to go

playing Aeroband pocket guitar

so far so good, I did the unboxing video of this gadget and it was fun.

and the check sound video. I was really excited by this.. tried on my cellphone and played it through the amp. it sounds just like good guitar with good wood body:

so far i like this product. it sounds good and it came in great and secured package so I didn’t worry about any damages by delivery. DHL delivered right to my front door and i have no worries at all about DHL services, they are good.

Few things about this gadget before i click publish, is somehow this pioneer product is developing and evolving. I might had few small difficulties in connecting it to phone, like :
i need an hour to understand that this thing needs the GPS to be ON

the gravity affects the gyroscope-things so i had to adjust my strumming faced toward earth so i can get equal power of strumming movements between upstroke and downstrokes

the firmware upgrade made it more sensitive to strumming, i like it before the firmware upgrade and i don’t know how to revert it
BUT i have faith this will get better because one thing. NOthing beats the excitement of doing Air Guitar ! and this Aeroband pocket guitar, it just has that fun. so, i think this stuff worth to get our attentions. So please check https://aeroband.net/ to get more information and you may make an order,FYI: there’s pocket drums too.

see ya guys!
August 26, 2020
Fly Rig 5 BRIT guitar effects pedal by Tech 21

Here comes the BRIT version of the Fly Rig 5 by Tech21. It comes in violet theme, bright knobs and amazing sound. It has the simplicity design like the Flyrig 5 first version, but surely this BRIT has more of something than the first flyrig5 has.

Tech 21 FlyRig 5–BRIT

The Design

Looks cool isn’t it? for me the design is by so far the most catchy color, Still with the simple one input and one output, which sometimes we want more features on this pedal. yes, that urge to mix and match the pedals in order tor redefine our tones. it was answered by the last post anyway, about thee fly rig 5 version 2.

The Sound

what about the sound? yes.. by far it is amazing, Flyrig 5 Brit sounds like the plexi one, but with more rich gain. It is more versatile because with more gain, we have wider range of music genre, and Flyrig 5 brit sounds just great on clean setting. i made the shootout on youtube, here it is:

Tech21 FlyRig 5 – BRIT on youtube

so by far this is my favorite between all of the first version of fly rig 5. FYI for this Fly Rig stuff, i recorded them all directly through to mixer without any cabinet simulator whatsoever. just using DIbox to get stabilized signal only. The result was amazing. i can go to anywhere gig with this pedal, and since it’s soo small, i can carry it without any second thought. just put it into my guitar gigbag and we’re good to go. I can share no words more than these, let’s the sound speaks up by it self.

Fly Rig 5 BRIT by tech21

the latest fly rig is FLy Rig 5 V 2 , also check it out – go to post
August 13, 2020
Musicman Guitar James Valentine signature series

Musicman james valentine is… oh, Hello 😀 well this time is past a year from my latest blogpost, and I have to admit, this coronavirus , covid-19 has brought me back to start writing again. Yeah, need a pandemonium to take me back here. okay let’s get move on.

I do really have a good stuff to talk about. yup, it’s THE Musicman guitar, the James Valentine signature series one. Pretty isn’t it?

James Valentine is Maroon 5 guitar player and one of great guitarist. He plays riff perfectly, has strong sense of guitar phrasing and articulation, great taste of music. funny thing is, some people questioning his worth to have A Musicman signature series guitar by his name. (yea it was the comments on facebook when i shared my guitar review video, says “it’s funny you have to put maroon 5 on your video title, it means he’s no worth it, and i completely disagree with that. I respect James Valentine as my guitar hero. done.. no more whining.

Let’s talk about this guitar shall we? See, this musicman james valentine guitar has the best body design I’ve ever seen and touch. it has classy almost-gibson look while definitely i can feel the telecaster right away after i strummed it.

so beautiful.

The neck.. i smell strong maple syrup came out from this roasted maple wood neck. it’s almost like i wanted to lick it (i did by the way, and it’s tasteless 😀 ) . literally it smells so sweet

I was really happy when I hold this guitar.

ah yes.. the sound. It is definitely a tele sound with upgrades. it has booster engaged by push-pull volume knob and neck split coil on tone knob. check it out on my vlog video >>

the headstock is gorgeous, definitely high class musicman style

headstock front

so overall this is the most gorgeous guitar i ever play and yes, it was sold to guitar collector already. i missed this guitar. likely I’ll buy another one someday

headstock back

Musicman James Valentine Guitar Specifications

Model: Valentine

Size: 13-1/4″ wide, 1-3/4″ thick, 38-7/16″ long (33.7 cm wide, 4.5 cm thick, 97.6 cm long)

Body Wood: Ash

Body Finish: High gloss polyester

Bridge: Music Man® Modern hardtail with vintage bent steel saddles

Pickguard: Shell

Scale Length: 25-1/2″ (64.8 cm)

Neck Radius: 10″ (25.4 cm)

Headstock Size: 6-3/8″ (16.2 cm) long

Frets: 22 – High profile, medium width, Stainless Steel

Neck Width: 1-5/8″ (41.3 mm) at nut, 2-1/4″ (56.9 mm) at last fret

Neck Wood: Select roasted maple neck

Fingerboard: Select roasted maple neck

Fret Markers: 1/4″ Black Face dots

Neck Finish: Gunstock oil and hand-rubbed special wax blend

Neck Colors: Standard – Natural with finished headstock

Tuning Machines: Schaller M6-IND locking

Truss Rod: Adjustable – no component or string removal

Neck Attachment: 5 bolts – Sculpted neck joint allows smooth access to higher frets

Electronic Shielding: Graphite acrylic resin coated body cavity and aluminum control cover

Controls: Custom Music Man® active preamp; push/push volume for gain boost, 500kohm push/push passive tone for custom split pickup configurations – .022µF tone capacitor

Switching: 3-way lever pickup selector

Pickups: SH – Music Man® custom wound staggered pole piece single coil (bridge) and humbucker with chrome covers (neck)

Left Handed: No

Strings: 11p-14p-18p-28w-38w-48w (RPS 11 Slinky #2242)

so.. is this an epic comeback or what?

see you next posts
April 15, 2020