Blog - The Guitar Learner

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

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
Ibanez JS1600 PSV Premium silver, for us or for Joe?

hello everyone and I’m sorry. I’ve been fooling around for last 3 years and this year, i am making my comeback to this blog. I hope this time topic will bring back the writing fun in me. haha

lately I made a small business by trading my stuff, to get new gears and new stuff for my videos on my youtube channel, and that activity brought me to meet the Ibanez JS1600 PSV Premium silver guitar. a made in japan guitar by Team J. Craft, surely it’s not a joke. check this crazy specs:

Ibanez JS1600
Made in: Japan by Team J. Craft
Finishes: PSV (Premium Silver)

Ibanez JS1600 PSV Premium silver guitar

Ibanez JS1600 PSV Premium silver guitar back side

Body
Body material : Mahogany
Neck joint : Tilt Joint
Bridge : Gotoh GTC101 bridge
Hardware color : Chrome

Ibanez JS1600 PSV body guitar

Ibanez JS1600 PSV body guitar back

Neck
Neck type : JS Prestige
Material : 1-Piece Maple
Fingerboard : Rosewood
Inlays : Abalone Dots
Frets : 22 /6105

Ibanez JS1600 PSV headstock guitar

Ibanez JS1600 PSV tuning machine guitar

Electronics
PU Config : HH
Neck PU : DiMarzio PAF Pro
Bridge PU : DiMarzio FRED
Controls : 1 Volume (with High-Pass filter)
1 Tone (with coil tap) / 3-Way Toggle

Ibanez JS1600 PSV Premium silver guitar complete pack

Neck dimensions
Scale length : 648mm/25.5″
Radius : 250mm

and it came with great hardcase, beautiful neck plate and joe satriani and steve vai signature. FYI it was preloved guitar. the previous owner had a chance to bring it with him and got it signatured by joe satriani and steve vai.. what a lucky man

Ibanez JS1600 hardcase guitar

Ibanez JS1600 neckplate guitar

Ibanez JS1600 joe satriani signature

that’s almost all about the guitar details.. wonderful isn’t it?

now, for my real topic here. Ibanez JS1600 guitar has fixed bridge! for a two thousands five hundreds dollars guitar which is a Joe Satriani signature, don’t we think it is overpriced? no whammy bar? come on, besides this is professor satchafunkilus we’re talking about. even mr. Satch himself using whammy bar mostly on his performances.

that’s what i thought first when i saw the ads of this Ibanez JS1600 PSV Premium silver guitar . but when i plug it on my small amp, i know this one is no joke. As a result, it’s a beast machine waiting to be unleashed on big stages. the neck feels great and the strings are stay in tunes forever. furthermore, what make it best is the volume pot knob! it responses like any other guitar I’ve tried so far.. it’s so easy to dial to get exact amount of volume and gain we want to, even the tone knob does great job, too. certainly i made a sample sound on my youtube channel:

after checking the video i hope you understand what i’m talking about, most importantly, this guitar feels like a kind of joe satriani’s understanding point of view as non whammy bar user guitarists. so it is like more for us, or for satriani’s fans who love his playing and wants to discover their own playing styles such as a non whammy bar guitarists (like me 😀 i’d love to learn though).

so, the conclusion is, this guitar is worth to be collected whether as our private collection or as our main axe on our gigs. i hope you like my review. i know this kind of writing is old ones, you know, nowadays people goes to Instagram and making judgement by one picture or one minute videos and short captions, but i stick on this. having my own site and writing honest reviews. therefore it’s more me.

one thing i feel need to say is, please subscribe to my youtube channel guitar learner. it is synchronized with the stuff i write here so i guess it is still correlated as “old but gold” way of learning. I’d really appreciate that if you do. thanks, see you next posts

February 13, 2019