DC747

'Joel Baligod’s second choice of guitar is one for a more general use and without the specific nature of tremolo bridge design. Made by Carvin, this guitar, the model no. for which is DC747, has a sleek design built for comfort.

Like its Ibanez companion, the Carvin guitar has a 24 fret neck, however the fingerboard is one of ebony which responds to high performance when position shifting with the fretting hand or hands. The guitar, also being a 7- string instrument, is in keeping with Joel’s favouritism for guitar fashion design. This guitar, too, has a neck- through- body, one piece wood design for extended note- sustain and sleekness in high position- fretting from behind the neck.

The pick- up configuration includes 2 humbuckers for bridge and neck selection along with a single coil for middle position. The tone that these Carvin pick- ups can provide is one of bass and middle range eq. and without brightness, providing a more solid and dark sound, which can help in the studio recording process.

This guitar, with its fixed bridge design allows for Joel to perform with variable string gauging without the inherent tremolo tensions that can arise- a time saver in guitar set- up and maintenance.

This Carvin guitar also has factory installed Sperzel Tuners (machine heads with string locking thumb screws). This feature is a luxury for keeping the guitar in tune while performing.

In summary, this guitar is a fun instrument to play when Joel is feeling experimental with music or song writing. Joel also considers this Carvin guitar as his other go- to ‘axe’ alongside his aforementioned Ibanez- 7 string.

RG1077XL-RB

Joel Baligod’s first choice of guitar is considered his ‘workhorse axe’ for both studio and live set-up. Known as an Ibanez Prestige, 27 Inch Scale 7 String, the model no. of the guitar is a Japanese RG1077XL-RB. (Royal Blue)/0001. It was built circa 2001- 2002 and is no longer in production, being a ‘limited’ edition.

Joel decided to custom modify it back in 2010 to improve in it’s performance and sound quality. As the original pick- ups were a combination of humbucker and single coil DiMarzio Custom 7s, Joel wanted to experiment with an array of other DiMarzio pick- up models for a more ‘modern’ sound.

Currently, his pick- ups include a Crunch Lab 7 (DP708) bridge position humbucker, a Blaze Middle (DP701(B)) middle position single coil and a LiquiFire 7 (DP707) humbucker for the neck position. As these help accommodate for a wider spectrum of tone palette the reason will become clear immediately. Joel’s pick- ups have been wired with push/pull volume/tone pots to help facilitate in a flexible selection of ‘more musical’ pick- up switching without the inherent ‘out of phase’ combinations that can arise. The resultant tones available include both ‘modern’ and ‘vintage’ sounds depending on the push/pull pots that can override active full/split coil configurations.

For strings, Joel uses Ernie Ball Super Slinky 9- 52s for ‘long life’ performance and tone consistency as set- up with an Ibanez Lo- Pro Edge Tremolo Bridge and Top Lok nut for more reliable intonation. This being said, however, Joel is experimenting with other custom set/gauge strings including Ernie Ball 10- 52s.

In essence this is one reliable guitar that needs to be played to be appreciated and enjoyed. When asked of my opinion on its performance, my reply is “I give it a thumbs up of approval. Once I tried and tested it, I wondered how I ever got by without it. The sound is so incredible that there simply is no turning back now !”