In the shop is an Ibanez GIO GRG121PAR that was purchased new around two years ago. It did not come with a gig bag, and has remained exposed to the elements ever since, hence the dust and grime. I'm also not surprised to see tarnished and corroded hardware, given that we're living next door to the South China Sea. To make matters worse, the strings and fretboard have never been wiped down after playing. Long story short, the main issues brought to my attention include fret buzz, unstable intonation, strings noting out, and dissonant double stops.
This gig was held at WarmRoom Records Kuantan on July 18, 2026. Six bands took to the stage that night, namely, Friends Ferdinand, Fluxs, Musa, Handspring, Paracetamol, and Monyeks. The night's proceedings ran along smoothly like a well-oiled machine, thanks to the friendly and helpful WarmRoom staff on duty. Last but not least, a shout-out to one of the most talented emcees I've seen in years, the affable Chris Yeast.
RF Band had the honor of performing on the opening night (July 17) of the 2026 Teruntum Rock Festival at Kompleks Teruntum. Onstage were Mimi Fazlin (vocals), Awal RF (guitar), S. Nagaraja (drums), Damir Idris @Achoy (bass/saxophone), JR Ewing (keyboards) and yours truly (guitar/bass/vocals). Images in this post are courtesy of Galaxie Entertainment, Rozli Rozuki, Scha Rianda, Jaz Faris, and yours truly.
As received, the control plate on this Squier California Series J Bass was crudely attached to the body with masking tape, the bridge volume and master tone controls were stuck, and only the neck pickup made a sound. Further examination revealed stripped screw holes, disconnected wires, and widespread corrosion. To get the bass sounding as it should, a full rewire was carried out with Alpha A250K pots, a 0.047uf tone cap, and generic output jack.
