When Rich Harris of IbanezRules sent me a mail sometime in 2009 informing me that Ibanez were going to be doing a limited run of JS1200's I couldn't say no - lefties have typically been rather neglected by manufacturers, especially in terms of colours and exciting hardware options. Having a red guitar that had coil splits and a high-pass filter really ticked all the right boxes on paper.
Upon receiving the guitar I was a little underwhelmed. One of the Edge Pro saddles snapped while I was locking it after re-stringing (the metal literally shattered) leading me to believe that corners had been cut somewhere. After receiving a replacement from Rich (who is extremely helpful and informed me that there had been some known metallurgy issues) I quickly discovered that the bridge just wasn't that great elsewhere either - I've never managed to keep it in tune, and I've run dozens of Licensed Floyd copies over the year - not a single one, regardless of origin, caused me issues - they all fell before the combination of well lubricated knife edges and a locked down nut.
Since then it seems Ibanez have gone back to the Original Edge, which can't be retrofitted without some woodwork. Sometimes it's better to wait and see rather than jump at an opportunity.
Despite these problems the JS1200 had a relatively large role to play on This Lousy T-Shirt - mostly in part to those fantastic pickup combinations made possible by splits and filters. All leads on "Reality Check" were recorded with the JS as well as rhythm and leads on "Until I Sleep". Slide leads and rhythm on "Peacock" were done using a combination of the whammy bar, slide and a volume pedal. If I recall correctly, the JS was also responsible for rhythm on "Let It Out" and rhythm guitars on "Telemundo".
Modifications: None.