January 6, 2025 | 12:00am
Ramon Jacinto has thoroughly mastered the guitar. I do not mean just musically as a performer and quite a dedicated one. He has been making music with the guitar for over 60 years. He does have an arresting guitar sound that is all his own. Best of all, he has also technically and technologically taken on the ups and downs, ABCs, everything about the instrument.
RJ started out as the little boy who did not want take his music lessons seriously because he only wanted to play tunes on his guitar. You know, as a kid growing up during the ‘60s, these were music like like those made by The Ventures or The Shadows. Maybe he also tried out the sounds of Al Caiola and Duane Eddy.
As the years went by, his mastery of the guitar grew by the proverbial leaps and bounds. Not just as the frontman of his band, The Riots, but also as an instrumentalist proficient in various genres but as somebody who wanted to input his own ideas to better and make the instrument accessible to everybody.
Some years ago, he decided to go deeper into the guitar. With the famous guitar maker Rudy Discipulo, RJ developed his own guitar that would enable him to keep playing without having to switch guitars.
It was a success and he went on to establish his own guitar store and factory. You need a good guitar of whatever kind, the RJ Guitar Store is the place to go to. Check it out on Facebook as RJGUITARCENTER.
Some years ago, RJ Jacinto decided to go deeper into the guitar. With the famous guitar maker Rudy Discipulo, RJ developed his own guitar that would enable him to keep playing without having to switch guitars. It was a success and he went on to establish his own guitar store and factory.
Among those available at RJ’s is a versatile guitar gizmo that makes the best electric guitar tones recorded without an amplifier. Called Amp Less Instrumentals, these turn RJ’s famous SuperVintage Guitar into 5-Guitars-in-One.
If you are into guitars, then you must have heard of RJ’s SuperVintage. This guitar was made to his specifications. This was a high moment in his long preoccupation with the much-loved instrument.
His own invention, well, maybe not invention, but an improvement on the guitar as we know. OK maybe not an improvement but something that made the guitar seem new and interesting again.
The RJ SuperVintage made its debut in Los Angeles in 2017 during the National Association of Music Merchants Trade Show (NAMM). It was the first time that a Filipino guitar was spotlighted in the huge gathering. The exposure resulted in excellent reviews by Harmony Central in the US of A; The Guitarist Magazine from the UK and from American guitar influencer Lance Keltner.
Now for RJ and the guitar, it is all about tone and that is what his work with the Supervintage is all about. This guitar offers a wide option for guitarists to choose from a combination of single and humbacking pick-ups producing tones equivalent to five guitars.
These are the tones of the Fender Telecaster, the Stratocaster, the Jazzmaster and Gibson ES335 and the Les Paul Tones. For an idea of what these sound like check out his latest CD where he goes from Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da to Always on My Mind and his own Muli with the RJ SuperVintage. And take note, it is all amp less of any sort. The guitar was plugged directly to the recording audio interface.
Thanks to RJ, players do not have to lug amps around anymore and still have all of those tones available at their fingertips. Not only available but also affordable. Check out how much those tones from those famous guitars cost and you will realize how heaven sent RJ’s idea is.
And while in the RJ mode, do check out another one of his guitar gizmos, the Buskerstar Guitar, the first guitar in the world with an attachable built-in microphone. This is a great boon for buskers. They do not have to lug and set up microphones when performing on the sidewalks. RJ has just made busking easy and convenient.
So now I wonder, what will RJ turn out next?
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