Vital stats Fender American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster

STRUM AS YOU ARE

Fender American Acoustasonic Jazzmaster

Rtba / fender.com

Fenderhasinventedthe acoustic/electrichybrid guitaragain…butthisone mightactuallyhavesome streetcred

● Tweak scene When Fender launched its latest generation of hybrid guitars in 2019, it adopted a radical new approach: making them good. The use of advanced digital modelling meant the American Acoustasonic Tele and Strat really could sound like a whole range of different acoustic guitar types at the flick of a pickup switch. But of course, the cool kids wouldn’t touch them because Teles and Strats are for dentists… and so here, with some sonic refinements, comes a version based on that icon of scuzzy alt-rock, the Jazzmaster.

● Marquee boon As before, there are three pickups (a piezo, a percussive ‘body sensor’ and a normal magnetic type, this time a humbucker) and digital models of 10 guitars, accessed via a five-way switch and a knob for blending between pairs. But the Jazzmaster’s slightly bigger body makes it better for unplugged strumming, and there are some new voices – including one that sounds like a standard electric plugged into a cranked-up Marshall. In a world with live gigs (just imagine!), you’ll be able to plug this thing straight into the PA and sound like everyone from Joni Mitchell to Idles.

● Screen age riot This instrument was always going to be divisive: it’s not a real acoustic, it’s not a real Jazzmaster, etc. But Fender really upped the stakes by sending pre-launch guitars out to loads of influencers and apparently not asking for them back. Cue a flood of over-excited YouTube ‘reviews’ at precisely 2pm on press embargo day… followed by a flood of forum rants bemoaning the death of objectivity. But we’ve tried this guitar and it’s great… and you know you can still trust Stuff, right?

There are five colour options for the top, from a natural wood finish to a vibrant blue print.

HYBRID DEARIES

● Taylor T5z Classic

From the company that first made acoustic guitars feel like electrics, an electric that thinks it’s an acoustic. Fully analogue, it has three pickups and plenty of tone-tweaking options. R38 000 / taylorguitars.com

● Godin LGXT

This Canadian curiosity has three outputs: one for its twin electric humbuckers, one for the acoustic piezo in the bridge, and one for MIDI so you can use it to make wacky synth noises. R36 000 / godinguitars.com

● Relish Mary One

With unique ‘floating sandwich’ construction (nothing to do with a kayaker’s packed lunch), this Swiss beast has hot-swappable electric pickups and a piezo for acoustic tones. R67 000 / relish.swiss

YOU CAN SOUND LIKE EVERYONE FROM JONI MITCHELL TO IDLES

Smells like tee spirit TAG HEUER CONNECTED GOLF EDITION

To fit in down the golf club, you only need three things: a fancy set of clubs, an expensive car, and nothing better to do with your weekends. But if you’d rather stand out, there are worse ways to do it than by strapping on Tag’s upgraded Connected Golf Edition smartwatch. Powered by Wear OS, its 1.39in OLED touchscreen can be used to keep score and track your shots, and with detailed maps of over 40,000 courses it’ll even make club suggestions. With GPS and a heart-rate monitor on board it can track other, more energetic sports too, while it’ll also handle all the usual notifications you need when you’re not mid-swing. Well, isn’t your talent already enough of a handicap? Rtba / tagheuer.com

Nice shoes, bub ADIDAS MARVEL PREDATOR FREAK.1

Wolverine, if you think about it, is the ultimate football player. He doesn’t roll around clutching ‘injuries’, he’s compact, powerful, quick off the mark and utterly terrifying when he’s charging at the goalie. Be more like the ultimate X-Men antihero with Adidas’ madly lightweight new Marvel-branded Predator Freak.1, which feature Demonskin uppers, an adaptive fit that barely needs laces to hold onto your foot and a comic-centric design in Logan’s iconic yellow-black-and-blues. Which is what your opponents will be after a match with you, right? If you’re feeling a little more Boy Scout, there’s also the Cyclops-themed Adidas X Ghosted boots to look out for. R4 000 / shop.adidas.co.za

Dip to Black WD_BLACK D10 12TB

We know solid-state drives are all the rage right now thanks to their speedy nature, but if you prefer quantity over quality, Western Digital’s WD_Black 12TB game drive is especially useful. Developed specifically for the Xbox One console, it’ll quickly bulk up your storage to capacities previously unthought of. Throw in speeds of up to 250MB/s, two USB 3.2 charging ports and three months of Xbox Game Pass for free, and your gaming setup will be the coolest in the clan. These also come in smaller sizes, but you know what they say about someone with a huge game drive… R5700 / incredible.co.za

Blow it up ACER PD1320WI PROJECTOR

At some point, every person feels the need to buy a projector. It’s just that, until recently, great quality has been wildly unaffordable for the general enthusiast – which is where the Acer PD1320Wi comes in. It caps out at a reasonable 3,000 nits, with bulb technology that won’t decay as fast as other bulbs, apparently. You get HD resolution here, some superb colour reproduction and contrast and a fairly portable size. We tested it the only way we know how – screening a Marvel movie for our peers, and it produced punchy, vivid colours after a speedy setup and connection to our notebook. R15000 / shopacer.co.za

“15% off weight loss tea” DELL XPS 13

Similar to most influencers on Instagram, notebooks are getting slimmer by the day. It’s especially evident in the refreshed Dell XPS 13, which is essentially borderless following the removal of its last Infinity Edge bezel. It features a larger display with a bigger, more comfortable keyboard and touchpad, all in a chassis that’s somehow smaller than its predecessors. Looks aside, the XPS 13 doesn’t disappoint either, rocking a 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, about 12 hours of battery life off the cable and either 1TB or 2TB of SSD storage. Honestly, just the 13.4in, 1920 x 1200 touch display was enough to pull us in. R37000 / everyshop.co.za

Don’t think 2S, it’s all right DJI AIR 2S

Aerial photographers and videographers have a new tool to stick in their bag – and it won’t have to be a very big bag. The DJI Air 2S is the smallest camera drone yet to come with a 1in sensor on board, and it’s able to capture 4K video at 60fps or 5.4K at 30fps as well as 20MP stills. A three-axis gimbal keeps things steady, while video shooters have the option to shoot in Hybrid Log Gamma or D-Log profiles for maximum colour-grading scope, as well as H265 to conserve storage capacity (there’s 8GB built in, plus a microSD slot). Battery life runs to 31 minutes of airtime per charge, while an updated version of DJI’s OcuSync transmission tech gives the Air 2S a range of up to 12km. R21 400 / dji.com

In need of a B&W (audio) filter BOWERS & WILKINS PI7

B&W doesn’t mess about when it comes to sound. So while its audio adversaries have been churning out true wireless earbuds for a while, the British audio maker has bided its time – but the PI7s look to have been very much worth the wait. The important stuff? Dual hybrid drive units that work just like B&W’s top-notch speakers, plus quad amps with advanced DSP that should ensure performance worth every cent of its not inconsiderable pricetag. A six-mic array – three in each bud – brings active noise-cancelling and calls, while the case they charge in can be connected to a wired music source and transmit wirelessly to the earphones – handy if you ever get on a plane again. Rtba / bowerswilkins.com

DROP EVERYTHING & DOWNLOAD

Clap Hanz Golf

Apple Arcade (R85/m)

The Apple Arcade subscription service has slowly but surely built itself an impressively eclectic library of games… bolstered by a huge update that Apple recently dropped out of nowhere, which featured a number of games from some industry big-hitters. And the pick of the bunch, if you ask us, is Clap Hanz Golf.

In all but name this is an Everybody’s Golf title for Apple Arcade, marking the end of developer Clap Hanz’s long exclusivity deal with PlayStation. But don’t expect an inferior knockoff. Like its predecessors, the infectiously cheerful Clap Hanz Golf hits that sweet spot between arcade and simulation golf, with this iteration letting you switch to a different character for each hole. The new touch controls, meanwhile, arguably make hitting a great shot even more satisfying.