As for the new strap on the new Fender Strat, still unsure what it is.

But the Strat is definitely in her regular arsenal now.

i.e. used in Best Christmas, Radio Crazy and I suspect will be at Count Down Japan too.

I noticed Mami had the volume knob on the new Strat took off just like her Melting Ice Cream strat.
In order to avoid accidentally rolled back mid-song.
But at the Fender year end party she had the knob back on. Well, that was an official event!

The strap MAMI is currently using on her new olympic pearl MiJ Strat is an old/battered (hence, the 'grey' look) off the shelf 2-inch polyester logo Fender strat that costs GBP10 in the UK.

Here's the model no should you want to buy one - Model #0990662080

This is from the SOUND DESIGNER magazine

i have been avoiding any reason to ever pick up a jazzmaster. and then this.

What about this guitar? Has Mami ever played it before?

When they were doing the 47 prefecture tour, HARU used that model. Uncertain if the same guitar was given to MAMI or MAMI got her own.

MAMI used it at the two 感謝祭 shows I attended at Osaka Bayside back in 2018. Never saw HARU playing it after the 47 prefecture tour.

As a reminder, we first saw HARU trying it out here in January 2017:

2021.08.21~ - Fender Stratocaster


2019.11.19~ - Fender Made in Japan Modern Stratocaster (Olympic Pearl)

I reckon the "unknown" Strat is a modded MiJ Modern Strat with the volume knob nearest to the bridge humbucker removed - either the volume pot is now in the "second" position or she simply uses a volume pedal. Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed MAMI's propensity to remove the knob of her volume pot on her Strat (namely her classic American HSS melted ice cream Strat).

The catalogue on Fender JP still has the MiJ Modern Strat as having three knobs.

This might be one of the more boring parts of her gear, but I see a possible inconsistency on the first page. It says the strings Mami uses are: 

Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Gauge 10 (Yellow Package)

However, the Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 10-46 set is the bright lime green (chartreuse, officially) package. The pure yellow pack is the Beefy Slinky 11-54. Then there's also the golden yellow set which is 10-54 Skinny Top Beefy Bottom.
So, does anyone know for sure which one she uses? I would assume the 10-46 set, since that's the most common, but it'd be good to know for sure since there's quite a difference in feel and tone between the three, and if she's actually using the 11s then it'd explain a lot about how her octave figures on the plain strings sound so full.

SJM wrote:So, does anyone know for sure which strings she uses?

The 10-46 strings.

https://www.ernieball.com/guitar-strings/electric-guitar-strings/slinky-nickel-wound-electric-guitar-strings/6-string#P02221


Technically, it was MAMI who called the packaging "yellow." She was asked at the AM2 Convention back in 2011 which strings she uses, and she said the "Ernie Ball 10-gauge strings in yellow (黄色; kiiro) packaging."

Nevertheless, I've edited the first post so that it just lists the name + gauge + URL to the strings to make things more simple/easy to understand.

I notice in videos and photos of the current tour, like the pictures in the Atlanta blog post,  that both Mami and Haruna are using Marshall JCM900s—one for Haruna, two for Mami—and cabinets (probably 1960Bs since they're the most standard for that amp, though there aren't any clear markings on the speaker cabs them to identify them exactly).

However, looking at the pictures closely, they don't appear to actually have anything plugged into them! The amps are there on stage and their power lights are on, but the input jacks have no cables going to them. It's possible they're using only the power amps and are plugged into the returns at the back, with their pedals acting as preamps, or they might just have the heads on stage for show (possibly an advertising deal with Marshall?) and have other amps actually doing the work behind them. It's also not unheard of for techs to add new inputs in at the back, to stop cables from hanging off the front in the way of the speaker mics.

In any case, I thought it was interesting that they've both got Marshalls with them again.

@SJM It can be seen Haruna is with her pedal board. Pretty sure all the guitar tone are happening in the Axe FX for Mami when she is gigging aboard. This can be seen on the Hello World Documentary Movie.
This fashion has became very common for touring guitarists. The signal was then split from the Axe Fx into the power amp on stage and to the fPA.
Nowadays more and more bands don't bother to have amps or cabs or even floor monitors on stage.
Mostly Mami only have the tuner and WahWah pedal on stage. In 2015 I witnessed that even the Whammy fiddling was handled by her tech Motchy Sambora.

SJM wrote:In any case, I thought it was interesting that they've both got Marshalls with them again.

I'm pretty sure they rent stuff like amps when they tour overseas. Marshalls are probably a lot easier to rent than their usual brands.

Yeah, I figured they're rentals, but it's interesting they've taken three JCM900s which are not in any way the 'standard' Marshall you'd usually rent and can be hard to find. You kinda have to go out of your way to pick up a JCM900, and have a really specific reason to use one, as most rental companies don't bother to keep them in stock at all since they've never been a popular amp.

Having watched a few more fan clips from the last couple of shows, it does seem that Haruna's head and one of Mami's are actually turned on—the power lights are on and the standby switches look to be down—and looking more closely at some of the blog photos, at least Haruna's head is definitely plugged into the cabinet, which is mic'd. (Haven't seen an angle of the back of Mami's heads to see if anything is coming out of them, but her cabs are mic'd too.) You don't bother to set all that up if you're not using them at all.
So I expect they are indeed using the Marshalls as power amps, plugging into the loop returns, with their pedal boards and/or Axe FX operating as the preamps. That would also explain why they (probably) went to the extra effort of getting JCM900s, since those are all-round a cleaner, more neutral power amp for pedals/modeling than other Marshalls. If they weren't using the amps at all they could have gotten some 'prop' DSLs cheaper and easier to just sit there turned off. So the 900s are factoring in to the sound.

Metal Mickey wrote:Nowadays more and more bands don't bother to have amps or cabs or even floor monitors on stage.
Mostly Mami only have the tuner and WahWah pedal on stage. In 2015 I witnessed that even the Whammy fiddling was handled by her tech Motchy Sambora.

Yeah, I switched to an 'ampless' rig myself a few years ago after venues here banned on-stage cabinets, and I've been surprised that Scandal bother to have amps on stage at all given the kinds of tones they use and how a single floor unit running direct could cover everything they need. I suppose Mami just likes to 'feel' the air on stage, which makes sense given she doesn't appear to ever use monitors. 
(BTW, "Motchy Sambora"? Guessing he's a Bon Jovi fan.)

Mami got a new Gretsch, which debuted live today at BEST★Xmas 2022

It's a Gretsch G6134T-58 VSE '58 Penguin Bigsby Vintage White

I've noticed in live video clips and photos since the start of the year (possibly earlier; I haven't been keeping a close eye on the dates), Mami consistently has an MXR Dyna Comp on her board now. It must be fairly important to her current sound, as it's one of the few pedals she actually has on stage. For example, you can see it in the first gallery posted here, in photo #28. She is using it with the rubber knob caps on. (Which are designed to make the controls easier to change with your feet, which is a possible explanation for why it's on her stage board and not in the back with most of her other stompbox effects.)

Mami's signature red Strat is now heavily modified. Watching the broadcast of the Zepp Haneda show (final of the domestic Luminous tour), I noticed several changes to its control scheme, which are most clearly visible during Sisters:
- The volume control has been moved to the lowest control position, commonly called 'tone 2'. The standard volume position is an empty hole.
- The standard pickup selector has been removed entirely.
- A short-style toggle switch has been placed in the middle control ('tone 1') position. It seems to be a 2-way pickup selector switch, only utilising the neck and bridge pickups.
- The middle pickup is set noticeably lower than the other two, further suggesting it isn't being used and has just been screwed down out of the way.
- There are now no tone controls at all.

She rarely touches volume controls and never touches tone controls, and didn't seem to use the middle pickup other than on the MTV Storytellers broadcast, so these changes all makes sense.