Brand New Ibanez Prestige Neck Problem

[tian]

This thread is old as hell but interesting to see a real world example of what Rich mentioned in the 2024 Ibanez thread. Not sure if the timing window fit but yikes.

Always have been.
For 2 years almost every RG652AHMNGB was firewood, hump necks is their term. I'd have to go over and pick 2 out of 20 that were good enough to fret level and be safe. They kept telling me I was the only one complaining, nothing was going to happen. I'd get calls from players all the time that bought elsewhere trying to figure out why their guitars weren't playable, but no other dealers were complaining. I guess enough buyers actually called in to complain, the first container of AWD's that came in, they rejected every single one. Next batch they fixed the problem, but they made firewood for 2 years because no other dealers were complaining. You have to ask yourself, who was qualified at these dealers to even tell they were selling firewood, or care they were if they could.

I'm sure there's good ones out there, but I'd never want to roll the dice... unless you ordered from Rich

 

[jonsick]

Hey guys, quick update, I contacted sweetwater and they have such amazing service (highly recommend), they offered me 3 options:

• Exchange for a new guitar once it arrives. I would put you in line for a replacement and you would be welcome to play the guitar you have until the replacement arrives.
• Exchange for a different color or model of guitar. This would actually be a return/sale of a different guitar. I will be glad to help with this.
• Take the guitar to a local repair tech for a second opinion. We would be glad to reimburse you for the repair cost, up to $80

So it seems like Im taken care of! Just out of curiosity, what other guitars would you guys consider in that price range $1600USD or more, I might as well look at some other options in case I decide to get a different guitar instead of replacing this current one. I was going to go for a EBMM JP6 originally but Im not a big fan of owning a signature guitar with someone elses name on it, and I wasnt big on any of the colors/finishes they had in stock. I mainly only play lead and solo stuff over backing tracks. Thanks!

Well, I have been bleating on about poor quality guitars for an age now and been told I'm wrong and it's just me and yada yada. I did read the response someone posted from Rich and I totally get what he's feeling.

All that aside, I have found way more consistency in the Ibanez brand these days than any other. Jackson went off my radar about 2-3 years ago and have stayed off. What they are putting out is poor as all hell. The E-II brand guitars were my next source of disappointment. I had bought a few E-II guitars sight unseen and they were great. However I saw on here of all places that some people were complaining about E-II quality. It didn't jive with what I was seeing so I probably disagreed. That was until someone handed me a pair of E-II Eclipse's that he had obviously spent a significant amount on. The first one had not only some really nasty finish marks on it which I didn't get into, but the primary issue was that no matter what I did, I couldn't stop the neck from waving around like a straw. The slightest pressure, e.g. fretting a note, the neck wood actually bent and flexed. I recommended that he return this one. The next was better, a good deal more stable. The fret levelling job, well I don't think it had one. At all. I recut the nut and did a level for him. Although it played and sounded OK, to me it didn't feel like £2000 worth of guitar to me. In a nutshell, I have started seeing some bullshit quality come through from ESP.

Onto Ibanez. I had given up around that time waiting for E-II to deliver an M-II STB, so went in to look around. I have never been an Ibanez fan, but the 5120B I picked up sounded and felt magic straight out of the gate. I have somehow ended up with two of them, long story, but I'm not sorry. But in fairness, throughout that ordeal I have had five 5120B guitars delivered and own two of them, one of which I told Ibanez I wanted to accept faulty for a discount (as an aside, Fishman pickups are bullshit too!).

So for a good while, I've been walking around in the belief that Ibanez are probably the most consistent right now if you were buying today. So far, I don't think I am wrong. But this one and only thought prevails.

If you are spending money on a guitar - especially if it is big money depending on what constitutes big money to you - you have to play it first. And don't be afraid to put it back on the shelf and move on. There isn't a chance in freezing icy hell that I would order a guitar online today at any price. At least not without a great returns policy and thankfully in the UK/EU we do have distance selling rules that apply. That said, I would sooner get in my car and road trip to Andertons, PMT, Guitarguitar, wherever and try things out in person.

About six months ago, I picked up an Ibanez RGA622XH, the 27 fret jobby. I loved it. Felt great, sounded great. I didn't buy it, was in a mind that I should conserve cash. I picked up another in a different store not too long ago after not being able to get that 27 fret wonder out of my head. Totally different story. It just was not as nice no matter what. You know within the first few minutes if a guitar is going to work for you. And you should absolutely be as brutal as you should be when spending cash.

Try before you buy. It is vitally important in an age where the price of timber is astronomical, QA is well down, idiots like that guy on youtube are trying to tell the world that wood makes no difference and sell you on plugins and speakers, knowledgeable repair persons are hard to come by and frankly, you are going to pay today a lot more for a lot less in almost everything.

 

[will_shred]

Take the guitar to a local repair tech for a second opinion. We would be glad to reimburse you for the repair cost, up to $80

As a full time tech I just want to chime in and say that in no way is $80 enough money for that kind of repair. With a badly warped/twisted neck, the only thing that can be done is really to remove the frets, re-radius the fingerboard in hopes that will remove the hump, and refret it. I'd only want to do that if there were absolutely no other options of returning it, replacing the neck, ect. I recently had a customer bring me an RG60 with the 5 piece bubinga neck that was BADLY twisted, I advised him to contact ibanez about it.

 

[nightsprinter]

Yeah.... I'm waiting on an RMA at the moment. 3rd Ibanez I've sent back in 6 months. Bought a guitar from Rich instead w/ service package that I know I'll be able to count on not arriving with the need for serious remediation.

Two $1700 BTB basses had the worst fretwork I've ever seen outside of a $350 Jackson. Had an Iron Label ordered and plekked and the set neck angle was wrong so the action couldn't be set much lower than 7/32" bass side without nasty buzz and now the prestige with the heel rise twist on bass side and high frets. Volume retailers don't seem to be inspecting their stuff at all for rejection.

 

[nightsprinter]

The btb's were closer to $1500 it turns out but nonetheless. Woof.

 

[jonsick]

As a full time tech I just want to chime in and say that in no way is $80 enough money for that kind of repair. With a badly warped/twisted neck, the only thing that can be done is really to remove the frets, re-radius the fingerboard in hopes that will remove the hump, and refret it. I'd only want to do that if there were absolutely no other options of returning it, replacing the neck, ect. I recently had a customer bring me an RG60 with the 5 piece bubinga neck that was BADLY twisted, I advised him to contact ibanez about it.

In fairness, I got the impression that that was more an offer to have it assessed rather than repaired.

I don't tech full time anymore, but I have had incidents where a shop has asked me to give an opinion on an instrument before. I usually charge an hour or so to diagnose it.

In the 40 or so times I've done so over the years, none have actually led to repair work. It's an easy hour's labour to just go, "Yep, that's buggered!" and that's it.