Ibanez 2012: The Thread

[sell2792]

The new X series guitars look like shit. It'd be nice to see Ibanez at some point make more Destroyers, Icemen, and Xiphos instead of those other abominations.

 

[snowblind56]

Ibanez knows that the sweet spot for RG's is right around $1k. They have sold guitars for years, they know what market they can successfully compete in. There are a lot of guys that buy the more expensive Ibanez models I know, but 1K is the sweet spot.

Ibanez has tried their hardest to keep the low end MIJ prestige at $1k, they are loosing that battle with the cost of making guitars at fuji-gen.

Look at the features on the top Premium models, they blow away a plain RG1570, and depending on who you talk to, the Premium competes very nicely in terms of play-ability as well.

So, Ibanez was allowed to go CRAZY with the premiums and still keep the price under $1k (the sweet spot for Ibanez).

To me, the Premiums are basically an Indo version of the 1570 with figured maple tops and a different neck. I have two RG2550's. A 2004 and 2005, the ones before they switched to the Edge Zero and ghost sharktooth inlays. I also have a 2007 RGR1570. They all feel much better to me than the Premiums, then again I think the neck profile is different. I also prefer painted guitars over veneer tops. I really wasn't impressed with the premiums. They aren't bad guitars by any means, but they just didn't feel as good as the prestige's (that I have).

Then again, the price raises have flawed my logic slightly. The RG1570's were awesome when they were $699.

 

[Dooky]

No thanks. I'm too spoiled with Carvin making guitars exactly as I want them to be for a reasonable price and made in the USA. You can buy Ibanez if you want. Have the prices gone up for dwindling quality again for the fifth year running?

Dunno, I'm more of a Jackson man. I only own one Ibanez.
But it's still such a shame you 'left Ibanez'. Poor Ibanez

 

[-42-]

If they ever release those as hardtails, I'll bite.

 

[Jack Secret]

Dunno, I'm more of a Jackson man. I only own one Ibanez.
But it's still such a shame you 'left Ibanez'. Poor Ibanez

Pretty sure they don't miss me. Feeling is reciprocal. I'll bide my time with Carvin and Caparison (tho I will wait to see what direction the new owners take that company) and old Hamer Californian Elites along with the Ibby's I have left in my collection.

Just waiting on the Carvin winter now. 5 weeks to go! 3 new Carvin customs. 1 happy guitar playing fool.

You also seemed perturbed at my "I left Ibanez" comment. I chuckled at that.

 

[Bones43x]

*flame shield up* to be quite honest i agree with you i feel that the only thing premium about the premiums are the price tags, i mean they go for 899 but you can get a MIJ 3250m for only 1399 i mean sure its a 500 dollar difference but with that you get dimarzio's the original edge zero, MIJ quality, super wizard prestige neck profile, and a maple board... so i don't think that the features on them warrant picking one up instead of spending the 500 extra for the top end prestiges.

--------------------

or you could go with a 1550m for less than $100 more and still upgrade from the zero 2 to a edge zero and get a mij guitar. my point is that these models are placed at a precarious price range where many people, including myself would be apt to look at the price and feature differences between the prestige models and the premiums and find that they can get a better deal for what they are getting from a prestige guitar.
Edit: oh yeah the prestige's come with a hard case while the premiums come with a gig bag, there's that too.

I'm right there with you. IMO, they're not the value they're cracked up to be. No case, lower quality hardware, and pickups that you'll probably STILL change even if they're better than the V-series pups in the lower end Prestige models.

You can't think for a minute that a transition to Indo-made "Premiums" is about making "premium" quality guitars. It's about the almighty $$$$. That's it. They hype them up by telling you a story about how they got the best luthiers in the Indo plant, and trained them to make J-Craft-quality guitars is just marketing. They want you to buy the Premium so they can make a premium.

I'm not saying they're bad guitars, but for $1000, I'll take a plain-looking MIJ RG over a pretty Indo guitar. Quality/playability > aesthetics.

 

[Dooky]

Pretty sure they don't miss me. Feeling is reciprocal. I'll bide my time with Carvin and Caparison (tho I will wait to see what direction the new owners take that company) and old Hamer Californian Elites along with the Ibby's I have left in my collection.

Just waiting on the Carvin winter now. 5 weeks to go! 3 new Carvin customs. 1 happy guitar playing fool.

You also seemed perturbed at my "I left Ibanez" comment. I chuckled at that.

Yeah, I was chumming the waters and fishing for an arguement with the: "I left Ibanez comment". But it's cool, you seem like a good guy so I apologise (not that I feel I upset you in any way, shape or form, hehe). I look forward to seeing your new Carvins. I've thought about getting a custom Carvin myself. Peace dude

 

[RevDrucifer]

You also seemed perturbed at my "I left Ibanez" comment. I chuckled at that.

Look at any interview where an artist was asked about no longer endorsing a product from a certain company....they all start with "I left.../I went to...".

While you're not "wrong" for saying it, within the context most of us are used to hearing/seeing it in, it does provide the allusion that you had a relationship with them that you left for another company.

I chuckled at you saying "I left Ibanez.".

 

[Jack Secret]

Look at any interview where an artist was asked about no longer endorsing a product from a certain company....they all start with "I left.../I went to...".

While you're not "wrong" for saying it, within the context most of us are used to hearing/seeing it in, it does provide the allusion that you had a relationship with them that you left for another company.

I chuckled at you saying "I left Ibanez.".

Well, when one is a Ibby fanboy for 20+ years and even stayed brand loyal for a good chunk of that, one may feel he can say he "left". Turns out they are indeed raising the prices again in 2012. It's just not worth dealing with the poor quality they churn out now.

Someone said they were the Gibson of Japan. I wholeheartedly agree.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Jeez guys, it's just a guitar company.

 

[orakle]

Any more leaks ????

 

[Church2224]

Well, when one is a Ibby fanboy for 20+ years and even stayed brand loyal for a good chunk of that, one may feel he can say he "left". Turns out they are indeed raising the prices again in 2012. It's just not worth dealing with the poor quality they churn out now.

Someone said they were the Gibson of Japan. I wholeheartedly agree.

I do not know the basis you are going on with them being of "low quality"

I have a 2007 RG550 reissue that I absolutely love and I had a 2008 RG1527 that I only got rid of for a Carvin, which I totally regret because the Carvin I got had finish flaws, incorrect specs, and no Floyd Rose bar or Allen wrenches.

I also compared them side by side to their predecessors, an RG550 from 1993 and a late 90s RG7620, found nothing special about them to be quite honest, in fact I thought my RG1527 was better suited for me...\

I would also check this thread I started, seems like a lot of people agree with me there...

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/166630-ibanez-prestige-quality-hit-miss.html

Also having picked up some recent S/SV5470s those were great guitars as well, stayed in tune well, sounded great, and even had excellent fretwork and playability. I would love to hear some basis as to why you think they are of lower quality. People said the same thing about Jackson USA and they are still proven wrong to this day...

 

[DevinShidaker]

For what it's worth, the premium I played was miles ahead of my old 1570. "Made in Indonesia" means nothing to me. If a guitar plays good, it plays good. With the proper training (like the premium team in Indonesia has had), anyone is capable of making a quality instrument. People act like all the guitars made at the Fujigen plant are handcrafted by Jesus Christ himself. They are made by people in a factory who were trained to build guitars, just like any other factory, albeit with higher quality control standards. They have trained the Indonesian guys in the same manner, and it shows in the Premiums. Don't knock them until you've tried them. I'm not leaking any info, but for this anniversary, these won't even come close to being the coolest stuff you see from Ibanez this year.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

The funny thing is, back in the day (when Ibanez was making their name in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's) Japan was considered the "Indonesia of it's day". I guess in another 40 years when the new Ibanez SuperMegaDuper series and ESP/LTD UltraAwesomePlus series guitars are made in Somalia they'll be guys who refuse to buy anything but the "old" Iraqi made models.

 

[Church2224]

The funny thing is, back in the day (when Ibanez was making their name in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's) Japan was considered the "Indonesia of it's day". I guess in another 40 years when the new Ibanez SuperMegaDuper series and ESP/LTD UltraAwesomePlus series guitars are made in Somalia they'll be guys who refuse to buy anything but the "old" Iraqi made models.

Thing is he is right. Back then people thought Japanese guitars were cheap knock offs or "inferior" and today we worship them as some of the best.

I will always prefer my guitars made in Japan, USA, Canada and Europe, but that is just me. As long as it is quality though, i might need to look into these Premiums more and more. Most people I know who have played them love them.

I mean look at the Rasmus line by Suhr. They are Chinese made guitars, but damn good guitars nonetheless. Is it a real Suhr? No. A good guitar? Hell yeah.

A good guitar is a good guitar no matter how you word it.

But Max, what is your take on current production Ibanez guitars? You have played pretty much everything, what is you opinion on them right now?

 

[Grand Moff Tim]

The funny thing is, back in the day (when Ibanez was making their name in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's) Japan was considered the "Indonesia of it's day". I guess in another 40 years when the new Ibanez SuperMegaDuper series and ESP/LTD UltraAwesomePlus series guitars are made in Somalia they'll be guys who refuse to buy anything but the "old" Iraqi made models.

Hahaha, yeah. Japan used to be the cheapo option, but then they started getting better, so the budget stuff moved to factories in Korea. Now, the Korean craftsmen have been getting better and their economy has grown, so the budget stuff has moved on to China, Indonesia, and India (I've even seen some Vietnamese stuff, made for the Korean company Spear, no less ). My guess for future sites are other countries in Southeast Asia that have large labor forces that will work for less, like Laos or Cambodia. Those Iraqi models must be somewhere down the road, though .

I can't wait to get to South Korea early next year, so I can try some of the "high end" home-grown stuff over there that doesn't really see much press over here, like Moollon and Paran.

 

[Jack Secret]

The funny thing is, back in the day (when Ibanez was making their name in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's) Japan was considered the "Indonesia of it's day". I guess in another 40 years when the new Ibanez SuperMegaDuper series and ESP/LTD UltraAwesomePlus series guitars are made in Somalia they'll be guys who refuse to buy anything but the "old" Iraqi made models.

I can't agree with this. Notwithstanding bad feelings left over from WWII (which I feel in most cases was the reason people thought Japanese stuff was shoddy), it was generally considered that Ibanez copies of Gibsons and Fenders were superior to the actual companies in the 70's. Hell, I have Japan made electronics that still live to this day. In the late 80's when I started playing, no one considered Ibanez to be a low quality cheap ass guitar. Late 80's RG's were and still are amazing. I still love my orange '87 RG560 to death.

Look, if you're happy with new Ibanez guitars, whatever. I've said this before. Play what you like. I don't like new Ibanez. I feel they're made poorly from China and Indonesia to hit and miss for Japan. I tried a bunch of Ibby Korean made and thought they were, for the most part, decent but a bunch of upgrades were necessary. I had a SZ520 where I had to replace all the hardware from tuners to bridge. THEN it became a great guitar. Of course, once the Cort factory was getting decent, Ibanez stops working with them.

I've tried a bunch of Ibanez Indonesian guitars (albeit not the Premium as of yet) and they were all crap. I tried one a recently as a week ago at the local GC and just horrible. No, I really like shredding....my fingers on sharp fret ends. As stated, in my case, I'd switch out everything on an Indo Ibby but really, if y'all gonna buy one and switch out everything, why not just get a custom neck and body and build from scratch?

Church2224, I've never heard anyone that had a Carvin come to them with wrong specs that messed up. Good thing they have a 10 day return policy where you can either get your money back or they'll do a whole brand new build. Seems most of the time when they do get returned, it because the finish didn't come out to the buyer's liking. Then they throw it up on their guitars in stock page and sell it at a discount.

Again, if you like playing a $10k new Les Paul signature or a $300 Chinese Washburn Dime, knock yourself out and enjoy.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I can't agree with this. Notwithstanding bad feelings left over from WWII (which I feel in most cases was the reason people thought Japanese stuff was shoddy), it was generally considered that Ibanez copies of Gibsons and Fenders were superior to the actual companies in the 70's. Hell, I have Japan made electronics that still live to this day. In the late 80's when I started playing, no one considered Ibanez to be a low quality cheap ass guitar. Late 80's RG's were and still are amazing. I still love my orange '87 RG560 to death.

Look, if you're happy with new Ibanez guitars, whatever. I've said this before. Play what you like. I don't like new Ibanez. I feel they're made poorly from China and Indonesia to hit and miss for Japan. I tried a bunch of Ibby Korean made and thought they were, for the most part, decent but a bunch of upgrades were necessary. I had a SZ520 where I had to replace all the hardware from tuners to bridge. THEN it became a great guitar. Of course, once the Cort factory was getting decent, Ibanez stops working with them.

I've tried a bunch of Ibanez Indonesian guitars (albeit not the Premium as of yet) and they were all crap. I tried one a recently as a week ago at the local GC and just horrible. No, I really like shredding....my fingers on sharp fret ends. As stated, in my case, I'd switch out everything on an Indo Ibby but really, if y'all gonna buy one and switch out everything, why not just get a custom neck and body and build from scratch?

Church2224, I've never heard anyone that had a Carvin come to them with wrong specs that messed up. Good thing they have a 10 day return policy where you can either get your money back or they'll do a whole brand new build. Seems most of the time when they do get returned, it because the finish didn't come out to the buyer's liking. Then they throw it up on their guitars in stock page and sell it at a discount.

Again, if you like playing a $10k new Les Paul signature or a $300 Chinese Washburn Dime, knock yourself out and enjoy.

No where did I say that people thought they were overall inferior. What I was getting at was that people weren't willing to pay a premium for Japanese made guitars. Just like people today who scoff at Indonesian and Chinese made instruments as soon as the price hits over $800.

As for Carvin, of the four I ordered new, three of them arrived with incorrect specs, and one of them with overspray in the finish around the finish seems. Could I have returned them and gotten new builds? Sure, but I didn't want to wait another four months, and I sure as hell didn't want to risk having to get yet another rebuild. If you get some time, look at elq, ShadyDave, and AfroSamurai's Carvin builds. That's just three guys on a forum of only a few thousand who have had issues with Carvin builds, only they didn't have the luxury of a return policy. Carvin makes some great guitars, they just tend to mess up every now and then, just like most other brands. It happens.

You're right though, play what makes you happy. I know I do.

Listen, I'm not saying Ibanez is perfect, or at all better than Carvin. In fact, I don't really see myself ever buying a new Ibanez again. The only Ibanez guitars I see myself buying are a few of the older 90's UVs just to complete my collection (and dream of recreating the 91' UV catalog page ).I've simply outgrown them in a way. The guitars I want to play now have crazy and silly things like no headstocks, fanned frets, and way too many strings. Though, I still believe they make some of the most unique, comfortable "shred" guitars out there. Do they make the best guitars, or almost just important, the most value oriented? Not at all, and I'll never say they do. I'll even go one step further and say they never did make the best guitars around. They always had a unique feel to them though, something you couldn't get from an ESP, Carvin, Gibson, Fender, or Jackson.

 

[Jack Secret]

No where did I say that people thought they were overall inferior. What I was getting at was that people weren't willing to pay a premium for Japanese made guitars. Just like people today who scoff at Indonesian and Chinese made instruments as soon as the price hits over $800.

As for Carvin, of the four I ordered new, three of them arrived with incorrect specs, and one of them with overspray in the finish around the finish seems. Could I have returned them and gotten new builds? Sure, but I didn't want to wait another four months, and I sure as hell didn't want to risk having to get yet another rebuild. If you get some time, look at elq, ShadyDave, and AfroSamurai's Carvin builds. That's just three guys on a forum of only a few thousand who have had issues with Carvin builds, only they didn't have the luxury of a return policy. Carvin makes some great guitars, they just tend to mess up every now and then, just like most other brands. It happens.

You're right though, play what makes you happy. I know I do.

Listen, I'm not saying Ibanez is perfect, or at all better than Carvin. In fact, I don't really see myself ever buying a new Ibanez again. The only Ibanez guitars I see myself buying are a few of the older 90's UVs just to complete my collection (and dream of recreating the 91' UV catalog page ).I've simply outgrown them in a way. The guitars I want to play now have crazy and silly things like no headstocks, fanned frets, and way too many strings. Though, I still believe they make some of the most unique, comfortable "shred" guitars out there. Do they make the best guitars, or almost just important, the most value oriented? Not at all, and I'll never say they do. I'll even go one step further and say they never did make the best guitars around. They always had a unique feel to them though, something you couldn't get from an ESP, Carvin, Gibson, Fender, or Jackson.

It's my point that even though people weren't willing to pay a premium price for Japanese guitars in the 70's, they were still worth the price they were asking. Asking $800 for a Chinese guitar which then you have to rip out all the hardware just doesn't seem feasible. Of course, that's in MY case I'd rip out all the hardware. Some teen getting his first or third guitar isn't gonna know the bridge is crap or that the pickups are weak.

Kramer was never the best guitar either. I always thought Kramers were crap but they sold thousands based on EVH putting a Kramer sticker on his headstock (isn't it funny the extent of him playing a "Kramer" was the sticker). You have to wonder what today's guitar landscape would be if Vai signed with Kramer instead of Ibanez. It almost happened, after all.

I've been lucky with Carvin. 4 builds so far and 4 winners. Maybe one of the upcoming 3 builds may be a fail. Can't and won't know until they get here.

 

[Konfyouzd]

Sounds like someone cares way too much about something that's supposed to be fun...