sell2792
Well-Known Member
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.
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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).
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![]()
*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.
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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.
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.
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.".
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.
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.![]()
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.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.
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.