Yeah, standard blade switches are just too tall. But offset and box style toggles work, which they've done before.
Ibanez 2024 NAMM
- Thread starter Yul Brynner
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Yeah, standard blade switches are just too tall. But offset and box style toggles work, which they've done before.
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I was told at the time that sales of the S were low in comparison to the RG (for Europe anyway) making costs per unit disproportionately high on a guitar that involved more machine time to make than an RG anyway. The idea was to both rejuvenate the line with the much asked for 24 fret neck whilst saving costs by from the 22 neck production.
They can do it for the AZ series because the sales warrant it. The S series, not so much.
Neon_Knight_
Well-Known Member
Surely they could make it out of metal and match it to the other hardware finishes (cosmo / chrome / gold). At least neither of my Sabers have the plastic insert for the jack.
Neon_Knight_
Well-Known Member
Yes, even the early Saber and Radius models were marketed as body shapes within a "Roadstar Pro" line. My point was that the first models called "RG" (plus the first RG with what we think of as 'the RG shape' - i.e. the RG550) were part of the "Roadstar II" series specifically.I don't think there's a single series of Ibanez Strat/Super-Strat from the late 70's till the early 90's that wasn't designated as a "Roadstar" at some point. Whether it's a Standard, Deluxe, Pro, II, Blazer, etc. They really liked that name.
Ibanez did mix it up a bit by calling one series Roadster instead of Roadstar. I think they were trying to differentiate them because thet far more more vintage strat than super strat...or perhaps it was a typo.
Personally I think that would be just as bad, only in a different way. Especially with as much forethought as Ibz seems to give to hardware colors (gold when it's hideous to do so, chrome when they don't care, black chrome for when they still don't care).
Neon_Knight_
Well-Known Member
It doesn't help that the Prestige S models have high-gloss figured tops, rather than the cheaper finishes that the large majority of Prestige RGs have. That can only further add to the price difference.
I own 6x RG, 2x S, 1x RGA, 1x RGD & 1x Xiphos. I wanted each of those shapes in my collection, for the variety, but I'd almost certainly own slightly more Sabers in place of some of my RGs if they cost the same. One of my two 7-strings (RG & RGD) would be an S if those were more readily available / more reasonably priced.
Neon_Knight_
Well-Known Member
Most of my guitars have the cosmo finish and in every case it quits the overall aesthetic (matte black, gloss black, chrome, gold, stainless steel, plastic etc. would all look worse imo). Although a lot of people have issues with the cosmo wearing / tarnishing, my skin chemistry doesn't seem to create this issue. Any wear to any of my cosmo hardware was inflicted by a previous owner and there has been no further deterioration since I've owned them...despite over a decade of regular playing in some cases.
I'm generally not a fan of gold hardware, but on the right guitar it can look really good. For example, the S6UC (the only gold hardware I own) and the 'Onyx' PIA.
Neon_Knight_
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure why people consider it an "afterthought", rather than an essential part of the design to facilitate the production of the thinnest guitar body on the market. It's no more of an afterthought than a pickup mounting ring imo. My only issue with it is that black plastic looks extremely cheap and poorly planned when paired with the fancy tops that most mid/high-end Sabers have.
This pickguard on the other hand really does look like an afterthought...yet it lives on one of the best selling / most desirable guitar designs on the market. I'm not sure the plastic ring around the three-way switch is any less of an afterthought than the plastic piece on the Saber either.
I'm the wrong guy to be having this discussion, I think anything that isn't wood looks not as good on a guitar. That said, yea cosmo black goes with pretty much everything and gold can look very fetching on the right guitar. However, there are also many cases such as these (I have more in me, the image hosting here doesn't):
gh0styboi
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It's all yours, man. I was just citing it because I don't like the hardware color they used. More power to folks who like it, not my flavor is all.
The Saber always sold less than the RG...but nothing really ever sold better.
But I mean, they don't even really do fret variations on the RG, save the Timmons models.
gh0styboi
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I'm normally not for gold hardware either, but it looks so odd on that one, I kinda like it. The only guitar I've got currently with gold hardware is my black on black Tele. Just looks classy there, but on others, it tends to look cheap to me usually.
I do agree that almost 100% of the time, seeing the actual wood looks better, though.
Neon_Knight_
Well-Known Member
On that RG, is it actually the cosmo hardware that looks wrong or the pickup covers? Not a good pairing either way.
How about this JS...classy or hideously overdone? (I think the latter, but it would be much better with black pickup bobbins + gold hex pieces / blades).
I personally love that they went overboard on the gold JS. It's kinda the whole theme of it. It is the tackiest thing ever, but that was the whole point, and it owns it unapologetically. Not my cup of tea aesthetically, but conceptually it tickles my brain the right way.
WITH THAT SAID... I don't really care, not a deal breaker for me. I love an S series with or without the weird plastic thing.
In the LP it all has become part of "the look". I guess some people would argue it's the same on the S series, but to me that plastic thingie looks like an aesthetic afterthought, or something that didn't age well. I'm cool with having a functional piece there to serve the purpose the current piece does, but it needs to be better integrated visually. The way it is now it just looks like the guitar got wounded and it scabbed over badly.
WITH THAT SAID... I don't really care, not a deal breaker for me. I love an S series with or without the weird plastic thing.
Yea, pretty much where I'm at as well. I think chrome hardware to match the covers and the brighter color tone of the maple board would have been better.
As far as the JS goldmember edition, completely not for me but I think black and gold work very well together when gold is just an accent. I also think gold looks good on cherry/honey sunbursts, or anything kind of yellowish really. The blue/green/purple and gold is too jarring for my tastes, and the slight mismatching irks me almost as much.
Neon_Knight_
Well-Known Member
Agreed - it needs all chrome hardware...or a rosewood fretboard and cosmo pickup covers. Considering how many of its own OEM parts Ibanez has sourced from DiMarzio and Gotoh over the years, I'm surprised they haven't asked Fishman for cosmo pickup covers.
In general, gold can look very good (and classy) as an accent for plenty of colours - particularly black and white, but also the right tone of pretty much any other colour really.
One frequent mistake with utilising gold hardware is that there's often some white metal somewhere too, which just looks wrong. You need all the metal to match - including the frets. So many guitars have gold hardware but nickel / stainless steel frets, when they really need Jescar Evo frets to complete the look. A mixture of gold (or white metal) and painted black hardware can certainly work, but gold + white metal or stainless steel + cosmo is just a mistake imo. None of the recent JBM / RGA models with gold hardware quite work for me for this reason, even though I otherwise really like the designs.
Neon_Knight_
Well-Known Member
I will never own an LP for other reasons anyway (comfort / playability), but that part of "the look" really bugs me. An LP without a pickguard looks classy, but the pickguards look less like an afterthought by Gibson and more like an afterthought by the customer (i.e. a dodgy DIY job)...although I can't say I've ever felt so worried about pick rash that I've decided to drill holes in my guitar and screw on a piece of opaque plastic that looks uglier than a slightly scuffed/worn gloss finish on a beautiful maple top. Perhaps I'm the weird one, but I don't see it...
I forgot about muh white and gold, that definitely pops the right way in my opinion. Too classy for my oblivious ass standing in front of the amp with my back to the crowd, but sweet. You're definitely right about going full gold or bust. I swapped one of my trans burst Sabers to gold hardware and often when I walk by it I think, "Nice silver saddle springs, dumbass." It's still better than the cosmo hardware that it had, which my other copy still has, but the gold HW subtracted a bit from my wallet in tradeoff obviously.
