Ibanez LA custom shop - damn its tiny in there

[BeyondAntares]

Didn't know where to post this - but kinda a noobish question. The Ibanez LA custom shop has a lot of history behind it. However, I'm suprised to see how tiny the workshop is - compared to companies like musicman or PRS.

Here are pics by Tak Hosono of his LA Customshop [Originally posted on Jemsite thread:Custom models pics from the Custom Shop? ]

repair room

Tak's Office

Don't want to hijack the other thread posted by Tak Hosono himself - but I find it hard to beleive that a company as big as Ibanez has such a small workshop with such few people.

 

[djpharoah]

It's small because they don't cater to the public only certain artists.

 

[TRENCHLORD]

Looks nice and efficient though.

 

[SpaceDock]

I spy a Petrucci in there!

 

[HighPotency]

I spy a Petrucci in there!

I noticed that too... had me

 

[BeyondAntares]

It's small because they don't cater to the public only certain artists.

Yeah i know, though they still have a large number of signed artists. Still I was expecting something far bigger, given that the custom shop was open to the public during ibz heyday in the late 80's early 90's.

 

[djpharoah]

Yeah i know, though they still have a large number of signed artists. Still I was expecting something far bigger, given that the custom shop was open to the public during ibz heyday in the late 80's early 90's.

Pretty sure it never was open to the public. There were USA Customs that were built by a company in PA where they made them but those weren't LACS - rather Ibanez built by a third party...

Max (one of the other mods) is the Ibanez guy he'll know.

 

[TJV]

Nice to see how that shop looks like. Would be nice to go there some day.

 

[kostein]

So many bodies...

 

[Neil]

When you consider how well the employees will be trained, how many machines they have, the fact they won’t ever be waiting for hardware, sandpaper etc and the wood room isn’t shown and is probably very extensive, all these things add up to make a very quick shop.

For example the big green machine in the corner that looks like a drill is a pin router, all the shapes hanging on the wall are router templates, with such an extensive catalogue one guy could kick out many bodies and necks per day with all the routing and basic shaping done, just neck carves, forearm contours and AANJs to be done after.

One thing that isn’t shown is a cnc or a manual copy carver, I would be very surprised if they are doing standard neck carves and arch tops by hand.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Pretty sure it never was open to the public. There were USA Customs that were built by a company in PA where they made them but those weren't LACS - rather Ibanez built by a third party...

Max (one of the other mods) is the Ibanez guy he'll know.

Also keep in mind that a lot of the artists use production models that are LACS modded, which are different to the custom instruments built by LACS.

 

[mr_rainmaker]

great thread.

 

[Speculum Speculorum]

Bigger does not necessarily mean better. They've got a system that works, and they make damn fine instruments. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

[djohns74]

Looks completely amazing to my basement-builder eyes. Pretty sure if I got into that room, I'd never want to leave!

 

[ticklemeasian]

less workers, less screw ups. you want a quality instrument that's a ideal place to get it built.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Yeah i know, though they still have a large number of signed artists. Still I was expecting something far bigger, given that the custom shop was open to the public during ibz heyday in the late 80's early 90's.

The LACS was never open to the public. As djpharoah said, there were USA Custom, American Masters, and even some regular production models advertised as "Cusrtom Made", but none of those were made by the LACS facility.

One thing though, in the 90's when the LACS was established Ibanez, while a booming company, was still significantly smaller than it is today, and as such they catered to a lot of small artists, opposed to just a few bigger names. Hence why you see more interesting, older Customs.

The only "Custom" stuff offered to the general public was the ability to mix and match certain specs, more Carvin style, with the guitars coming out of Bensalem, PA. There was a time when the guitars with the "Custom Made" logos were assembled per dealer requests, hence why you find S540s with such mixed specs, stuff like hardware color, inlay design, pickup configuration, color, etc. were options that could be changed slightly.

Also, that's far from a small shop. Thanks to modern tooling you don't need room after room of work benches and huge machinery. Ibanez only has a few dozen artists who regularly get full LACS models.

 

[Just A Box]

One thing that isn’t shown is a cnc or a manual copy carver, I would be very surprised if they are doing standard neck carves and arch tops by hand.

Not sure if there's a connection, but does the CadCam book on the shelf (I know it's software) mean there's a CNC hiding out somewhere?

 

[BeyondAntares]

The LACS was never open to the public. As djpharoah said, there were USA Custom, American Masters, and even some regular production models advertised as "Cusrtom Made", but none of those were made by the LACS facility.

One thing though, in the 90's when the LACS was established Ibanez, while a booming company, was still significantly smaller than it is today, and as such they catered to a lot of small artists, opposed to just a few bigger names. Hence why you see more interesting, older Customs.

The only "Custom" stuff offered to the general public was the ability to mix and match certain specs, more Carvin style, with the guitars coming out of Bensalem, PA. There was a time when the guitars with the "Custom Made" logos were assembled per dealer requests, hence why you find S540s with such mixed specs, stuff like hardware color, inlay design, pickup configuration, color, etc. were options that could be changed slightly.

Also, that's far from a small shop. Thanks to modern tooling you don't need room after room of work benches and huge machinery. Ibanez only has a few dozen artists who regularly get full LACS models.

Thanks for that Max - I was unaware of the many other custom shops available in the US. I thought it was just the one shop that made all MIUSA Iby's.

Good thing is Tak Hosono still posts regularly at Jemsite and comments on a number of rare guitars that were built during his time. Still it looks pretty cool.

 

[DoomJazz]

smells like basswood

 

[Viginez]

tak+muhammed