Ibanez Prestige fretwork issues?

[Konstantine]

I had a bad experience with the prestige line, the 2127fx model specifically.

The neck was warped on the first one, the truss rod would adjust the relief and bow of the neck only from the 1st to 10th fret. Could not get the action reasonably low without massive fret buzz issues above the 12th fret that not even a fret leveling could resolve it. It was so bad that multiple luthiers were saying a shim in the neck was the solution. After I heard that, I sent it back. I don't mind shimming some made in china craigslist special but shimming and leveling a ibanez prestige? that's a joke. The second one I got was a tad bit better but still was not impressed at all, my korean made LTD deluxe played way nicer and felt nicer in my hands for less money.

 

[Viginez]

my korean made LTD deluxe played way nicer and felt nicer in my hands for less money.

well thats maybe just preference. they are completely different neck profiles.
esp's are alot narrower necks and rounder.

 

[kevdes93]

My quilt blue rg752 had razor sharp unfinished frets, that was honestly one of my main reasons for selling it. Shame as it was absolutely gorgeous but finishing work like that shouldn't need to be done on a 1700$ guitar

 

[m107a1]

They've always had issues. Going back to Y2K, both of my UV777BKs from then had horrible fretwork, but once a level, crown/filing & polishing were done they were good to go. Fujigen is supposed to be the "prestige" factory lol.

 

[Jeffbro]

Never experienced it myself but regardless of how good a brand is there will always be lemons, especially given how much volume the prestige line sells.

At least its fixable unlike short frets with E string falling off on JPs

 

[takotakumi]

Ok so for some reason fuken photobucket doesnt let me log in STILL

so here are pictures comparing my fret ends on flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/153742284@N04/33806763461/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/153742284@N04/33806765731/in/dateposted-public/

This is her in sunlight radiance :v

https://www.flickr.com/photos/153742284@N04/33112920043/in/dateposted/

 

[Grindspine]

I had a bad experience with the prestige line, the 2127fx model specifically.

The neck was warped on the first one, the truss rod would adjust the relief and bow of the neck only from the 1st to 10th fret. Could not get the action reasonably low without massive fret buzz issues above the 12th fret that not even a fret leveling could resolve it. It was so bad that multiple luthiers were saying a shim in the neck was the solution. After I heard that, I sent it back. I don't mind shimming some made in china craigslist special but shimming and leveling a ibanez prestige? that's a joke. The second one I got was a tad bit better but still was not impressed at all, my korean made LTD deluxe played way nicer and felt nicer in my hands for less money.

Truss rods usually do not affect the upper frets. The bow will be apparent in the middle of the neck (not counting the portion of the neck affixed to the body).

If you had fret buzz issues in the upper frets, depending on the bridge saddles, it could have been a neck angle issue; however, it could have just been that these so-called luthiers did not know how to balance bow vs. saddle height. If they were the ones that told you that the truss rod was defective, they were misinforming you.

What you describe really sounds like someone tried to overbow the neck, then adjust the saddles too low to compensate, causing high action mid-neck with fret buzz on higher frets. I have seen novice guitar techs make that mistake before.

 

[eightsixboy]

Ok so for some reason fuken photobucket doesnt let me log in STILL

so here are pictures comparing my fret ends on flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/153742284@N04/33806763461/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/153742284@N04/33806765731/in/dateposted-public/

This is her in sunlight radiance :v

https://www.flickr.com/photos/153742284@N04/33112920043/in/dateposted/

They won't pay as much attention to the strings on the bass sides at its not in contact with you hands like the treble side. They should round both sides but I'm not surprised they didn't do the bass side.


The fret ends on my 752 limited run had no fret end treatment at all, and that was not a cheap guitar, at least they did the treble side on yours.


I just got the 2017 752 about a month ago and the fretwork is very good in comparison to the limited run, which is an early 2016 build, I can get very low on stock levelling.


In all honesty I've seen worse fret ends on more expensive guitars, like high end Schechter's and the like, by worse I mean very average fret end treatment. A few US models just looked like prestige fret work and they were much more expensive.


Its still no excuse for the prestige stuff but IMO generally the fretwork is pretty good, you really only see the occasional guitar here or there with sub standard fret work. If the OP had issues generally a light fret level would fix it anyway. If the frets weren't actually in deep enough you would be able to tell from the gap to the fret board. To me without seeing it, it sounds like they were just a little high in a few spots.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Its ridiculous that Ibanez is still letting prestige guitars with rubbish fret ends through QC. My tech did an awesome job on my 752 since there was so much fret end left.

 

[cardinal]

I don't think I've ever been bothered by fret ends unless they're actually rounded off too far, which causes me to sometimes pull them off the side of the neck. I just want the tops level.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I doubt it's the frets, more than likely it's the maple shrinking. The bevel/slope would look a bit different if they just didn't bother running the edges with a file.

 

[cardinal]

Just throwing this out there: I recently picked up a 2013 Jem7v7 and a new Apex200. Both have flawless fretwork. I can easily drop the action to 1 mm off the 12th fret with a nearly straight neck. The fret ends don't look like what Lorcan Ward posted, but they certainly feel fine to me.

So, if you're thinking of buying a Prestige Ibanez, I'd have pretty good confidence in the fretwork.

 

[Matt08642]

Just throwing this out there: I recently picked up a 2013 Jem7v7 and a new Apex200. Both have flawless fretwork. I can easily drop the action to 1 mm off the 12th fret with a nearly straight neck. The fret ends don't look like what Lorcan Ward posted, but they certainly feel fine to me.

So, if you're thinking of buying a Prestige Ibanez, I'd have pretty good confidence in the fretwork.

For sure, I wouldn't let my issue dissuade me from getting another prestige, it just seemed so odd to me that it had any issues affecting playability.

 

[will_shred]

Damn, I've never heard of or ever really experienced the issues ya'll are talking about. I love my Ibanez guitars. But it sure sounds like someone is dropping the ball in QC. I feel like any $1000+ guitar should have perfect fretwork, or at least in the ballpark of perfect.