At ~$1400 a piece when they hit stores here, I highly doubt they were losing money. They were made of mostly quality USA components, not solid platinum.
What you reaaaaally get for the price of your instrument.
- Thread starter TedEH
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At ~$1400 a piece when they hit stores here, I highly doubt they were losing money. They were made of mostly quality USA components, not solid platinum.
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Black43
Hated Ibanezes once
See, I think the lines kinda blur between the mid range and high range a little bit.
I have two "good" ibanezes. A Prestige RG652ahm (beautiful ash top, gorgeous guitar) and a Premium RG970qmz ( again, beautiful top, this time a quilt maple number). I paid a good $700 more for the prestige, but to be honest, I can't feel much of a difference between the two when I'm playing. I guess the fret ends are a tiny bit nicer on the prestige, but that doesn't mean the premium's are bad - far from it. Both these guitars have stupendously low action, and both of them outplay anything else in my stable (a couple of lesser ibanezes, a Korean Pacifica, and an Agile interceptor 727) by miles.
Now, the premium and prestige exist in totally different tiers. The prestige is a high-end guitar, and the premium is generally regarded as a mid-range axe. But the gap between the two is infinitesimally small. Not small enough to justify the $700 price gap. Not to say I regret it or anything. They're both my favourites, and they'll both be with me til the day I die. Not having owned a custom god tier guitar I can't really comment on guitars above the 652, but from what I can tell from my findings, the gap between the supposed high-end and mid-range is quite small, much smaller than the gap between low-end and mid-range.
Now, all I have to do is get my hands on a j-custom...
I have two "good" ibanezes. A Prestige RG652ahm (beautiful ash top, gorgeous guitar) and a Premium RG970qmz ( again, beautiful top, this time a quilt maple number). I paid a good $700 more for the prestige, but to be honest, I can't feel much of a difference between the two when I'm playing. I guess the fret ends are a tiny bit nicer on the prestige, but that doesn't mean the premium's are bad - far from it. Both these guitars have stupendously low action, and both of them outplay anything else in my stable (a couple of lesser ibanezes, a Korean Pacifica, and an Agile interceptor 727) by miles.
Now, the premium and prestige exist in totally different tiers. The prestige is a high-end guitar, and the premium is generally regarded as a mid-range axe. But the gap between the two is infinitesimally small. Not small enough to justify the $700 price gap. Not to say I regret it or anything. They're both my favourites, and they'll both be with me til the day I die. Not having owned a custom god tier guitar I can't really comment on guitars above the 652, but from what I can tell from my findings, the gap between the supposed high-end and mid-range is quite small, much smaller than the gap between low-end and mid-range.
Now, all I have to do is get my hands on a j-custom...
gunch
digidun digidun wakka wakka skree
Premiums this year are 1300-1400 bucks, and while they look really cool and have that awesome 11-ply neck it's totally ridiculous when you can get a RG655, basically the closest Ibanez has got an OG RG550 with an Edge and not an EZ II like the premiums for 1200.
Did they sort out the neck pocket alignment and fretwork issues for 2017? Are they going to make an S with that sexy ass 11-ply neck?
Did they sort out the neck pocket alignment and fretwork issues for 2017? Are they going to make an S with that sexy ass 11-ply neck?
diagrammatiks
Well-Known Member
Is ibanez going to innovate their Japan line at all at Thisbe point?
What does a man need to do to get a prestige rgat
What does a man need to do to get a prestige rgat
Electric Wizard
it's my first day
I'm never selling mine. It's on par with any Prestige stuff or American Fenders you'd see in the price range and better than anything I've ever played from WMI.
At ~$1400 a piece when they hit stores here, I highly doubt they were losing money. They were made of mostly quality USA components, not solid platinum.
My understanding was the labor was what made them unprofitable, or at least less profitable than sticking only with the USA stuff. You had the same people doing the set up / PLEK work on stuff that had a smaller margin.
I bought my Onis because Dan is one of the most innovative builders whose work I've laid eyes on. I'm not sure that anyone can put a price on some things.
A lot of mass produced guitars follow the same logic, though. There was a time when Ibanez was the most innovative mainstream guitar builder. Buying a JEM or a Universe in the 1990's wasn't just about buying a quality guitar, but it was about buying the execution of new ideas.
A lot of mass produced guitars follow the same logic, though. There was a time when Ibanez was the most innovative mainstream guitar builder. Buying a JEM or a Universe in the 1990's wasn't just about buying a quality guitar, but it was about buying the execution of new ideas.
TedEH
Cromulent
Since the conversation has turned towards customs a bit, I feel like I'd be more willing to pay for a custom acoustic than an electric sometimes. I've seen some really nice work from lots of people, but at the end of the day it's a nice looking slab of wood with a neck on it. There's not much "innovation" going on. I'm sure they look nice and they play nice, but so do lots of non-custom instruments.
I've been going out to some local guitar/luthier shows lately though, and there's still a bunch of cool stuff being made in term of acoustics - fancy new ways to make adjustable necks, entirely custom-made bridges, using non-wood materials in cool ways, fancy bracing patterns I know nothing about, etc. etc., and when I pick some of them up, they're entirely unique playing and sounding instruments. Sometimes you pick something up and think "yeh this is nice but not that special' and other times I'll pick something up and think "this is so different, there's no way you could find this elsewhere". I've never had that thought with an electric though.
I've been going out to some local guitar/luthier shows lately though, and there's still a bunch of cool stuff being made in term of acoustics - fancy new ways to make adjustable necks, entirely custom-made bridges, using non-wood materials in cool ways, fancy bracing patterns I know nothing about, etc. etc., and when I pick some of them up, they're entirely unique playing and sounding instruments. Sometimes you pick something up and think "yeh this is nice but not that special' and other times I'll pick something up and think "this is so different, there's no way you could find this elsewhere". I've never had that thought with an electric though.
Black43
Hated Ibanezes once
That's definitely true, the new ones are a hell of a lot of money to gamble for a guitar that's at its best on par with a Japanese instrument. When I got mine, it was one of the first ones, with the veneer top instead of the maple cap. But mine never had any issues, the fretwork is perfect. I wasn't aware of any neck pocket issues.
Is the EZII a necessarily bad bridge? I've heard decent things about it and from my experience it seems to stand up to most, although I wouldn't stack it against an original edge.
It's totally a matter of opinion, but I see tons of innovation going into both acoustic and electric instruments. The examples you pointed out for acoustic could easily be said, verbatim, about electric customs, except for the bracing patterns (unless it's a hollow bodied electric).
There are also a lot of very traditional custom builders who will only build you a strat or a tele. But there are also a lot of custom builders who will only build you a dreadnaught within very traditional specifications.
You see the same thing with mass production guitars, though. When you see a mass produced guitar made in 2013 with an adjustable truss rod that can only be accessed by removing the neck, you have to kind of wonder. Does having the truss rod access inside of the neck pocket have any positive effect on tone or functionality or even cost? If not, then why is this practice still used?
Then you have innovative things that you rarely see on acoustic guitars - e-scale, zero-resistance trems, adjustable nuts, novel pickup systems, different stylistic or ergonomic shapes, trans-scale, twist neck, sustainer systems, etc. These things are still evolving, and the electric guitar is inarguably the hotbed of innovation for all of those ideas.
Take a look at a Teuffel or a Gittler and tell me it's not as innovative (like it or not) as a boutique acoustic guitar.
TedEH
Cromulent
Never heard of these before, will need to do some googlin'.
Given To Fly
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I think this is a pretty accurate assessment overall. One thing I would say, regardless of the type of guitar, is the best guitars are built by luthiers that care more about the quality of their instruments than the people buying and playing them, their customers. If a luthier really cares, they will be able to sort between true innovations and gimmicks. If there is something they can do to make their guitars better, they will do it. On the flipside, customers almost always care more about their guitars than the guitar manufacturers who produced them, by a wide margin. (All my electrics were made by guitar manufacturers by the way.)
