ibanez quality

[Homebake]

i'm not well versed in the history of ibanez but i wanna know how the level of quality from them has changed over the years. i saw a post from rich saying they reached their peak in 2002.

wikipedia says the rg prestige range has been around since 1987? is that true? i didn't think it was. paul gilberts "dino" guitar for example, he said he got that around 1987 and it was a stock rg but i don't see any prestige logos on it.

what kind of quality were the highest quality rg guitars back in the late 80s and how do they compare to the prestige series today?

[psychoshredder]

from 1987-2002, MIJ RG is NOT all prestige model.
There is 'prestige line' from 1997 only for MIJ guitar that the level is slighly better than 'not prestige' or any other MIJ production guitars.

from 2003-now, all the MIJ especially RG is labeled as 'prestige'.

so what wikipedia says that prestige is available in 1987, maybe they trying to say that MIJ RG is available from 1987, which is true.. but not labeled as 'prestige'.

what makes 'prestige' as 'prestige' ?
at first, the prestige is only for guitar that have 'extra steps' in finishing, so they will feel different than stock guitars, such as RG 3120.
I'm not a big fan of this 'prestige' treatment at the beginning, a plain stock RG 550 from 2001 is good enough for me, no need prestige treatment on that too..

so, if from 2003, all MIJ RG labeled as prestige, they can be considered that they have the same treatment as what RG 3120 did.
personally? I don't care.

I love old school MIJ RG with check mark logo, 1 piece maple neck, same old EDGE/ lo pro. and so on...

[Darin]

Originally Posted by psychoshredder

I love old school MIJ RG with check mark logo, 1 piece maple neck, same old EDGE/ lo pro. and so on...

Agreed

[TAorama]

The build quality of all the Ibanez MIJ guitars in the late 80's was about the same, and it was really good, IMHO. The "high end" production RG guitars were the RG700 series, but quality-wise, they were as good as the RG500's, just with more options. If you can find one that's been taken care of, you absolutely can't beat an old RG with a good setup.

Prestige was just a name Ibanez gave to their more upscale production guitars, starting in something like 2002 when they came out with fancier RG's like the RG3120 and RG2120 with the figured tops. Now, at least for the RG line, "Prestige" means MIJ. Some of the other Prestige models are MIK.

[socratys]

i cant comment on what qualified as a 'prestige' before 2002. But it does seem that anything after this date, which is made in Japan, is indeed a prestige model.

In terms of ibanez's quality of service, well I own a RG550EX 2001. Which I think is a great guitar. Played a 2007 Jemvwh and rg2550 very recently, and personally I think the finishing standards werent as good as my rg...

Now thats not saying that the components and woods are of lesser quality, but i do think the finished guitar wasnt paid as much attention as perhaps some of the previous years were.

This is though, to be expected from a growing company. I assume most of the jem owners here wouldnt swap their early 90's models for the equivalents of nowadays..

[ezcrane]

Originally Posted by psychoshredder

I love old school MIJ RG with check mark logo, 1 piece maple neck, same old EDGE/ lo pro. and so on...

+1 on old school

[Rich]

Some funny stuff here.

Prestige, part branding, but with substance. It indicates the 6 extra steps of neck and fret finishing that are not found on any 550/570/750 or the rest. Begun in 1998, this is the fret end finishing and fretboard edge finishing only found on Prestige branded and MIJ Signature models. This reached it's peak in quality IMO around 2002 where the fret ends were at their best, and downhill since, back to c/1998 levels now, which if you've looked at what every other manufacturer is doing, is still better than theirs.

Given that, each will still be dependent on the hands that did the work, so you'll see better and worse in any year, but notion that any pre Prestige had better finishing details from the factory than a Prestige is just laughable. They were steel wool smoothed at best.

[Tank]

I have a DY (from the bay) and a one year old 7vwh (yes from Rich).
The 7vwh blows the DY away in any matter. I like the DY as it is a "time piece" and looks cool, but the 7vwh is my main player. Also compared to a pals older 7vwh (with old neck etc.) I largely prefer mine. For playing of course...
For bragging rights and for "I am so cool I have an old one, because old ones are better" smacktalk and ding dong extension, the 7vwh is a bad choice...

[TAorama]

Rich - are there any post-2002 NON-Prestige MIJ guitars?

Totally my bad on the 2002 RG3120 intro - looking at the wrong catalog. Page 14 of the 1998 catalog clearly shows the RG3120 and calls it the "Prestige" and states that it's neck, "similar to the Wizard and Jem necks, gets six extra steps of hand finishing."

[Rich]

Sure, but they're the reissues, 550 and 770's.

[Rich]

For next year there will be no more Korean Prestige. All Prestige production will be in Japan including bringing the bass production back to Fujigen.

[AnDr3wYoN]

Originally Posted by Rich

For next year there will be no more Korean Prestige. All Prestige production will be in Japan including bringing the bass production back to Fujigen.

Even the S Prestiges? (excluding the 5470)

Ibanez is doing lots of great stuff lately. Bringing back the Super Wizard, and Real Dimarzio's. It's Great!

[ibz_SA]

Now all they have to do is bring back the 3020 and ill become a share holder

[GuitarBizarre]

What I wanna know, is exactly what are thee 6 extra steps of finishing? I can't find any info on exactly what is DONE.

[Rich]

Fret end and board edge is at least 5 steps, depending on how it's done, could be 6.