J-Custom & Prestige confusion - What makes a J-C a J-C? - Page 6

gkelm · #1 05-16-2002, 02:37 PM

jay ratkowski, you made me laugh out loud. Actually, it makes sense to me that a separate factory is possible.

They're all great guitars, but you can bet I'll be watching the FOX network this Sunday night.
Greg

PS- Maybe Jay13 is the smoking guy? (Jay13, please don't take any offense at all of this!)

vaijem777 · #2 05-16-2002, 02:38 PM

Nah...the Cigarette Smoking Man is/was a bad guy. I think Jay13's intentions were entirely benevolent.

jay ratkowski · #3 05-16-2002, 03:27 PM

gkelm - just wanted to make sure you know my "dumb" remark was about the arguement going on here the last 3 years or so, and not directed at you. ;-)

*we return you to our regularly scheduled moronic duel*

EDIT: BTW - Jay13 is definately not Kevan.

bduersch · #4 05-16-2002, 03:41 PM

"Deceive, inveigle, obfuscate"

That is the J-Custom way.

--B

jay ratkowski · #5 05-16-2002, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bduersch

"Deceive, inveigle, obfuscate"

That is the J-Custom way.

--B

Am I looking at jemsite or sunday night TV? hahaha

gkelm · #6 05-16-2002, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay ratkowski

gkelm - just wanted to make sure you know my "dumb" remark was about the arguement going on here the last 3 years or so, and not directed at you. ;-)

No problem, Jay...didn't take it that way at all.

Oh, my mistake earlier, I should have stated:

vaijem777, YOU made me laugh out loud (with that X-Files stuff)...great humor. It's good for us all to chuckle at ourselves now and then.

Greg

vaijem777 · #7 05-16-2002, 09:05 PM

LOL I'm glad to inject a bit of humor into this whole thing, GKelm. The whole XFiles thing was the best analogy I could think of...and I think it worked out fairly well.

To quote a huge J Custom endorser:

"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane"- Jimmy Buffet

(I was kidding about the endorser thing)

Kevan · #8 05-17-2002, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vaijem777

Here's a total X-Files geeky take on the situation....

ROFLMFAO! Too funny.

The irony is that Glen *detests* cigarettes (specifically lit ones near him), but I'm the one that smokes.

Hilarious. Thanks Chris!

David Ho · #9 05-24-2002, 06:05 PM

That X-file thingy was just too funny... LMAO

I get the feeling that Ibanez's original intention was to come up with totally unique designs on a small production run for the domestic Japan market. The evolution of various models in the J-C line must somehow be driven by the Japan market. Lately we see the new J-customs fairly similar to the Prestige models, which may explain a certain convergence of design desired in Japan and US market (such as fingerboards, exotic tops, etc).

But as someone mentioned before, Ibanez seem to be more experimentative when it comes to J-Cs. All the additional cosmetic details and fancy electronics (Roland pickups, Piezo, etc) are not likely to be placed on mass production models unless it is market justified. So to me J-C really is like prototype cars which serves as R&D models or market tester. It is also why J-Cs always have that "exotic" flavor to it. I agree with the point that Prestige models are top-of-the-line production models, and their similarity to a few J-C models could very well be the result of success of a certain J-C design.

One thing we cannot ignore is that the J-C line does have a market in Japan on its own. Otherwise, major stores would not bother to carry them. Based on what I have seen and heard from guitar shops in Japan, J-Cs are catagorized as high-end over Prestige models. In terms of quality, by all means, this does not necessary mean Prestige is one notch below J-C, but pricewise J-Cs are in general more expensive than Prestige in Japan.

Drew · #10 06-18-2002, 12:50 PM

Oh god, that x-files bit made me die laughing over here... Which is bad since i'm reading this from the admissions desk in the coyurtyard of a world class art museum... *shudder*.

I like the "seperate but equal" idea, that they're both approximately the same quality, but one is a small-batch "test" guitar, to see how the market will respond, whereas the othger represents the mass-produced top of the line version; both are approximately the same quality, but they exsist for different purposes. Cool.

-Drew

Gresh · #11 07-02-2002, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drew

Oh god, that x-files bit made me die laughing over here... Which is bad since i'm reading this from the admissions desk in the coyurtyard of a world class art museum... *shudder*.

I like the "seperate but equal" idea, that they're both approximately the same quality, but one is a small-batch "test" guitar, to see how the market will respond, whereas the othger represents the mass-produced top of the line version; both are approximately the same quality, but they exsist for different purposes. Cool.

-Drew

...but then what came first, the RG7CTVV Prestige or the RG8527 J-Custom?

Now those guitars are identical in everyway...down to the striped ebony headstock overlay.

My guess is that the 7CT didn't fly down the production line quick enough and sucked up too much overhead...sales couldn't justify the machining time the product sucked out of the plant. So rather than penalize the entire Prestige line by having to allocate more overhead to each guitar, they canned RG7CT, and moved it to a smaller facility with a lower overhead structure (the infamous J-Custom Plant). This would allow Ibanez to keep up the margin and not sacrifice the profitability of the remaining Prestige Guitars in the process (i.e. the ones that sell).

Just trying to inject some real world business sense into the argument...

Ta Ta

Rich · #12 07-02-2002, 03:34 PM

The CT came first, by 2 years. It was never meant to be a production model, only a limited run.

Gresh · #13 07-02-2002, 06:48 PM

I knew that, my question was more rhetorical than anything...

Just surfacing evidence that neither of these lines, if they are in fact separate lines, are really serving a prototype to mass production product migration strategy. Indeed it could be viewed that the opposite is happening, at least in the case of the CT/8527.

BTW, did anyone see the one on **** that went for $1775 uncased...holy crap. Guess the bidders didn't realize that you can get the 8527 cased and shipped from Ishibashi for like $1300. But I digress...

Rich · #14 07-02-2002, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gresh

BTW, did anyone see the one on **** that went for $1775 uncased...holy crap. Guess the bidders didn't realize that you can get the 8527 cased and shipped from Ishibashi for like $1300. But I digress...

Yup, same one he couldn't get $1100 for the last 2 times he tried on ****.

Drew · #15 07-03-2002, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gresh

I knew that, my question was more rhetorical than anything...

Just surfacing evidence that neither of these lines, if they are in fact separate lines, are really serving a prototype to mass production product migration strategy. Indeed it could be viewed that the opposite is happening, at least in the case of the CT/8527.

BTW, did anyone see the one on **** that went for $1775 uncased...holy crap. Guess the bidders didn't realize that you can get the 8527 cased and shipped from Ishibashi for like $1300. But I digress...

Yeah, so i think we can break it down as follows- similar lines, one geared for high production, the other comparatively limited production, and occasionally there's some crossover. This sounds fairly plausible... Yeah, i know a few of them, such as the aforementioned 8527, aren't THAT limited, but more so that your typical prestige, it appears.

Anyway...

-Drew