What I Hate About Ibanez

[IamFastEddie]

Originally Posted by kotornut

You guys are funny. I use the middle pup in 50% of my songs. Love those in between strat-like sounds. Combine the neck and the mid for great bluesy sounds.

To each his own. I grew up as a Blackmore freak so I would set the pup even with the guard and bypass it. I don't know anyone who would say that Ritchie's stuff - at least before Blackmore's Night - didn't sound like it was played on a Strat.

[6fingers]

Originally Posted by bates

Roadstar......Rock.......**** it, whatever. The point im making is that you CAN make sense out of the Ibanez naming system regardless of what the R stands for.

I have to admit though im suprized it stands for roadstar cause the roadstar was a strat shaped model from years ago

Who cares they're just guitars not rockets !

[RockHardGuitars]

I recently bought a 3550 and I have to say the thing feels great. I use 10's and had to reset it up which was a bit of a challenge with the trem, but now that it's all set, it feels good no problems. I look at it like this, I have 4 Jems, 2 RG's and each guitar is a different flavor. Thats how I look at it. I guess Ibanez is trying to improve and make things better. If they F up, I am sure they will go back to the edge, etc etc, Which will make all the other guitars even more of collector items! LOL

[prydogga]

Originally Posted by Magical Muffin

Meh, the only reason I'd want a middle pickup is to cancel hum from a single coil neck pickup.


The thing I hate most about Ibanez is its convoluted naming system for its guitars. Took me months to figure it partially out, but still...

RG, S, JEM, E-Gen, X, Gio, etc, doesn't make it very easy for a newcomer to understand the difference between series's.

Even worse for individual models,RG3550MZ, RGT42MDX, I mean, what the hell? How is ANYONE supposed to distinguish between models?

I think the Ibanez system is easy to understand, other companies just confuse you with names like the Gibson SG special. Special doesn't mean it's the best, it's the cheapest, and Studio? You'd think that would mean professional quality above the Standard but that's wrong aswell.

[nafigator]

I have to agree about model names - they sometimes don't make any sense at all. Old style was ok - RG550DY or RG270. You can get the idea of how good your instrument is.

[Jakem]

What I hate about Ibanez:
-quality has gone down on Prestige models
-trem design changes all the time and the trems not being interchangeable (EZ->EP, EZ ->LPE etc)
-prices are ridiculous compared to, let's say, Suhr guitars who make flawless instruments with highest quality parts

The only Ibanez' I'd buy these days are J-Customs. Well, I take that back, they have EZ trems in them so I wouldn't buy them. I really do hope that they start offering J-Customs with Edge Pros with locking studs in them so that the hardware would be on par with the rest of the instrument.

[jono]

Originally Posted by Jakem

-prices are ridiculous compared to, let's say, Suhr guitars who make flawless instruments with highest quality parts

I agree, but I don't think Ibanez guitars are overpriced, more that they're underequipped to do battle at the right level in the food chain.

A top of the range Ibanez should be able to go toe to toe with a boutique guitar and these days even I don't feel they can and I'm a huge defender of the cause.

[IamFastEddie]

Originally Posted by prydogga

I think the Ibanez system is easy to understand, other companies just confuse you with names like the Gibson SG special. Special doesn't mean it's the best, it's the cheapest, and Studio? You'd think that would mean professional quality above the Standard but that's wrong as well.

No doubt. Of course Gibsons are the most overpriced things on the market. The only guitars I ever had whose necks broke on me.

[SnakeEyes]

Originally Posted by Jakem

-prices are ridiculous compared to, let's say, Suhr guitars who make flawless instruments with highest quality parts

I don't know. I've played a few Suhr guitars and I haven't been impressed with them at all. A friend of mine owned one and I played it for a while and thought it was average at best. Another time, I went into a music store that had three or four of them in stock and, although they're "nice guitars," I didn't think they were any better than a top of the line Ibanez. The necks on all of them felt like toys, as if they'd break off if I even held the guitar wrong. I think Suhrs are extraordinarily overrated, myself. Not crapping on your opinion, just offering mine.

I agree with you about the EZ trem, though. I have played a few of them and I don't like them at all. I still personally think that the Lo Pro Edge was the best trem Ibanez had. But, that's like saying that Mesa Boogie's best amp was the Mark IIC+. You can't fault a company for coming up with something amazing, then moving on and hoping to come up with something ELSE spectacular.

[SilverEra]

Originally Posted by SnakeEyes

I don't know. I've played a few Suhr guitars and I haven't been impressed with them at all. A friend of mine owned one and I played it for a while and thought it was average at best. Another time, I went into a music store that had three or four of them in stock and, although they're "nice guitars," I didn't think they were any better than a top of the line Ibanez. The necks on all of them felt like toys, as if they'd break off if I even held the guitar wrong. I think Suhrs are extraordinarily overrated, myself. Not crapping on your opinion, just offering mine.

I agree with you about the EZ trem, though. I have played a few of them and I don't like them at all. I still personally think that the Lo Pro Edge was the best trem Ibanez had. But, that's like saying that Mesa Boogie's best amp was the Mark IIC+. You can't fault a company for coming up with something amazing, then moving on and hoping to come up with something ELSE spectacular.

Floyd Rose still produces the OFR, and I'd bet there would be protests left, right and center if they decided to phase it out in exchange for the Speedloader.

By all means, design new products, but don't replace anything that they know works and that millions of players swear by. If Ibanez took the Floyd Rose approach to new trems, I think the world of guitars would be a much happier place.

If not that, atleast make all trems interchangable with each-other. If you buy an Edge III, you can always replace it with an Edge Pro, OFR etc. But if you buy an Edge-Zero, and find out it's not for you (which is quite likely), you're stuck with it. You have no choice but to buy another guitar.

[LowYaw]

Originally Posted by SilverEra

You have no choice but to buy another guitar.

and that's great news. more guitars = more joy

[SilverEra]

Originally Posted by LowYaw

and that's great news. more guitars = more joy

Quality > Quantity.

[GuitarBizarre]

Originally Posted by SilverEra

Floyd Rose still produces the OFR, and I'd bet there would be protests left, right and center if they decided to phase it out in exchange for the Speedloader.

By all means, design new products, but don't replace anything that they know works and that millions of players swear by. If Ibanez took the Floyd Rose approach to new trems, I think the world of guitars would be a much happier place.

If not that, atleast make all trems interchangable with each-other. If you buy an Edge III, you can always replace it with an Edge Pro, OFR etc. But if you buy an Edge-Zero, and find out it's not for you (which is quite likely), you're stuck with it. You have no choice but to buy another guitar.

The trems largely ARE interchangeable with each other, except the ZR models thanks to their unique pivots. Its the ROUTES that don't fit every trem. and look at how many people are complaining that the EZ route is too big and ugly? how bad would that be if all routes were oversized in every direction to assure compatibility?

[SnakeEyes]

Originally Posted by SilverEra

Floyd Rose still produces the OFR, and I'd bet there would be protests left, right and center if they decided to phase it out in exchange for the Speedloader.

By all means, design new products, but don't replace anything that they know works and that millions of players swear by. If Ibanez took the Floyd Rose approach to new trems, I think the world of guitars would be a much happier place.

If not that, atleast make all trems interchangable with each-other. If you buy an Edge III, you can always replace it with an Edge Pro, OFR etc. But if you buy an Edge-Zero, and find out it's not for you (which is quite likely), you're stuck with it. You have no choice but to buy another guitar.

Well, Ibanez still makes the Lo-Pro. I think you can buy them from Ibanez Rules. It's not like you can't get them anymore, it's just that they don't come stock on their new guitars. As for making them interchangeable, that would be awesome. The only problem with that is you're limiting the amount of experimenting they can do with new products. What if Ibanez is right on the verge of coming up with the next Lo-Pro quality trem and it's like ten times better, but doesn't fit in to the guitar exactly like a LP?

[SilverEra]

Originally Posted by GuitarBizarre

The trems largely ARE interchangeable with each other, except the ZR models thanks to their unique pivots. Its the ROUTES that don't fit every trem.

Then they're not interchangeable then, are they. How can something be called interchangeable when it doesn't even fit without cutting a piece of the guitar out?

Originally Posted by GuitarBizarre

and look at how many people are complaining that the EZ route is too big and ugly? how bad would that be if all routes were oversized in every direction to assure compatibility?

Indeed. They really made the EZ interchangeable friendly by giving it a unique stud spacing...