Rich is a professional of the highest caliber. The fact that he's loyal to the company is the same thing that makes him loyal and fair to the customers. That's why he has so many devoted customers. When is the JSRich coming out? It's just all based on his preferences, Ibanezrules exclusive.
I still don't understand why we can't get an Ibanez Prestige or Premium (RG body shape) with a STANDARD FENDER STYLE TREM (i.e., no floating trem). Suhr does it, Anderson does it, Grosh does it.... why can't Ibanez make ONE really nice RG with a flamed top and standard trem?
So we are here now and I don't want to wait until the 24/25th to hear what Ibanez has in store for 2013.
I suspect certain things like solid red, white, and black RGs will remain the same, the cherry sunburst Artists, the Benson GB10s in brown sunburst as well as the Metheney and Scofield in their current incarnation.
The Vai line, the Artcore line, and some of the more customized RG/S/ARTs are going to do the yearly changeover with some radical finishes and it's there where 2013 will be distinguished from 2012. Perhaps the recession will let us get some of the more custom finishes and higher end pickups/hardware for lower prices. Ibanez does as well as anybody by offering great guitars at a low price point, but their higher end offerings are so bat-**** expensive they don't give the player anything close to their money's worth. The J-Customs are nice and maybe the best superstrats ever made, but I can sound just as good and get a guitar just as playable from the mid-level RGs in the $800-$1500 range. Those guitars rock and if you can't get your sound with those, take more lessons and get a better amp! Honestly, would you pay a thousand to twenty five hundred more than this expecting something way better?:
The mid-level Ibanezes, and some higher end Premiums hold their value and demand pretty well compared to their original street prices at a Guitar Center or Sam Ash, but the super high end J-Customs dive in value on the used eBay market, percentage wise because the buyer doesn't see the justification for a guitar 3x the price with a slightly better trem and slightly better pickups.
That being said it's always fun to see what Ibanez will offer in January with the J-Custom and Prestige lines.
Wow, they announced those today? There's some serious GAS happening in the UK market right this second and I hope they offer those in the USA, too.
The 30 fret RG guitar with neck pickup simulator, the affordable GRG seven string at only 199 pounds, the gorgeous 12 string semi-hollowbody Artcore, and dolled up AS73 TBC with pickguard (with all the attributes of higher end AS93 save three piece neck and abalone inlays but standard AS73 price). They all look fantastic!
No one has commented on the premium Universe yet?
Maybe having an EZ 2 will make it cheaper than the premium jem? I'm a little confused as to why it'd have that trem on it.
I saw that link on SS.org. These guitars Ibanez are releasing this year are awesome so far! I have a strong feeling that I will end up getting that Green Dot premium.
Apples and oranges. The Premiums are not (in my opinion) adequate substitutes for the MIJ's. They are an alternate price point option for buyers who can't afford, or just don't want to spend the money on, an MIJ. And while it's great that there's a lot of new looks coming out of Indonesia, it does absolutely nothing for me. Put some of that in an MIJ package w an Edge trem, and I'd be all over it.
But I'll certainly hand it to the Ibanez marketing department, because it seems like I'm a dwindling minority around here.
I don't know if that's the price here in the US considering you all have VATs and such but $1,600 is venturing into American-made Les Paul territory. I've played a few Premiums and while good they're not THAT good. Hell, MIJ Prestige models haven't been as good as they used to be. Sorry to sound like a hater but this is my opinion having played Ibanez guitars for 22 years.
It is pretty though.
I get what you're saying in a normal sense of manufacturing. If you're talking car parts and refrigerators that's one thing but a guitar, as I see it, is defined by its finishing touches. Setup. Frets. Neck alignment. Yes, where its made and who makes it matters. My argument is based on all the Ibanez RG's and S's and other models I've played in over two decades. At the end of the day the Premiums are good but still not as good as a MIJ model. And IMO each model is about $100-200 overpriced. Do you mean to tell me an RG920 at $950 makes sense when just a few years earlier an RG1570 new was priced at $750-800?!? Seriously!
And I stand by my point that even now with the problems they've been having an American made Gibson Les Paul is much better quality-wise than any Premium. Expecting an LP price from a Premium is just plain insanity.
I still wish there would be more solid color Premiums. I'm not in guitar manufacturing but it seems to me a good solid paint finish is harder to pull off than a flame top.
I would agree with your argument to a certain degree that nation of origin doesn't matter. It seems what matters more is the factory itself and the team working to assemble the guitars. That's something that needs to be put together wisely and nurtured to maturity. I see a lot of good things out of the Premium line but, in my honest assessment, the guitars I've played aren't up to MIJ quality; at least not yet anyway.
What you mention is that there is a troubling effect of Ibanez resting on its laurels.
Maybe,
1) Ibanez is training other countries so they can eventually get it right until we forget there was any quality gap
or, worse
2) Ibanez knows that the best are MIJ but hope we will fall for the Ibanez Premium tag and believe all Premiums are created equal
There are probably finishing touches, which back in the 1980s, were done by hand but today what can be done with 'puters is quite amazing. That being said, fretwork is still largely hand done.
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