Hey guys and gals, not ranting just asking purely out of curiosity:
I have purchased over the years 5 high end Ibanez guitars, here is a rundown of the problems had so far:
Jem 7VWH: Got unlucky enough to purchase my first Jem during the production year(s) where you got horrid overtones around the 12th to 15th fret, especially on the low E string. Years later learned that the fix was to lower the pickups basically down to pickguard level, however since I had installed a sustainer that didn't do me much good since once lowered that far the sustainer basically didn't work anymore.
Jem 77FP2: Came with a twist in the neck, returned it for a plek which masked the problem and made it play pretty well overall. However eventually had the neck leveled and re-fretted which made it perfect. Currently one of my best playing guitars, but only after a good bit of money to make it right.
J Custom 2016: Got from Rich at ibanezrules. Plays perfect and during our communication it was clear he was only going to send me a top notch guitar. However he did view one or two before the one he sent me that weren't up to standard. So even though I got a great one, I was surprised to hear they would send out any guitars of that price with issues.
Jem 777SK 30th anniversary: No issues at all, played great from the start
Ibanez Pia Gold: Mostly good, but had an egregiously high fret that anyone who played it for a few seconds would have spotted. A few other frets were a little uneven but not too bad compared to the really bad one. Did the repair myself.
So I know there are solutions to this, return the guitars, only buy from trusted dealers like Rich, etc., and those are all points well taken. At the time for each purchase, where I made the purchase and why I kept instead of returning is a long story for each guitar I won't bore you with. My main reason for this post is purely curiosity which is this:
Am I just getting a bad impression of Ibanez QC that isn't accurate to the reality? Am I wrong in thinking no guitar over 3 grand should ship with problems like this? Have any of you had similar issues?
I emailed Ibanez directly with a brief rundown of my issues with buying their guitars over the years. It wasn't a rant email, kept it very professional and just said it was concerning to see such easily spotted issues on so many guitars. They never responded.
For the record, I own other brands as well including Kiesel, Jackson, one Schecter, etc. If you look hard enough you can always find a minor flaw here and there, but none of the other guitars I've bought have actually required a repair or a return, other than Ibanez. I'm hoping I've just had very bad luck and this isn't representative of most of their guitars?? Especially since Ibanez IMO are the best guitars out there (once you get a good one)
Thanks!
I have purchased over the years 5 high end Ibanez guitars, here is a rundown of the problems had so far:
Jem 7VWH: Got unlucky enough to purchase my first Jem during the production year(s) where you got horrid overtones around the 12th to 15th fret, especially on the low E string. Years later learned that the fix was to lower the pickups basically down to pickguard level, however since I had installed a sustainer that didn't do me much good since once lowered that far the sustainer basically didn't work anymore.
Jem 77FP2: Came with a twist in the neck, returned it for a plek which masked the problem and made it play pretty well overall. However eventually had the neck leveled and re-fretted which made it perfect. Currently one of my best playing guitars, but only after a good bit of money to make it right.
J Custom 2016: Got from Rich at ibanezrules. Plays perfect and during our communication it was clear he was only going to send me a top notch guitar. However he did view one or two before the one he sent me that weren't up to standard. So even though I got a great one, I was surprised to hear they would send out any guitars of that price with issues.
Jem 777SK 30th anniversary: No issues at all, played great from the start
Ibanez Pia Gold: Mostly good, but had an egregiously high fret that anyone who played it for a few seconds would have spotted. A few other frets were a little uneven but not too bad compared to the really bad one. Did the repair myself.
So I know there are solutions to this, return the guitars, only buy from trusted dealers like Rich, etc., and those are all points well taken. At the time for each purchase, where I made the purchase and why I kept instead of returning is a long story for each guitar I won't bore you with. My main reason for this post is purely curiosity which is this:
Am I just getting a bad impression of Ibanez QC that isn't accurate to the reality? Am I wrong in thinking no guitar over 3 grand should ship with problems like this? Have any of you had similar issues?
I emailed Ibanez directly with a brief rundown of my issues with buying their guitars over the years. It wasn't a rant email, kept it very professional and just said it was concerning to see such easily spotted issues on so many guitars. They never responded.
For the record, I own other brands as well including Kiesel, Jackson, one Schecter, etc. If you look hard enough you can always find a minor flaw here and there, but none of the other guitars I've bought have actually required a repair or a return, other than Ibanez. I'm hoping I've just had very bad luck and this isn't representative of most of their guitars?? Especially since Ibanez IMO are the best guitars out there (once you get a good one)
Thanks!