To me some Premiums are better values than others. I've played the RG920 and, seriously, it's nice but NOT worth $950! Nor the $1k it's creeping towards. I know our dollar sucks but, comparatively speaking, other guitar makers offer similar or better for less.
The new seafoam Jem (again in my opinion) is a homerun hit out of the park.

The JEM70 is no different than the 920 except the OE and choice of Dimarzio, so how is it such a win and the 920 such a loose? Especially at the "real" price of the 920's.

Rich, when I asked you about the S1XXV you said you would have one in a month, so I looked elsewhere. The big box had them in stock and none of my local store had any.
I like to buy from small guys if I can.
Most times they don't sell what I want.
I have only bought three NEW guitars in the last 25 years, including this S1XXV.

"Straight Indo over Premium?"

I don't care where a guitar is made, it can suck, it just depends on how much the person cared that was working on it and how much experience they have.

"10 RG1's, 've seen 1 tine 1/2mm black dot on the back of one. If there's a batch out there that 2 of you have claimed to see, it's not the norm."

The RG1XXVs I saw had 20 - 30 little black dots all over the bodies.

"We already went through this, it was walnut grain. There are no "protruding" walnut strips and if you can prove to me there was I'll eat my hat"

Rich, I've done a lot of woodworking in my life and I know how this happened. The two woods dried more after the neck was built. The maple shrunk a little more than the Walnut. I have other Ibanez guitars with 5 piece necks that don't have this problem.

"Rejection rate on the S's, 16%, rejection rate on the RG's, 10%. And how much neck shim did yours need to get even playable action? The only one I did so far needed a MONSTER shim to get the action right with free trem range."

I added no shim. I adjusted the truss rod, bridge height, and the tension wheel in the back. The intonation was off only on the Low E string.

"The ZR is completely different than the EZ2 or any other knife edge trem, other than that the hardware on both is exactly the same."

I can tell a ZR from a EZ2, I own both and many other Ibanez trems. I was not saying the EZ2 was on this guitar, I was just talking about the color of the EZ.



I was hoping to buy from you, but you didn't have the guitar when I ask you.
With behavior like this, I don't know if I want to buy from you.
I'm just here on the Jemsite trying to have fun with other people that want to have fun with music too. You post really put a damper on my fun.

Evidently I don't have a right to my opinion, but you do.

I've had about 35 premiums so far, like I said, it was walnut grain. Prove it different and I'll eat a [chocolate] hat.

They're all Indo, but the Premiums actually have well trained craftsmen building them and to much higher specs that "straight Indo", so that was the reference.

The S's need huge neck shims.

This get my vote for "Post of the year 2012"

Rock-on Rich!!

OE alone makes it better than the 920; hands down! The near-Jem neck profile helps too, though the radius is off. That and it's beautiful. I can't say for sure if it's a good value as i haven't played one yet.
And I should qualify, the new Jem is a deal at YOUR prices. I wouldn't pay retail for it. At that point I'd hunt down a used RG3550 or such.
But this is all semantics as I have a new kid and can't buy a guitar for a while.

BTW Sebastian, that rant was directed at the "board" and all the "got it on sale at MF" posts that have become so common lately. It wasn't fair to "aim" it at you, I just needed to do my warehouse rant and this was just a good spot to do it.

I'll also agree that a real store or dealer is better than MF. Especially on instruments. I only buy pedals and such from them; not actual instruments.

I second that motion!

Soon, I have one more JEM on the way, should be here on Friday.

Wow... Awesome! Which one is this?

Now that would spoil the whole thing if I told.

I figured you'd say that... Will wait for the pics.

I'm a bit confused about the color. Is that nuke-green in the picture what it looks like to the naked eye in a well-lit room, or is it because of the camera/yellow light/fluorescence? The color on Ibanez's official pics is way more "mint green" than nuke green.


vs.


Quite different..

I'm surprised there isn't more impressions posted on the net about these beauties.

Sebastian, you mentioned you were unhappy with the pickups, are they worse than other guitars in the same price range, or is that just compared to high-end pickups?

I'm on the fence about getting one myself, they look great, but I've also looked at a used Prestige S5470 which has HGD1/2 pickups, a bit pricier than the S1XXV though.

The color has no yellow tint to it at all, just nuke green to me.
The pickups are no worse than V7 / V8, INF, Quantum or any other Ibanez pickups.
I'm just use to real Dimarzios like EVOs and PAF Pros etc.
For $595, I got more value than I paid for by a long shot.