RG2027 production halted
Perhaps it was my circular logic, but lots of you missed my point.
Never did I use the term "bad guitar"; I wrote "crappy wiring" - that's an opinion you're welcome to refute. *My purpose here was to highlight a possibility for the 2027's failure.
What is incontrovertible is an "undesirable" guitar that did not fit into the market place. *The customer is right; Ibanez is wrong. *
Their promotion scheme, at least in the point-headstock realm, puts one strike against any high-end guitar without a swirly color scheme or a name; gadgets obviously don't make the beast. *I'd like to point out how little exposure the guitar received; like a Betamax versus VHS thing. *Nice spot at NAMM and a magazine spread.... *PS, Harmony-Central reviews don't count because there is zero discrimination.
Sure, the 2027 may play like a dream, but that's a non-issue unless buyers know. *I'd guess, Vai, Satch, Gilbert, etc. were approached with the double-edge idea and passed. *What would have happened to the Strat had Jimi decided he liked Teles; the Les Paul if Jimmy or Slash decided they preferred ES-175's (yeah, right)? *Point being, the "average Ibanez buyer" hero-worships to some degree: they want assurances that they're buying a sweet ride before dropping the bucks; no such scenario with the 2027. *
As we have seen, consumers with taste could not float it. *If the 2027 truly is great, Ibanez needed to portray it as such, to convince buyers to plop down an extra $400.
Creating damn good product doesn't stop when something falls off a conveyor belt into a box. *I do have a problem with innovation taking a back seat to signature models in certain cases. *Remember the Edge, back in the day, when it came out on the JEM and RG lines? *Revolutionary trem with a spokesman. *Now it is a significant guitar; I'd mark that introduction as a beautiful marriage between innovation and signature status. *However, had the guitar remained a small-time, "foreign car-like" guitar with limited access to parts and service, imagine how inconvenient such a product would be; allow me to entrance my freakin' nut woes. *What happens when you break the neck on a Klein? *You wait a year for a replacement. *Special case: Klein never intends to become a mass-producer, but maintains a small, devoted following by producing a phenomenal instrument, albeit at an exorbitant price, played by Bill Frisell, David Torn and other fairly famous jazzists.
Regardless of whether or not a product is good, it dies without props: burden is on the producer, not the consumer.
-Devin
(Edited by Devine at 2:07 am on Feb. 1, 2001)