It's not being racist claiming that the quality of certain things from a certain country have proven to be junk for more than 10 years man (more like most of my lifetime and I'm 35). The only Chinese made product I have that hasn't failed on me yet is my Kettner Tubemeister 36. Clothing, Chinese made guitars, various other Chinese products I have attempted to use for 20 years have proven to be of horrendous quality. That is not being racist. That is looking at a pattern of quality control miscues for decades. Oh and you can't call someone racist against Asians when I freaking live in an Asian country.

I think more than the anti-Chinese quality control issue, people need to crack down on this perverse use of the term racist when someone criticizes another country's manufacturing flaws. I have nothing against Chinese people at all, I have problems against the way they manufacture. BIG difference. Don't call me racist when I'm not. That's flat out defamation man.

I personally feel gratitude for paying 700 EUR for a guitar with top Ibanez hardware that feels and sounds as good as a 2000+ $ Les Paul.
Back in 2012 I was ready to pull the trigger for a fender strat AM deluxe and a Gibson LP, just for the sake of being "rocknroll" history - correct. I should have paid around 3000 EUR back then for those two. Instead and while looking for LPs I played the ARZ800 in a store and was instantly sold. Later, instead of getting another strat I got the 7-string super strat UV70p for some 900 EUR, so I got two fantastic instruments for the price of one single Les Paul.

An ARZ800 I special ordered for a client was wonderful. They are made at a different factory now, and the quality was surprisingly nice. Unfortunately that's not the norm for the Chinese builds, but some of the Artcore Customs are also extremely nice, as are the signature jazz boxes built there. Bottom line is it comes down to the particular factory commissioned, and how cheap Ibanez can buy the production on the guitars that are of much lesser quality.

But lets put the cards on the table, you got a nice 800, and one 70P that was far more trouble than any guitar should be to any end user. Which you're still spending money to fully final sort all the issues.

Comparing a Chinese ibanez to a gibson is comparing equal quality things. I don't know how much Yamaha is over in Europe, but if you can find yamaha stuff, Yamaha makes great instruments, MIJ, for the same price or less than MIC Ibanez stuff. There are other options out there. Even as much as I like Ibanez, the Indo 350EXZ I had was FAR superior than that Chinese destroyer I played a month ago. Dead frets everywhere. That 1984 MIJ Destroyer II I got the other day? 30,000 yen less than a BRAND NEW Chinese Destroyer, and even with the dings is a FAR superior instrument.

You got a good MIC ibanez, good for you. That doesn't change the fact that you were lucky to get a great instrument out of the box. I was willing to give a Chinese Destroyer a try, just to see if it actually played well and because I knew Ibanez would never make another MIJ destroyer ever again, and I am given the same exact evidence I have had for 20+ years: Don't trust Chinese made items.

Jazz box= George Benson/Eric Krasno models?

They also make a Metheny and Schofield.

Oh okay. I guess the signature models get more attention than the standard ARZs or something.

The Tech asked for 30 EUR. I gave him 40. When I decide to do the next mod, of making it 100% bullet proof, it's gonna be another 80-100 EUR. If I knew the guy (which works 1km away from my house) when i bought the UV, none of this would make it to the net. Problem was with me. A lot of net time, a lot of playing the tech, and a lot of time in front of the computer, minimal free time, if I went out more frequently and trusted techs things would be much easier.
Maybe the fact that I finally found my tech was worth the agony!

What about the legendary AR350PLT? There was that small spate in the late 80s when nearly every Ibanez hardtail guitar suddenly got an Edge/ProRocker trem equivalent.

The AR350 was such an item and completely Japanese made with the tri-sound selector switches, ebony fingerboard with lovely abalone inlays and the (later) the Edge trem was a proper fusion guitar.

A Japan made model would be awesome and who can forget that stunning marine sunburst variant?