I agree with the "get the signature models in line with what the artist is playing" sentiment, but I disagree with the 7VWH and rosewood. I say keep ebony on there, but bring in the option for a sustainer.

wil..

More or different color/finish choices. They're putting beautiful finishes on the low-end RG's, why not spread some of that around to the higher end guitars in the US market? Is anyone else getting tired of blue and silver?

The feedback sounds good so far!! What else? Keep talking to me, I'm listening.......................................

YBFAM

Andy
www.andymartinmusic.com

I'll second the idea of a custom shop, that would be sweet. Choice of neck profile, pickups, finish, body style, everything. Also, a more diverse range of 7 strings. Some more guitars with peizo would be sweet.

Andy, are you actually in a position to get the powers-that-be to actually act on any of these requests, or is this another futile exercise?

I only ask because i've been saying 'til i'm blue in the face that Ibanez should bring back the Radius line, and all they keep doing is spinning off more variations (or supposed variations) of the S series.

Darren,

Lets say I have a MAJOR input with Hoshino Gakki. They listen to everything I say and consider everything as well. I always have to back my suggestion with hard facts. I speak with the vice pres. of Hoshino gakki and the the head of R&D. THey always ask me to ask my students and the general player what they would like to see. If it is reasonable and marketable to help Hoshino to satify and maintain dominance in the industry they will highly consider it.

One thing I don;t really see is a custom shop to the general public. I do mention it frequently but several comments come up. I meet with the vice pres and head of R&D next month at Messe show in germany and we will discuss many subjects and I want to bring all of these suggestions to the table when we meet. I my self have mentioned more colors, radius necks etc but now I will have more support from you all. I play no games, I don;t mence with words, I'm a true brutha!

So, in a nutshell I am making copies of all post to bring with me to Germany. I really appreciate it, thank you again!

Peace

YBFAM

A
www.andymartinmusic.com

In that case, TELL THEM TO BRING BACK THE RADIUS LINE! It's only the most comfortable body shape EVER.

Oh yeah, I will keep you all posted on what days I will be playing for Ibanez at Messe! But keep all the comments and thoughts coming in! The more support and backing I have the better it will be for all of us in the long run. I want to make a huge impact when I have this meeting, showing the vice pres and R&D team that this is not only me saying all of these ideas, that everyone else wants this!

Peace

A

if you guys missed Andy's interview for jemsite.com, you can read it here where he outlines his position w/ ibanez
http://www.jemsite.com/news/am7strin...#interview2003

Andy, it's great to hear ibanez is at least listening to *someone* from the USA regarding guitars built for the public (not endorsers)... do let them know we appreciate that

I would highly recommend you do what Rich & Jono said, as imho that is not even a suggestion, but the minimum requirements to stay in the game. Don't sit at the $100/hand table and bet nickles. The locking studs (and correct anchor) need to be returned ASAP or confidence in Ibanez will continue to erode, and as customers age people will move to "American" (ie. more mature) guitars.

Along those lines, Ibanez needs to start to bring about more made in Japan fixed bridge guitars, for the Ibanez guitarist who has migrated away from double-lockers.

The suggestion dex made to be able to "import" guitars thru a USA dealer is a no-brainer and is a fair compromise to a custom shop (which will never happen anyways).

To summarize, Ibanez needs to step up and move beyond their "fast food-like" mentality It should be a source of embarrasment to see Joe/Steve (just two obvious examples) using JS/JEMs with trem parts (edge and lopro w/ locking studs) from 1990/1993 as the customer is served something different and inferior... glen

ps - and bring back the "backstop" to lower ebay prices

Then run this up his flagpole

There seens to be a split in your endorcer family which has given the factory an argument and no reason to spend the extra dime to further machine the studs into lockers.

Half find the new non locking studs more stable, half won't have anything but the lockers. My opinion is the guys that think the non-lockers are more stable is because they never had good lockers. The groove profile on the non-lockers is as good as the best new lockers so they actually offer better return from pull-up and performance than the pinched lockers Gotoh put out for years. Add to this Gotoh is grinding the knives on the EP's to an acceptible thickness which also aids in performance. Bottom line, the new studs are ***Not*** as stable or do they perform as well as lockers with the same open groove profile!! They took one step forward and two backwards.

In my personal experience 25% of MIJ neck thru guitars have bad to horrid string alignment that requires repositioning the curved knife to get a proper alignment. Unacceptable. [OK, this one needs to be run by the production manager but pass it along anyway]

I grind down the nuts on a full 50% of everything MIJ with a locker. Rediculous. Guitars with 1mm++ first fret action with no shims don't even surprise me anymore they're so common [although most are in the .5mm+ range]. This needs immediate correction. [OK, OK, just make sure it's run up the production managers flagpole **again**.] And while it's on the table, the string height on their vintage style nuts is absolutely no better. I actually [finally] broke down and bought a full set of nut files in preperation for incoming PG301's.

There is word that Ibanez is not going to design or have an intonation tool manufactured for the EP. Stupid. You tout a professional grade bridge in which the professional has to set his intonation by slack string, guess the move, repeat until correct, times 6 [or 7]. At this time there are NO intonation tools available for any Ibanez bridge. The Edge and Lo Pro tools are no longer being manufactured. Not a big ticket item, just a necessity that's no longer available. Factory intonation is much much closer to good out of the box thanks to the new jig JD fought for years over. If they think it's perfect, they're wrong. They all need adjusting out of the box, or 10 years from now. No tool. Stupid.

If it's going to make it in front of a VP of J I have to take the opportunity to rant about more important things than color or body shape.

Since there's been mention of the Radius, I will say bring it back, too. The effort put into the SZ was an insult to the already existing R design. The SZ's are cool looking, but in my opinion they all should have/could have been R's, you know? I think there has been an acceptance period to the SZ, like there was with the first Talmans. I think acceptance would've been instant if all those models were R's. Imagine if the R had made its comeback along with the introduction of the ZR trem. Instead, its a scratch your head, step back, and decide if you like it thing, because its a new body, too. I think they're afraid the R will be seen as a poor man's JS, when it could be seen as everything the JS isn't! The RG is its own instrument, not a Jem Jr, so why be afraid of the R? Trans finishes, non-basswood models, various bridge options, a fancy wood model, the old burst finishes, they all would go over well today.

The most important thing about an R reintroduction, though, is to not screw it up. What I mean is, its vital that you don't change the look. The AANJ is a must to get all your current radius owners out to the store to get "the new one." Otherwise, don't try to "improve" the body or the general vibe.

I would like to underscore Frank's point by saying this:

I would like to see more colors out of everything. I can understand that Rich would rather have the other problems worked out before seeing new colors and body shapes, because he has to deal with setting up a ton of guitars. But, the lack of colors has stopped me from buying guitars like RGT3120. I don't like purple or brown. They need to have straight black as a color option for all guitars in my opinion. I know a lot of guitarist, and if they could have one color for their guitar, it would be black.

And everybody complains they make too many in black

I complain not for myself, but to all those that buy from most everywhere else that don't have these problems addressed before they recieve their guitar. Problems they live with for 10 years, problems that discredit the companies ability to play in the high end field. You expect an extremely high nut on a $100 guitar, you don't on a $2400 guitar. It took Ibanez years to shake the Ibeenhad label, I doubt they realize how easily they can earn it back if they keep letting things slip.

Will you be there all days? So, if you are there on saturday, what about a coffee soemwhere..

Ah... and yes, I'd like to see the Radius (though I'd like to have one with a fixed bridge and string through body).

Another fine thing would be a 12-String Artcore....