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#81 ·
rnovak said:
I'm sorry, but that is an ignorant sentiment if I ever heard one.

If you exclude differences in wood, IE comparing a mahogany body with basswood, if you honestly think that two guitars with near identical specs, the only difference being a slight (and I do mean slight) difference in build quality (if one even exists), to say that one could ever sound 'superior' to the other, in any way, is just ignorant.

no offense intended
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"I'm sorry, but that's an ignorant statement... no offense intended." :lol:

Build quality is important, no doubt... but by the time you get to J Custom and Suhr territory, you're well within the realm of diminishing returns. What DOES make a difference however is wood selection - two chunks of mahogany will not necessarily sound the same. Suhr may have an edge here, easily over a run-of-the-mill Ibanez and likely over a J Custom (John Suhr is kind of nuts about this stuff), but either way I would expect a "better than average" chunk of wood to be used here, and if you got the opportunity to sit down and play the guitars back to back then I'd say buy whatever feels the most comfortable to you.

This is my baby, BTW - plays better than any Ibanez I've owned (though as I previously mentioned I did have a 1527 with an absolutely terrific neck on it that might have been able to give this one a run for its money, and I'm kicking myself for selling), and while as an all around guitar I think it sounds better too, I also have an old, beat up, freakishly resonant PWH that I like for certain things as well. I'll be curious how they compare ten years down the line, of course.

Image
 
#82 ·
Honestly, ive owned 2-3 suhrs now and 2 J-customs and i would agree with drew. I would say the Suhrs are better build quality wise (Plek'd!).

There's no point in doing a tonal comparison because the specs of the ones I've had were all more vintage. IE, non-floating trem, rounder radius, vintage pickups, etc..

The new J-customs are way nicer than the older ones I've owned but I still think the Suhr stuff is a bit better.

Cant really ****up going with either though!
 
#83 ·
You say Suhr plays better than Ibanez. Maybe it's your preference, not the actual quality that makes you prefer the Suhr more. You can't say everything is about quality at a certain point. To me, spending that insane amount of money on a guitar is just going overboard unless you are a professional musician who has truckloads of money to spend on high end guitars like this.
 
#84 ·
MatiasTolkki said:
You say Suhr plays better than Ibanez. Maybe it's your preference, not the actual quality that makes you prefer the Suhr more. You can't say everything is about quality at a certain point. To me, spending that insane amount of money on a guitar is just going overboard unless you are a professional musician who has truckloads of money to spend on high end guitars like this.
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No pro musician has money :p
 
#85 ·
Its simple... If i were to spend 4-5 grand on a guitar i rather buy suhr or anniversary ibanez jem... Any brand can built a guitar from mahagony basswood alder etc all that.. But i believe suhr really chooses a high quality one... Unlike ibanez...
 
#86 ·
MatiasTolkki said:
You say Suhr plays better than Ibanez. Maybe it's your preference, not the actual quality that makes you prefer the Suhr more. You can't say everything is about quality at a certain point. To me, spending that insane amount of money on a guitar is just going overboard unless you are a professional musician who has truckloads of money to spend on high end guitars like this.
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This is pretty arbitrary, IMO - it seems like you're saying a J Custom "destroys" a Suhr, in your previous post, but here you're saying that the problem isn't quality, it's just that Suhrs cost too much.

Let's put it this way - I've owned a RG7CST, a whole bunch of other Ibanez guitars over the years (still own a PWH), and I now own this Suhr. The Suhr is a better guitar, hands down, than the CST was. The CST wasn't even the best Ibanez I've ever played, that would be the RG1527 I used to own (best neck I've ever played on an Ibby, and had I not hated the DActivators in it so much I might still have it) as the best playing, or my PWH as the best sounding.

Furthermore, I'll say that the Suhrs I've played have been more consistently awesome than the sig/J Custom Ibanez I've played - this is potentially subjective, but given Suhr's factory burn/reject rate, it's also potentially not.

And the kicker is, J Customs aren't even cheaper - this is a new J Custom RG7, and I paid less for my Suhr than I would for this:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...tm_campaign=none&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CLTapIjc1boCFTHxOgodSB8AjQ

Personally, for $4k, I'd rather have the Suhr.
 
#87 ·
Drew said:
This is pretty arbitrary, IMO - it seems like you're saying a J Custom "destroys" a Suhr, in your previous post, but here you're saying that the problem isn't quality, it's just that Suhrs cost too much.

Let's put it this way - I've owned a RG7CST, a whole bunch of other Ibanez guitars over the years (still own a PWH), and I now own this Suhr. The Suhr is a better guitar, hands down, than the CST was. The CST wasn't even the best Ibanez I've ever played, that would be the RG1527 I used to own (best neck I've ever played on an Ibby, and had I not hated the DActivators in it so much I might still have it) as the best playing, or my PWH as the best sounding.

Furthermore, I'll say that the Suhrs I've played have been more consistently awesome than the sig/J Custom Ibanez I've played - this is potentially subjective, but given Suhr's factory burn/reject rate, it's also potentially not.

And the kicker is, J Customs aren't even cheaper - this is a new J Custom RG7, and I paid less for my Suhr than I would for this:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...tm_campaign=none&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CLTapIjc1boCFTHxOgodSB8AjQ

Personally, for $4k, I'd rather have the Suhr.
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For 4k, I'd rather have a JEM77FP2 but that's besides the point.

The JCRG12 limited is neck thru and hand made for 5k. That's the one I said would destroy the Suhrs, not just any JC.

My only issue is that the necks on JCs just dont feel comfortable for me. I feel like a gorilla or orangutan when I hold one.
 
#88 ·
Can someone tell me...........if I'm into Ibanez necks, is a Suhr modern neck (thinnest shape) even gonna get close to a Jem or Wizard feel? I have a couple of Jems, PGM's and Prestige Rg's, and never even tried a Suhr. But can a Suhr neck even feel similar to an Ibanez? I'm really curious.
 
#89 ·
When you're talking of guitars in that price bracket it all boils down to personal preference and you can't compare what's better from just handling say one Suhr vs one J Custom. Drew makes some good points here and I think he has experience with both brands from the sounds of things to give informative input. It's also interesting to note that he highly praises a Prestige 1527 that he used to own which proves that's sometimes it's an individual guitar and not just the 'Name' that can be a great instrument. As others too have said in this thread it's about neck profile and the overall feel of the guitar and sound to the invidual.

For me I'll always choose a J Custom over a Suhr because of the Wizard necks, those are the best necks on the planet for me bar none so I'm always gonna go for a JC over a Suhr, that's no slight on Suhr guitars, they are of exceptional quality and you won't get a better guitar for sure, again it's personal taste but I do listen to guys who have hands on experience ie owning/gigging/touring with multiple examples of these guitars than just folks who have 'tested' out a few of each.
 
#90 ·
To me the neck radius and size of suhr and jem is not much difference..i would still choose suhr.. And suhr is custom build so you can custom certain measurement of the neck you want...and its easier to play on SS frets...ibanez quality is going down now.. I have alots of friends who used to play ibanez guitars in the 80s and 90s switching to ESP and othe brand now because of quality and price point... Now ESP guitars and bigger then ibanez in japan... More and more guitarist are andorsing ESP
 
#91 ·
djanggo said:
To me the neck radius and size of suhr and jem is not much difference..i would still choose suhr.. And suhr is custom build so you can custom certain measurement of the neck you want...and its easier to play on SS frets...ibanez quality is going down now.. I have alots of friends who used to play ibanez guitars in the 80s and 90s switching to ESP and othe brand now because of quality and price point... Now ESP guitars and bigger then ibanez in japan... More and more guitarist are andorsing ESP
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....and here he comes again, as always into any Suhr vs J Custom debate. You actually slate Ibanez so much I don't actually know what you're doing on this site. Please post the long term Ibanez J Custom Vs Suhr experience you have, and by that I mean please post which J Custom and Suhr models you have owned/played long term enough to give an informed opinion.
 
#92 ·
djanggo said:
To me the neck radius and size of suhr and jem is not much difference..i would still choose suhr.. And suhr is custom build so you can custom certain measurement of the neck you want...and its easier to play on SS frets...ibanez quality is going down now.. I have alots of friends who used to play ibanez guitars in the 80s and 90s switching to ESP and othe brand now because of quality and price point... Now ESP guitars and bigger then ibanez in japan... More and more guitarist are andorsing ESP
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You know why? Because they can get their own custom guitars made. The downside to ESP is that their prices shot up in the past few months. ESP M-II CTM was 240,000 yen ($2400) yen when I first played one, I went to the ESP store yesterday and they were almost 360,000 yen ($3600). For that price, I could get 3 2550s and they all play just as well as the MIICTM. I refuse to pay a premium for a guitar that isn't all that special.
 
#93 ·
MatiasTolkki said:
You know why? Because they can get their own custom guitars made. The downside to ESP is that their prices shot up in the past few months. ESP M-II CTM was 240,000 yen ($2400) yen when I first played one, I went to the ESP store yesterday and they were almost 360,000 yen ($3600). For that price, I could get 3 2550s and they all play just as well as the MIICTM. I refuse to pay a premium for a guitar that isn't all that special.
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Amen to that Matias. I've played a lot of ESP custom shop guitars and they ain't even close to J Customs. As for Djanggo suggesting that SS frets are easier to play on well that's just utter horsesh*t. So if we blindfolded you would be able to tell if you were playing on SS frets?? Bollox!!! J Custom fretwork is the best on the planet...bar none!!!
 
#95 ·
djanggo said:
To me the neck radius and size of suhr and jem is not much difference..i would still choose suhr.. And suhr is custom build so you can custom certain measurement of the neck you want...and its easier to play on SS frets...ibanez quality is going down now.. I have alots of friends who used to play ibanez guitars in the 80s and 90s switching to ESP and othe brand now because of quality and price point... Now ESP guitars and bigger then ibanez in japan... More and more guitarist are andorsing ESP
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so... how many suhr you have so far?
 
#96 ·
And i have tried chris boderick jackson soloist signature... Its quality is way higher then jem and as good as j custom only difference is SS frets and ebony fretboard... Planetwaves tuners, quilted maple top with mahagony body and neck for the price way lesser than jem and j custom
 
#100 ·
IbanezDaemon said:
Amen to that Matias. I've played a lot of ESP custom shop guitars and they ain't even close to J Customs. As for Djanggo suggesting that SS frets are easier to play on well that's just utter horsesh*t. So if we blindfolded you would be able to tell if you were playing on SS frets?? Bollox!!! J Custom fretwork is the best on the planet...bar none!!!
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J customs are amazing axes but too far out of my price range :? I have played a few, I would love to own one (especially the JCRG12).

As for my comparison, 2550s are prestiges that over here only cost 130,000 ($1300) so my point is that Ibanez makes guitars at 1/3 the price that are equal in quality and playability to those overpriced ESPs. If you look at youtube videos comparing the LTD line with the ESP line, there are not very many differences between the Korean made LTDs or the MIJ ESPs in terms of playability.
 
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