From my experience with premiums its really a luck of the draw. I have had a few with dodgy frets and just overall dodgy fitment. Even my current "good" premium has a somewhat misaligned neck which would require some form of shaving in the joint to full get straight.

In contrast I have never had any of these issues with any Prestige I have had. This is why I am somewhat skeptical about the premiums as in a lot of cases there just as or more expensive then a prestige.

If I were you I would spend a little extra a get a nice Prestige 7 String. It maybe just me but I don't really like the one you are looking at, it' is a bit 'meh', but I don't like red guitars

Personally I would only ever own Prestige Ibanez guitars but for the fact that I like the neck shapes much much better on the premiums and cheaper RG's (wizard III shapes). But in terms of what you get for the money, really imo there is no beating a prestige.

 

Personally I would only ever own Prestige Ibanez guitars but for the fact that I like the neck shapes much much better on the premiums and cheaper RG's (wizard III shapes). But in terms of what you get for the money, really imo there is no beating a prestige.

agreed - I have 3 Prestige Ibanez guitars and they are worth the extra money

 

If you want the premium I would be glad to give you a list of things to check :

1) string alignment, a little off (e.g. 0.05->0.1mm) is no problem. Measure with a filler gauge the clearance on both sides. Write down the numbers
2) neck stability : check that the neck does not move relative to the body when going from full dive to full pull up
3) nut height. Fret the 2nd fret on each string. It should almost touch the 1st fret
4) nut stability : nut should not move under heavy trem usage
5) pups should not be angled/slanted but parallel to the body
6) raise the action to "silly low" as per Rich's ibanezrules.com site and play every single fret for buzzes, there should be minimal
7) play the guitar under high gain and check the sustain all over the fretboard and strings

ppl feel free to add your checks to the list

also 86boy, if you get this guitar, you most probably would want to change the saddle intonation screws right away : they might be not so good. But this is an easy fix. Also bar in mind that it will take time till you learn all the tricks of the EZ ii-7 ZPS trem!

 

Thanks guys for the advice

 

Hey guys,
After much research and contemplation, I finally bought the EBMM JP7 (the super cool Mystic Dream color).
Though it cost me a bomb, the over all feel and tonality is beyond words.
Thanks a lot to all of you for guiding me in the right direction.

 

I've owned a fair bit of prestiges and a couple of premiums...and I must say that the money you pay for a NEW premium does not hold up against the quality of the instrument. More often then not the fretwork of irky, and the wood they use is quite bland, where as that from the japanse factories often tends to sing and resonate. I would 100 times sooner buy a used prestige, then a new premium... but yeah, those are my 2 eurocents

 

Hey man,
Thank you for your advice.
I ended up investing in a Music Man JP7 (Mystic Dream). Its definitely one of the most amazing pieces of craftsmanship.
Pls Check out my youtube link as and when you can -

 

I know exactly what you were comparing, now compare what I asked.

VWH - $4000
RG655 - $1600

Trying to compare a signature model with royalties paid, very high development costs, and built in fan base of buyers to anything else,
Apples - naval lint.

 

But the same quality levels per price don't apply to a premium. A VWH is close to a J Custom imo, and a RG655 is bottom of the line prestige.

At least with a proper MIJ Jem you are getting a much better guitar over a normal prestige RG, regardless of royalties paid. The same can't be said for the Premium line.

The Premium Jem is basically just normal Premium RG quality with royalties attached, yet the price is much more, and your not getting that added quality like comparing what you have mentioned VWH - RG655.

Hence why I said may as well buy a Prestige RG2550 or similar for much less then a Premium Jem and get a properly built guitar.

 

Absolutely false. The VWH and the 655 are virtually identical. A higher level builder built the JEM, but you can put them side by side and you tell me what's higher quality, please. Same exact hardware, both Dimarzio's, besides the grip, claw, and angled jack, they have virtually the same spec.

JEM70SFG - $2000
RG950QM - $1408

Please tell me where your argument is.

 

Don't forget the inlays, basically a J Custom neck on a JEM, don't the Jems have rounded fret ends as well? (Not talking poorly done premium version).

The prices you have put up show exactly what I am pointing out. You are paying almost double (depending which premium) for what? Exact same quality guitar (if not worse from the ones I have looked at).

My whole point was to show that you may as well buy a cheaper Prestige, I understand the whole signature deal thing and the extra you pay for it, whether or not you agree with me regarding the Jem being better then a normal prestige doesn't really matter.

From what I have seen over here you can get a Jem 7V for around $3500 aud or less brand spanking new. RG655 or higher model around $1500-$2000 AUD. So I can see the value of buying a Jem, inlays, fancy hardware, MIJ etc etc.

Same can not be said for the premium range, you are solely paying the extra $$$ for the fact its a sig model. Every JEM premium, both SFG and BFP have had major QC issues, necks miss aligned, gouges taken out of neck wood etc etc. Its a complete hit or miss with the Premiums. out of the 6 I have had, 1 was awesome, the others far from ok and got sent back.

I could see if the premium Jems were only like $4-500 aud more why you would, but not a retail of $1000 aud or more, just because its a sig model.

 

Those are US LIST prices, everything I put in terms of list, not what MAP policy is, or what some dealer will give it away for after it has collected enough dust and dings on the rack, or what you can buy one used for after rich daddy's boy decided playing steel strings hurt his fingers too much to continue. That's the only way to compare apples with apples.

 

Evidently I have to keep quoting myself.



VWH - $4000
SFG - $2000

Seems like half to me.

So basically your saying that there is almost a 100% mark up over standard premiums just because of royalties or whatever? And people are just mean to be ok with that?
.

SFG - $2000
RG950QM - $1408

Your math is a little off, again I'm quoting US prices, I could care less what they are anywhere else. This is apples to apples, I've cleaned my naval.

Yes, people have been just fine with paying a heavy markup to buy a signature model over a standard since they started selling signature models.....

 

No, the JEM's do not have J Custom fret ends, because they're not J Customs.

On the 70SFG you don't have the vine inlay also? Edge, Dimarzio's, same grip/claw/angled jack. You think the "higher level" builder isn't working that line compared to the 950 line?

Again, where's your argument?

 

Lol what the cheap inlays they put in there, not the same as the proper mother of pearl inlays.

I don't know why you are sticking up for the premium range so badly. They are overpriced for what they are.

With your logic the Jem Jr is the same as the Jem 7v, it has a Floyd, inlays and a claw grip as well, must be same same.

 

Mother of toilet seat?

Tell me what the inlays are on the VSK, UVMC, LNG, please, tell me the exotic material those are.

You're the one that made a statement you can't defend, even though you keep trying to, very badly.

 

Mother of toilet seat?

Tell me what the inlays are on the VSK, UVMC, LNG, please, tell me the exotic material those are.

You're the one that made a statement you can't defend, even though you keep trying to, very badly.

Wait a second, your the one bashing on about the 7V and comparing it to other models, you never mentioned inlays on other jems ie pyrmids.

So what argument am I not able to defend? The fact that the premiums have cheap crappy inlays? Just like the Jem JR?

From the Jem I had and comparing it to J customs inlays, the inlays were as good if not better.

Are they mother of pearl? I dunno, you tell me? I would assume they are.

Are the inlays on the premiums some cheap plastic, I would guess yes.

I don't see why your getting so defensive over the premium range.

 

I'd never argue I'd rather have a good MIJ over a good Premium, but I didn't make this statement.

Originally Posted by eightsixboy View Post
Still can't get over the price of the new Premium Jems and Universe, way more expensive then a similar Prestige is just crazy.

And try to compare apples to naval lint, and the keep arguing it 8O

 

If the quality was as good as a prestige, the I would agree with you say spend the extra on the premium.

But think of it this way. You are paying more for a premium Jem over a prestige and basically getting:

1. Worse QC and overall build
2. Made in indo
3. sig model tax

If there are people out there willing to pay more for those things, then good for them

 

Delete

 

If you haven't noticed JEMs have always sold themselves [except for that fixed bridge mistake]. I've sold 18 of them in the last 2 months. I've been doing a silver package on a VWH this whole 2 pages, and just finished....

 

If you haven't noticed JEMs have always sold themselves [except for that fixed bridge mistake]. I've sold 18 of them in the last 2 months.

God I hope you are referring to the Premiums, I for one am gobsmacked that someone would pay anywhere near $4000 US yet alone $3000 US for a JEM. That's like limited run JCRG J custom pricing.

May I ask, in all seriousness. How can there be such a huge price gap between countries. The SFG you mention has around the same RRP over here but the JEM 7V is a crap ton higher in the US? Why is that?

With our crap dollar you should just buy a Jem from here for around $2300 US and ship it back to the US.

 

18 JEMs, $101,350. No, not a single Premium.

You hit most of the nail, exchange rates. Usually the Aussies are crying over how much Ibanez is there and how much cheaper they are in the US.

 

That seems very odd, to be honest. You would think they would want to align pricing worldwide from model to model so there is a similar price gap between them. Because with the way it sits now with the pricing, I don't think there going to sell many premiums Jem's.

 

Why they're so concerned with QC on the PBFP's, they're heavily back ordered, they can't get enough to meet demand.

Forgot the EVO I shipped a few weeks ago, make that 19 at $107,350

 

Still shouldn't be an excuse for shoddy QC. Don't send a guitar out if it has major flaws, especially something that's priced like the premium JEM.

 

That lesson they'll only learn when people vote with their wallets and don't buy. So nobody is teaching them anything right now.

It's not like they don't want to build quality guitars, and the P's have come a LONG WAY!!! since the first 920's came out. They're checking off one bug at a time.

 

That's great to hear that the Premiums are looking up. There are some great Fenders and LTDs made in Indonesia although the RGs are a little more important to build to the tightest tolerances.

Anybody can build a non-locking strat or tele or fixed bridge LTDs and make a pretty decent guitar.

What is the most major complaint about Indonesian RG's?

 

The first Premium I met was in a shop. At the time I didn't even know what the line was but I bought a 920 that day. The guitar had a lot of unexpected features like the glossed headstock, the neat looking "binding," and decent pickups. The bridge was fine, I usually don't use the trem, but the arm had this little bushing you could flip upside down to either make the arm really loose or tight rotational-wise. The quilted top looked like it had an inconsistent dye job is my only complaint, if I were to do it again and it had to be a Premium, I would have waited a year or two for one of those rad looking RG1XXV models.

 

I'm late to the party but...........

What Rich was saying is that you need to compare signature-signature, and standard line to standard line. This is why he gave the examples he did.

I get what you've been saying eightsixboy and agree that buying an RG655 is a better deal than buying a PBFP- but ONLY if you take the inherent "JEM" value out of the PBFP. Being a JEM, it absolutely carries a higher value intrinsicaly, simply because it IS a JEM. For those people that arent impressed with the PBFP or SFG appointments, and could care less about having a "Steve Vai" guitar, They'll do a lot better for themselves buying from the Prestige line..........

You also have to remember that MOST people buying a guitar these days wouldn't know their guitar had a serious QC issue unless it had bells, buzzers and party hats pointing it out. As far as they're concerned- the 2012-2014 VWH they bought could possibly be the best instrument ever produced. They are blissfully unaware that their guitars have serious problems. And it's not just the VWH's.........My RG 752 is just like all the rest of them. The neck pockets are all routed too deep. They require a full pocket shim just to get the Lo-Pro out of the cellar. AFAIK, only the people that bought from Rich even know about the problam- let alone have it fixed. Still, have you heard a single complaint about the 752's out in the world?? Of course not, because all of the owners are unaware the problem even exists. People will kepp buying them and loving these guitars. Hoshino will keep selling them and saying "THANK YOU VERY MUCH".

 

The VWH's were 11'- late 13'.

Very few guitars actually still need a neck shim, I've had 752's that didn't and that did. 655's do not, the bar will pullup all the way to the body. Most S's still need shims. I can't keep track of particular models and just check and fit as needed.

 

:lol: Whatever.

Is the 655 the new 550?

 

:lol: Whatever.

Is the 655 the new 550?

Yes, but without the cool colors of the 80s