Thoughts on the PIA (The new JEM)?
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I was going to get one, but put Bartolinis in my 7VWH instead. If the vine had "popped" a bit more I might have gotten one though. They are great sounding guitars with the alder bodies.
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Sounded like more than a suggestion.
So a dealer ordered a set a UV25's? and couldn't sell them, because they had no idea they had flop written on the headstock unless they already had a buyer for them. That would be the dealers fault for not knowing the market and thinking if they make it it will sell. It wasn't a flop for me, I didn't buy one I didn't have sold. I could tell from the first day of NAMM it was going to be a tough sell.
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It wasn't UV25's. All of this can be culminated into: the TAM100 was a really hard guitar to sell, even at a substantial discount. That kind of experience probably leaves a bad taste in a dealer's mouth. There were other Ibanez models that were hard to sell but not like the TAM100. Was it a flop? I don't know, but it was not reordered and salesmen would give it dirty looks and mumble under their breath when they walked past it.
...JK but I do not think anyone was sad to see it go.
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The TAM was a bigger flop than the 25ths. Crazy expensive, very little market for 8's, and you had to really love the spec [I didn't] to buy one of those. And for a local dealer to inventory one waiting for a walk in to buy it? I sold 1 new one and 1 second the whole run. I saw the new TAM they were concocting at LA and already knew those would be special order only.
Signature models are a double edge sword. If there's enough fan interest that coincides with their budget and aesthetics you may have a good chance. If you don't have all of that, the chances go way down. And that guitar was way overpriced because not old was it a sig but you had to pay for the [at least they were decent] flame maple tops, they put an opaque coat of white on you could barely see. or they make a Kiko RGA that's really nice, but they don't color match the head. I wasn't buying one. But the problem is, they're signature models, the artist has the final say, if the aesthetics or the spec aren't there, who wants to way overpay for it? Both guitars cost far more than a JEM.
Signature models are a double edge sword. If there's enough fan interest that coincides with their budget and aesthetics you may have a good chance. If you don't have all of that, the chances go way down. And that guitar was way overpriced because not old was it a sig but you had to pay for the [at least they were decent] flame maple tops, they put an opaque coat of white on you could barely see. or they make a Kiko RGA that's really nice, but they don't color match the head. I wasn't buying one. But the problem is, they're signature models, the artist has the final say, if the aesthetics or the spec aren't there, who wants to way overpay for it? Both guitars cost far more than a JEM.
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Yeah, I recall that the flaw is that Tosin Abasi is only famous with members of SSO
In all seriousness though, I think the guitarhero landscape and thus the signature model landscape has changed so much over the last few years with the rise of YouTube and Spotify and what have you and at the same time the demise of the guitar magazine and the promoted album release.
I think Jackson scored hugely getting Misha Mansoor on board, he seems to be the nearest thing to a "mainstream" new guitar hero I can think of. He leads a significant band, with the main focus on guitar, he understands his gear and he doesn't come over as a dick in interviews.
His signature guitar follows the same business model as the EBMM JP which is different price points and LOTS of options at each level. Whereas many Ibanez signature guitars are one model and one finish per artist. The JS and JEM/PIA are the exceptions not the rule.
I totally agree!Yeah, I recall that the flaw is that Tosin Abasi is only famous with members of SSO
In all seriousness though, I think the guitarhero landscape and thus the signature model landscape has changed so much over the last few years with the rise of YouTube and Spotify and what have you and at the same time the demise of the guitar magazine and the promoted album release.
I think Jackson scored hugely getting Misha Mansoor on board, he seems to be the nearest thing to a "mainstream" new guitar hero I can think of. He leads a significant band, with the main focus on guitar, he understands his gear and he doesn't come over as a dick in interviews.
His signature guitar follows the same business model as the EBMM JP which is different price points and LOTS of options at each level. Whereas many Ibanez signature guitars are one model and one finish per artist. The JS and JEM/PIA are the exceptions not the rule.
I like guitars on spec, though, but in a lot of cases lately I find the signature guitar leads me to listening to the artist - a kind of reverse on the past. I didn't know Martin Miller from Dean Martin before seeing the MM1 AZ, but I really dig that guitar and it got me listening to Martin's music. Same for Marco Sfogli, who I REALLY dig now. I was introduced to him when the MSM1 came out, which I also really like. Really all of the AZ sig artists fall into that category for me. Chon, Polyphia, and even Yvette Young with Covet (who's green Talman is FIRE - and I don't normally like Talmans).
I like the TAM100 and (aesthetically) the TAM10 and would like to experiment with an 8, but not enough to spend that kind of dough on either one.
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So true... Used to be that a guitarist had to be a mega star to get a signature model, but looking at the Ibanez signature models last week there were several I had never heard of. I don't listen to every genre of music, but I do if it has good guitar work.. lol. Big fan of Sfogli and very impressed by Yvette Young too. Polyphia has some freaking chops, but it's hard to get past my first impression a while back when they looked Justin Bieber wanna-be's.
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They are a local dealer but they sell most of their guitars online. I think the goal was to get high-end Ibanez guitars in the store so people knew they had them. Long term, it worked out pretty well but the first year was rough.
Special order models make a lot of sense. The Meshuggah M8M was probably not practical as a production model but enough people wanted one that Ibanez made the Meshuggah M80 which coincided with more people's budgets. It makes me wonder if they are sitting on a prototype they chose not to produce simply because choices have to be made, that would be a runaway success?
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I have yet to try a Pia, more for curiousity sake than being serious about buying one. I simply want to compare it to the Jem I have more than anything which is the second one I have had, first a 1988 FP which I hated the midrangy tone out of the PAF Pros to a very keepable FP2 with the Evolutions. I liked the sound of the pickups but I just can't bring myself to buy his best guitar the Jem 7VW. Sorry, just can't do white guitars. I wanted older ones to save money but they don't stay white. I was going to go for a Jem 10 but they are like finding a needle in a haystack and are $$$. The FP2 was a no brainer but like the Pia, its pretty ornate.
Now my thoughts on the Pia, if I was to buy one it would be the gold one. The green one looks off with a black pickguard. The green and pink aren't my colors anyway. The white one looks too similar to his Jem 7VW. I know Steve did not reinvent the wheel but to make the Jem into a new guitar with a few refinements is a huge gamble in todays world. No one buys really expensive guitars anymore thanks to outsourcing abroad. Did he really need to change the Jem? To discontinue the Jem in favor of the Pia is a serious mistake unless he puts out much cheaper versions like the Jem Jr. It would help if he put some new music out too.
Now my thoughts on the Pia, if I was to buy one it would be the gold one. The green one looks off with a black pickguard. The green and pink aren't my colors anyway. The white one looks too similar to his Jem 7VW. I know Steve did not reinvent the wheel but to make the Jem into a new guitar with a few refinements is a huge gamble in todays world. No one buys really expensive guitars anymore thanks to outsourcing abroad. Did he really need to change the Jem? To discontinue the Jem in favor of the Pia is a serious mistake unless he puts out much cheaper versions like the Jem Jr. It would help if he put some new music out too.
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Someone posted this in a thread about Steve Vai on TGP. The thread was about Steve using Marshalls again but by page 5 the context was Vai's relevance to the electric guitar, more or less. I felt this post captured Vai's contribution to the guitar rather well:Yeah, I recall that the flaw is that Tosin Abasi is only famous with members of SSO
In all seriousness though, I think the guitar hero landscape and thus the signature model landscape has changed so much over the last few years with the rise of YouTube and Spotify and what have you and at the same time the demise of the guitar magazine and the promoted album release.
I think Jackson scored hugely getting Misha Mansoor on board, he seems to be the nearest thing to a "mainstream" new guitar hero I can think of. He leads a significant band, with the main focus on guitar, he understands his gear and he doesn't come over as a dick in interviews.
His signature guitar follows the same business model as the EBMM JP which is different price points and LOTS of options at each level. Whereas many Ibanez signature guitars are one model and one finish per artist. The JS and JEM/PIA are exceptions, not the rule.
Anyone roughly 50 years old or less, who at some point played hard rock/metal in their youth, who says they didn't at least try to mimic Steve Vai at least for one day, is probably not being completely honest.
Guitar Heroes - I think Steve is one of many guitarists that this quote could apply to as well. These guitarists did one very important thing: they set the technical bar high and continued to raise it. I think it is unreasonable to expect these guitarists to continue to raise the technical bar anymore. If that is what they want to continue to do, fine, but if they want to do something else, that might be more worthwhile for themselves and for the guitar community. In other words, the guitar heroes played their part. It is time for other guitarists to be allowed to play theirs.
Signature Models - A signature model does make a guitar hero.
Landscapes - They have changed. Your social media following makes you a guitar hero followed by the signature model. Actually, first and last name, email address, and phone number are required before your social stats, then you are a guitar hero and so on and so forth... That was just one company though...
Misha Mansoor - I listened to the 1st Periphery album (without vocals) for 3 months straight. 8O He managed to make the electric guitar an exceptionally percussive instrument while maintaining traditional electric guitars sounds. That was new and interesting! He even gave it a name: djent. That was surprisingly clever considering how difficult it is to name new sounds. For some reason, the internet was not very kind about it after a while.
EBMM JP - There business model is every JP related guitar can be a 7 string or a 6 string and you can choose from a handful of finishes depending on the model. I agree that is more appealing than 1 model, 1 color. I suspect it is advantageous to have a major string company subsidizing the guitar company. Otherwise, I have no idea how they can do what they do.
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That was a good video!
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Vai wanted to get back into his sales pitch and Henning looks at the neck and starts probing whether the fretboard was scalloped. Just classic.
Vai then says he's only got 4 Pia's, which again brings up an interesting point. It doesn't appear Ibanez has even done the production run on these yet. The dealer delivery dates start in late April for White and go into late September for the Green.
Question for Rich, would they do two runs of the same color here depending on orders that come in? Or are these unit numbers hard and fast locked for the three colors?
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Not sure i understand Steve buying up all the backstops. Isn't it an Ibanez part (made by gotoh)? Or maybe someone else has the patent? And they were in the 777re's.
Funny how he goes on about tuning a regular floater without one (aka what comes on the guitar) is a pain. He woulda saved himself some grief just bringing a standard PIA to that interview lol.
Funny how he goes on about tuning a regular floater without one (aka what comes on the guitar) is a pain. He woulda saved himself some grief just bringing a standard PIA to that interview lol.
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