Guitars are a luxury market.
Companies and people can charge as much as they think buyers will pay.
If the economy gets better and people start buy more guitars, the prices go up.
Besides the standard economic forces, that too!
It's not vegetables, underwear, tin foil, water, or electricity or something somebody needs. The guitar companies can do as they please and not get that much backlash because it's a luxury and non-essential item.
When you have something like that certain sexy black Prestige RG, or Fender Stratocaster, or Gibson Les Paul, then you know there's always a built in player who will get what they want and won't mind paying too much for it. If all I want is a certain 7 string RG made in Japan, I may not be pleased by a Jackson just as good or even an equivalently equipped 7 string Ibanez S Prestige. For the high end, the companies who have a known entity, like mentioned above, or others like Orange 6120, Rickenbacker 330 old style, or Kirk Hammett MII road worn signature, they will always know that they have the upper hand and the consumer has little power in changing the price point.
Of course if you go way too high then it could make a player reconsider a different guitar. I remember when I wanted a certain period vintage Telecaster and I was willing to overlook other Telecasters which were basically much better guitars but upon getting ultra specific in what I wanted then I knew the market had the advantage. I would have even been wiling to pay a good 50% percent more than it was worth.
A good example of inflated prices,
and people willing to pay almost anything are is rarified original Tube Screamer. Many other reissues can get a sound worthy of what one needs, but the original has not only the sound and the look, but the prestige of being the tube screamer/overdrive a whole industry is based upon. Ten years from now, there will probably be a person who buys an original tube screamer for what a nice used car goes for. There are certainly new Ibanezes in the higher end, with no real indication of scarcity or discontinuation, which can bring in vintage guitar like prices. I am sure there are a few players here who help support the reason Ibanez can give for keeping a certain list price artificially high. If the demand is there, and there are some who won't play Ibanezes not made in Japan, then there's no pressure for Ibanez Japan to change their pricing structure.
What level of high prices is due to economic pressures versus built in fanatics is hard to tell for the MIJ Ibanez guitars. Being probably the third most popular guitar behind Fender/Squier and Gibson/Epiphone, I am sure Ibanez will always find buyers for the stupidly expensive stuff like J Custom and Jem EVOs.
