So, what's the deal with ibanez guitars?

[Marksman]

Whitestrat: ... and this 19 year old kid comes out with a squier which he scalloped himself (hack job, but it works), and slayed everyone.

DHALIF!

xklusively4u: Is that considered plenty? Have you seen anyone plays JEM10, HAM 90, DNA, LNG, VDY etc? Sure there are some, that’s how JEM line survive but do you see many? Even 2820 or RGT3020, 2420 or 2720?

Why the heck are you comparing popularity/quantity of discontinued guitars to guitars that are still in production?

 

[xklusivly4u]

Why the heck are you comparing popularity/quantity of discontinued guitars to guitars that are still in production?

Because they match the price range of Gibson LPs, more or less. There are plenty of unique Ibanez which you don’t see them everyday. So if you go current and recent production, do you see many 7V, 77VBK, BRMR or JEM20? Couples of years back, you cannot compare JEM and Gibson LP as Ibanez prices are significant lower than now. There are not many Gibson LP players because they are costly in Singapore, if they are selling at 1000 S$, there will be plenty of Gibson LP players just like Ibanez.

 

[deathism]

softies amaze me..

from no brainer comparisons

to irrelevant arguments (when its supposed to be a discussion).. :roll:


the phrase, "One man's meat is another man's poison" seems to be the deepest and most complex phrase ever known to us since we cant comprehend its meaning. :roll:

 

[nickyseow]

this has degenerated into a ibanez discussion sub-forum.

guys. stick to the original thread.

WHAT IS WITH IBANEZ GUITAREZZ THEZE DAYZ

 

[Nicholasim]

there is nothing with IBANEZES !!!

there are ppl who like and people who dont , and if u see a lot of ibanezes around , its means a lot of people like ibanez ! what is there to say.

its personal preference , u like it , its affordable within ur budget , u get , you dont like it , DONT -_-

 

[nickyseow]

that, of course, is the correct answer.

but for keeping this thread alive, lets give that a pass shall we.

i just dont get it why do people like the traditional shaped guitars. thats just a thought of mine.

 

[Marksman]

Well, we either just like it or just don't. Thats our thoughts.

Case closed. 8)

 

[gjkung]

someone close this or soft is going to offline cuz James' bandwidth limit KAPUT

 

[refused]

let's just say if you like that brand, you can afford it, you buy.
if don't like that brand, don't buy, even if you can afford it. easy.
8)

 

[nickyseow]

someone close this or soft is going to offline

so who are you to say which threads should be closed? in fact its one of the most healthy threads alive so far.

 

[ngjingming]

my uncle has an old superstrat model by ibanez....

white colour and white pickguard... now aged to cream....

looks extremely sexaye.

 

[keithC]

why close!? lol. this thread is one of the best la.. ibanez fan galore...
nicky, you must be a hardcore fan!
jingming, your friend has a black one... aged still black and super sexayye!!

 

[ShredCow]

I won a guitar competition with my old ibanez Saber... so ibanez must be the bestest!

:lol:

 

[Whitestrat]

Marksman:

Whitestrat: ... and this 19 year old kid comes out with a squier which he scalloped himself (hack job, but it works), and slayed everyone.

DHALIF!

Uh... no. It wasn't Dhalif. He came in at no.2 or 3, I can't remember. I think was 2. Nope. The no.1 guy was a chinese dude...

 

[Whitestrat]

there are ppl who like and people who dont , and if u see a lot of ibanezes around , its means a lot of people like ibanez ! what is there to say.

its personal preference , u like it , its affordable within ur budget , u get , you dont like it , DONT -_-

Not entirely. :twisted:

Lets see if we can get some decent discussion in this thread on Ibanez.

In the 70s, Ibanez made some really decent guitars, but were part of the 4 companies (Ibanez, Greco, Tokai, Burny) that were sued by Gibson. Hence the Lawsuit Guitars. But they made guitars so well, that everyone wanted one to own because they were cheap. That's just it. It filled a niche.

Moving on to the 80/90s. The Saber series & Roadstar series did relatively well, but that was it. They were still filling a niche. People didn't want to pay the Fender/Gibson price. And when the Kramers, Charvels and Jacksons came along, Ibanez again filled a niche. This time, with some other brands like Aria Pro, Yamaha and the like. But they still filled the niche. They gave people a super strat at affordable prices and good quality.

Forward to today. The RG managed to put Ibanez on a different league of their own. They grew mainly from this model, and various endorsements, most notably, Steve Vai. They moved on while everyone else got lost. Suddently the Kramer/Jackson headstock looked dated. Ibanez had a design that kept on delivering. And still, the RG triumphed mainly due to price. But at this point, Ibanez got wise. They knew they were growing well, and decided to up their prices. An RG550 ltd today would cost almost $3k. The old RG550 cost only $600. JEMs used to cost $2k. Now they cost $4k.

Today, Ibanez has innovated many things on their own, but they still subscribe to the strat model for a guitar. They dabbled with neck-thrus, but the core method remains bolt-on. The RGs are still selling well, because they targeted the group everyone else was ignoring: nu-metal.

There. That's what's up with Ibanez. People use it today mainly because it's so common. To the point that no one else considers anything else when buying their first guitar. It's like when Jimi Hendrix was asked what guitar he wanted the Isley brothers to buy him, he replied: "Are you kidding? I want a White Strat!" (no connection to my nick hor...)

So Ibanez today has grown to the status of what the old strat used to be. It's just a market flow thing. One day it'll flow somewhere else, and you might find the whole world suddenly gagging for Musicmans.

 

[Whitestrat]

i just dont get it why do people like the traditional shaped guitars. thats just a thought of mine.

Ok. This I can answer. I'll make some assumptions here. I assume you're relatively young. I assume you listen to Rock/Metal.

Becasue of these assumptions, I'd wager that you grew up with the Ibanez-era. To you Ibanez guitars are the best things in the world.

Same applies for me. I grew up in the 80s. I was exposed mainly to Vai and Satriani. I had a closet full of Ibanez guitars. (5 at one time to be exact).

Then guess what? I grew up. I realised that there was much more out there in the guitar world to give up if I stuck only to one brand. I had NEVER tried a strat before, but I got damn frustrated because I couldn't get sounds like Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, etc etc on my Ibanez. Not even that clean tone you hear Steve Vai get on "Kid from Seattle". I even shunned strats, thinking they were obsolete guitars, and the time now was for more advanced designs. So I decided to give one a try.

You know what I found out? I realised, that after playing Ibanezes for almost 18 years, learning Steve Vai, Satriani, Petrucci stuff, I realised I couldn't play at all. Take away the jumbo frets, take away the floyd rose, take away the 16" radius, take away the 24 frets, and I really felt handicapped! I had to RELEARN how to play on a strat. And I realised, that I sounded like shit. I had no tone. I had no character. I had to find myself all over again.

Ibanez, or any superstrat, makes you very dependant on certain things, which you don't realise until someone takes them away.

I had to start from the beginning all over again.

And the more I ventured on my strat, I found that I was learning to do things the old, hard way. The way I picked was more important now. Especially when you're playing with crunch, and not distortion. Playing on a 7.25" radius neck with vintage frets was much harder work. You get a much better tone in the end, and are much more satisfied.

It felt liberating.

Try it. You might like it... :wink:

 

[ShredCow]

Good post Whitestrat.

I went thru the same thing when I got my USACG with single coils and stuff.

Perhaps, I wouldn't go and say that Strats = THE way to improve your feel (maybe not sound, since.. i dunno, some dislike single coils) but...

Any vintage strat - spec-ed guitar is the surefire way to give yourself a reality check...

Articulation matters just so much more with low output pups, less gain, no floyd for wild vibrato, your fingers only etc etc etc and that is what sets the "older" music apart from today's gain-drenched playing.

Then when you pick up a dual humbucker guitar and crank the gain... woah... you suddenly find yourself speeding along much faster, smoother and more soulful.


And no... Shredcow isn't getting a Strat anytime soon. Just in case.

 

[relinquish69]

I like both Ibanez and Fender guitars. we dont necessarily have to stick to a certain guitar brand or shape. why cant we own both and have the best of both worlds?

Ibanez RGs have Mahogany bodied strats while Fender strats have Alder bodies. that is the only difference between the 2 companys in my opinion. so I guess its because of the wood options available that made me want to own both. both brands use Basswood and ash so I wouldnt be comparing those 2 woods. so yeah, wood options available in Ibanez makes things a little more interesting since they have such a wide range for the RG series.

the 2 guitars serve their purpose la. RG for a mix of humbuckers and single coils while Fender strats for their clean bell single coil tone.

of course you can say that Parker Flys also have the same configuration as Ibanez RGs and they sound a ton better but as we know, most of us dont usually spend that much on gear. as long as its cheap and it does the job well, why not?

the bottomline is, Ibanez is affordable and versatile enough for most people. if people like Steve Vai or Paul Gilbert can stick with Ibanez for so long without much complains, I dont think we should complain so much about Ibanez being inferior to other brands. in my opinion of course.

 

[loldude333]

Heh well.......if ppl like a guitar brand and so a lot of ppl use it, so what? Its called, among other things, personal preference. Also, a lot of it has to do with marketing(read my previous post). So, the bottom line is, find what u like and stick with it. If u cannot live with an ibanez, dun go get one, or even worse whine abt it being so popular when u think fender/gibson are better. If u like all(as i do), even better for u bcos u are exposed to more kinds of tones and sounds and music and ultimately will reap the rewards of being able to play different guitars.

 

[Marksman]

Whitestrat: Uh... no. It wasn't Dhalif. He came in at no.2 or 3, I can't remember. I think was 2. Nope. The no.1 guy was a chinese dude...

Ahh okay my bad.