OK might be crazy but..............Should I buy an Ibanez Prestige?

octatonic

They do not make sense if buying new- you can get a vastly superior used Suhr Pro Modern for the sort of money you pay for a new Prestige.

Used- it depends- if it is in good condition, hash' teen bashed about and the trem isn't fucked then yes, provided it is the right money and you hang onto it.

If you're just going to get sick of it in 6 months and you pay over the odds then no.

I would get on ebay or gumtree and give some low offers, get one for cheap (I paid £400 for a Japanese one) and punt it along if you don't get one with it.

Also, I'd only go for a Jap one.

octatonic

Jonnysixstring said:

Thanks, the interwebs seem to suggest Jap or USA made pre 2000.

USA Custom's are very cool guitars to own- although they tend to be a bit 80's looking.

I had a snakeskin finish USA custom that sounded amazing but frankly, I could never gig it as it looked ridiculous.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t1.0-9/p417x417/319011_247248448738277_2020486573_n.jpg

ThePrettyDamned

This could be fun.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ESP-Horizon-1990s-Japanese-original-/151348027953?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item233d0ba231

octatonic

WOW- that is a lot of guitar for £350.

ThePrettyDamned

octatonic;292624" said:

WOW- that is a lot of guitar for £350.

Esp, and super strats in general, are so out of fashion, they often go silly cheap.

If only I had the money! It looks like great fun.

octatonic

ThePrettyDamned said:

octatonic;292624" said:

WOW- that is a lot of guitar for £350.

Esp, and super strats in general, are so out of fashion, they often go silly cheap.

If only I had the money! It looks like great fun.

Time to start buying then- it always comes back around.

I'm sure these extended scale instruments that people are buying will be uncool in a few years.

ThePrettyDamned

octatonic;292645" said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

octatonic;292624" said:WOW- that is a lot of guitar for £350.

Esp, and super strats in general, are so out of fashion, they often go silly cheap.



If only I had the money! It looks like great fun.





Time to start buying then- it always comes back around.

I'm sure these extended scale instruments that people are buying will be uncool in a few years.

Certainly hope so.

I've plans to save for a gsp fan fret project to finish, but if a bargaintastic branded one popped up I'd be all over it!

It is odd, though. People seem very obsessed with vintage tones, styles, relic and taste at the moment, as well as the progressive instruments, like ERG and fanned fret. Maybe in 5 or 10 years, everyone will be hounding that Floyd rose fun.

Nunogilberto

mrchi;292290" said:

If you can find one, a rga 12 1 would prob suit you, their a jap prestige with a full maple cap and no trem, I had one for years and it was amazing.

This - the RGA121s are awesome, classy guitars.

I've got a PGM301 from a few years back and it's a quality bit of kit.

meltedbuzzbox

I have never played a bad ibanez.

I dont think I can say that about any other company

xJonnysixstring

God I am such a guitar whore! I think I need to play a gig on my mates one first,  I have two Anderson's and a PRS I need to shift, this post could eventually be used for divorce proceedings!................Ah fuck it, I have been on the wine WHY?

Dave_Mc

digitalscream said:

Before you do that, you owe it to yourself to try one of Jaden's Series 2 guitars. I seem them as kinda of Ibanez Prestige+++. Comparing the two, there's not really anything a Prestige does that Jaden's guitars don't do better.

Budget-wise, you can usually pick a Series 2 up for around the £550 - £600 mark second hand..

Don't they come with a floyd rose special, though? I realise you can pay to upgrade, but it's like £200 or so I think. And also I think they have fairly cheap pickups too?

Never tried them, and they have a good rep- but certainly with the stock spec the Ibanez Prestiges probably have the edge (on paper, obviously, I realise you can't really judge a guitar by its spec sheet). Pay for those upgrades and I imagine the Jaden Rose would be pretty sweet, but you've also upped the price to about £1400 or so if you're looking at the Floyd model. I imagine the stock model with the hardtail at £900 is pretty decent value, though, if you don't want or need a Floyd (and the upgrades are presumably less necessary on it, but I could be wrong). EDIT: Just to clarify, I have nothing against Jaden Roses. I actually was half-thinking about a Series 2 at one point. )

Going back to the original question, I like the MIJ Ibanezes (though I haven't tried the most recent edge zero tremolo). There's a lot of talk about the older ones being better... I dunno, but there might be something in it. Even with fairly recent, in the grand scheme of things, models, I have a 2000 MIJ RG470 and a 2003 MIJ RG3270, and the rosewood on the 470 is noticeably better, and it's a lower-end model. And the trems stopped being Gotoh made when they discontinued the Edge Pro, I think (but as I said, I haven't tried the edge zero so I don't know how much that affects things).

mike_l

octatonic said:

USA Custom's are very cool guitars to own- although they tend to be a bit 80's looking.

I had a snakeskin finish USA custom that sounded amazing but frankly, I could never gig it as it looked ridiculous I looked ridiculous in the matching spandex........

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t1.0-9/p417x417/319011_247248448738277_2020486573_n.jpg

octatonic

I'll have you know that I look absolutely lovely in spandex.

mike_l

octatonic said:

I'll have you know that I look absolutely lovely in spandex.

Please no photo's.

BTW, it'ss the same reason I don't got a snakeskin finished guitar......

digitalscream

Dave_Mc said:

digitalscream said:

Before you do that, you owe it to yourself to try one of Jaden's Series 2 guitars. I seem them as kinda of Ibanez Prestige+++. Comparing the two, there's not really anything a Prestige does that Jaden's guitars don't do better.

Budget-wise, you can usually pick a Series 2 up for around the £550 - £600 mark second hand..

Don't they come with a floyd rose special, though? I realise you can pay to upgrade, but it's like £200 or so I think. And also I think they have fairly cheap pickups too?

Never tried them, and they have a good rep- but certainly with the stock spec the Ibanez Prestiges probably have the edge (on paper, obviously, I realise you can't really judge a guitar by its spec sheet). Pay for those upgrades and I imagine the Jaden Rose would be pretty sweet, but you've also upped the price to about £1400 or so if you're looking at the Floyd model. I imagine the stock model with the hardtail at £900 is pretty decent value, though, if you don't want or need a Floyd (and the upgrades are presumably less necessary on it, but I could be wrong). EDIT: Just to clarify, I have nothing against Jaden Roses. I actually was half-thinking about a Series 2 at one point. )

I believe the hard tail -> Floyd option is £100, and then pickups are £<whatever they cost> so yeah...I guess that'd be more expensive. I upgraded the pickups in mine to a pair of Ash's finest, but the both the ceramic and alnico pickups Jaden uses are still very, very good - certainly a lot better than the stock pickups you tend to get in Ibbys.

Depends entirely what you want the guitar for - if the pickups and the Floyd are the most important part, then you're probably starting to run out of budget Personally I avoid Floyds these days, so I tend not to think about that part of it much

xJonnysixstring

Definitely not into Floyde's, For me its a huge lump of mechanics I just would never use. Would rather have the wood.

nickp

you've got me looking now.  They don't seem to attract many bids on Ebay and the sellers seem to start with quite high opening amounts.....with time it looks like a bargain could be had

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-Prestige-RG1820X-Custom-One-of-a-kind-finish-Piezo-Pickups-w-Hard-Case-/171385818370?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item27e7640d02

I need to get my modified strat back from the guitar tech first before I go buying any more!

ThePrettyDamned

That MIJ esp I sent earlier actually sold for 350 quid.

That's a crazy bargain of a guitar - there are probably squier guitars that retail for more, but that's a proper top quality esp!

So yes, super strats must be out of fashion in a big way. Make the most of it

Megii

I've been admiring this model:

http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/eg_page14.php?year=2014&area_id=3&cat_id=1&series_id=3&data_id=77&color=CL01

OK, a "premium" rather than a "prestige", but looks good to me, and I'm rather taken with that dark 5-piece wenge/bubinga neck.

octatonic

Megii said:

I've been admiring this model:

http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/eg_page14.php?year=2014&area_id=3&cat_id=1&series_id=3&data_id=77&color=CL01

OK, a "premium" rather than a "prestige", but looks good to me, and I'm rather taken with that dark 5-piece wenge/bubinga neck.

Friends don't let friends buy Ibanez Premiums.

I've worked on a bunch of these- they are not worth anywhere near what they are sold for new.

The trem's aren't great and wear out quickly and I dislike the pickups.

Buy a MIJ Prestige and you will get a much better guitar.