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Custom Ibanez

#21
If they had a custom shop that remade old late 70s early 80s basses I bet there would be a huge market. Musicians, RDs, Destroyers, Bean Basses, Icemans, etc. However this would likely be even more expensive for them as these body models aren't even in current production. I'm still shocked at the blanket assumptions on TB that Ibanez only makes cheap low end instruments.
 
#23
Angus said:
As bongomania said, they would be as expensive as the Fender shop easily (ie, $10k for a slightly-more-optioned-than-off-the-shelf bass/guitar), and would only get a few serious orders. The people that want that stuff just wouldn't pay almost at all.
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I agree that few would buy which begs the question: why not open it up if only a few orders would come through and leave the shop relatively unburdened? The answer: the amount of phone and email traffic they would have to cope with. Lots of prospective buyers that would never follow through. It's a CS headache and probably not worth the number of orders they could fill.
 
#24
Porkbun said:
I may be making a huge incorrect blanket statement here, but I doubt any company with a custom shop is anywhere near as big as Ibanez is.
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Fender?
Lazarus.Bird said:
If they had a custom shop that remade old late 70s early 80s basses I bet there would be a huge market. Musicians, RDs, Destroyers, Bean Basses, Icemans, etc.
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They're bringing back the Destroyer, I think.
 
#25
ModuMan said:
That 2009 Anniversary Musician was pure cruelty! If only they had simply re-released it as a regular production run.
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Yeah. Fancy fretboard inlays, make 10 of then and charge 8 grand? There are still at least 2 at the retail stores they were originally shipped in. What a joke.

Instead make a neck thru musician remake at the prestige factory, do a 1000 unit run for $1000 to $1500 and I bet they'd all sell!
 
#26
bongomania said:
...from 13-to-19 year olds who want to customize everything but want to pay a low-end SDGR price.

Seriously, the people that have custom-shop money in hand tend to buy boutique brands... Even the Fender Custom Shop doesn't get nearly as much love on this forum as the dozen or more high-end Fender-copier boutique brands. A Fender CS bass costs almost $4000; why would a CS Ibanez be any different?

Don't get me wrong, a high-end Ibanez is a stellar instrument--but the "massive demand" is from kids who couldn't even afford a high-end Ibanez.
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Bongo nails it right there... Every time I see this topic come up, it involved teenagers who couldn't scrape up $4k to save their lives - Ibanez is doing just fine as they are...


- georgestrings
 
#28
XtheDeadPawn said:
Also some people don't like ESP. I know I don't. They are great for beginners but, as far as gigging forget it. I don't like 'em.
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Perhaps the "LTD" or "EDWARDS" models, however, when referring to an actual "ESP", it's not even the same ballgame, or the same sport. There's a USA custom shop and a Japan custom shop (open to the public, I might add), these instruments rival all the current high end basses and guitars out there, but don't forget........Once the word "Custom Shop" is implemented into the name, there's no doubt that the price is not what you would find in your local GC by any means........... But from any of the custom shop instruments i've seen (or worked on), that came out of ESP's custom shops, I can tell that these are not your typical "assembly line" instruments, they are of good quality.
 
#29
Lazarus.Bird said:
If they had a custom shop that remade old late 70s early 80s basses I bet there would be a huge market. Musicians, RDs, Destroyers, Bean Basses, Icemans, etc. However this would likely be even more expensive for them as these body models aren't even in current production. I'm still shocked at the blanket assumptions on TB that Ibanez only makes cheap low end instruments.
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That's from the guys that think Fender makes highend ones...... Did you see the curved body NT Destroyers the guy from Five Finger Death Punch had? Serious gas right there! I'm willing to bet their custom shop stuff will be just as good or better than most boutique instruments. Probably won't be out of reach price wise either. Like everything else the Japanese take everything to the extreme of an art form.
 
#30
Off and on, ESP has made some higher end guitars and basses. They primarily sell and advertise what's popular. If cheapo pointy is popular, that's what they're known for.


Danni Moe said:
Why did they close it. I'd kill for a custom SR500.
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When you start waving enough dollar bills, then you can have one.

That being said, they'd charge you probably as much or more as most higher end companies who specialize in doing the custom thing.
 
#33
Oh daaaaaamn!

matt-snell.jpg
 
#35
If Carvin can put together for you a nice semi-custom instrument for around $1400 or less, why can't these other companies do it? I'm not talking about one of a kind body shapes or made of pure unobtanium, or hand crafted by elves down to the pickup wiring - just what I think most folks here are trying to get at: MORE options.

In Ibanez' case, they offer very few maple board Soundgear models. And the one I happen to want that has a maple board has a painted headstock to match the body which I hate since it's too dark. Would be nice if you had a choice of hardware color as well. Just say "NO" to gold hardware :)
 
#36
Relayer71 said:
If Carvin can put together for you a nice semi-custom instrument for around $1400 or less, why can't these other companies do it? I'm not talking about one of a kind body shapes or made of pure unobtanium, or hand crafted by elves down to the pickup wiring - just what I think most folks here are trying to get at: MORE options.

In Ibanez' case, they offer very few maple board Soundgear models. And the one I happen to want that has a maple board has a painted headstock to match the body which I hate since it's too dark. Would be nice if you had a choice of hardware color as well. Just say "NO" to gold hardware :)
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Requires a totally different setup. Fender and Ernie Ball could do the same, but it's NEVER going to happen.
 
#37
What exactly would you change about them to make it custom though? If it's hardware/colour/fingerboard then isn't it something you could have done for you by someone else? It's been said if they did open one up it would most likely cost the same as other CS instruments ($3500+ seems to be the given benchmark). So surely it would be a lot cheaper to buy the Ibanez body you want, strip the neck/paint/electronics from it and have it sent off to someone who could fix it up how you want it. I believe this has been said already too, but the larger companies custom shops (Fender,Gibson etc) don't really offer much in customisation, just mainly different colours, hardware etc.

All that being said, it wouldn't be a waste of their time to offer the service, especially as most other larger companies offer the custom service. If they offer some custom colours/hardware and charge an extra $2000 to what you're used to paying for an Ibanez there's going to be someone out there who's willing to pay that much for it to say 'Custom' on the headstock somewhere.
 
#38
If Ibanez started the pricing on CS builds with the base price of the respective original model and raised or lowered the price based on the construction type, body specs, neck specs, wood, electronics, etc, etc. would you buy one?

Find your favorite model, find the price(MSRP) and think about it. I can tell you guys that the SR500 is $733.32 and IMO is worth it. A CS that starts at $733 sounds pretty good to me right now.
 
#39
JayBassD said:
What exactly would you change about them to make it custom though? If it's hardware/colour/fingerboard then isn't it something you could have done for you by someone else? It's been said if they did open one up it would most likely cost the same as other CS instruments ($3500+ seems to be the given benchmark). So surely it would be a lot cheaper to buy the Ibanez body you want, strip the neck/paint/electronics from it and have it sent off to someone who could fix it up how you want it. I believe this has been said already too, but the larger companies custom shops (Fender,Gibson etc) don't really offer much in customisation, just mainly different colours, hardware etc.

All that being said, it wouldn't be a waste of their time to offer the service, especially as most other larger companies offer the custom service. If they offer some custom colours/hardware and charge an extra $2000 to what you're used to paying for an Ibanez there's going to be someone out there who's willing to pay that much for it to say 'Custom' on the headstock somewhere.
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+1
 

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