Ibanez guitars - ultimate suckage

[LDS]

At one point in time (late 70's/early 80's) Ibanez made the best Les Pauls on the planet. I had a couple of them as well as an early set-neck Iceman. These were some of the ones now referred as 'lawsuit' guitars, since Gibson sued them and won. Containers full of these guitars were destroyed by customs.

Then they started making the Artist series, basically the same guitars, but with slightly different headstocks and string through the body construction. Still good guitars.

Then in the ultimate irony, the CEO of Ibanez was interviewed in one of the guitar magazines in the early 80's. The main thing I remember about the interview was him bitching about Korean knockoffs of 'his' designs, that the Koreans were undercutting his prices because they just stole designs instead of doing R&D and had labor costs that were so low that Japan couldn't compete. WTF? Hypocrite much?

 

[Lt. Bob]

Had one of those early Artists ......... they were not string thru body.

 

[emac]

I go weekly to a guitar shop who has many Ibanez guitars.
I have not played one I've like yet..

 

[acidrock]

At one point in time (late 70's/early 80's) Ibanez made the best Les Pauls on the planet. I had a couple of them as well as an early set-neck Iceman. These were some of the ones now referred as 'lawsuit' guitars, since Gibson sued them and won. Containers full of these guitars were destroyed by customs.

I'm betting that SG copy I had was one of them,and lots of people think they were better than what Gibson was putting out at the time.
I sold it cheap to a buddy who just came back to town after a failed business venture upstate.He was down on his luck and didn't have a guitar to play.I found out that he sold it at a profit to his brother in-law two weeks later.

 

[stevieb]

Wow, two weeks later. Well, at least you learned what your "buddy" thinks of your friendship.

 

[CMunch]

People do stuff when they are skint, doesn't mean anything.

 

[AL P]

Yeah, most cheap Ibanez guitars/basses I have played, have sucked. But nothing sucks more, than hearing a great player make your cheap ass guitar sound like god, just by playing it like it is his bitch. Actually, that doesn't suck, it is a pleasure to hear.

.

LOL..this reminds me of a story from about ten years ago when i first got my ibanez..
at the time i was hanging around a dude i had known for maybe 2 years, and had met his step father a few times, which seamed really cool..anyway, my friend Dan, had mentioned that his step dad (joe) plays guiter (who i had met quite a few times)..ayway, so next time his step dad/joe stopped by, i ask him if he wanted to play my ibanez, he said no that`s cool..
so i sat there messing around some thinking I might be sounding half way decent, and maybe even impressing him a bit..well, about 6 months later, his step dad did take up my offer to play my guitar, but first he reached over and started tweating my amp knobs, and pedal settings, which kinda had me thinking, what the heck man?..then he broke loose..and MY GOD MAN!!!....till this day, he was/IS the best guitar player HANDS down, I`ve ever had in my presence..seriously..WTF...
he broke out and NAILED down satch boggie by Joe Satriani Note for note DEAD on..
then, as if that was`nt bad enough, he tore up the ENTIRE cross roads guitar battle from the movie...

when he was done, I was ready to throw my guitar in the trash, and comepletly give up playing..LOL
I`m not kidding ya...anyway, I later fund out, he had a fairly decent size article wrote up on him in guitar magazine i believe it was etc...needless to say, Ibanez or not..tell`in ya..he ROCKED the thing..WOW..
since then I`ve gotten to know him very well over the years, and found that he has a WALL covered in hanging various guitars, from an Ibanez, to countless fenders etc..some scalloped necked guitars that he preffers when doing some Joe Satriani tunes etc..

I played bass with him a few times..but I never even think about picking up my guitar around the guy..LOL

anyway, yeah i was a bit embarassed to say the least..LOL

 

[acidrock]

Wow, two weeks later. Well, at least you learned what your "buddy" thinks of your friendship.

I was disappointed,a little mad but not surprised.He had bad habits and has never been good with money.That was almost thirty years ago,he's still my friend.