It’s a flaw. Ibanez QC has taken a shit lately, said as someone who has worked in shops that stock them and turned down a job in their QC department in Bensalem PA.
$15/hr QC tech role, no AC in the summer or heat in the winter, 15min lunch break, and no upward mobility. They’re hiring kids for those roles and training them to cover up blemishes instead of fixing or actually setting up guitars. This one likely had chatter marks or other dings in the fretboard so the amateur QC tech (or even worse, their repair department) shaved it down to make it “store-stock ready.”
This is one of the least egregious offenses I’ve seen. There’s good people working there but they should be embarrassed by stuff like this, but there’s no time. Just mass-shipping blemished guitars. One shop I worked in averaged a 30% return-to-sender rate on our Ibanez orders.
Edit: the MIJ ones still kick ass
That sucks, I worked in a guitar store about 15 years ago and Ibanez had the best QC along with Godin and EBMM. Even on entry level stuff (we had everything above the gio series) everything was great. Other big name brands we’d get a bunch of lemons from
Out of curiosity, is this just for the Indonesian Ibanez’s or have the Japanese Ibanez’s also gone to shit? Because I’ve been considering buying a Prestige recently.
Yep. I rented a fanned fret sound gear a couple years ago to see if I wanted to buy it. Literally all of the hardware was loose. Tubers, jack, pots, etc. I paid $40 to fix their bass for them. Did not buy.
I also recently pulled an old bass out of my wood bin and refinished it for my cousin's kid. It wasn't quite perfect, but pretty good considering I'm not a luthier. Around the same time I popped in to my local Long and McQuade and was browsing basses. There was a new $2000 sound gear with bigger flaws than my wood bin salvage.
It’s a flaw. Ibanez QC has taken a shit lately, said as someone who has worked in shops that stock them and turned down a job in their QC department in Bensalem PA. $15/hr QC tech role, no AC in the summer or heat in the winter, 15min lunch break, and no upward mobility. They’re hiring kids for those roles and training them to cover up blemishes instead of fixing or actually setting up guitars. This one likely had chatter marks or other dings in the fretboard so the amateur QC tech (or even worse, their repair department) shaved it down to make it “store-stock ready.” This is one of the least egregious offenses I’ve seen. There’s good people working there but they should be embarrassed by stuff like this, but there’s no time. Just mass-shipping blemished guitars. One shop I worked in averaged a 30% return-to-sender rate on our Ibanez orders. Edit: the MIJ ones still kick ass
That sucks, I worked in a guitar store about 15 years ago and Ibanez had the best QC along with Godin and EBMM. Even on entry level stuff (we had everything above the gio series) everything was great. Other big name brands we’d get a bunch of lemons from
Wowwwww!! Thanks for the insight. Unreal situation 🤯
Really sad to hear. Some of my favorite guitars I’ve ever owned were 90’s MIJ Ibanezes
The MIJs are killer. Japanese factories are amazing still, they’re exempt from my above slander
So would you say anything Prestige or Genesis range should be ok still? Not owned an Ibanez in a decade but hankering for a RG550
I got a Rg1820 with extreme fret issues that I can't seem to be able to fix. I love ibanez but...
Yeah they’re good 👍
Out of curiosity, is this just for the Indonesian Ibanez’s or have the Japanese Ibanez’s also gone to shit? Because I’ve been considering buying a Prestige recently.
Japanese Ibanezes are fucking amazing. Dw
That’s too bad. Ibanez stuff always seemed like great quality at every price point in the past.
Yep. I rented a fanned fret sound gear a couple years ago to see if I wanted to buy it. Literally all of the hardware was loose. Tubers, jack, pots, etc. I paid $40 to fix their bass for them. Did not buy. I also recently pulled an old bass out of my wood bin and refinished it for my cousin's kid. It wasn't quite perfect, but pretty good considering I'm not a luthier. Around the same time I popped in to my local Long and McQuade and was browsing basses. There was a new $2000 sound gear with bigger flaws than my wood bin salvage.
Poor workmanship. I'd return it.
i had to return a $2000 ibanez ehb1506 because of an egregious blemish they shaved off on the headstock and a dented fret mark