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Prestige represents the Ibanez instruments many have grown up to know & love even before they were labeled Prestige. This article references how Prestige was used for over two decades, how it evolved & how Prestige relates to those interested in Ibanez guitars today.Simply put Prestige is a marketing moniker.
One that is generally used to distinguish its better guitars & basses, separating them from the Ibanez guitars not made in Japan. Make no mistake these are dramatically better made with tighter tolerances & better parts the Ibanez guitars you really want to play & own. Best of all, the non-signature Prestige models are competitively priced.Prestige indicates a certain level of quality the Ibanez player will see and feel then they pick up the guitar.With Prestige, Ibanez provides multiple steps of hand-finishing to the neck & frets so the new guitar plays like it’s already been broken in with years of use. see note-1 below. This wording is a recurring theme to message that your Prestige will not be a pretty new guitar that is stiff & difficult to play. Who doesn’t want to buy a new axe – no dings, wear & tear – but with the feel as if it was broken-in by previous owners?
This cornerstone of Prestige makes sense for the guitarist of any level.Second, Prestige models are made in Japan at the Fujigen factory by their top luthiers see note-2. This is, of course, the same factory that built the JEM/RGs we’ve played since 1987. This brings tighter tolerance with fit & finish of the guitar. Unlike the even higher end J-Custom line with very limited production typically for Asian market, Prestige are top-shelf but mass-market guitars with cost constraints and self-controls.
Prestige are meant for playing not just collecting or showcasing ornate details. The pricing targets the serious consumer & musical professional instead of the vanity-art collector type & the “limited edition signature model” collector.Third, Ibanez reminds us that Prestige instruments use the finest materials, & hardware parts (typically made in Japan & USA pickups) to compliment their fine construction. Prestige uses better bridges, better switches, wiring, etc. For example you must step up to the Prestige guitars to gain exclusive access to the Ibanez Edge tremolo (& LoPro EdgePro varieties of the time). These are very rarely found on the Premium or Standard instruments.
This is by design of course. Likewise, the best Gotoh tuners & fixed bridges are exclusive to Prestige (and j.custom). You will not find the cost/quality reduced Chinese-made bridges, hardware & parts in Prestige instruments. The high standard is applied to the guitar in it’s entirety see note-3.Pickups are always the real deal as well, however it’s important to note that Ibanez does not restrict DiMarzio & brand-name pickups to Prestige instruments. The slogan “Japanese craftsman meets American inspiration amounts to powerful chemistry” applies here.
Ibanez will share the non-Japanese top-tier parts for other lines where they make sense overall. This is smart business and actually benefits consumers. Buying more DiMarzio pickups to use across more Ibanez models is a win-win-win.Finally this ties into what I’d term the fourth Prestige component.
This is Ibanez Pride as demonstrated in the Japanese design & construction. Ibanez is proud of its history of accomplished guitar building. The Ibanez hardware & guitar designs then built in-country are to be celebrated.
Prestige has this intangible component where – in theory – Ibanez Pride adds to their desirability. The Prestige advertisements exude the belief that the highly skilled Ibanez builders are creating special instruments which bring pride to self, Ibanez & nation. It’s a positive feedback loop since the entire Prestige design, implementation & construction must live up to this expectation. note 1: At present time the fret-ends of birds eye maple fretboard Prestige models do not get the typical “Prestige” finish at Fujigen. For example the RG550 compared to the JEM777 30th models. Also note Ibanez coined the term for Prestige Artstar models (I.e.
Getting “Artstar fret edge treatment provides tight response and smooth left-hand fingering.”. note 2: I n 2005-2007 Ibanez S, SA & SZ Prestige models were made in Korea, an experiment that failed.
note-3: Rich Harris’ points out EdgeZero & ZR locking tremolo bridges are made in China as are their accompanying locking nuts (2LN3YAA021 & 2LN3YAA025) w/o retainer bars. note-4: It’s vital to recognize there are different levels of “Prestige” which is a fluent marketing term. For example, Fujigen MIJ production Ibanez models such as the RG1570 and AS200 have very different levels of quality and finish. This is to be expected given their price difference.
Signature models MIJ would be considered “Prestige” but the aforementioned AS200 (non-signature Prestige) is a higher quality instrument than the JEM505BK or JS1200 signature Prestige.To summarize it is helpful to consider Prestige a marketing term first and foremost to explain the best of the guitars Ibanez offers at a certain standard players & enthusiasts have expected of Ibanez for 40 years. Prestige changes with the times & needs. Prestige is a ticket to the big show. Some get first row seats some sit in the nose-bleeders. Without Prestige you are left sneaking in or listening from the parking lot.Part II. Prestige History Ibanez USA Prestige 199 Ibanez’ Identity is ForgedThe guitars Ibanez introduced to market in 1987 was a full-on assault on a moving target.
This era saw rapidly change in terms of artistic/musical performance (how people played guitars) & manufacturing capability (expectations of guitars quality). During this time, Ibanez committed to building & shipping high quality guitars over a sustained period. Ibanez flanked the competition with technology, marketing & player endorsement.Change typically occurs over time and the guitar market & music industry had indeed shifted. Ibanez would embracing being an alternative guitar company and stop relying on the dreaded S-word (shred). Ibanez had clearly established itself with retailers & players worldwide now Ibanez would prove itself able to adapt. Prestige was to be a driving force.Let’s Backtrack to 1996.
The Last from the USA.1996 marked the end of a Ibanez’ half-decade experiment of offering “USA Custom” guitars made and or finished & customized in the USA. In 1996 the top-shelf Ibanez USRG Series was advertised with a “Ibanez USA Prestige” logo. It is an interesting footnote that Prestige was first used in North America on a USA-made Ibanez branded guitar. These with tension-free necks were sold in 1994, 1995 & 1996 as the Ibanez USRG30, USRG20 & USRG10. Nice wood tops, more technology offered to players with the neck & Ibanez branding, sales & service. These were the last USA-Made Ibanez guitars available to general consumers.
Going forward anything USA-modified or made would be exclusive to Ibanez endorsed artists. In the USA, the Prestige moniker would be retired for a year and return with a greater purpose & focus. At this same time (mid 1995-1997) the USRGs were being replaced by a new Ibanez “J-Custom” line (Japanese Custom) for their domestic market.
Sometime in 1995 the, were sold as J.Custom in Japan. These were derivative & rather bland compared to the early 90s Ibanez UCEWs & non-gravure tops (real wood) Ibanez models that shipped worldwide for decades before.Eventually J.customs became more detailed, upscale guitars with more of a domestic (Japanese market) oriented flare. The next evolution of the “Custom shop” Ibanez with more variety (RG, S & Bass) for customers.USA Custom becomes J-CustomThese J-Customs were assembled in the Fugijen factory and the more upscale & limited models were made on a smaller scale, not the production line. The most notable early J-Customs were the ones that eventually were test marketed in the USA in 1997 with low production totals (few dozen per model) with the guitars made in batches/runs. Ibanez literature says“Because the materials & techniques used in making J-Custom instruments preclude mass-production, not everyone will be able to own an Ibanez J-Custom model”Were these side projects during slow production time?
An acquiescence to tenured luthiers not feeling challenged enough on the production line? This was rumored but we’ll never fully know of course. Tying back into Prestige it’s pretty easy to consider J-Custom as the marketing term for their best guitars meant for their domestic market (less quantity & distribution). Ibanez initially slaped J-Custom on some Japan-only models that were “Prestige” worldwide.
By 1997 Ibanez marketed both J-Custom & Prestige RGs in Japan. Throw it against the wall and see what sticks right?!What we do know is that through 1999 over two dozen J-Custom models were offered in Japan. Some mundane, some quite unique. For the USA market, in 1997 a small sampling of these J-Custom models were sold via authorized dealers.
These seven models were: RG-ART1, RG-METAL1, RG-GEAR1, S5400NT, S3040PL, S3040BS, SR-8100 (bass).There was a lot of debate on jemsite.com forums about these mystical J-Custom unicorns when released. Especially since the JEM90HAM was a functional example of a J-Custom (originally intended only for Japan for Hoshino’s 90th anniversary, neck & fretwork different than any prior JEM or JEMs to immediately follow). Perhaps Ibanez didn’t really know themselves, leading to the mixed messages about what they were intended to be and how they were built. The actual quality was a mixed bag too.
These were not objectively improved over the top-end Ibanez guitars we played the prior decade. None of the USA offerings (and few of the Japanese offerings) were anything more ornate or special than the JEM10 released a year prior in bulk (810 were made).It’s fair to say the execution of the experimental finishes & details perhaps did not match the hype & expectation of online consumers. The internet & photo sharing allowed these “for Japan” guitars to be spotted by American fanatics probably bringing market confusion where it wasn’t intended.While it wasn’t public knowledge at the time, the luthier who setup the Fujigen Custom Shop – Makoto “Nick” Sugimoto – had diverted his attention from Ibanez to establish in 2002 (later bringing over experienced Fujigen luthiers). They’d build of course the UV77REMC which was criticized ironically for too tight tolerances in regard to the finish & tremolo & cavity clearances. Sometimes less really is more. The grass always greener? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.The Classic Alternative.
1997’s Emotional RetrospectiveThe 25-year retrospective (excerpt below) in the 1997 USA Ibanez catalog speaks volumes. It spells it out – frustrated, loud and clear – that Ibanez must and will embrace being “The Classic Alternative in the mainstream guitar market.Why a 25 year retrospective? After all Ibanez has actually been making electric guitars for over 40 years now. However, we feel it was the establishment of the Ibanez office near Philadelphia 25 years ago that best marks the beginning of the Ibanez guitar company that most of us are familiar with.During those 25 years Ibanez has been the ‘Classic Alternative Guitar Company’, a provider of imaginative, well-made guitars and basses that offer players a real alternative to “the Big Two”.