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What Hoshino does with them once they get here has exactly zero to do with how they're built. I don't know how anyone can try to argue that a guitar from one of the most well-respected factories in the world staffed by actual lutheirs is the same as what comes out of the 3rd world sweatshops in Indonesia. There is nothing "cheaply made" about the stuff coming out of Fujigen and to imply otherwise is asinine. Also, since they share the same hardware please point out which $200 Ibanez guitars come with Edge bridges, DiMarzio pickups, CTS electronics and some kind of name-brand tuning machine..........
If you don't like like the style of the guitars that's fine, but you just sound like a jagoff making shit up by saying a Prestige-level or higher Ibanez is just a fancier version of the cheap ones
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Not my intent to sound like that. Sorry.
I worked there in the late 90s. Artists guitars were pulled right from the trucks with the rest of the stuff. They were sorted through and the best ones, meaning ones without a neck twist, popped frets, shitty paint, etc. (and there were many from Japan with shit QC) were stripped down of the hardware and electronics. IIRC they were absent pickups from the factory. After the guitar(s) was picked the guys in the back installed all the upgraded parts and pickups. And from what I understand the guitar was further reworked by the artists tech, not unlike any other. But the base guitars didn't seem and were not, in my experience, any better than the run of the mill Korean RG.
Ibanez has a nice little niche carved out for itself in a very full market. I just don't see their guitars as anything more than what I see them as. When a good example is set up they play like butter. But so will a $200 Samick or any guitar as long as the design lends to that purpose. To me, they have no mojo, no vibe. To each his own, I don't like them, I've handled more of their guitars from all strata than I care to remember and I don't remember any of them being very special. Especially $4k special.
Cool story, I scratched my initials into a guitar that was sent to Steve Vai for a promotional gig. Under the pick guard of course.