1 guitar or 2?

[franki68]

So no guitar stores within an hour of me and looking to add a guitar or 2 .
Question is it better to buy 1 mij guitar or 2 made in Indonesia premium models for the same price ?

Guitars in question are charvels or Ibanez ,and anyone saying buy a fender gets a ‘never played a fender I enjoyed ‘ response .

Charvel pro mod 24 mij or Ibanez az prestige

Vs charvel pro mod 24 Indonesia and Ibanez az made in Indonesia .

[thewarlock]

Doesn't really answer the question, but why would you want both of them?

2 strat shaped, humbucker equipped, trem equipped, 24 fret guitars?

If you need 2, buy 2. If you need one, buy a good one, is my take on it.

[Rod200SX]

Aye, with the similarities between those two I would be saying one higher end model, personally.

[frisbee]

Charvel are owned by Fender so that could be classed as a Fender.

I fancy a Japanese Ibanez at some point, just to have had a Japanese one. Having said that the Q52 headless, slanted fret Indonesian one I got last year is really well made.

[singlecoil]

Depends whether you are bothered about resale value or not. Country of origin is very important to second-hand buyers. The higher up the imaginary tree of quality (the one that has the USA at the top and China at the bottom) the higher the value. Quality of the guitar itself is not a big factor, as evidenced by the extreme diminishing returns exhibited by the top price guitars.

[franki68]

thewarlock said:

Doesn't really answer the question, but why would you want both of them?

2 strat shaped, humbucker equipped, trem equipped, 24 fret guitars?

If you need 2, buy 2. If you need one, buy a good one, is my take on it.

Sorry the charvel indo is style 2 ,it’s tele style with fluency pickups

[Mastodon2]

franki68 said:

Sorry the charvel indo is style 2 ,it’s tele style with fluency pickups

If the guitars are quite different, this is an interesting conundrum. If you're looking at two very similar guitars instead of one more expensive one, I'd say get the more expensive one, but two cheaper guitars can be an interesting proposition if they will fill different roles. If say, you're looking at getting a an Ibanez Premium RG and a decent Charvel, you could still be looking at £2500 for both guitars, vs maybe one USA Charvel or a Japanese Ibanez.

You could potentially get an Ibanez with a floating trem, which will allow you to do the sort of expressive phrasing that simply isn't available on a fixed bridge guitar. If you get a second guitar with a fixed bridge, you could have something ready for changing tunings, which locking trem systems are bad at because of the amount of time it takes to change their tuning. Having a brace of guitars that covers your musical needs is definitely the head over heart solution to being able to create the kind of music you want to make.

On the other hand, I do think it's great to own your dream guitar. If you really must have an Ibanez Pia for example, buying a couple of cheaper guitars won't fulfill your longing for the Pia. Also, owning a real top quality guitar like a Japanese Ibanez, a Suhr etc, is a really nice experience for real appreciators of good guitars because the build quality and attention to detail on them really elevates them into works of art.

Since you mentioned Ibanez Premium and Charvel, I must say my two penneth there too; not all Premiums are created equal and I'm sure Charvel aren't either. I've played some of the sub-£1000 Charvel San Dimas and So-Cal stuff and they're nice but they don't feel really slick in the way that more expensive stuff does. You might end up needing to do a little minor work on the frets etc, but they're solid.

Ibanez Premiums used to have problems when the line was new, but this was a number of years ago now and it seems the Indonesian factory have gotten better and QC has gotten tighter. I don't hear anywhere near as many complaints about bad frets on Premiums as I did when they were first launch and unsurprisingly, the cheaper guitars were worst affected, in particular the Iron Label line, which were just cheap guitars for metal musicians, had a lot of issues. I have a Premium Jem (not a cheap guitar, in the £1700 range) and it's up there in terms of quality with my Prestige Japanese K-7. The only thing I can really fault on the Jem is that the finish inside the jack socket hole feels bumpy because they didn't sand the body enough inside the hole before applying the finish - that's me being picky, but the top end Premium guitars can be absolutely superb.

Exactly which models are you considering and what do you want from your guitar(s)? That might help us offer better advice.

[franki68]

The question really is based around the improvement in those Indonesian models , i was looking at the charvel mij which is basically a super strat but the price means I could buy the Indonesian model which is exactly the same
Spec more or less plus another different guitar .
There are many options I also love the Ibanez s series although not sure the wizard neck might be too thin .
I think you would be right that Japanese consistency would be better and I think I’m going to go that route ,one guitar so now it’s down to charvel vs Ibanez .I prefer the charvel looks but prefer the sound from the Ibanez .

[singlecoil]

franki68 said:

...I prefer the charvel looks but prefer the sound from the Ibanez...

Maybe a change of pickups and/or pots/caps would sort that out.

[Mastodon2]

Sound can be changed to an extent and look are important, no doubt about it, but feel is the most important thing in my opinion. You really need to give them a go as the Charvels will definitely have a more retro feel than the Ibanez. You'll know almost instantly which guitar is for you.

[franki68]

Mastodon2 said:

Sound can be changed to an extent and look are important, no doubt about it, but feel is the most important thing in my opinion. You really need to give them a go as the Charvels will definitely have a more retro feel than the Ibanez. You'll know almost instantly which guitar is for you.

I agree,feel is most important..hence the moaning about lack of guitar stores to actually try these out.

Anyway,just bought a used immaculate AZ2402 which will be my first Ibanez so looking forward to it.

[Punctilio]

erm, 10 guitars here [ as Engelbert sang ] 6 of them the exact same model.

I know, get some therapy.

[davidd]

franki68 said:

I agree,feel is most important..hence the moaning about lack of guitar stores to actually try these out.

Anyway,just bought a used immaculate AZ2402 which will be my first Ibanez so looking forward to it.

I bought an AZ2402 earlier this year, QC was st, neck was warped so it went back. Got another, love it, hardly played any of my other guitars since.

[franki68]

davidd said:

I bought an AZ2402 earlier this year, QC was st, neck was warped so it went back. Got another, love it, hardly played any of my other guitars since.

Build was superb on the one I bought , unfortunately couldn’t gel with the neck so sent it back ,but sounded great .I also found it quite heavy .
If it fitted my hands better I would imagine it being a go to guitar .

Ordered a charvel Guthrie govan mij which arrives next month ,my ability doesn’t justify such expenditure but you only live once .