Fantasmic

Interesting quote: "My principal bitch with Ibanez of course was their pricing. The pricing on Ibanez guitars has come way down, I have not seen any loss of quality from 2000 to 2003 in fact some of the lesser priced models have improved in quality. This fact serves to prove my point, when I complained about them being so overpriced in the past few years. This trend has been almost universal, In fact, I there are very few Japanese & Korean companies who have not complied with the pricing. The biggest offenders would be ESP and Schecter who are both owned by the same Oriental conglomerate.......The Dillion Guitar and the Dean Guitars are by far the best deals I have seen on any imported guitar. The Japanese Fender Guitars are actually far better than their USA counterparts. I think they sound better, play better and even look better. Fender discontinued making Japanese guitars available in the USA because most people were figuring out that the Japanese ones were such high quality. In my opinion Fender had to stop bringing in the Japanese models or start losing sales on their overpriced USA models (that is their main source of revenue) " -Ed Roman He does speak the truth, you just have to get deeper into the website. An he may sound cocky when he says "they complied with his complaints about pricing" or whatever, but he has about 400 Ibanez in stock and is overall one of the biggest guitar dealers in the world, so he has some say in issues like that. And Wes... I see your point about the Korean-made Ibanez, actually Ed Roman says that if your going to buy an Ibanez, get a lower to mid priced one, because its 90% the quality of a more expensive one, but $500-$1000 less. And you yourself love your lower cost one. He is most upset about the price and value of them compaired to just the quality. Anyway, I've added my .02 on the Ed Roman issue. I don't mean for this to get out of hand or anything.

I know this a touchy subject for a lot of people, and its only my 2nd or 3rd post here, so plz don't hate me because of what I say about Ed Roman here But anyway, please read on... Disclaimer-I do not work for or advocate buying from Ed Roman, this post is about opinions and choice, its not an advertisement for or trashing of any of the stated companies. Thank you. When I first started going through his website a few years ago I felt the same way a lot of you guys do. That hes -an Oriental hating b@$t@rd that just wants to sell his own junk- or something to that effect. Maybe he's brainwashed me or something, but I actually agree with a lot with what he has to say now. He's well known on many Ibanez, ESP, etc. forums for his opinions on certain brands of guitars. Which, in most cases are really overblown and misinterpreted comments about Ed Roman's opinions. Lets look at his history for one second. He was co-owner of East Coast Music Mall for years. This is a true superstore, one that made history for a number of reasons (he blabs about that a lot, so I'll let you read it all for yourself from him lol). I even bought my first guitar (ESP LTD M-200, old style, this was a few years ago, before LTD changed some of the model designations) and amp (old used Marshall solid-state 1x12 combo) there because of its variety and fame. But this superstore is different, its not your Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc., that just places a businessmen/amateur musician into a manager seat to run it and sell as many guitars as possible. East Coast Music Mall was (and is, as far as I know) run by luthiers and guitarists. Ed Roman gets a lot of his opinions from his experiences there, thats why he created his "World Class Guitars" stores. He got sick of seeing a teenager come in and buy a guitar just because Joe Rockstar plays it. No matter the quality, or price (within reason), that kid wanted that guitar, and wouldn't even try other guitars that may be a better value. Or an old guy coming and and only picking up a Gibson or Fender, just because they are the "originals" and the only avilable guitars when the guy first started playing. Remember, this is a guy that knows a TON about building guitars and has been a part of some great changes and innovations in guitars. He knows how much work goes in to this or that guitar, and he can judge the quality and value of a guitar. If you really read all of what he says and spend a few hours looking around the site you will find he doesn't just think that way about asian guitars, but several american brands as well, for example, he no longer recommends PRS or Gibson for several reasons, mostly because... 1)they have followed in the same footsteps as many asian companies, "charging hand-made prices for machine-made guitars" or whatever, reducing quality, but increasing quantity and price or... 2) they are actually hurting the world of guitar manufacturing because they are not moving foward with new inovations (ie Gibson) or even going backwards in design for marketing purposes (ie PRS) . He has no problems with CNC-made guitars, he has a problem with them pricing it like a hand-made guitar. He owns and designs several high-quality guitar companies/brand names and sells other high-quality guitars (such as BC Rich) so he can give us, the consumer, an option and a variety. He gives us the option of paying reasonable & competetive prices for hand made guitars. He gives you the option of any body style, any paint color, any pickups, any whatever.... Something that most other companies do not, and can not do. Why do people hate him because he gives a rational opinion and a tremendous variety of guitars? Again please don't hate me because of my opinions on this issue. The majority of the stuff I own is ESP, and I love Ibanez guitars. He just lets people know what the real deal is and gives other people a choice with different tastes than some of us. If I had about $2k laying around I'd sure look at a Quicksilver, Ibanez, BC Rich, Abstract, LSR or ESP. Because of Ed Roman and other luthiers like him I will have a variety of guitars to choose from. And isn't that what designing and building guitars is about? I know that sounds stupid, but think about it. And on a rainy day, spend a few hours browsing his site, its really fun if you're a guitar lover.

New member here, just goin through some of the posts to see if I had something to add. Here is the method of finding the string spacing at the nut: 1) Take the 2 outside e strings and lay them across the nut and see where you want them located in relation to the edges of the fretboard. Mark the spots with a pencil and make a starter slot to hold the strings with an X-atco knife or something. 2) Measure the distance between the the centers of the 2 E strings. Divide the distance by five (with a calculator, its best to get the decimals correct) , this will give you the approximate string spacing. 3) Using the approx. string spacing use a pencil & X-acto (just for a starter slot so you can get an idea of what the spacing will look like with a string in it) or whatever to begin laying out the spacing of other 4 strings. The approx. spacing will only give u a rough idea of your final spacing. This is because the lower strings are thicker, and the spacing measurement is from the center of the string. So... in the final adjustments you do by eye you should account for the thickness of the lower strings by adjusting the spacing a little to your liking, especially on the E and A strings. Hope this helps....

Hello all! I've been looking around this great forum & website for a week or two and I figured its about time I join in the fun! Im in the process of moving to a new place and it has a nice barn and workshop so I will be in heaven experimenting with guitars, something I never got to do in this place. I haven't built one yet, but i've been doing a ton of research and this forum has already answered a lot of my question just by lurking here for a while But I'm sure I will have more questions in the next few weeks. So.. anyway...