# Ibanez LA custom shop - damn its tiny in there



## trickae (Mar 10, 2012)

Didn't know where to post this - but kinda a noobish question. The Ibanez LA custom shop has a lot of history behind it. However, I'm suprised to see how tiny the workshop is - compared to companies like musicman or PRS. 

Here are pics by Tak Hosono of his LA Customshop [Originally posted on Jemsite thread:Custom models pics from the Custom Shop? ]










































repair room





Tak's Office





Don't want to hijack the other thread posted by Tak Hosono himself - but I find it hard to beleive that a company as big as Ibanez has such a small workshop with such few people.


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## djpharoah (Mar 11, 2012)

It's small because they don't cater to the public only certain artists.


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## TRENCHLORD (Mar 11, 2012)

Looks nice and efficient though.


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## SpaceDock (Mar 11, 2012)

I spy a Petrucci in there!


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## HighPotency (Mar 11, 2012)

SpaceDock said:


> I spy a Petrucci in there!


I noticed that too... had me


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## trickae (Mar 11, 2012)

djpharoah said:


> It's small because they don't cater to the public only certain artists.




Yeah i know, though they still have a large number of signed artists. Still I was expecting something far bigger, given that the custom shop was open to the public during ibz heyday in the late 80's early 90's.


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## djpharoah (Mar 11, 2012)

trickae said:


> Yeah i know, though they still have a large number of signed artists. Still I was expecting something far bigger, given that the custom shop was open to the public during ibz heyday in the late 80's early 90's.


Pretty sure it never was open to the public. There were USA Customs that were built by a company in PA where they made them but those weren't LACS - rather Ibanez built by a third party...

Max (one of the other mods) is the Ibanez guy he'll know.


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## TJV (Mar 11, 2012)

Nice to see how that shop looks like. Would be nice to go there some day.


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## kostein (Mar 11, 2012)

So many bodies...


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## Neil (Mar 11, 2012)

When you consider how well the employees will be trained, how many machines they have, the fact they won&#8217;t ever be waiting for hardware, sandpaper etc and the wood room isn&#8217;t shown and is probably very extensive, all these things add up to make a very quick shop.

For example the big green machine in the corner that looks like a drill is a pin router, all the shapes hanging on the wall are router templates, with such an extensive catalogue one guy could kick out many bodies and necks per day with all the routing and basic shaping done, just neck carves, forearm contours and AANJs to be done after.

One thing that isn&#8217;t shown is a cnc or a manual copy carver, I would be very surprised if they are doing standard neck carves and arch tops by hand.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Mar 11, 2012)

djpharoah said:


> Pretty sure it never was open to the public. There were USA Customs that were built by a company in PA where they made them but those weren't LACS - rather Ibanez built by a third party...
> 
> Max (one of the other mods) is the Ibanez guy he'll know.



Also keep in mind that a lot of the artists use production models that are LACS modded, which are different to the custom instruments built by LACS.


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## mr_rainmaker (Mar 11, 2012)

great thread.


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## Speculum Speculorum (Mar 11, 2012)

Bigger does not necessarily mean better. They've got a system that works, and they make damn fine instruments. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!


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## djohns74 (Mar 11, 2012)

Looks completely amazing to my basement-builder eyes. Pretty sure if I got into that room, I'd never want to leave!


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## ticklemeasian (Mar 11, 2012)

less workers, less screw ups. you want a quality instrument that's a ideal place to get it built.


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## MaxOfMetal (Mar 11, 2012)

trickae said:


> Yeah i know, though they still have a large number of signed artists. Still I was expecting something far bigger, given that the custom shop was open to the public during ibz heyday in the late 80's early 90's.



The LACS was never open to the public. As djpharoah said, there were USA Custom, American Masters, and even some regular production models advertised as "Cusrtom Made", but none of those were made by the LACS facility. 

One thing though, in the 90's when the LACS was established Ibanez, while a booming company, was still significantly smaller than it is today, and as such they catered to a lot of small artists, opposed to just a few bigger names. Hence why you see more interesting, older Customs. 

The only "Custom" stuff offered to the general public was the ability to mix and match certain specs, more Carvin style, with the guitars coming out of Bensalem, PA. There was a time when the guitars with the "Custom Made" logos were assembled per dealer requests, hence why you find S540s with such mixed specs, stuff like hardware color, inlay design, pickup configuration, color, etc. were options that could be changed slightly.

Also, that's far from a small shop. Thanks to modern tooling you don't need room after room of work benches and huge machinery. Ibanez only has a few dozen artists who regularly get full LACS models.


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## Just A Box (Mar 11, 2012)

Neil said:


> One thing that isnt shown is a cnc or a manual copy carver, I would be very surprised if they are doing standard neck carves and arch tops by hand.



Not sure if there's a connection, but does the CadCam book on the shelf (I know it's software) mean there's a CNC hiding out somewhere?


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## trickae (Mar 12, 2012)

MaxOfMetal said:


> The LACS was never open to the public. As djpharoah said, there were USA Custom, American Masters, and even some regular production models advertised as "Cusrtom Made", but none of those were made by the LACS facility.
> 
> One thing though, in the 90's when the LACS was established Ibanez, while a booming company, was still significantly smaller than it is today, and as such they catered to a lot of small artists, opposed to just a few bigger names. Hence why you see more interesting, older Customs.
> 
> ...



Thanks for that Max - I was unaware of the many other custom shops available in the US. I thought it was just the one shop that made all MIUSA Iby's. 

Good thing is Tak Hosono still posts regularly at Jemsite and comments on a number of rare guitars that were built during his time. Still it looks pretty cool.


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## DoomJazz (Mar 12, 2012)

smells like basswood


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## Viginez (Mar 12, 2012)

tak+muhammed


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## Sofos (Mar 12, 2012)

7 string falchion, please


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## Kerry (Mar 13, 2012)

SpaceDock said:


> I spy a Petrucci in there!




That's what I noticed. What's that doing?


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## Asrial (Mar 13, 2012)

^Petrucci was under Ibanez' wings for a long time, and eventually, he was to be given a signature model. Ibanez proved to be way too stiff to work with, so he switched to EBMM.
It's maybe there as a legacy piece?


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## Kerry (Mar 13, 2012)

Asrial said:


> ^Petrucci was under Ibanez' wings for a long time, and eventually, he was to be given a signature model. Ibanez proved to be way too stiff to work with, so he switched to EBMM.
> It's maybe there as a legacy piece?




I'm sorry for being unclear. I know all about the Ibanez Petrucci guitars. I just thought it was interesting that (if these are recent photos) they would still be building one?


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## Neil (Mar 13, 2012)

The pics were posted on Jemsite in 2007, and Petrucci has been with EBMM for over 10 years.


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## Kerry (Mar 15, 2012)

Neil said:


> The pics were posted on Jemsite in 2007, and Petrucci has been with EBMM for over 10 years.




That's what I was thinking...


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## MaxOfMetal (Mar 15, 2012)

That JPM is probably just a shop guitar. They have tons of old stuff they keep around for reference material, test beds, etc.

It could also be an artist/employee guitar which is getting a refurb.


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## berzerkergang (Apr 6, 2013)

Perhaps one of their signed artists requested one? Perhaps Petrucci himself wanted another for personal use? Perhaps one was sent in to be worked on?


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## OfArtAndArsenal (Apr 6, 2013)

DoomJazz said:


> smells like basswood


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## Thep (Apr 6, 2013)

Viginez said:


> tak+muhammed


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## nothingleft09 (Apr 6, 2013)

Whatever the case is with the Petrucci being there... That's a JPM 90th.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/151677-ngd-another-beauty-off-rich-jpm-90th.html

And if I remember correctly the Bensalem Custom shop was moved to LA as well. They did quite a few USA series Ibanez there and Starwood? Guitars as well. LACS and the other shop mingled and shared resources but LACS was never open to the public so that may be where the confusion of an LA custom shop being open to the public comes from.


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## AVH (Apr 7, 2013)

LACS has everything they need, there's more than enough room - you'd be surprised what you can do in a small space. I don't think Tak is there anymore. I have an open invite from Mike Taft to go there, so maybe someday I'll get over and see for myself, I understand these are old pics and many changes have been made since.


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## Rick (Apr 7, 2013)

AVH said:


> LACS has everything they need, there's more than enough room - you'd be surprised what you can do in a small space. I don't think Tak is there anymore. I have an open invite from Mike Taft to go there, so maybe someday I'll get over and see for myself, I understand these are old pics and many changes have been made since.



Take me with you.


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## possumkiller (Apr 8, 2013)

Speculum Speculorum said:


> Bigger does not necessarily mean better. They've got a system that works, and they make damn fine instruments. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!


 
All this time I thought the saying was, "if it ain't baroque, don't fix it."


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## Michael Mc (Apr 8, 2013)

berzerkergang said:


> Perhaps one of their signed artists requested one? Perhaps Petrucci himself wanted another for personal use? Perhaps one was sent in to be worked on?



I asked Petrucci on his forum if he still has/uses his old Ibanez models, he said he still has them, but never touches them.


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## pushpull7 (Apr 9, 2013)

I liked the way he sounded with the ibby.


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## wilch (Apr 9, 2013)

Maybe he can't play them any more. He's too much of a beefcake now, that he'd break their necks by accident.


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## pushpull7 (Apr 9, 2013)

lolz


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## AwDeOh (Apr 9, 2013)

That looks like every other workshop in the world when the boss/wife isn't around.

Hands up those who've been poring over the pics looking for easter eggs and cool ideas!


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## area51customs uk (Apr 9, 2013)

What a great use of space though. Just goes to show.


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## Michael Mc (Apr 9, 2013)

Man, i wish that were my garage.


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## TremDestroyer (Apr 9, 2013)

I see some dino-esque shapes that well never get 

I have an LACS Saber, With a stained job. the thing is old like, early 90's late 80's, and the quality is amazing. even then i think the CS built stuff higher grade than ibanez themselves. great idea.


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## AwDeOh (Apr 9, 2013)

TremDestroyer said:


> I see some dino-esque shapes that well never get
> 
> I have an LACS Saber, With a stained job. the thing is old like, early 90's late 80's, and the quality is amazing. even then i think the CS built stuff higher grade than ibanez themselves. great idea.



The dust made from building your Saber is probably still on the floor there right now.


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## tedtan (Apr 9, 2013)

berzerkergang necrobumped this thread, but since its been bumped...



nothingleft09 said:


> And if I remember correctly the Bensalem Custom shop was moved to LA as well. They did quite a few USA series Ibanez there and Starwood? Guitars as well. LACS and the other shop mingled and shared resources but LACS was never open to the public so that may be where the confusion of an LA custom shop being open to the public comes from.


 
This is correct to my knowledge. The Bensalem shop moved to LA in early 1991 and assembled all those "North Hollywood, CA" guitars until it closed up shop in the mid 90s.


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## Eclipse (Apr 9, 2013)

Wish the general public could get their hands on a LACS.


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## Prydogga (Apr 27, 2013)

SoldiersOfFilth said:


> 7 string falchion, please



I know this comment is super old, but that's a Xiphos.


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## Sepultorture (Apr 27, 2013)

tristanroyster said:


> Wish the general public could get their hands on a LACS.



you and me and many more feel the same mate


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## drakeonyou (Jan 2, 2014)

I'm just sitting here wishing that I be invited to build an Ibby from LACS. Haha...

I guess I have to get my name on a billboard to get me that opportunity.


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## OmegaSlayer (Jan 3, 2014)

Small, but I would still lose myself in it. ^__^


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