Like JEMs, but hate trems?

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Like JEMs, but hate trems?

Well, Steve is known for giving away guitars; this one may have been through various hands. Given that it is a proto should be a clue as to why it's in great shape .

Chinese fake Jems are usually pretty easy to spot in the details, like the monkey grip, general shape of the body, the AANJ, logo placement on the headstock etc. This one does have a lot of filler around the inlays but not that unusual for the vine pattern. Though the AANJ is formally different here than on a production guitar, it's consistent with the development of the feature.

The quarter sawn neck is also not that common on production Ibanez guitars, but it could be experimentation here with grain orientation/stiffness.

Also, I'm not sure whether someone making a fake would go to the trouble of having a two piece, centre joined mahogany body.

The Floyd nut 'shelf' at the end of the neck, despite this guitar being a hardtail with a regular nut, is consistent with Steve's other hardtail protos, like this one.

Then there's Mace Bailey's initials in the neck pocket, the guy who built many of Steve's protos back in the day when Ibanez had an operation in LA. So it's either the man himself or a serious Jem afficionado who knows the history of the guitar's development, and was able to fake it.

In conclusion, if it is a fake, it's a damn good one.

The 7VWH is alder. It used to have an ebony fretboard instead of rosewood, but as far as I know it's always been an alder body.

Correct on both counts.

There was a huge stink about when they changed from ebony to rosewood, though Steve had been using rosewood for years. Only the first neck on Evo had ebony, which was broken in 1997 or thereabouts.

The blue one (7VSBL) also was alder, now that I think about it.

 

[B2D]

Re: Like JEMs, but hate trems?

There was a hardtail Jem produced in 2009. It tanked.

I remember that... didn't last long, did it?

I think it might've lasted longer of there wasn't that big logo under the bridge... it just looks like a cheap rip of the inlay the Universe has. Who wants that?

Perhaps the price tag is to cover the cost of the photo session...

hahahahahahahaha

There was a huge stink about when they changed from ebony to rosewood, though Steve had been using rosewood for years. Only the first neck on Evo had ebony, which was broken in 1997 or thereabouts.

The blue one (7VSBL) also was alder, now that I think about it.

I remember when they did that. I think EVO herself has been through 3 or 4 necks or some damn thing like that. You ever check out the close-up photo detail of Evo in Vai's site?

http://www.vai.com/minisites/EVO/EVO_index.html

Those VBSLs are awesome... so pretty.

despite not liking the monkey grip I like JEMs on the whole. I had a 555 back when I was young(er) and stupid - that was a terrible guitar, didn't measure up at all to the real thing.

I'd love to pick up a GMC, a DBK, or a BSB model one of these days.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Like JEMs, but hate trems?

Yeah, the hardtail was panned because of that cheesy logo and plain black finish.

Evo has had lots of necks indeed; those pages are pretty cool. I like story about the neck pup being chucked away :laughing:.

I like the VSBL too, probably the nicest non-wild finish done on a production Jem.

Oh, those 555s were universally reviled. Took them a while but they brought out the 505, which was an improvement (and MIJ); and now the Premium Jem, which is up to spec, just MII. Good luck getting a GMC!