Ibanez JEM
| Ibanez JEM | |
|---|---|
| File:JEM7VWH.jpg | |
| Manufacturer | Ibanez |
| Period | 1987–present |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Bolt-on |
| Woods | |
| Body | Basswood, Alder (varies with sub-model) |
| Neck | Maple |
| Fretboard | Rosewood, Ebony (varies with sub-model) |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | Floyd Rose (varies with sub-model) |
| Pickup(s) | H-S-H DiMarzio |
| Colors available | |
| Varies with sub-model | |
"Anywhere in the world, I can go into a music store, take a JEM off the wall, and it's my voice." - Steve Vai in Ibanez - The Untold Story [1]
Ibanez JEM is an electric guitar from Ibanez, which was first made in 1987. The guitar's most notable user is its co-designer, Steve Vai. Until today, there are five sub-models of Ibanez JEM, which are the JEM7, JEM77, JEM777, JEM555 and the Universe. Although Ibanez JEM series is a signature series guitar, Ibanez produces some of the sub-models of the guitar in a large scale and sell it widely.
Ibanez JEM series is basically influenced by the Superstrat model, which is a more aggressive in terms of shape and specifications shape compared to the Stratocaster.[2] Moreover, in the production process, Ibanez and Steve Vai compared the specifications of the Stratocaster, Ibanez RG and Steve's older guitars.
History
Earlier guitars
Back in the 1980s, the trends of free-agent guitarists was started when Eric Clapton was paid by Fender to drop his Gibson SG and use Fender's guitars exclusively. This was when companies started to reach guitar players and offered them to use a particular guitar. While Fender reached Eric Clapton, Ibanez collaborated with Steve Vai because of his level of virtuosity, his success in Berklee College of Music, influences from Frank Zappa and his first successful album, Flex-Able, which was released in 1984.
Before that, Steve used a handbuilt guitar by Performance guitar, Charvel & Jackson. Together, with Joe Despagni and Tom Anderson, they created many customs guitars and made many experiences to make "something new." Since then, Steve used Tom Anderson's guitar model and recorded the demo of the album Skyscraper, a collaboration with David Lee Roth, with the guitar. Steve also began to bring his Tom Anderson guitars on many tours, although the durability of the guitars were questionable. On a website about JEM, Steve said, "For guitars on the new LP [Skyscraper] I was using my Ibanez, like for most of the record; the only things that aren't the Ibanez are things that were flown in from the demo, which were from before I was working with Ibanez. For those I was using a Tom Anderson guitar; he's a LA guitar builder. He build this for me after my old green monster, which I used out on the road last year until it died. I was pulling on the whammy bar and ripped the bar right out of the guitar [laughs]; it was actually ripped out before the show as Madison Square Garden. I was dying. So I started using Tom's guitar as my main guitar for the rest of the tour, and I really like it because it has a very heavy sound to it. So I took the best of the sounds from that guitar and had them incorporated into the Ibanez."[3]
Ibanez and Steve Vai
Later, when many companies started to approach him, he realized that Tom Anderson is much too small to compete with Ibanez and other big companies, which made him decide to drop his Anderson guitar and went through guitar deals with these companies. However, Steve has stated on one interview, that he chose Ibanez because the company could give the requirements or guitar specifications he wanted, the guitar that was desiged by Joe Despagni, who owned a guitar company called "JEM Guitar," which later become the name of the model.
It has not been discovered, who contacted whom first; whether Ibanez contacted Steve first, or Steve asked Ibanez to create a guitar model for him. Just before Christmas 1986, Ibanez had received Steve's guitar details for specification. Basically, they were not very different from Despagni's guitars. So Ibanez built one of their "Maxxas" guitars for him with a palmrest for the tremolo and sent it as a Christmas present to his parents' house. The company had to wait for two weeks to wait for Steve's response, anxiously. However, everything turned out good; Steve liked the model and he decided to produce that particular guitar with Ibanez. It took five months to make the new model samples in Japan, the JEM guitar and the RG range which lauched at the NAMM Industry Trade Show in June 1987."
Design and production
After the JEM series was lauched at the NAMM show, Ibanez with Steve Vai began to design and produce the guitar actively. Initially, the guitar was not intended to be a "Steve Vai's guitar." Originally, Steve had not gotten the guitars, so the thought was, "What is the point to sell 'Steve's guitar' if Steve does not play the guitar? Rich Lasner of Hoshino explained that Steve used a "Chinese menu approach" to design the guitar (i.e. choosing from many different categories). So the first design was by Steve, when he sent Hoshino his ideas from many different guitar features he liked and combined it into one guitar. Basically the things that had been considered were the weight, wood types and pickups. For the latter specification, Steve decided long before Ibanez contacted him, that he will use DiMarzio pickups for his guitars.
After that, Lasner went to Steve to ask him to explain about the guitar specifications even more. Lasner stated, "'The first thing he did' Rich explains, 'was disassemble them on the spot. Neck from body, pickguard off, tremolo out... took 'em apart. I was shocked, to say the least. But Steve looked at me nonchalantly and said, 'Relax, I do this all the time.' He wanted to check Mace's detail and craftsmanship.'"[3] Mace Bailey, who was also involved in the production, later went to Japan to the Ibanez factory to really begin producing the guitar. He sat there with the craftsmen and managed to to make 10 guitars for Steve. And that is all about it, there was not further designing and comment from Steve, he just loved the guitar when it was first created.
Naming conventions
Ibanez has not revealed about the naming system of the JEM models(JEMxxx). However, it has known that the number 7 came from Steve Vai himself as he likes number 7.[4] Steve Vai has also released an album titled "The Seventh Song" which contains ballad songs from albums before "The Seventh Song". Steve Vai stated on the CD cover, "Traditionally, I have made the 7th song on all my CDs the mellifluous guitar ballad that serves the melody on a silver platter. In numerology, the number 7 is shrouded in mystique. In a record sequence, it has always felt like the sweet spot. These songs are more devotional in nature than technical. They are a reflection of one man's desire to expose a glimmer of the depth of his longing for spiritual communion."[5]
The same thing goes with the name JEM which highly possible it was not come from Ibanez. Before Steve Vai began to use Ibanez exclusively, he used a guitar which was made by his friend, Joe Despagni, which owned a company called "JEM Guitars". Apparently, Steve Vai, who had used the Despagni guitar since his early career decided to name his Ibanez series as "JEM".
As for the sub-model numbers (7, 77, 777 and 555), there is a pattern in it in terms of quality, production years, also the degree of exclusivity. JEM777 is the first JEM sub-model, created in 1986. These days, Ibanez no longer sell the model widely, thus this model is quite rare, especially the JEM777LNG since it was the very first variant. On the other hand, JEM77 models are more widely available compared to the JEM777 guitars. There is an obvious pattern in the JEM77 guitars, which becomes one of the way to differentiate it with JEM7 variants. The main thing to distict it is the body paint, which is a floral or multicolor pattern, for example JEM77FP (Floral Pattern). However, a variant of JEM77, which is JEM77BRM is not a multicolor guitar, but it has a "rock mirror" finish. JEM7 variants are widely more available compared to JEM77. One reason is that all of the variants of JEM7 are not limited to a certain number, while the second reason is Ibanez intended JEM7 as a affordable guitar. However, nowadays some JEM7 variants like JEM7VWH and JEM7VSLB are more expensive than some JEM77 even JEM777 variants. Different with other JEM models, JEM555 is a very different model as the guitars are produced in Korea and in terms of quality, this variant is not better than the others.[4]
Therefore, the order of the exclusivity is JEM777, JEM77, JEM7 and JEM555.[4]
Models and variations
JEM Anniversary
There are three sub-models of JEM Anniversary model.
JEM10
The model was created for JEM's tenth anniversary in 1997, although the production was started in 1996. "This sub-model of Anniversary JEM includes numbered letter of authenticity hand signed by Steve Vai. The aluminum pickguard has an engraved vine and it's JEM10 serial number. JEM10s designated for the USA have a silver tweed JEM case with outside plaque and inner silk screened protective shroud. Later numbered JEM10s going to the USA have their JEM10 plaque screwed onto the case, instead of riveted/glued on."[6] There are 1,562 JEM10 guitars around the globe (250 of them are in the US), and each guitar has its own serial number. #1 is at Hoshino USA, #2 is at Roland in Germany). #3, #5, #7, and #9 went for sale in the US and JEM10 #16 was given away by Steve during G3.
JEM90HAM
HAM stands for Hoshino Anniversary Model, which was made for the 90th Anniversary Hoshino Model. The specifications are not very different with JEM10 model, as both use the same type of wood, pickups, hardwares and tremolos. There are exactly 72 guitars in the US and 759 worldwide, adding up to 831 guitars in the world.
JEM2KDNA
The most notable thing of the feature is the color paint, as Steve put his DNA (blood) to the mixture of the paint. The painter of the guitar, Darren Michaels ATD, stated on Jemsite.com, "For the record your if you own a DNA you have a good amount of the "DNA". The "blood red" paint that I mixed was mixed at a ratio of aproximately 8:1 [paint:blood] so the content is quiet high.
There had to be pigment mixed into the paint to hold it onto the guitar as well as a carrier. If you purchase a canvas you get a picture of myself and someone mixing [the blood] in to the color. Also a picture of the room we did the guitars in too. The canvases also have the same content as I mixed all the DNA left into the paint when I left Japan and brought the paint back with me . I hope this clears things up for you"[6] The guitars were made in the year 2000, represented in the model series, JEM2KDNA (2000). Around the world, there are exactly 300 guitars.
JEM7
From six different variants, these days, Ibanez only produces JEM7VWH series and it is Steve Vai's main guitar that he uses for live performances. Steve Vai has one JEM7VWH with exactly has the same specification as the guitars in the market, which he named as "Evo". The main features of JEM7 variants is the monkey grip, which located on top of the pickups and the scalloped fingerboard that applies from the 21th fret up to the 24th. From aestethic point of view, all JEM7 variants have the "Tree Of Life" vine inlays on the fretboard.
Complete list of JEM7 variants:
- JEM7BSB
- JEM7DBK
- JEM7PBK
- JEM7RB
- JEM7VSBL
- JEM7VWH
JEM77
All the JEM77 variants do not have any significant difference with JEM7 variants. Ibanez only produces the JEM77BRM these days which is also do not have any significant difference with JEM7VWH.[7] Steve Vai only uses the JEM77BRM model as his other main gear, named "MOJO", which also the model that is being sold widely.
Complete list of JEM77 variants:
- JEM77BRM
- JEM77BFP
- JEM77FP
- JEM77GMC
- JEM77PMC
- JEM7VWH
JEM777
The JEM777 variants are considered as the oldest variants among all JEM models since it was produced in 1986.[7] There is no any variant sell widely these days. There are exactly 777 JEM777LNG (stands for "Loch Ness Green") guitars around the world, which is also the first variant produced. The Loch Ness Green guitars were also hand signed by Steve Vai. From technical point of view, all JEM777 guitars have more or less the same specification with the other two JEM models (JEM7 and JEM77)
Complete list of JEM777 variants:
- JEM777DY
- JEM777LNG
- JEM777SK
- JEM777VBK
- JEM777VDY
- JEM777VSK
JEM 555
All the JEM555 variants are not widely available in USA nowadays, as Ibanez had got many negative feedbacks from consumers.[7] However, in 2000, the variants have been reintroduced in many different countries prior to high demands.
Complete list of JEM555 variants:
Also known as JEM Jr.
- JEM555BK
- JEM555WH
- JEM555LWH
- Main article: Ibanez Universe
The universe series is a JEM sub-model that has seven strings on each guitar. Most of the variants of the Universe are considered as old models since four out of six variants (UV7PWH, UV7BK, UV77MC and UV777GR) were only produced in the early 90s. In these present days, Ibanez only produces the UV777BK series and the guitars are widely available.
Besides the Universe has more strings than the variants of JEM, there are also some other differences. The most notable difference is the Universe does not have the monkey grip, which is a hole on top of the pickups to hold the guitar. This leads to many dissapointment on many guitarists who use the Universe because one of the features of the JEM series is the monkey grip. Besides that, all Universe also do not have scalloped fingerboards while almost all of the JEMs have scalloped fingerboards. From aestetchic point of view, the Universe has something difference with the JEM variants as well, since there is no "Tree Of Life" vine inlay on evey Universe guitar. Instead, the dots on the fingerboards are replaced by pyramid inlays, which was used on the earliest JEM.
Complete list of Universe variants:
- UV7PWH
- UV7BK
- UV7BK '97
- UV77MC
- UV777GR
- UV777BK
See also
References
- ^ Steve Vai comment on Ibanez JEM http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/series.asp?s=jem&l=e
- ^ Ibanez RG History http://www.ibanez-guitar.com/history.asp
- ^ a b Ibanez JEM History http://www.jemsite.com/jem/origin/index.htm
- ^ a b c Jemsite FAQ http://jemsite.com/faq.htm#guitars
- ^ The Seventh Song CD Cover
- ^ a b Ibanez JEM Specifications http://www.jemsite.com/jem/spec.htm
- ^ a b c Ibanez JEM Specifications http://www.jemsite.com/jem/spec.htm