Electronics/Wiring
DiMarzio pickups in a Humbucker/Single/Humbucker configuration with 5-way switch.
Neck pickup is mounted in reverse - turned 180 degrees, so that the bridge side of the humbucker is closer to the neck
Volume and Tone knob - all knobs are plastic except JEM10 is metal
Recessed input jack - on the body's edge below the bridge strap lock. Prevents the cord from coming out.
Pickguards - some clear (BFP, FP, GMC, MC, PMC); some 3-ply colored
Double locking tremolo - Floyd Rose licensed and improved. The Ibanez Edge (1987-1990) and it's predecessor the Lo-Pro Edge (1991 to present) are IMHO the finest locking tremolo ever available. Many updates of the original Floyd Rose design have been incorporated and the results are amazing.
For 2003, the EdgePro (and EdgePro7) replaces the LoPro Edge on all JEM/UVs.
JEM/UV Case - The JEM/UV case has a combo lock on the outside along with the words Ibanez in pink lettering. It has a large compartment on the inside. The pink lining used since '86 has been changed to burgundy for '97. The original pink-lined 777 case was a bit shorter and was soon made larger to accomidate the UV (with larger headstock).
Miscellaneous JEM Notes
Serial Numbers - details about serial numbers is found here and here. Dating an axe from the heel plate is not 100% accurate, in that dates might not 100% match the real production date. For example many PMCs have 90-91 plates and UV77MCs are typically 90-91 even if they were made/sold later. So if you have a 1990 heel plate on a JEM77PMC you do not have a prototype or something special ;-)
Bubinga "skunk stripe" Reinforcement - The JEM90 and JEM7DBK have JEM necks with a bubinga "skunk stripe" truss rod reinforcement. It is said that the skunk stripe eventually might appear on all JEMs. [Ibanez] doesn't care about spending more money to improve something if we can get a better result. That is why [Ibanez] added a bubinga reinforcemnet at no cost. It costs alot more [to add the bubinga stripe] but the defective production rate is almost nothing on a wizard neck.
JEM DiMarzio pickups - Three DiMarzio "model" pickups have been used in JEMs:
Pickup Model & Number Output Treb Mid Bass DC-Resistance
The Breed Neck (DP165/DP165F) 325mv 5 7 8 10.14K
The Breed Bridge (DP166/DP166F) 356mv 6 9 8 17.07K
Evolution Neck (DP158/DP158F) 294mv 7 6 6 12.01K
Evolution Bridge (DP159/DP159F) 404mv 6 7 7 13.84K
PAF Pro (DP151/DP151F) 203mv 6 5 5 8.40K
JEM Single Coil Pickup - The original "JEM Single Coil Pickup" is not available separately from Ibanez or DiMarzio. The closest (exact?) match according to DiMarzio is the HS-2 run in single coil mode. The "JEM Single Coil Pickup" has been tweaked to match the accompanying PAF Pros, Evolutions or Breeds depending on various JEM models.
Scalloped Frets 21-24 - All JEMs have this feature except the JEM10, JEM90, JEM7BSB JEM7DBK and JEM555. It is said to offer more control of the strings at the upper register and allow better feel & sustain.
Expanded Tonal Explaination of Scalloping:
When Ibanez first made the JEM it had a standard neck joint plate. The high four frets go over the body [with no mass behind them] and when you play these notes through an amp the sustain of the [upper four] notes is alot shorter. The reason is all the area of the neck is gone it is just a fingerboard extension [see Guitar Photo Gallery Neck Details]. Billy Sheenan had done this to his basses to keep the sustain [alive for the upper frets laying] over the body, so we did it on the Jem and it made the notes ring the same as the basic neck [below fret 21]. The distance between the frets does not allow your finger in there anyway. When [Ibanez] switched to all access neck joints the scallop thing does not have any purpose anymore. The VWH [was scalloped] but this guitar was actually designed way back in 1989, the first one... had the original neck joint.
Why Some JEMs are Not Scalloped:
Tonally speaking, the AANJ eliminates the need for the scalloped frets 21-24. In addition to these reasons listed above, the production of the JEM neck with scalloped fretboard is very costly due to typical production line yields which result in more defects from the process. Even with Ibanez' policy of strict quality control. The problem with scalloping is [the process] screw[s] up many necks; the reason is the inlays get wacked. Even the JEM7VWH is really bad, usually they turn out black, But we did a new improvement to the VWH that is now shipping [in 1999-2000]. If we scallop the fretboard and the inlay rips out we need to refret the neck. If you ever did a refret on scallops when you pull the fret out, small chips around the scallop come with it then it needs to be sanded down, and refreted then rescalloped. Usually this means throw[ing] the neck away. The plastic screw inlayed dots on the BSB/DBK prohibit the scalloping for similar reasons - It is impossible to scallop these at the 24th fret because of the fretboard radius of 430 mm. The dots are too far out [toward the edge of the fretboard] and can't be done.
Tree of Life Vine Inlay - this features a wooden (or synthetic wooden) stem with leafs made of clear plastic with colored paper applied underneath. This provides a bright color (blue, yellow or green vine for example). The JEM7VWH adds abalone inlays for the smaller leafs, using pearloid plastic for the large leafs. The JEM10 has adds abalone for it's larger and small leaves. The 555 vine stops at the 12th fret unfortunately.
Disappearing Pyramid Inlay - the day-glow color inlays are made of clear plastic with colored paper applied underneath the plastic. The clear plastic (on top of the fretboard) is sanded smooth and to match the radius of the fretboard without dulling the color. The White pearloid pyramids (UV777BK, JEM7PBK) are synthetic perloid plastic.
Lions Claw - this is the scooped out tremolo cavity and was named such for it's apperance that looks like a lion's claw carved out the cavity edge. It is the six scooped ridges on the front of the body by the fine tuners of the tremolo. This is cosmetic in nature as the standard routing allows its tremolo to be raised as well as lowered. It does not improve pull-up or tremolo usage on Ibanez guitars. Vai did this originally on his non-floating trem "green meanie" to allow for pullup... the cosmetic feature was added to all JEMs but the functional feature was added to all Ibanez double-locking trem guitars made after 1987. The Lions Claw is featured on all JEMs but is not found on Universe guitars.
Miscellaneous Universe Notes
Universe pickups - All Universe guitars feature the DiMarzio Blaze-II pickups. There is no Blaze-I pickup. Often in literature, it is simply called the "Blaze" with no distinction between the neck and bridge models. This is referenced to the DiMarzio "Steve's Special" 6-string pickup as the tonal charts are quite similar to the Blaze-II
Pickup Model & Number Output Treb Mid Bass DC-Resistance
Blaze-II Neck (DP700) 280mv 6 4 6 15.80K
Blaze-II Bridge (DP702) 380mv 6 3 7 20.75K
Steve's Special (DP161&161F) 390mv 7 4 7 17.89K
UV String Gauges - Universe guitars ship with string gauges .009 .011 .016 .024 .032 .042 .053, which is similar to a standard .009-.042 set with an additional .053 for the Low B-string.
Scalloped Frets - No Universe has scalloped frets 21-24.
Development Time - The Universe took two and a half years from conception to completion Parts development for the Universe took 18 months. The original black UV that Vai photographed with has "JEM" written on the headstock instead of "Universe". This UV was used in promo photos for a guitar magzine contest & Vai was shown with it often. All shipping UVs have "Universe" on the headstock.
Universe Tremolos - There are some Universes out there with the old style Ibanez "Edge" tremolo systems. They're the 7-string versions of the Edge tremolo you'd find on a JEM built thru 1990. All other UVs feature the LoPro Edge7.
No Monkey Grip on the UV- The Universe Guitar was never intended to be produced with the Monkey Grip that was featured on the JEM line. The confusion was created by speculation about the UV77MC from the Passion and Warfare Album (with no monkey grip) and many photos from Guitar Magazines with the same guitar showing a monkey grip. The Passion and Warfare photo was retouched to "airbrush out" the "Monkey Grip" since the production models (and that actual guitar) were slated to be WITHOUT the Monkey Grip. The following info is from Darren at ATD (who did the swirl) who posted on the Jemsite Forum to clarify the issue.
By DARREN JOHANSEN (Atddmi) on Wednesday, November 01, 2000 - 12:31 pm: Well you are all kinda right. The handle was not supposed to be there. The guitar was sent to me [to swirl] but not before going through someone else's hands [ed note - this was Joe D from LI, NY who could not keep his annoying "PAW's off the axe] and they felt it should have a monkey grip. This ended up delaying the project for several months. The [P&W Cover UV] one that had the monkey grip cut into it was the first universe ever to be swirled.
By DARREN JOHANSEN (Atddmi) on Wednesday, November 01, 2000 - 01:17 pm:
[to confirm] The monkey grip was never supposed to be on the Universe, since it was a new model with a new look. The guitar on the cover [of Passion & Warfare] was sytexed -if that's how you spell it - which is a computer color flow technique. The guitar was photographed so much before though [showing the actual Monkey Grip on the actual guitar even when the P&W cover showed the touch up without monkey grip].
Information obtained and confirmed from these sources: My personal JEM/UV collection, Ibanez Guitar Catalogs, DiMarzio catalogs, Jim McCloskey and others at Hoshino USA, Steve Vai TAB books & magazine features and various JEM enthusiasts & sites on the links page.
