2005 'Bad Horsie' and fixed-bridge model (confirmed by Vai)

[RustyMcTavish]

I like to play my guitar while lying in bed before I fall asleep.

Having lighted dots would certainly help in finding the right notes

Add a vote for having lighted dots. (One can hope)

[Praetorian]

OK, call me a loser or whatever, but today was the very first time I've heard Bad Horsie in it's entirety. I listened to a clip last night and figured that I absolutely had to have it, so I went and bought ALS. Not to mention the live at the astoria DVD. What can I say, I'm a complete BH whacko now. At this point I would gladly spend over the price of a Jem7VWH to get a Bad Horsie Jem because of the effect that song had on me. It's so addictive...wow. And then seeing Steve perform it on the DVD made me go nuts. I must say, those lights REALLY make an impression on a dark stage. If the production model had LEDs, that would be sweet having seen the guitar in action. I just can't get it out of my head now, I've absolutely got to learn to play it and then get the BH jem so I can be a real Steve imitator. Lol. I almost started crying when Steve started playing with his boot. Nobody should be able to do that. I'm sorry, it's just not fair . Lol. Seriously, if there's anyone out there like me, the BH Jem would do fantastic.

[bobojem]

BH is such a fun song to play...everytime i do it at my band practice everyone else just stares at me like i have 3 heads...Praetorian, when you said you went out and bought Alien Love Secret I almost laughed out loud. Lol if anyone should know about alien love secret, its someone from new mexico lol. Wonderful place, i should like to visit sometime. yeah...call me a loser too, I'm into aliens...

[jono]

Originally Posted by dex

Rich, Glen, get Andy and Mikey to take notice of this BRILIANT idea and to see if they can mention it to Ibanez/Steve.

Interesting is that its here that the JEM becomes more than the Steve Vai signature model, when it takes ona life of it's own again with the possibility to have many many different models all approved, but not necessarily played, by Steve. Afterall, who wants a guitar with Steve's name on it ? But the question to which I'm sure Ibanez has answered "no" and hence the lack of a huge range these days, is that "would all these guitars sell in numbers sufficiently large to warrant their production?"

I'd guess that most people want the JEM as it's what Steve plays, and if Steve doesn't play it, it's probably not going to sell, despite the 4 or 5 people off this site who might fancy one of the non white JEMs.

Originally Posted by dex

Also Caprile - not all of the 7500 members here might be active but most of us who are own more than one Jem.
I personaly have 2 (had 3 briefly) and will not hesitate to purchase another one if Ibanez/Vai mature the jem line a bit or give me more choice.
For $2500 (£1999) list guitar made in Japan I want a lot more options and choicier woods.
Someone like Jackson or Tom Anderson will make you a VERY sweet guitar for this much coin..............hell, even a complete custom from Eddie/Jeremy will cost you less and you can get any wood/colour/inlay you wish.

ilia

For £2000 Anderson still won't make a 24 fretter, they still won't put an AANJ on it and they still won't shape the body like I really really want it etc. etc. etc.

What Jackson will do is let you have a DK-1 in about 14 million different colours, thats something I wish that could be said of the JEM!

[dex]

Originally Posted by jono

For £2000 Anderson still won't make a 24 fretter, they still won't put an AANJ on it and they still won't shape the body like I really really want it etc. etc. etc.

You're right, I guess I should just get Eddie and Jeremy to build me something from scratch because that seems to be the only way I'll ever get more choice than Ibanez are prepared to offer.
I'm not against the white Jem per se, even own one, just the gold hardware is a bit much for me.
Also Jackson might not offer much but you can get Soloist (SL1 and SL2), Dinky (DK1), Kelly (KE2), Randy V (RR1 and RR5), King V (KV2), Warrior (WR1) and Phil Collen signature guitars all for less than 7VWH, all made in the US (which has higher labour costs), all come with case, and in the PC1 case with sustainer as well(and in 5 finishes).
How can Jackson do samething like that for less money that Ibanez???

Maybe by trying what Alex J sugested they can see how many people are prepared to put a deposit down and that might create demand big enough for them to make and offer more jems............then negotiate with Steve for smaller cut if they manage to increase seles by more than 20% or something and introduce more models.
Whether Steve plays a jem or not will not sway me either way - I stopped buying his records after the Ultra Zone and my 7VWH spends all it's time in a case (until I decide whether I can be bothered to swap the gold hardware for chrome or sell it) and the 7VSBL gets played every day.

This is just my opinion but let me tell you - unless Ibanez came up with a red jem, I won't be jem shopping any time soon...................I can see a real nice RG8570M in my not to distant future though.

ilia

[Praetorian]

hey bobo, you know what's funny? When I go into the Navy in a few weeks, I'm going to have something like 27 weeks of training in Connecticut. We can switch places! Lol. Unfortunately that means I'm not going to get to practice as much as I'd like to. But fortunately I'll be able to study up on my music theory and scales and modes and music notation and all the stuff we SHOULD know. But I did learn the main part of Bad Horsie...it just sounds so mean. I wish I could play the rest of it. How did you learn it, did you get a tab? Actually, how do any of you guys get to learn Steve's songs? I couldn't get 30 seconds into Erotic Nightmares trying to learn by ear. It's all so confusing to me. Anyway.

You guys have a good point about the Jackson PC1. It has a sustainer, it's built in the US, it comes in different colors...all the things a guitar should be, and yet Ibanez can't seem to be able to do it. And Jems are more expensive too. It doesn't make sense to any of us...

[darren wilson]

One thing i find interesting is that on some other forums dedicated to other guitar brands, they've managed to get special limited runs of guitars for forum members. Dean Owners of America get a special "DOA" model nearly every year, and i was on a G&L forum the other day where they had a special run of 25 made to their specs, which sold out in 36 hours.

[RCB]

Another proof that Ibanez just dont care much for its high end customers. If specs were agreed for a jemsite jem, and given some time to put it toghether, you might get an order for 50 or more guitars. Really dont expect this kind of commitment to the customers from Ibanez, but it would be nice to see the J customs available (at least available to order, I dont even ask that they have them in stock) wordlwide, or a wider colour and finish options to choose from.

The jackson example is very strong.

Despite all of this, I still love Ibanez guitars, and I still feel the best modern shapes are the RG/jem and the S. The best floating systems are still made by ibanez. If a guitar maker ever comes up with better design than Ibanez jem/RG or S, then I might never again buy ibanez. They couldnt figure it tou in 17 years, so I dont count on them.

[RCB]

Oh! I forgot... there was another design i liked better than the RG and the S, the Voyager, but then again, it s also Ibanez. A prestige flamed or bird eye maple top voyager...... a dream come true.

Back to the topic, yesterday I saw Vai s DVD and Im pretty certain that I will buy one of those jem77BRCH when I come across a used one. If it is backrouted and with piramid inalys, then its going to be the best jem released in a long time, and the best jem available in the current line up.

[jemsite]

Originally Posted by darren wilson

One thing i find interesting is that on some other forums dedicated to other guitar brands, they've managed to get special limited runs of guitars for forum members. Dean Owners of America get a special "DOA" model nearly every year, and i was on a G&L forum the other day where they had a special run of 25 made to their specs, which sold out in 36 hours.

Those companies care about customers and go out of their ways to reward good customers, foster good customer relations and create good press for their company. Credit to those companies.

OTOH, Ibanez could care less about any of that... glen

[jono]

In truth I doubt we could get 25 people to agree on a spec, especially if we had to have the new posts. Most folks I think would buy from the novelty value.

[Algiman]

Could we get 25 people on this site to agree on anything?

[RCB]

On the high end price range I d say a multicolored jem with the vine or piramid inlay, and jemsite legend instead of jem, would please at least 50 or more potential buyers.

On the low end price range Id say a natural oil finished alder bad horsie with piramid inlays and the jemsite inscription in the headstock would also get more than 50 orders.

Even if they come with non locking studs and the EP.

[jono]

Please at least enough to secure say ooh a $1000 deposit, sight unseen for a swirl?

The second one would be more popular I'd wager as it's practically one of Steve's anyway, which just goes back to the suggestion that there should be more production JEMs with Steve's approval to choose from in the first place

(for what it's worth I doubt I'd want either of those )

[bobojem]

Originally Posted by dex

Also Jackson might not offer much but you can get Soloist (SL1 and SL2), Dinky (DK1), Kelly (KE2), Randy V (RR1 and RR5), King V (KV2), Warrior (WR1) and Phil Collen signature guitars all for less than 7VWH, all made in the US (which has higher labour costs)

I have something that I'd like to point out. Japan doesn't necessarily have lower labor cost than the US. Japanese currency might be lower at face value but the lowest unit of currency is yen. My point is that those guys over there make alot of yens. A middle class craftsman can easily make close to 3/4 million yen a month. Most of the tourist who travels to japan also reflect that their stuff is alot more expensive than US. So labor cost in japan is not cheap!!! I have a friend who just went there a few weeks ago and I, myself have lived in Japan for 3 years. So I'd like to think my information is reliable. If someone else disproves me with official statistics or something then i'll admit that im wrong. This is just from my personal experience. Plus, Japanese instruments coming into the US probably gets tariffed pretty bad. Another reference information from Ibanez.co.jp, the retail price for the 7v is 245,000 yen w/o tax, which translate to 2,241.45 USD (courtesy of www.xe.com/ucc); the MSRP in U.S. for a 7v is $2,399.99. The difference is not too significant but you get my point.