I aquired my first Jem, a Premium 70v, back in July, saved for months for this thing. I wanted to make a NGD back then but I went forgetting and delaying it ever since...
I must say, after playing a 7V I was impressed with what those folks in Indonesia can do.
It's a great guitar for it's value, and if setup correctly it holds up great.
Of course it's not a Prestige, but it sure is a lot better than that 555 thing!
Funny thing is, the 555 costs as much as this here in Portugal(around 1000€)
Replaced all the hardware in mine with gold one for less than 200$(sold the old one, in the end I spent like 30$)
DiMarzio even sent me the polepieces for 15$.
When replacing the hardware I just noticed one thing: the nut is not MIJ, the original chrome one is a little off the neck in the bass side and has nothing to do with the Gotoh.
The gold one I put in is MIJ Gotoh, so are the tuners, and of course, a Lo Pro(just love the thing).
Got a real dark rosewood fretboard, I've a bunch of lighter ones.
Set it up, put some .10s in and voilá, here she is:
