Custom Jem to be ordered soon, comments welcome

[JT Szymanski]

I am in the planning stage of having a custom Jem built this summer or at the latest this fall.

I have a Jem10th (#34 mint I do not play it ), an RG550 (dark blue/teal) stock pickups from very early 90's, washburn mercury w/EMG-81 (sparkle blue), and an American standard Fender strat (Swamp Ash) and want something with a unique and completely different sound and look.

I want a natural wood look and will go with some nice looking wood and an oil finish--no paint or gloss anywhere. Likely to go with black hardware; I still have to go to a store and check out cosmo black to see what I like better.

I was originally going to have a mahogany body with walnut top but now I am thinking of going with a solid 1 piece dark walnut body.
AANJ and current monkey grip style.

ZR trem!

H/H PafPro neck / SD bridge
(still not 100% set on this yet as I have to consider the walnut's tone some more. Evo's are not warm enough for what I am after with this guitar.)

1 volume, 1 tone

Ebony board with tree of life in abalone (would like to scallop top frets but do not want to destroy the thin abalone inlays). warmoth FWSS6105 stainless steel fret wire. I may consider having all the small leaves done in pearloid but am warry about how that would look. So for now the plan is ALL abalone.

USA Wizard II neck profile but may go with the 430mm radius found on the Jem prestige necks.

Undecided on the neck wood. I could just get the tried and true standard maple/bubinga 5 piece but am looking for some more unique options and a contribution to a warmer tone.

Here are some ideas I have for the neck:




comment, critiques, and suggestion are welcome as I have not placed the order yet and want to think about my options for another week or two before making my final choices.

What do you guys and gals think?

[Ibateur]

Why not go with a Walnut neck thru?

neck wood has negligible impact on tone, in my opinion, but there are lots of opinions.

I'd go with #2.

[JT Szymanski]

Originally Posted by Ibateur

Why not go with a Walnut neck thru?

I don't like neck thru for a couple reasons, but I admit it would be interesting.

Originally Posted by Ibateur

neck wood has negligible impact on tone, in my opinion, but there are lots of opinions.

I'd go with #2.

I am thinking #2 also
or maybe #3

I agree. I do not think it will have a major impact on tone. First comes pickups, then body wood--those are the big tone factors IMO. But I do believe the neck, and to a very lesser extent the board, help shape the overall tone.

I am not aganst the standard maple/bubinga wizard neck and may end up going with it. Instead, because I was interested in shaping the tone a little with the neck wood, it is an chance to make it more unique. I put the pictures up because it is as much a chance to effect tone as it is a cosmetic thing. I like I few of the styles displayed but wondered what others thought about the necks (stability, tone, good/bad looking), and the other stuff mentioned.

Just kinda a last minute chance to get any new ideas that I have not thought of that might be cool with the overall theme, or change anything that I am leaning toward in the case someone points out a problem.

[screamndemon69]

neck woods affect tone. try a maple fretboard over an ebony fretboard and tell me it doesn't
try a mahogany necked guitar next to a maple necked guitar. big tone differences.
it is a link in the tone just as body, pickups, bridge and even finish are.

are you going to use SIMS, EKG or Chris Woods for you work or do you have another builder in mind?

i would love an RGT version Jem. i'm looking forward to seeing progress on this whenever it starts to take shape.

[Jonny Friday]

Birds eye maple with mahogany or korina might be cool for the neck. i havent played a walnut guitar though, wonder how they sound

[rastachild]

if you've never played a walnut guitar before you may want to reconsider using it exclusively for a body wood. sounds like you've been to the warmoth site and have read their wood descriptions, which is a good start. i've heard some hit and miss reviews of people who have had walnut bodied guitars and i guess it's even more essential to get a good cut of wood. resonance is the main complaint, but that kind of brings up another question, which is what type of tone are you trying to achieve? and how did you come up with walnut as a choice for wood? seeing as how you originally considered it as a laminate, it sounds like you chose it for it's looks. if that's the case, then i'd suggest sticking with your original idea because it won't affect your tone to a significant degree that way.

secondly, there are of course many things that will contribute to your ultimate tone (amp is probably the #1 factor), but neck wood (and construction) is a pretty important one imo. everyone has their own conception of good tone, but i personally look for something that is balanced tonally. you can achieve that in many ways (the lp combo of maple over mahogony comes to mind), but you may want to consider having the body made of a warmer toned wood (i.e. mahogony) and the neck being something that will be harder and brighter (i.e. maple or walnut).

but i do understand the allure of exotic woods. i have a paduak rg being put together as we speak. but i only chose it because i had firsthand experience with another guitar that had the same type of wood.

[Demiurge]

I like #3, but what would also look good would be maple-wenge-paduak-wenge-maple (you can use rosewood instead of wenge if you really want to, but I like wenge because it's darker and a better contrast).

[JT Szymanski]

Originally Posted by screamndemon69

...are you going to use SIMS, EKG or Chris Woods for you work or do you have another builder in mind?

i would love an RGT version Jem. i'm looking forward to seeing progress on this whenever it starts to take shape.

Thanks for the reply. I am going with another builder who I have been talking to about various ideas via email. I think he may have done work for a few other members here and I will post his info as soon as I ask him if he does not mind it being posted.

Originally Posted by Jonny Friday

Birds eye maple with mahogany or korina might be cool for the neck. i havent played a walnut guitar though, wonder how they sound

Originally Posted by rastachild

if you've never played a walnut guitar before you may want to reconsider using it exclusively for a body wood. sounds like you've been to the warmoth site and have read their wood descriptions, which is a good start. i've heard some hit and miss reviews of people who have had walnut bodied guitars and i guess it's even more essential to get a good cut of wood. resonance is the main complaint, but that kind of brings up another question, which is what type of tone are you trying to achieve? and how did you come up with walnut as a choice for wood?....

I am going for a wrmer tone than my rg, but not quite as much as an old LP. I like some of the mahogany body with hard maple top sounds, but as you mentioned I am going for looks with the walnut.

I am under the impression that walnut sounds similar to a mahogany with a hard maple top. My thought is that I can get a nice, somewhat unique looking, body with slightly brighter tones than a mahogany/maple and then warm it up a bit with the neck wood. I am not a craftsman and have ZERO knowledge regarding stability/strength so that is why I am taking it slow and trying to learn as much as I can before deciding on a neck.

I play through an old JCM800 and recently started using a ts-9 tube screamer (not modded yet) in front of it For recording I use a valveFX

Originally Posted by Demiurge

I like #3, but what would also look good would be maple-wenge-paduak-wenge-maple (you can use rosewood instead of wenge if you really want to, but I like wenge because it's darker and a better contrast).

Nice, thanks for the idea. This is why I like this forum--I did not know about wenge but will now look into it and learn more.



EDIT to add: I just read about wenge over at warmoth and on some other guitar/bass sites. Really good looking stuff. From what I read sounds like it has a great tone too.

That is the hard part with a custom instrument--you can not go to the shop and play a few of the model to see which sounds and feels the best. If Ibanez would just make a few natural/oil finished Jems with a ZR trem it would make things sooo much easier