jem 555 mod

[jimi.s]

hi guys
this is my first post in this cool forum so here goes.
i havent got a jem......yet but am looking to buy a jem 555 ( because i cant afford £1000 + worth of guitar) ajnd doing it up. fit a lo pro edge, some evolution pick ups and maybe find a new neck off of ebay. (if its possible). do you have any idea where i can but a cheap second hand, or new, 555 and any sites where i can buy parts? my price range for the guitar is around the £600 mark (just for the guitar then whateva amount of money for the extra parts).
thanks guys
jimi

[vaijem777]

Save your money and buy a nice Japanese-made RG570 or comparable. It'd be cheaper than modding a Korean-made P.O.S. and you'd have a much better guitar from the start.

Putting that much money into modifying a 555 is like gold-plating a turd: it's STILL a turd...it just looks shinier.

[jimi.s]

hehe ok fair enough. so if i got a rg550 would it be owrht fitting some evolution's to it?

[dex]

What Chris said.

Also if you want a pretty Japanese made guitar with a vine check out the RG2820 - it could be found for £600 in some shops or just get a second hand jem off ebay.

ilia

[vaijem777]

An RG550 would definitely be worth putting some EVOs into. Same hardware & quality of a Japanese JEM at a fraction of the price

[jimi.s]

cool. i'll think i'll buy a rg550 then. that rg2820 looks really nice. very rare aswell....i guessing.

[weserman]

get a second hand jem off ebay. £600 is almost $1200 at the moment. You can save so much by getting one from america, even including the shipping and tax. My Jem7DBK cost me around £650-700 to import from america. That was over a year ago when the dollar was stronger. You can probably find a DBK or DY cheaper now. Give ebay.com a look first.

[jimi.s]

ok. i'll check there first.

[jemsite]

either way, check the tech section for discussion on the typical difficulty retrofitting an Edge/LoPro into a TRS routed guitar. Sometimes it works, but usually it doesn't ...glen

[Petie]

Originally Posted by jimi.s

fit a lo pro edge, some evolution pick ups and maybe find a new neck off of ebay.

Just fyi, the 555 already has Evolutions in it. That's pretty much its only selling point

[MicJustMic]

True, but still doesn't make it worth the money (new) when all you're really getting is an RG 350 with a monkey grip, lion's claw and half a vine, that says, "Jem" on the headstock.

I almost fell over when I saw a 555 for the first time . . . "cheap" Jem?

Cheap?

No, expensive, especially when the RG 570 and 550 were hundreds cheaper, even adding the cost of a new set of pups, AND have better hardware/construction/cuts of wood. :-)

I'm actually glad they stopped selling them here in the States, two reasons, one I don't have to see them sitting in music stores any more and two, so that people won't be fooled into blowing their money on them just because it says "Jem" and it costs half as much as a VWH . . . all just my opinion though, I'm sure there are those out there that have them that love them, and that's wonderful for them.

Me, I'll take a pass and enjoy my RG 500 series guitars. :-) With Evos, by the way.

Mic

PS
Petie, I didn't think you were endorsing the 555 in any way. I just wanted to say that so you didn't think I was barking at you about it. :-) I agree with you, it IS it's only selling point.

[Shreddy Krueger]

Actually I just bought a 03' Jem 555 for similar reasons & now I'm kicking myself.
I could have saved myself about $400 by just buying a used 570/550 & throwing some DiMarzios in it.

I paid $750 w/o case for mine & now after gutting out the p/up's for my RG 550DX I'm reducing it to my drop d guitar & converting it to just a tone zone in the bridge (damn near another $100) & a new pickguard from EKG($65).....oh yeah had to get a fret level too!!!($45).

For this kinda of $$$ I could have bought a used DBK or something with the words DESERT SUN YELLOW in it!!!!

Plus after further bar band weekend usage I have come to the conclusion that I absolutely hate the 03' bridges.
My other EDGE equipped guitars don't have a problem staying in tune for the most part all night, but the EDGE 2 pro doesn't even make it a full set.
Damn you IBANEZ for canned the locking studs!!!!!!
Damn you!!!!
You WILL notice a marked diffrence in overall tuning stabilty if you are used to an EDGE/LO PRO EDGE trem.
Granted it's a HUGE improvement over thr TRS.....

Take it from me...
Save yourself the headache and just find a good RG 550.

[Shreddy Krueger]

Also to answer your previous question...

An RG 550 w/ Evolutions is a good thing.
Never put any in a 570, but I don't imagine the rosewood board would make it sound THAT diffrent.
550's always seem to lend themselves pretty easy to projects.

I'm picking up an 89' in kind of rougher shape dirt cheap($135) and plan on throwing in some DiMarzio's (Humbucker from Hell & The Breed).
Plus I'm getting a full scallop done on the neck.

That is unless I win the RG 560 I'm bidding on on EBAY.
If that happens I'll have to wait a couple weeks before I do that.

Point is, there's lots of cool stuff that's better AND cheaper than investing WAY too much time & $$$$ in a 555.

You'll be happier & richer.....

Plus if you are totally hellbent on the Jem body look, why don't you just get EKG to make you a body or find a cheap RG body & have LGM mod it for you? There are always Ibanez parts pretty cheap on EBAY.
You could probably "part out" a pretty nice Jem for WAY less than you would pay modding a 555.
I built myself an Ibanez "strat" last year with 80% new parts that I bought off EBAY & I don't think I made it much over $300....

[Petie]

Originally Posted by MicJustMic

PS
Petie, I didn't think you were endorsing the 555 in any way. I just wanted to say that so you didn't think I was barking at you about it. :-) I agree with you, it IS it's only selling point.

I have no real objection to its existence - especially now they at least have Edge Pro II's instead of the you-know-what - but I wouldn't buy one unless it was really cheap (and in Australia they're obscenely expensive - about $2200 which at current exchange rates is about $1800US). I just said that stuff about the pickups cos I didn't want to see jimi.s go out and buy a 555 and a new set of Evolutions to put into it.

[fettouhi]

I have a Jem Jr. because first of all I am a lefty and it was the close thing to a Jem I could get and could afford. True the TRS II isn't as good as the lo pro edge. But I still managed to able to do almost every Steve Vai and Joe Satriani trick in the book. Most of the time the trem stayed rather well in tune. I think a got a good version of the trem because I had a RG470 before that and the trem sucked balls. But anyway I am also strongly considering giving my old girl a well deserved upgrade. Meaning all hardware going gold, trem becomes a lo pro edge. Fretboard is exchanged with a ebony fretboard with full abalone vine inlay. It won't be cheap either but I think she is worth it.

Well, this is my two cents on the subject.