Jem 7VWH mods

[TonyUK]

Hi folks,

Just bought a JEM 7VWH and although the guitar is incrediable there are two questions I have for the panel...

Firstly, what pickup mod would give me that classic Hendrix tone ? Ideally I'd like the screaming harmonic rich lead from the bridge pickup, the twang of positions 2 and 4, the omph of the neck pickup (position 5) and, like I said, the strat neck pickup tone. Are there any mods to tap the other coil on the neck pickup or if not, what pickup would suit do this without loosing the other tones ?

Secondly, *hate to say it and please don't flame me guys, the 7VWH is a little flashy looking for me (fx:ducks!). I bought the guitar because of the feel, versatility and the tone but as I don't intend to part with it (so not bothered about de-valuing it) am considering some cosmetic changes. Firstly, I'd like to swap the pickgaurd for a plain (white?) one, secondly I'd like the body and headstock stripped back down to a natural finish (a'la Steve's Neville). I'd have this done by a pro but wondered what type of finish the wood of the body underneath the existing finish is. I know I'd loose the logo but I can live with that.

Any constructive thoughts ?

Tony

[shawn]

youd be better off just buying a replacement body and keeping/selling the original

[carlos seo]

For the pickup mod, I'd advise you to install a coil-tap system. It works great with my SD JBs and I think it can make the Evos sound like a good Strat single-coil.

[TonyUK]

The new body suggestion is an idea I'd not considered. How do you buy real Ibanez Jem replacement bodies ?

As for the coil tap - thats sounds exactly what I'm after. I don't know how possible it is but what I'd like to do is lose the middle pickup only selector position and have it wired so it taps the front part of the neck humbucker - technically, is this feasable ?

Cheers,
Tony.

[carlos seo]

Hey Tony! Here's what I've done:

I have 3 pickups here: neck JB, middle HotRails and bridge JB. As the HotRails have two coils also (but it's the size of a single-coil), when I engage the coil tap, I have 3 single-coils. It's technically viable!

[RSVampire]

Yo man, don't completly fase out the middle pickup. what you can do is make a coil tap push/pull pot and have it so when you tap the coils you put it in the middle (3) position and have it run the neck and bridge simotaniously.

[TonyUK]

Would having the neck and bridge tapped together give that strat neck pickup tone ?

Thanks to all for the advice so far.

Tony

[toshiro]

Here's an idea, instead of stripping the body, how about just change the hardware to black or cosmo black? This would cut down on the flashy-ness while leaving the guitar completely intact..

I know if I could ever afford a 7vwh, that's the first thing I'd do to it.. That gold hardware is just glaring..

I find the bridge tapped + neck tapped(humbucking) a little too twangy to be like a strat neck tone.. It's perfect for clean, but sorta tele-like distorted.. Might work for you though..

[TonyUK]

I was thinking about chemically stripping the gold off all the hardware anyway taking it back to whatever finish it is underneath (hopefully straight chrome but if its a dull alloy type finish thats fine too). I kinda go for the beat up look :O)

[aerocol]

Tony,

the body of the Jem 7vwh is alder (rich brown colour darker than neville) with a thin (1mm) cover of basswood on the front and back. This is to give a better paint finish as alder can render the job 'grainy'. In my opinion, you would have to get rid of the thin basswood veneers

cheers
col

PS my gold came off just by playing ! and under it was a nice shiny chrome

[TonyUK]

Hi aerocol, thanks for the reply. I experimented on an old strat and it was easy to strip the finish of the body ... is the headstock likely to be the same wood underneath ?

I've thought about stripping the gold hardware and carefully applying paintstripper to remove the gold finish .. the problem with letting nature take its course is that there are parts that aren't likely to wear out.

[warmregards]

Sorry if my reply isnt as forgiving as everyone elses...but I think you bought the wrong guitar...acheiving strat tones and manipulating the cosmetics are major mods when it comes to a Jem. *While the Jem does a decent job of emulating strat tones, and with a couple of suggestions above it could go even farther, the essence of a Jem is not strat-like at all. *Not in looks, tone, or feel. *If you must, sell the guitar and get a real deal strat.

[frankfalbo]

The way you get the "other" coil of the pickup is by using a switch to connect the coil connect wire from the pickups to "hot" instead of ground. There are many ways to do this on a Jem but I think you want that coil when the neck pickup is on alone. That narrows your options a bit. You would have to use a push/pull pot, and connect the hot lead from the pickup through there (both to the push/pull and the 5-way switch) and then attatch the coil connect wire to the pole under it, so they get jumped when you pull the pot. The only problem there is that when you have it pulled, you will lose your 2 and 4 positions. They will be dead because you will be looping hot to ground through the switch. To avoid that, you can disconnect the coil cut leads from the 5-way, thus killing off the automatic 2 and 4 coil cuts. If you do that, you will not cancel hum, even if your coil cut switch is pulled up. If you were just doing the neck pickup you'd be fine, because you would use one side of the switch to tap the pickup, and the other side to disengage the coil cut lead from the 5-way. Thus making your push/pull a "coil reverser/coil cut" This would leave the bridge pickup alone, though. As far as the look, wait awhile and it might grow on you.

[TonyUK]

Hi warmregards,

I've already got a strat (amongst others). I bought the Jem because of the body styling, the trem, the neck, the the overall feel of the package. Wanting to change the cosmetics of the guitar and making a pickup mod doesn't mean I've bought the wrong guitar .. just means that I want to perfect if for my personal playing style. If I was famous enough I'd get Ibanez to make me one :O)

[TonyUK]

Hi frankfalbo,

Thanks for the informative reply .. so, by the sounds of it the mod is feasable via a push/pull tap mod but I'd be restricted with my pickup selections when tapped. Am I right in thinking then with it untapped all the existing tones/positions would remain intact?

Tony