Seemingly getting worse..

[ToppersPoppers]

I've got a year old 7VWH and there are so many little details that need to be worked out... one of my concerns is the neck pickup is dead... zero harmonics and almost no bite which is totally the opposite of their description, the pinched and tapped harmonics also aren't very strong could this be an intonation problem? because I'm very good at controlling pinched harmonics and i struggle with this guitar...

does anyone else notice on the edge pro's that the bushings on the bar itself wear out and cause the bar to jiggle in the hole? cause i have to replace mine about once a week and its a right pain in the @$$ (i cant often replace them though because Ibanez has difficulty understanding where Canada is...

could the harmonics issues be fixed with a well-due set-up and some new strings ?

[OLIE_ROCKS_THE_80'S]

I would also suggest for you to have the tech (or yourself) check the pups with a multi-meter, it may very well be that one of the coils in your neck humbecker is dead.

[Petie]

Hmm, my Jem's neck pickup squeaks out pick harmonics better than most bridge pickups can manage.

One thing I've noticed about my year-old Jem is that I can see the finish 'sinking' into the wood grain. I understand Ibanez use a veneer of basswood on the alder to stop this happening, but in certain light conditions it's very visible. I wonder if they've stopped doing that, or if it's just a quirk of my particular guitar.

[David McCarroll]

new strings will help, a setup most likely not, but it WILL make the guitar more enjoyable to play, and that's got to be a good thing.....

[Jemma_Ann's_man]

A while back ago I got a white JEM7VWH at Guitar center and when my dad who I haven't seen in 6 years got it for me he paid for it and I picked it up. I played with it a bit and it was a pretty cool guitar I thought. but then, after a cou0ple months the quality seemed faulted. it started falling apart even with proper care and I didn't know a crap about floating trems and stuff and I was practically a noob. I hated it so much after it started falling apart and my mom wasn't willing to pay tech prices and Guitar center was far. so I talked to the guys at GC and my father and I returned it and got a PRS McCarty. Best thing I've ever done.

Something told me I'd own the same guitar again. then to my luck a couple weeks later I went to my local Ibanez dealer and had this beauty for $999 and it was almost new and the combo lock wasn't even activated not a single scratch and stuff. I picked it up and was starnge that it was practically the same guitar, just in sparkle blue finish, same pups and everything, but it was more solidly built and didn't have a single flaw.



Then my Iabnez dealer told me the sparkle blue limited runs were more carefully made than the white ones because the white ones are mass produced and second of all other bastards in GC play it and you never know what could be wrong. I decided to get a PRS because it was high on the wall with a high price tagso not very many people played it.

but Ibanez, the best way to get things like that fixed is through a local dealer. When I owned my old RG my local Ibanez dealer was authorized to do repairs, the input jack kept coming loose and stuff but with major repairs its best to find a local dealer and have them contact Ibanez, if you cannot seem to contact them yourself. where did you buy the guitar btw?

[jemaholic]

Like any sportscar, you need to perform periodic maintenance on it.

Cough up the cash for a guitar tech to make her right and tight for the love of God.......

-jemaholic

[DavyH]

VSBL more carefully produced? Come off it - it's a Jem same as any other Jem.

Nice find though and nice price!

+1 on the maintenance thing. If you're not keeping the set-up right, it's because you can't. Practice on something cheap and get it done professionally until you're better at it. That may sound patronising, but really it isn't.

[JJEMMER777]

Originally Posted by ToppersPoppers

I've got a year old 7VWH and there are so many little details that need to be worked out... one of my concerns is the neck pickup is dead... zero harmonics and almost no bite which is totally the opposite of their description, the pinched and tapped harmonics also aren't very strong could this be an intonation problem? because I'm very good at controlling pinched harmonics and i struggle with this guitar... puff th magic sdreanL(


does anyone else notice on the edge pro's that the bushings on the bar itself wear out and cause the bar to jiggle in the hole? cause i have to replace mine about once a week and its a right pain in the @$$ (i cant often replace them though because Ibanez has difficulty understanding where Canada is...

could the harmonics issues be fixed with a well-due set-up and some new strings ?

Here check this

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71781

and this

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showth...=plumbers+tape


I haven't replaced the bushings on any of my Jems in ages. I agree that they only last about a week or so depending on how much you use the trem which is exactly why I use the D-bag or PFE tape methods

You have changed your strings.........right??? If not (after a year) then there are your harmonic problems. Worn strings rob tone, etc BIG TIME! And surely it needs a set up as well. Jems are amazing guitars, but just like any other guitar, they need to be setup properly.

I've had Vwh for dang near ten years now! She plays AMAZING and I have none of the problems you have

As far as the dead pup, it's probably just a minor wiring issue coupled with old tone dead strings.

Get a full setup!!! That should solve your problems

I certainly hope you do not still have the original strings after a year

Petie, I have not experienced the finish problems you are speaking of on any of my Jems.



Oh great....ya'll are going to give me an excuse to post pics....:O)

Here's a pair. The "white one", lol and the Vsbl 02 model.


Sorry to torture you guys....again.....:O)

I've never had any problems with my Vwh OR my Vsbl because they are properly set-up! Jems are great guitars but the factory set-up in most cases is more than lacking! Just get um set up folks and then you can experience the true quality and amazing playability of the JEM!!

~ROCK~

[screamndemon69]

If the intonation if off then you won't get proper harmonics. The bushings wear out, nature of the beast but follow a couple of the suggestions and you might get some better results.

You would do VERY well to goto this link and get EXTREMELY familiar with set-ups:
http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm

Congrats on the nice price on the VSBL. If you decide it isn't for you, I'll buy it from you for what you paid plus shipping

[rty13ibz98]

Originally Posted by ToppersPoppers

I've got a year old 7VWH and there are so many little details that need to be worked out... one of my concerns is the neck pickup is dead... zero harmonics and almost no bite which is totally the opposite of their description, the pinched and tapped harmonics also aren't very strong could this be an intonation problem? because I'm very good at controlling pinched harmonics and i struggle with this guitar...

does anyone else notice on the edge pro's that the bushings on the bar itself wear out and cause the bar to jiggle in the hole? cause i have to replace mine about once a week and its a right pain in the @$$ (i cant often replace them though because Ibanez has difficulty understanding where Canada is...

could the harmonics issues be fixed with a well-due set-up and some new strings ?

how are they on the bridge pickup? to me it sounds like a wire came off of the switch or the switch may be going bad. check the resistance of the pickup and see that it matches that of the dimarzio site. if not, you may have a dead coil on that pickup. i don't think that one pickup exibiting differences from the other(B v. N) would be a setup issue as much as it is an electrical issue. i can get pinch harmonics like crazy, even from neck single coils, and the only time i have fought issues like that were when it was either a bad solder joint, dirty switch, bad pots, or dead coils.


rich

rich

[rty13ibz98]

oh yeah, new strings will ALWAYS help.


rich

[Fender868]

Originally Posted by Jemma_Ann's_man

A while back ago I got a white JEM7VWH at Guitar center and when my dad who I haven't seen in 6 years got it for me he paid for it and I picked it up. I played with it a bit and it was a pretty cool guitar I thought. but then, after a cou0ple months the quality seemed faulted. it started falling apart even with proper care and I didn't know a crap about floating trems and stuff and I was practically a noob. I hated it so much after it started falling apart and my mom wasn't willing to pay tech prices and Guitar center was far. so I talked to the guys at GC and my father and I returned it and got a PRS McCarty. Best thing I've ever done.

Something told me I'd own the same guitar again. then to my luck a couple weeks later I went to my local Ibanez dealer and had this beauty for $999 and it was almost new and the combo lock wasn't even activated not a single scratch and stuff. I picked it up and was starnge that it was practically the same guitar, just in sparkle blue finish, same pups and everything, but it was more solidly built and didn't have a single flaw.



Then my Iabnez dealer told me the sparkle blue limited runs were more carefully made than the white ones because the white ones are mass produced and second of all other bastards in GC play it and you never know what could be wrong. I decided to get a PRS because it was high on the wall with a high price tagso not very many people played it.

but Ibanez, the best way to get things like that fixed is through a local dealer. When I owned my old RG my local Ibanez dealer was authorized to do repairs, the input jack kept coming loose and stuff but with major repairs its best to find a local dealer and have them contact Ibanez, if you cannot seem to contact them yourself. where did you buy the guitar btw?

Wow you traded a Jem for a PRS because you didn`t know what the hell you were doing and taught that the issue was about quality? I think it should be a law to have common knowledge about both floating trems and minor guitar adjustments before you can own a Jem. The VSBL is literally the same guitar. It was limited sure, but no one said the 7vwh was permanent. It sells well, but the day that stops, it will be off the market, and the VSBL did not sell very well. Anyways, whatever makes you sleep at night.

Just remember that everything goes of whack and a serious musician should learn how to set things up themselves. Authorized dealerships, more often than never, give horrible service because they hire incompetent techs. A lot of us would agree on that, while that is not a constant, one should always learn from someone with experience and or find a luthier that gives you the results you want|

[Jemma_Ann's_man]

Originally Posted by Fender868

Wow you traded a Jem for a PRS because you didn`t know what the hell you were doing and taught that the issue was about quality? I think it should be a law to have common knowledge about both floating trems and minor guitar adjustments before you can own a Jem. The VSBL is literally the same guitar. It was limited sure, but no one said the 7vwh was permanent. It sells well, but the day that stops, it will be off the market, and the VSBL did not sell very well. Anyways, whatever makes you sleep at night.

Just remember that everything goes of whack and a serious musician should learn how to set things up themselves. Authorized dealerships, more often than never, give horrible service because they hire incompetent techs. A lot of us would agree on that, while that is not a constant, one should always learn from someone with experience and or find a luthier that gives you the results you want|

Well I didn't really like the flat neck personally, and other specs on the jem compared to my PRS. the tone wasn't really something I was amazed about either. My PRS has a wide fat neck and is comfortable. I had issues with the white one I've owned before, and it wasn't because of the floating trem. the paint seemed so cheap, and it was obvious many people played with it, and I got tired of paying 40 bucks each month to have it constantly setup playing perfectly. However I didn't like the sustain of the jem. My PRS, having a stoptail had more sustain, and a thicker tone and not bright and plinky sounding, and it was to die for. Sure I use my jem as a backup. I do not believe jems are the best guitars out there. but that is just my personal taste.

I don't use the floyd at all.
I didn't like having to pay everytime strings cahnge. however having an old RG a while back ago over the years I was taught by my Ibanez dealer how to set guitars up. I just don't feel like taking 20 mins mininumun to have a guitar playing perfectly, along with adjusting the springs if one day I feel like using 11's ansd one day using 12's or 10's. Besides the floatinf trem cannot handle 12's at all, its too much for the jem to handle unless the tremolo is blocked.

I just like to change the string once well setup so I don't have to worry much. i always change my strings at least once a month. sometimes more.

My current blue jem has a blocked trem and I love it now because I'm free ferom the tuning hassles and longer string changes. and if I break a sring on stage I won't get the bhell way out of tune.

and the sustain with the blocked trem is amazing.

[kennydoe]

all the things they said, plus check the height of your pickups...

[Jemma_Ann's_man]

Originally Posted by DavyH

VSBL more carefully produced? Come off it - it's a Jem same as any other Jem.

Nice find though and nice price!

+1 on the maintenance thing. If you're not keeping the set-up right, it's because you can't. Practice on something cheap and get it done professionally until you're better at it. That may sound patronising, but really it isn't.

No guitar is the same. every piece of wood is different. sometimes you'll have the same model guitar and one could be a total great guitar and the other could be total crap. Take Gibsons for example.
You may have 2 les pauls but one could be total **** while the other is total greatness.

Its not hard to setup jems. I'm just lazy. I don't like tuning longer than how much I play. besides one of my strongest peeves is not being in tune. and I despise tremolo, unless they're blocked.

The only specs I noticed was difference between my blue jem and the white jem, is that the blue jem jhas a maple neck and not mixed with walnut. (the brown strip behind the jem)

but for some odd reason my blue one just played so much better. it had "it".

even my white one wthat was perfectly setup just didn't seem right for me. but my blue one does. Besides I wouldn't pay over two grand for a steve vai jem anymore. it's overpriced because of steve vai's name.

sure my PRS costed $3299 plus tax but I got lucky, that my dad decided to pay the extra grand ior so to have GC deliver me such a high caliber axe. I'm fortunate enough to own one and my jem feels like a toy compared to my PRS of beast.

Now before you start flaming, and assuming I have a **** amp, I don't have a **** amp. I own two carvin tube amps that sounded better to me than other high end amps such as the 4K+ Mesa Triple Rectifiers and many other amps. I took a gamble with Carvin without ever playing one since there are no carvin dealers and it was a great gamble. I loved my legacy amp so much I bought another amp from carvin short after for smaller shows.