The Ibanez Jem - 50K Celebration (feedback wanted)

[jemke]

This means 13 guitars a day in a normal working year! Is this realistic or do they make +/-800 guitars every 3 months??

My suggestion:In my opinion using better bodywoods will improve the jem-guitar. I want to see bookmatched maple tops on a mahogany top. Maybe the pu need to be redesigned...

A more classy wooden look is my opinion. Not too much weird colors.

[TheJazzTerminator]

Originally Posted by jemke

My suggestion:In my opinion using better bodywoods will improve the jem-guitar. I want to see bookmatched maple tops on a mahogany top. Maybe the pu need to be redesigned...

A more classy wooden look is my opinion. Not too much weird colors.

EXACTLY my opinion. I was going to write the same thing as you, but you beat me to it.

I'm not a fan of the Jem too much because I find it extremely tacky. If they made it more classy, as you suggested (mahogany body/ maple top/ natural finish perhaps), I might *consider* getting one.

Also, different pickup combinations. Maybe throw a Steve's Special in there or something.

[vaijem777]

Originally Posted by jemke

This means 13 guitars a day in a normal working year! Is this realistic or do they make +/-800 guitars every 3 months??

Well...since the JEM has been available worldwide, I'd say that yes- that's pretty realistic. Martin just marked their 1 Millionth guitar sold since 1833, which would average out to about 16 guitars a day over the past 171 years.

[babahi]

Wow, is it already time for Ibanez to put out another overpriced commemorative model and ask us to "join the celebration" by buying one? I think Ibanez has been celebrating since the ridiculously overpriced Millenium models. If they price it around what the JEM10 went for, then that would be reasonable. Look at the price of the JS10 and then how it jumped two years later for the JS2K, for example. That kind of inflation has only been seen in the 80's -- in Argentina!

Ibanez gets to laugh all the way to the bank, since right after this "celebration" comes the 20 year anniversary.

That's my suggestion...

[vaijem777]

Originally Posted by babahi

If they price it around what the JEM10 went for, then that would be reasonable. Look at the price of the JS10 and then how it jumped two years later for the JS2K, for example.

Ibanez gets to laugh all the way to the bank, since right after this "celebration" comes the 20 year anniversary.

That's my suggestion...

So...your suggestion is that Ibanez laughs all the way to the bank? The only thing remotely resembling a "suggestion" is that the price be around the $3000.00 mark. Not really very helpful at all.

[the.godfather]

I put my vote for a EVO relic type thing. People will buy it by the dozen.
I do not agree with the gold idea though, because like Vaijem said, not enough people liked the RG-GOLD. Most people disliked it if I remember.

Oh I dunno. As long as it aint a fob-off again like an older model being brought out again.
Gary - The.Godfather

[jemsite]

i just stickied this thread and have just skimmed a few replies. congrats on the approching 40k mark... very impressive for a signature series of

imho there are two fundamental ways to go with this and choosing among them is important as it can further narrow the quest...

1. Like the 777 was based on the grean meanie, the 50k model could be a "replica" of a significant Vai axe... only two decades later. To me, this is what the JEM was all about and should come back to. Sales would be insanely HIGH (at any price) if this was actually welcomed and played by Vai extensively on tour (ie. used in over half the G3 set), unlike all new axes from 94 on... the BSB, 10, DBK, 90, DNA, VSBL, etc. which came and went essentially ignored by the signature bearer.

The most obvious candidate is the Chrome/Mirror JEM but with all the goodies... fret lights, sustainer, etc. All the bells and all the whistles. No expense spared. Not a DBK-like axe with a mirror pickguard facade. Another choice would be FLO or EVO CLONE which would be "aged" and replicated down to Vai's real axe. FLO is the obvious choice to make this really special and introduce a missing piece (sustainer) that Vai is using more and more yet is not in the marketplace. This is a return to the "i play the same guitars as in stores" theory which has been left behind.

or

2. A real "intricate" new model that brings craftsmanship back to JEM10 levels (something later "anniversary models" were lacking). An ornate guitar with classy styling & tons of inlays. Striking looks and a sick level of attention to detail.

Good luck regardless of what is done ...glen

[jem7vwh]

I have a few ideas:

* 50th anniversary model. The most elegant reserved JEM ever made. A pearlescant white finish, gold vine, brushed gold hardware including knobs.

What would look special and different would be some sort of etched gold-leaf look either on the guitar or on the pickguard similar to the JEM10 look, only in gold and white.


* JEM666. A model to prove that the line isn't mellowing, only getting better. Transparent flamed maple, stained blood red. Ebony fretboard, red flame inlays. Clear or black pickguard, black or cosmo hardware.


* UVPW50. 50th Anniversary Passion and Warfare Universe Reissue. A standard JEM body cut to work with UV neck and hardware. The user gets a multicolored swirled UV with monkey grip and dissapearing inlays. Nostalgic and memorable.

[vaijem777]

Originally Posted by jem7vwh

UVPW50. 50th Anniversary Passion and Warfare Universe Reissue. A standard JEM body cut to work with UV neck and hardware. The user gets a multicolored swirled UV with monkey grip and dissapearing inlays. Nostalgic and memorable.

Sure...IF it were the UNIVERSE that was celebrating 50K sold. But it's not...it's the JEM that is celebrating this milestone.

[caprile]

Originally Posted by jem7vwh

UVPW50. 50th Anniversary Passion and Warfare Universe Reissue. A standard JEM body cut to work with UV neck and hardware. The user gets a multicolored swirled UV with monkey grip and dissapearing inlays. Nostalgic and memorable.

1-Anniversary means years, not number of guitars.
2-If the previous point were wrong, it would be 50.000th anyway.
3-It's 50.000 JEMs!

Glen hit it...bring back the "i play the same guitars as in stores" theory

[jemsite]

BTW - NO REISSUES

... glen

[babahi]

Originally Posted by vaijem777

So...your suggestion is that Ibanez laughs all the way to the bank? The only thing remotely resembling a "suggestion" is that the price be around the $3000.00 mark. Not really very helpful at all.

That's exactly my suggestion, that they keep from needlessly blowing up the price, as they did with the last commemorative guitars. Glad you helped me make it clear for everybody.

[MALAM]

How about a JEM10th influenced version of the 7PBK???

[vaijem777]

Originally Posted by babahi

That's exactly my suggestion, that they keep from needlessly blowing up the price, as they did with the last commemorative guitars. Glad you helped me make it clear for everybody.

Then your posting here is completely and utterly useless and without merit. If you don't like it, don't read the thread and don't post. Obviously you have no interest in buying such a guitar anyway, so why waste everybody's time with such tripe?

Go over to the PRS Forum and waste their time whining about the $10K and up they charge for the overly-ostentatious Dragon models. The DNA proved that there is a market for extremely high-priced JEMs, therefore Ibanez knows that they CAN (and most likely will) ask that much, if not more, for a guitar. It's more than obvious that you're not the target demographic for such a model as is being discussed here and that's fine. But the purpose of this thread is to offer constructive suggestions in regards to the model itself. Not to bitch about prices that YOU think are too high.

[EKG]

Let's see:

45,160 * 2399 (avg list price?) = $108,338,840!!

That's a lot of sales, especially for a sig model.

So many ideas going thru my head for a 50K model, don't know where to start