Vai's Fixed Bridge Jem

[ANT5150]

What was the point of the fixed bridge Jem and has anyone seen Vai playing one?

[skins345669]

The point? To make a very small minority of people who wanted a hard-tail JEM happy. I have not yet met one of these people.

[Algiman]

We must meet one day then, though the god awful design failed to deliver for me. I still want a good looking hardtail Jem.

[jemsite]

Originally Posted by ANT5150

What was the point of the fixed bridge Jem

you join the group that produced this guitar (ie. steve, ibanez & co. ) because none of them seem to know either.

a hardtail, hassle-free quality JEM would be a great addition, but not debacle that is selling for almost $3500 list ROTFLMAO

Originally Posted by ANT5150

and has anyone seen Vai playing one?

if you want to take that approach...

what is the point of the UV777BK
what is the point of the JEM7VBK
what is the point of the 555
what is the point of the 333
what is the point of anything but the VWH essentially since '93. ...glen

[Bluestreak]

Originally Posted by Algiman

I still want a good looking hardtail Jem.

Me too. And why the astronomical price for a fixed bridge guitar?

Originally Posted by jemsite

what is the point of anything but the VWH essentially since '93. ...glen

I'm not sure, either. I have been a Steve Vai fan since the DLR days and the birth of the Jem series Ibanez... I hate to say this about my favorite guitarist... but the guitars he's created in more recent years are uninspired. With the exception of maybe the VSBL and perhaps one or two other Jems I'm forgetting, most of the guitars he's introduced since the mid/late 1990's have been flat-out boring. Jems once represented the top-of-the-line and were colorful and unique... that was what attracted me to them all those years ago. I feel that the more recent incarnations of the Jem have lost the distinctive character and panache that the earlier models had. I'm no longer the poor, struggling teenager who stared wistfully into the catalogs all those years ago... and I've lost my patience with Ibanez, waiting for them to reclaim the style and uniqueness of the early Jems in new models.

I've taken to building my own guitars. You can get RG/Jem bodies off EvilBay for a steal, shop a little for the Ibanez neck of your choice, and with minimal outsourcing, you can build the Ibanez of your dreams for a fraction of the price of this "hardtail" Jem. Why play someone else's signature guitar (and pay thousands for it!) when your own signature model is roughly $1000 and a little elbow-grease away?

[wilch]

Originally Posted by jemsite

a hardtail, hassle-free quality JEM would be a great addition, but not debacle that is selling for almost $3500 list ROTFLMAO

+1

and add "gimmic free"

[D1m3b4g2]

My friend who plays guitar in one of the band's I'm in loved playing a couple of my Jems and it drove him to the point of wanting one to replace his strat.

He hates floating bridges, doesn't have the time for them so when he heard the fixed bridge Jem was coming out he was naturally very happy.

Then he took one look at the new design and the price tag, laughed almost too hard and then never mentioned it again.

God knows who decided to put that motif/design on the back next to the bridge and I have no idea who thought of pricing it so high. Bit of a joke to be honest.

[nickcoumbe]

Originally Posted by jemsite

.......that is selling for almost $3500 list ROTFLMAO

I pretty much stayed out of the whole hardtail Jem debate, so please keep this in mind . But..........

You have to be f**king kidding! That is over £2000. Does any factory guitar cost that much? What have they been taking?

I had no idea that they were this expensive. I know that the current financial crisis, and exchange rates have hurt us, but I honestly can't see that this is right. A couple of years ago I tried out the Charvel EVH. When I found out the price tag I just handed it straight back. A nice guitar, but let's all take a deep breath and think about this. Over £2k for a stripey strat with a floyd. I played a couple of the new Charvels (Socal etc) recently and they were the same as the EVH, but £1200 cheaper.

Now I am prepared to pay a bit extra for a Jem; I believe that they are worth more than say an RG, I really do, but I really can't see how they can possibly be worth that. What are they thinking?!!!!!

Has anyone here actually bought /played one?

Yours,

Disgusted of Royal Tunbridge Wells

[rickcard71]

Originally Posted by jemsite

you join the group that produced this guitar (ie. steve, ibanez & co. ) because none of them seem to know either.

a hardtail, hassle-free quality JEM would be a great addition, but not debacle that is selling for almost $3500 list ROTFLMAO

Agreed.


if you want to take that approach...

what is the point of the UV777BK
what is the point of the JEM7VBK
what is the point of the 555
what is the point of the 333
what is the point of anything but the VWH essentially since '93. ...glen

I've seen him play the UV777BK on a video.
The 555 & 333 weren't they specifically created for certain markets where there were copies (I think we should all understand that)?!

I've seen him play the VSBL, 90th, DBK. So what, his two VWHs are his favs, so damn what.

[rickcard71]

Moreover, yes I am one of those people that very badly wanted a hard-tail JEM. But, this model they gave us was very bad and lame. What a monsterous fixed bridge, that lame Vai logo and black again come on. They are trying to keep the JEMs very boring and in standard colors like most guitar companies. However, they should know the people that buy Jems, love wacky colors etc.....

[seaninsjca]

If they ever made this reasonably priced and added a fine tuner adjustable hard tail like on the JS2000 I'd be in like Flynn.

[nafigator]

Originally Posted by jemsite

you join the group that produced this guitar (ie. steve, ibanez & co. ) because none of them seem to know either.

a hardtail, hassle-free quality JEM would be a great addition, but not debacle that is selling for almost $3500 list ROTFLMAO


if you want to take that approach...

what is the point of the UV777BK
what is the point of the JEM7VBK
what is the point of the 555
what is the point of the 333
what is the point of anything but the VWH essentially since '93. ...glen

You can see Steve playing UV777BK if you have access to you-tube service dude... others me dont like at all but lots of people have them.

[Blacksheep]

God what was Steve thinking?

[dex]

I have to say the price doesn't bug me as much as the ridiculous looking bridge and the ludicrous looking logo behind it.
Also the fact that it's a copy of the 77VB but with different bridge doesn't really help the matter.
At the price I'd rather buy a 77VB and block the bridge and end up with a better looking guitar.