What is a Jem?

Darin · #1 02-16-2009, 09:10 PM

Another thread got me to thinking. Dangerous. right?
Ok you call Rich and order a Jem. You get a guitar that says Ibanez Jem on the headstock. It's a Jem right? Of course it is. Why, because it was made by Ibanez. But, if you make a "custom Jem" identical in all aspects, you might call it a Custom Jem. Or Project Jem. But you wouldn't call it a Fake Jem. But there is alot of concern and discussion about fake Jems on the market. Is is because the trem on the fake Jems is usually cheap? Some of those fake Jems look pretty darn good. Even the 555 is not a real Jem according to some. Yet it IS made by Ibanez.

Now, take a Jem, and customize it by filling in the monkey grip and painting it Road Flare Red. Is it still a Jem? Take a jem, throw the body in a cnc machine and shape it like a JS. Is it now a custom Jem, or a custom JS?

Can you make an Ibanez yourself as long as you use an Ibanez neck and parts. If you take an Ibanez and replace everything but the wood, is it still and Ibanez?

Jemplyr77 · #2 02-16-2009, 09:18 PM

OK...now I have a headache!

toneboy · #3 02-16-2009, 09:21 PM

Darin, you need a hobby dude.

ryanb · #4 02-16-2009, 09:30 PM

I'd call it a fake Jem, because that's what it is and always will be. It might be a very good custom (maybe even better than a real Jem), but it still won't be a Jem. No guitar is a Jem until and unless Steve and Ibanez make it a Jem, as the owners of that intellectual property.

Now stop thinking and play yer geetar!

kotornut · #5 02-16-2009, 09:47 PM

It's simple Darin, this isn't a hard one. A JEM has to be made by Ibanez officially to be a JEM. The 555 is a JEM but it is a crappy one, just like the current RG370 isn't as good as a '87 RG 550. The "custom JEMs" made by people are custom guitars in the JEM style or a custom replica of a JEM. The Chibanez JEMs are a scam to steal from unsuspecting buyers through deciet and are entirely not a JEM.

We refer to them the way we do because it's much easier to say, "My new custom DNA," than to say, "This is my amazing new custom guitar in the style of a DNA JEM."

**elcid** · #6 02-16-2009, 09:52 PM

If it isn't made by Ibanez, it's a knock off, but most of the time when people talk about a Jem they mean a guitar with a handle cut in it.

djohns74 · #7 02-16-2009, 10:03 PM

I generally agree with ryanb on this (in fact I wonder where the inspiration for the thread came from?

)

My thought on the issue is merely that a custom guitar is whatever it is to the person that came up with it or brought it to life. It may be the single greatest guitar they've ever laid their hands on, and that's completely true, for them at least. And that's really all that should matter, of course. That is, unless they have any intention at all of trying to sell it. Then, the situation changes dramatically.

Let's jump back into the hypotheticals for just a moment. Let's say that I come along and say "Hey everyone, I'm selling a Jem. It is an actual Ibanez Jem, made in Japan, not a fake or custom of any kind. Anyone interested?"

What's the first question I'm asked? Most likely, something along the lines of "Which model Jem is it?"

"Oh, silly me, I forgot to mention, it's a 2002 7VSBL. It's in such and such condition, with no modifications, blah, blah, blah."

Now, people know exactly what I've got and whether they'd be interested. They know generally what to expect from the guitar, whether it be the feel of the neck, the quality of the finish, the sound of the pickups, whatever.

But if it's a custom job of some kind, a potential buyer only has two ways of knowing any of these things, and that's if he really, really trusts the person selling it (foolish on the Internet) or has a chance to actually lay his hands on it for a while. Just because someone cut a monkey grip into a super strat body and swirled it doesn't automatically make it any more of a Jem than the atrocities that have come out of China in recent years.

As the previous poster said, the guitar is not a Jem unless it was made by Ibanez, at least for the purposes of trying to sell it. If you made a custom and are just showing it off, I couldn't care less what you call it. But calling a custom a Jem and trying to sell it as such sets an improper expectation whether or not you're up front about the fact that it's a custom rather than an actual Ibanez. Since no one will ever refer to their own guitar as a "fake", just call it a custom guitar and leave it at that. Anyone that knows Jems should know from looking at it where the inspiration came from.

EDIT: Naturally, in the time I was writing my typically long-winded response, others have appeared and made the same point in a far more succinct fashion. Not that anyone will actually read all of this nonsense anyway.

Factory5150 · #8 02-16-2009, 10:40 PM

I know the inspiration for this thread came from mine. For all description purposes I call my build a Jem. Its much easier to say that 3 letter word then to say "my hand built replica of a guitar made by Ibanez called the Jem." I know its not an Ibanez and it never will be so that's why I refuse to put the logo on the headstocks. I also agree with many of you on what the guitars should be called. If I were to sell this guitar or my other project Jem I wouldn't sell them as genuine Ibanez. However on my other project Jem the only non Ibanez part is the body, still I wouldn't sell it as genuine Ibanez. So I apologize if you guys found a problem with my post and how I worded my project. But like I said before, I agree with you guys and projects should be called projects.

djohns74 · #9 02-16-2009, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Factory5150

I know the inspiration for this thread came from mine. For all description purposes I call my build a Jem. Its much easier to say that 3 letter word then to say "my hand built replica of a guitar made by Ibanez called the Jem." I know its not an Ibanez and it never will be so that's why I refuse to put the logo on the headstocks. I also agree with many of you on what the guitars should be called. If I were to sell this guitar or my other project Jem I wouldn't sell them as genuine Ibanez. However on my other project Jem the only non Ibanez part is the body, still I wouldn't sell it as genuine Ibanez. So I apologize if you guys found a problem with my post and how I worded my project. But like I said before, I agree with you guys and projects should be called projects.

I was actually assuming that the inspiration came from my response to another thread wherein I raised pretty much the exact points in question. This really is a non-issue for anyone not selling their custom, which I don't think you are at the moment, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Factory5150 · #10 02-16-2009, 11:01 PM

I also think what guys like sims building custom bodys and necks and slapping the Ibanez Jem logo on it is wrong. But the biggest problem at hand is all the "fake" jems coming out of china. They are getting more accurate by the day and there isn't a thing we can do about it.

mi2tom · #11 02-16-2009, 11:11 PM

What is a jem? Answer is it's expensive

aj_foes · #12 02-17-2009, 12:48 AM

Like Alfred up there, what's a Jem? It's an object of DESIRE..

mi2tom · #13 02-17-2009, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aj_foes

Like Alfred up there, what's a Jem? It's an object of DESIRE..

Woi Apis, how's things? How's the jem?

kotornut · #14 02-17-2009, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Factory5150

I also think what guys like sims building custom bodys and necks and slapping the Ibanez Jem logo on it is wrong.

Yeah I agree. I want to have ET Guitars build me a RG and I know that if I supply a decal they'll put it on, but I want it to have an ET gutiars decal. They made it and they should be proud. I'd be proud to tell everyone that I play their guitars. And if they are really nice then I'd be more than proud I'd be down right pushy about it.

I understand if it's a replacement part for something that's broken, but even then it's iffy with me.

toneboy · #15 02-17-2009, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Factory5150

I also think what guys like sims building custom bodys and necks and slapping the Ibanez Jem logo on it is wrong.

+1,000,000. If it's not the real deal it should never ever get the logo. It's illegal and, IMHO, immoral. I've seen him do the same thing with a Charvel copy and an Epiphone that had its headstock converted to a Gibson. Anyone that does that looses all credibility in my book.