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Jem Necks - Help Please!

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1K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  Zark77FP 
#1 ·
Hi,
Im in the market for a new guitar, and am thinking about a Jem. However, I used to have an ibanez prestige with a wizard neck, and im not a fan of the wizard necks at all...can anyone tell me how similar the Jem necks are in playability to the wizard necks?
Thanks a lot,
Greg
 
#3 ·
There are a number of possible differences between any two necks. Thickness, width, profile shape, finish, fretboard radius, fret size, probably more. Any one of these may cause someone to find the neck to be less playable than another, it's very subjective. I have two early 90s Wizards and an '02 VSBL and I think the necks feel quite different in my hands. However, I can't say that I think you'd like the Jem neck more than the Wizard, but it is different, so it's worth a try if the opportunity is there.
 
#6 ·
If you're not a fan of the wizard necks "at all", then the Jem likely isn't for you. It's a bit different, but still very similar all things considered. I prefer the Jem carve, but again they are very similar necks.

What kind of necks do you like, specifically?
 
#7 ·
Before the Wizard II/Super Wizard necks with the more D-shaped carve (at least on the ones I have been playing...) it was real simple to me: The neck on my Roadstar/RG, was thicker than the neck on a Jem, which was thicker than a Wizard. The Jem was the porridge that was "just right", except for the $1700 price tag hanging odf of it -- more than I had made working that entire summer.

The Jem neck is a different carve than the RG - a cursory glance at the specs on the Ibanez website can tell you some of the story, but you will really have to try it.
 
#8 ·
Having owned alot of Ibanez guitars in the past and present. I can say that the necks vary from model to model. The only true Jem that I owned was a 7DBK. The neck on that thing was very thin and flat in my opinion. Loved it and now I kick myself for getting rid of it.

Having said that, I've owned a RG270, RG350DX, 4 RG7620's(7 strings), Jem 7DBK, 2 JS100's, 3 RG550's(the original ones) and now two Jem swirls that I've pieced together, one with a RG450 neck and the other with a RG570 neck. The difference is when you start getting to the higher end RG's is that the necks start to resemble the Jem's in my opinion. Very thin and flat.

And after all that, I only wish I had my 7 strings back. I've got one now but wish I would have kept the previous three. The Jem7DBK was yeah o.k., the RG550's I wouldn't mind having back just because of collectability but I'd still play them.

So in conclusion, your higher end RG necks are close to Jem's(at least I think) and like the mod Jim777 said, if you don't like Wizards, then I wouldn't even look into a Jem.

Only way you'll know for sure is go to a music store and play one. Find a Jem and just spend some time with it. 20 minutes with it and you'll know if you dig the neck or not. I'm pretty strange when it comes to guitars. I can tell whether or not I'm going to like a guitar just by running my hand down the neck. Which is why I've stayed with Ibanez and Fender's my whole life. I found two types of guitars that I like and that's what I stick with. Jackson's are o.k., couldn't get me to buy an ESP and the hell with Gibsons.
 
#10 ·
The older Jem necks feel thicker than the wizard of the time while the fretboards feel very similar in width to me. With the new jems vs. the older ones, the thickness feels very similar to me but the fret board definitely feels wider on the new models. Comparing a new Jem with a new RG Prestige, the Jem's fret board still feels a little wider to me and you probably have an extra mm of thickness to the neck as well. The Frets on jems vs RG also feel different, narrower than the Jumbos on a RG Presitge. Both necks are great, but you'll have to put in some time on both to decide your personal preference...

Good Luck!
 
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