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Why is my Jem 7vwh a piece of S***?

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3K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  jonnyboy mills 
#1 ·
So I finally got my dream guitar I've wanted for ten years. I got a 1998 Jem 7vwh because I wanted the ebony board so bad over the rosewood. This thing has been a freaking nightmare. My rg520qm plays better, has better tone, and stays in tune better! What is the deal here? Is this a bad year for them or something? It is indeed a real one, not a fake. I know because I also had a fake so I know the differences.

I can't get it to set up for the life of me. The strings won't lay down on the board. You know how you finally get a guitar playing like butter, and you can legato nice and smooth? Well this is terrible. It won't get that setup no matter how I tweak the truss rod, adjust the action, tilt the trem, use different spring formations and combinations. I'm using d'addario 10's. I have the trem posts bottomed out as far down as they can go, with no buzz. But the high e is still too far away from the board. I finally got the string tension manageable, but it will not stay in tune. The knife edges are fine, and the nut doesn't appear to be slipping. The strings are good and broke in from a couple weeks of playing. Maybe the springs aren't broke in?

I'm just ready to put this damn thing on the bay, and buy a prestige RG. Any advice guys?
 
#3 ·
Totally agree with this statement.
I get guitars bought to me by guys who have tried alsorts of adjustments and tweaks. you need to spend a few £ .... or $ in your case and get that sucker sorted!!!!
My jem 7vw is a 1998 model it plays great nice low action (I have had it refretted with Dunlop 6000 fret wire ) I have no shims in the neck pocket all is good, you just need to get it to a tech.
Good luck with it. :)
 
#5 ·
You only need the shim if you want to pull up a perfect fifth on the edge alone, lol.

Just let someone else have a crack at it, late 90's to '03 are my favourite 7vwh's, I ADORE the ebony, I'd really love one. I don't think there is such thing as a bad year for JEMs, just different years for different specs.

If you want one last go at setup, here's a couple of indicators... Check the string height in three places.
1. The Nut: fret the 3rd fret and tap the string over the first fret, the string should just kiss the fret, i.e. you shouldn't hardly be able to see a gap between the fret and string, but it will make a click if you tap it with the end of your finger. if it's too low, put a shim under the locking nut. If it's too high, there's probably a shim under the nut already, in which case, try removing it. I've done this a couple of times, and even ended up using the nut shim in the neck pocket - we'll get to that.
2. The Truss Rod: the truss rod only affects the height of the string between the 2nd and 10-12th frets (believe it or not). Fret the 2nd and 12th frets and tap the 7th fret. There should be a little more relief than the nut test (lol, nut test) but you should barely see a gap between the string and 7th frets. if there's more, tighten the truss rod, less or the string is touching the 7th fret, loosen. The truss rod needs to be adjusted when the guitar is fully in tune with all the strings!
3. The bridge: likelihood is if the bridge screws are all the way in, there will be hardly any pull back on the trem. The bridge height only affects the action above the 10-12th frets. Fret the 12th fret and look at the 24th, there should easily be twice the relief than the 7th from the last test, but you can keep adjusting this to get the level of 'acceptable' buzz. Electric guitars will always buzz acousticly, it's important to gauge the level of buzz through an amp.

Other things to bare in mind; the Lo Pro edge does not lie flat as it initially looks, it's the knife edges you can see at the sides that should be parallel to the body, the sides of the trem will be angled off the body slightly.
As for shimming the neck, all American JEMs should already have shimmed necks. Shimming the bottom of the pocket - nearest the pickups - is equivalent to lowering the bridge. The necks are shimmed because by raising the bridge posts off the body, it allows you to pull the trem back further into the body.
I tend to make sure I don't use more than three springs, having fewer springs makes the trem move more easily. Having 2 and screwing them further into the body will make the trem really soft, having 4 springs at less tension each (same overall tension) will make the trem harder to move.


Hope this helps!
 
#11 ·
Are you guys saying that 10's are bad for JEM? I use the whammy bar a lot, and I have 10-49's and 13-56's on my other guitar.. And I don't have any problems at all.. If jem doesn't work correctly with any other gauges than 9's (which I doubt very highly), I won't be buying a jem ever. :D
 
#17 ·
Your trem springs underneath, are they in-line perpendicular, or are they `W`?? Nearly every ibanez ive bought are set to `W`, why?

I much prefer the in-line setup, you get much more tuning stability, i agree with what everyone is saying above but i would use 9`s as a starting point. You say you have wound down the bridge posts, what about the locking screws within the posts, right down too? they can stop you lowering the bridge posts to a desired level.

I can see you`ve tried all the basics but i have to say that luthiers know a lot more than us mere `ave a go` merchants...my advice, send it to Rich, it will come back a totally different guitar TRUST ME.

I had a js1000 a while back and i thought i had set it up spot on, played lovely, i put it in for a fret dress, re-string etc and when it came back it was 10 times better.

My current guitar is a jem77fp, it setup beautifully, the strings-frets & board are very slippery like the strings are floating on glass, send it to RICH.! before you write it off.
 
#18 ·
So I finally got my dream guitar I've wanted for ten years. I got a 1998 Jem 7vwh because I wanted the ebony board so bad over the rosewood. This thing has been a freaking nightmare. My rg520qm plays better, has better tone, and stays in tune better! What is the deal here? Is this a bad year for them or something? It is indeed a real one, not a fake. I know because I also had a fake so I know the differences.

I can't get it to set up for the life of me. The strings won't lay down on the board. You know how you finally get a guitar playing like butter, and you can legato nice and smooth? Well this is terrible. It won't get that setup no matter how I tweak the truss rod, adjust the action, tilt the trem, use different spring formations and combinations. I'm using d'addario 10's. I have the trem posts bottomed out as far down as they can go, with no buzz. But the high e is still too far away from the board. I finally got the string tension manageable, but it will not stay in tune. The knife edges are fine, and the nut doesn't appear to be slipping. The strings are good and broke in from a couple weeks of playing. Maybe the springs aren't broke in?

I'm just ready to put this damn thing on the bay, and buy a prestige RG. Any advice guys?
ive got an rg1570 prestige with super low action evolutions and all the candy in mint condition.
it is the best playing guitar ever. ill trade for your jem.
 
#19 ·
I took the 10's off and put 9's on it. for some reason I feel like this guitar just needs 9's. My js100 was the same way. I put 10's on it and it was absolutely a big mistake. My band plays in Eb so we can sing the high piched 80's rat squeals in our songs. I thought due to the slack tuning this guitar would have no problem, but it did. I'd prefer 9's in standard on my guitars, but then we couldn't sing some of the tunes we do. It must have something to do with the fret difference why it feels like the 10's don't lie down as well on the neck when you fret a note. The super wizard neck on my RG with 10's has the jumbos fretwire, and this has the 6105 fretwire.

Any way, it seems to be playing better, it's just a different beast. Thanks for the tips and advice as always jemsters!
 
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