I agree, but some are more over priced / over hyped / over rated than others... especially when there's a rock star name involved.

An RG550 with a great setup job will play just as good as any JEM. FACT!

Maybe Ill start a Flame war but I dont give a damn, so this is my opinion.

I have had in 30 years like 18-20 guitars, now I have like 8, two of them Jems a BSB and a BRMR, basically because my son kept bugiing me for almost 8 months because he wanted one, so I registered here after reading a lot of stuff and believed the HYPE, OMG the best axe ever, a fast machine whatever, then came Rich with his site, where you could read thebasically the Jem is a well made guitar but nothing out of this world. Ii grasped that he had to do a proper setup to get them right and he had to return a lot because even some jems are just a POS as the next brand X guitar.

So my son and I went to check them here and we played a VERY nice VWH, I really was surprised because It had the same action and balance as a PRS I played that I liked a lot, so I decided to buy a Jem for my son. Later we learned that all the expensive guitars of that store go to a luthier that lives on the same street for proper setup!!! price for the VWH=2650 USD WOW, I told him to wait and buy it from someone from the jemsite or buy it when we traveled to the states. I put some rules, it had to be less than 1900 and had to be in a near mint condition and with case.
He found his BSB, it was so brand new I could not believe it its a 1997 guitar bough on 2007 and it even had the plastic cover over the pickguard...DARN the GUITAR had been in storage for 8-10 years !!!
I found a BRMR for 1100 in that trip and bought it right away..WHY if I hadnot played both?
Hype simply as that! and the outrageous prices a lot of people are willing to pay for jems, simply put a BRMR for list on the GC was 2677 with taxes, when a very very nice PRS was 2540...

I see Andre has an Atlas guitar that sounds terrific al looks terrific and he says plays terrefic...cost 1100...., the WOW factor of a Jem might be more but a better guitar for the price? NO WAY! Heck I bought the BRMR just because for 1100 is a very good guitar I disasembled it checked it, did a proper setup and now it plays beautifully ans has a very nice action an killer tone, but even as it is is no match for my Jackson RR,even my son who is enamored of his BSB and keeps it in its case uber clean, plays my RR all the time and I play the Les paul Copy a LOT, I only hate the fact that it weight a TON, that for the record the JEMS are incredibly light.

As I posted before the best Ibanez guitar we played in that trip was a Prestige 121 that was going for 560 US in the Ventura GC, simply a beautiful guitar all around, even better than our jems.

My view is that Jems are way overrated for the price, they (most of the time) are kept for colector reasons, and the weird second hand market is just a way to keep unrealistic prices.

Heck even Ibanez KNOWS this and the prices that always go UP and the "anniversary fads" are just a way to keep a market of colectors and what not, and make a huge BUCK out of it, just see the Giger guitar is a case in point...and now other companies are jumping on the "lets wash some brains a make bucks" see the VH strat , the blakie, the Jacksons etc etc....

Simply put they get away with it because a lot of us, let them DO IT....

I like my Jem and my son also like his, but we are not zombies, there are better guitars and better deals... (I am talking list prices here)...

So yes I am saying that the emperor has no clothes, its up to you to notice or keep pretending/comparing.

I agree that a 2550 is every bit as good as a JEM for less than half the money, and that is where I get my opinion from.

You can't lump all of Fender, Gibson, Jackson, etc. into the same bin. We are talking about JEMs, not Ibanez in general, so if you are going to say Fender, then we need to point out models. Is a MIM standard over priced, no, but a $6,000 custom shop model is (imo).

I agree that a 2550 is every bit as good as a JEM for less than half the money, and that is where I get my opinion from.

All fender signature models are overpriced SRV, EJ, JIMMI HENDRIX, YJM etc...
I don't think I have to go on, I have never liked Fender much except for the ultra cool HM Strat!!!

The Hank Marvin or the Japanese 80s contraption...?

Yes and No mate... are you not going to tell me Fenders are overpriced, or Gibsons, PRS, Parker, ESP, Jackson, Charvel, Wayne Charvel etc...of course they are, they all are, even the RG550. The point I am trying to make is that if you were to make a custom guitar with your own specs, not only will it be more affordable but also a fantastic player that would surely beat anything you can pick up from the shelf at a music shop.

Comparing a JEM to a Jackson RR is plain stupidity!!! they both play good,

and I don't think one plays better than the other, they just sound different and can do different things in a given playing situation.

If the Prestige you tried played better is because your JEMs must be set up incorrectly and you obviously don't know how to do a set up or tell if a set up is done correctly.

It sounds like your playing nightmares may be due to the fact that you are used to playing cheap guitars only.

Except for the pick-ups, surely....

Yeah, but with "better" pickups would the 2550 be worth twice as much? Besides, some might actually prefer the Dimarzio/IBZ pickups to Evo's or Breeds, etc.

Stupidity on your part, because the RR costs 600 less than a 7Vwh let alone a 7BRMR, but since you are talking about stupidity, I urge you to take some math classes.



For the price price/benefit ratio a lot of guitars run rings around a JEM, want a good example... PRS



Oh now you have telepathic powers and you know if I can do set ups, THAT is not the point, the point is a 2400 Guitar SHOULDNT need a setup, you are paying TOP DOLLAR for an instrument that should be perfect the moment you take it out of its case, I urge you to go to the GC and take any 2500 PRS, or jackson and check if it need "proper" setup. but hey I am not the one used to playing cheap guitars (if you took the liberty to check the pictures of my guitars you should know, but you are the kind to engage the mouth instead of using your brain before having any facts..



Sound like you dont know crap about good guitars and you want to keep paying top bucks for jems, Hey I sell you my BRMR for 1800, I make a quick 700+ out of a blabering fool who cant see the reality...DEAL?