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G'day from down under...

5250 Views 33 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  pteropid
Hi everyone, I don’t seem to be able to post in the new members introduction thread so I decided I’d just create an intro thread here, mods please feel free to remove if required.

I’ve been a Jemsite lurker for over a decade but didn’t sign up until 2017, I generally don’t get involved in forums as people seem too cranky these days, but I guess it’s polite to say G’day to everyone. Yep I’m from down under if you haven’t guessed.

I started playing guitar when I was about 8 and spent my early teenage years growing up through the hair metal/rock era and I guess I was part of the Eddie Van Halen school of guitar. That was until Vai just blew me away with the attitude song and his work with David Lee Roth. I was about 15 when the first Jems appeared in Australia but I didn’t really pay attention until the first florals and VBK’s were on display.

I will never forget the first time I picked up a Jem , it was a Jem 7 root beer and it was a revelation, I was instantly able to play things I’d struggled with for years. One thing in particular that will always stay with me, is when I took the Jem off the rack for the first time ever, I could feel the sculpted cutaway around the neck join, I instantly felt comfortable with the guitar, I’ve never had that experience since.

As a teenager the price meant that ownership would always be a pipe-dream. After I left school I worked for a few years in the industry mainly in sales and tech so I got to play the Jems regularly that way, but still could never afford one. It was interesting working in a guitar shop just as ‘Passion and Warfare’ dropped and we took delivery of the first Universes, I tried to play them but the whole 7-string thing totally did my head in (still does to a certain extent). I suffered a severe injury to my left arm that resulted in nerve damage, so my career in music was done pretty much overnight, given that I’d played since I was 8 it was utterly devastating and I was pretty lost for a while, somehow I ended up studying medicine and I guess financially it worked out for the best in the end.

Anyway, I’m realising this post is getting ridiculously long so I’ll cut to the chase, there should be a photo of my girls below. From left to right - 1990 EXB404, 2012 UV70P, 1989 JEM 777VBK, 1988 JEM 77FP, 2017 JEMJR, 2004 RG350FM

tl;dr… I’m old and live in Australia, I used to sell and repair guitars and amps in the early 90’s. After many years I own my two dream guitars, a near mint ’88 FP and an ’89 VBK that needs serious restoration work :)

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Those gorgeoud green vine inlays made me remember I have not own any of them by now; time for a 777VBK/77FP search... that ‘88 FP looks awesome!
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Here's Vai's. I think it looks amazing....

Ibanez lose the oportunity of create an impresive Jem 777 30th ann releasing that incarnation of the LNG in 2017 as a limited run model.
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