Ibanez JEM Forum banner

Sustain for Jem77BFP

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  sepulchrave 
#1 ·
Hi there,

Earlier this year I bought a new JEM77 Blue Floral Pattern - The recent Premium series one, not the original. It plays great and i really like the tones I'm getting. However I noticed it sustains less than my other humbucker guitars, a couple of Les Pauls and a Floyd Rose equiped Charvel San Dimas. It's especially noticeable on the G string E note (9th fret) and C note (17th fret) but other notes across the fretboard seem to have generally lower than average sustain. The note starts to ring out but then dies a bit prematurely as if a noise gate had just cut in.

I've taken it to a repair guy a couple of times now, and he has set the guitar up, made sure the neck is adjusted right, and did some fretwork to make sure everything is leveled. It plays great however i'm still having less sustain than i am used to on my other guitars. The pickups height doesn't affect the sustain issues. I've played it through various types of cranked amps and pedals including Mesa Triple crown, Fender tweeds, Boss Katana.

My question is, how much sustain is normal for these premium series Jems, say compared to a Les Paul? I really love the looks, tones, playability and feel of the guitar and i'm really sad that I can't get it sustaining as much as i'd like. Maybe i'm being over optimistic on what i expect, or maybe i should contact ibanez support etc. On my floyd equipped charvel i have a big brass sustain block, is there anything similar for the Edge Zero II that is on the JEM?

Thanks!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Don’t want to be rude, but you have choosen a guitar with a thin neck, bolt-on construction, with some chunks of wood chopped off to put in a handle and a lion’s claw, with only two points for string vibration transmission to the body (made of basswood, soft wood) due to the FR system (which in this particular model it is not the best one available regarding materials) and of course you want low action and light string gauges... this is not the sustain paradigm.

The Jem was made for fast playing attending Vai idiosincrasies, sustain was not a primordial target by design and Steve, you and me and the hordes of Jem users have to rely on high output pickups and high gain amps to get some sustain out of it. Don’t conpare it to a LP because they are quite different monsters (glued neck, denser materials as mahogany with added tops of different woods, fat necks, higher actions, higher string gauges,...). The only Jem that I have heard that can compete with the tone of a Gibson LP is a 7V.
 
#5 ·
Don't want to be rude, but you have choosen a guitar with a thin neck, bolt-on construction, with some chunks of wood chopped off to put in a handle and a lion's claw, with only two points for string vibration transmission to the body (made of basswood, soft wood) due to the FR system (which in this particular model it is not the best one available regarding materials) and of course you want low action and light string gauges... this is not the sustain paradigm.

The Jem was made for fast playing attending Vai idiosincrasies, sustain was not a primordial target by design and Steve, you and me and the hordes of Jem users have to rely on high output pickups and high gain amps to get some sustain out of it. Don't conpare it to a LP because they are quite different monsters (glued neck, denser materials as mahogany with added tops of different woods, fat necks, higher actions, higher string gauges,...). The only Jem that I have heard that can compete with the tone of a Gibson LP is a 7V.
That's actually what I was hoping to hear. Not rude at all. Since this Jem is the lightest guitar I own the features you mention make the guitar amazingly playable, but was already thinking the design may not be conducive to good sustain so wanted the opinion of other Jem owners.

What methods do you guys have for increasing sustain? It already has Dimarzio Gravity Storm pickups, so my first suspect is the Edge Zero II bridge. The Lion claw route looks like it may be sized for an original Edge as there is a big excess gap with the Edge Zero II installed. Would the original Edge drop in or would I need to route or replace the trem posts etc?

Also found Killer Guitar Components. Would their Ibanez Edge Z brass block fit the Edge Zero II? In terms of performance I like the Edge Zero II. It keeps perfect tune on all strings measured by my TC polytune after divebombs and pull ups.

Any other sustain increasing advice, or things to check on the trem to make sure that resonance is not being dampened?

Thanks
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top