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I've been listening to a lot of Steve Vai lately and I'm intrigued by his guitars... Does anyone know how they play and sound?

I'm not a fan of them at all. But then again I'm not a 24 guy and I don't like the very flat fretboard radius.

I'm a fan. Great playability and a pretty huge sound. I really dislike the bridge though...

Not a fan... neck too thin (but therefore very fast), don´t really like the EVOs, and otherwise it´s essentially just an RG with a built-in handle for throwing the guitar away

I think they're alright. I can tolerate the thin neck, but I really cannot justify paying the inflated sum they ask for it.


Originally Posted by ZerberusNot a fan... neck too thin (but therefore very fast), don´t really like the EVOs, and otherwise it´s essentially just an RG with a built-in handle for throwing the guitar away

Well, pretty much.

They have ebony boards to my knowledge, and Ibanez only seem to do rosewood boards on their RG's atm. Come to think of it, the only other non rosewood boarded axe they make would be the maple boarded PGM301 :/

The body is alder as well.. the cheaper Jem is probably still basswood though like the majority of RG's

I'm not a fan of the neck either tbh. Pups can be changed but the feeling just isn't right for me...

I've played the Steve Vai model, and while it felt quite nice, I thought the neck was a bit TOO thin. It could have been the rest of the setup, but I didn't particularly like the tone that was coming out either

Yeah I own one and its great, fast to play and takes quite alot of whammying to get her out of tune.. but I deffinatly prefer my Jackson DKMG, just plays a hell of alot better and I prefer the neck

Guess the ordinary RGs will offer more guitar for money. With some pickup switch they will probably sound similar, too. And for some reason there is a hole in the body of the JEMs?


Originally Posted by adrian....And for some reason there is a hole in the body of the JEMs?

Handle for throwing it away

For the price, I really don't see how it is justified at all. I don't know how they play unfortunately but I mean, look at the specs and look at the price (and especially, look at how the darn thing looks ). From what I gathered they're pretty much like any RGs: they play great if well set up because of the neck but otherwise it's a pretty average guitar. Note that I'm basing this on what I heard and the looks of them.

I own a Jem 7VSBL now and owned a 7VWH for a couple years. I don't know where the thin neck thing is coming from... the neck is nowhere near as thin as an RG (RG550 or 520QS for example, owned both). The neck on a Jem isn't overly thin IMO. It actually feels pretty similar to a Jackson USA SL1 Soloist. I don't like the EVO pickups- harsh. I replaced them in my 7VSBL and a C5/Alnico Pro II. I don't find the quality measures up to the price. On my 7VWH I could depress the bar and create a lot of slack in the strings, sometimes the thin E string would actually hang up on the 3rd fret. The fret work wasn't that great for a guitar in that price range.

Overall, I think the Jem is a good guitar but I'd take a USA Jackson, Charvel, or ESP over one.

WAY WAY WAY overpriced RG with a riduculosly thin neck and flat fretboard and not the best sound, but then again after Vai sticks his guitar through the 10 or so effects before it gets into the amp the original sound of the guitar is lost
Get a carvin and save your self 1500 hundred bucks


Originally Posted by nuntiusThey have ebony boards to my knowledge, and Ibanez only seem to do rosewood boards on their RG's atm. Come to think of it, the only other non rosewood boarded axe they make would be the maple boarded PGM301 :/

The body is alder as well.. the cheaper Jem is probably still basswood though like the majority of RG's

Only the JEM10, JEM90HAM, and older JEM7VWH have ebony fretboards. The rest either have rosewood or maple. The body is only alder on the VWH and the VSBL.

They're great guitars, as you can expect from the price, but I still wouldn't buy a signature series.

EDIT: And the JEM neck is thicker than the Wizard necks on regular RGs and less than a millimeter thinner than the SL1, so what are you guys complaining about?

I dig the Jems....they're very unique looking and I like that they've kind of evolved over the years. I give Ibanez credit for allowing the models to change with the different styles du jour. They've taken some chances and make some gorgeous looking instruments that were unlike any others.

The thing about thin necks....and this is from a guy who finally felt like he'd FINALLY gotten near the perfect neck when he picked up an original Jeff Beck Strat...is that you kind of get used to them after awhile. I had a stretch one Summer when every neck in my arsenal just went out of whack with a humidity snap and the only thing that didn't was an impulse buy RG550.

It took a bit to get used to it but once I did it felt as normal to me as anything else I would wrap my hand around for a gig; I felt plenty confident in it.

I sold the RG550 and kind of miss it....but I admit that with the music I play now I have almost no need for it. If I owned one it'd probably just be collecting dust.

But if I started playing metal again I wouldn't hesitate to snap up either a Jem or a RG550.

This is a late post, but this thread has taken my interest.

i found the Rg necks to be a lot thinner than the Jem Neck, also my jem seems to be absolutely perfect, it stays in tune for months if i need it too, the trem is superb and the pickups sound lovely, the guitar has a naturally smooth lead sound but yet still sounds agressive for rhythm through my 5150.

However, mine is a well setup Jem7WH from way back in 1994 when the model was new, maybe standards have dropped, but judging from my model it wasnt overpriced and it sounds and feels amazing, also the evo pickups have really grown on me.

I had a loch ness green Jem 777 back in the late 80s, one of the limited edition of 777 signed by Vai. It was a nice enough guitar for the era and it's purpose.

To me, the jems are a typical late 80s shred guitar: designed for playability over tone. If you play nimbly with a light touch and don't mind the compressed sound of overwound pickups, then a jem is a good choice.

Like most sig guitars, they're great if you want to get the Vai sound. Especially his clean, notch position tones. That's a really unique sound and you can only really get it from a jem.

Nowadays I wouldn't play one, though it'd be cool to have one of the original dayglo coloured ones like I had for a laugh.

Try one out. Seems to get mixed reviews. All about personal preference.