Ibanez Jem 10th Anniversary

Ibanez Jem 10th Anniversary (#741)
I don't know how I got into Joe Satriani / Steve Vai, but I do remember renting Joe Satriani's "The Extremist" from the local library and being blown away. Holy Crap this guy could play. Ever since then I've been a Satriani fan and bought every album (even ChickenFoot!). Naturally that also introduced me to Steve Vai. I think the first album from him I heard was his 1997 Alien Love Secrets.. WOW.... While I love both I always felt Vai was a bit more experimental while Satriani's music was more about the melody etc. It would be VERY hard to pick one over the other though I feel I'd probably pick Satriani in the end.

As I found myself wanting to play this kind of music , my battered little old Squier Strat just didn't seem like it would be up to the job anymore. A local mega music store had a few JS models & Jems on Display.. the Burnt Stained Blue , the usual White and a GORGEOUS 10th Anniversary model. They had it in a case where no one was allowed to touch it, but just seeing it I knew I had to have one. Obviously that particular guitar was sold, and I had a hard time finding any others with it being a limited run of only around 852 IIRC.

I had actually sort of given up hope of ever finding one. After literally a few years I was still occasionally searching and I found one in Germany (Musik-Produktiv). New in hard-case.. wow I Could really get it this time! I was really torn on dropping such a huge amount of cash on a single guitar - I could buy several nice Fenders for this, but my heart steered my hands to my wallet to whip out the creditcard ;-) The box arrived after a few weeks and opening it up I had never seen such a beautiful work of art. It was almost too beautiful to play on!

The guitar (#741 according to the engraving on the pickguard) was supposed to come with a numbered certificate to match the engraved number on the pickguard, and it had Steve Vai's Signature on it. Of course who knows if he really sat down and signed over 800 pieces of paper, or if it was an 'Auto-Pen' type of deal...I noticed the numbers were wrong on my certificate! After some quick correspondence it turned out there were two Jem 10's - One the owner took and the other they sold and they mixed up the certificates. In about a week I had the right one so I was a happy camper. (Note, as I'm writing this out I don't have any pictures of my actual guitar hence I'm inserting some I found online)

Note how this guitar has some kind of 'shroud' to go with the guitar. I didn't learn until later that apparently the US Guitars came in a more Cloth Covered hard-case Like Case with the shroud, while European versions of the guitar came in a Black Hard-case.

A 'US' Spec Jem 10th Case

European Style Jem 10th Case

Mine, originating in Germany, obviously looks like the latter, however Mine actually has a plaque right where the handle sits that looks like this

There's sometimes heated discussion online (where else? ;) ) about how the US case is better / worth more etc, but in all honestly I like the black look of mine, and since I don't plan on selling mine anytime soon, who cares!

So what are the specifications of this beautiful guitar? According to the fine folks over at JemSite.com:

	JEM10
List Price	$2999.99 w/ case
Pictures	JEM10, Gallery
Color	Black w/ binding
Body	Basswood
Pickguard	Engraved Aluminum
Pickup Color	Chrome Plastic
Knobs	Chrome
5-way Tip	Black
Inlays	Abalone Pearl Vine
Fretboard	Ebony (bound fretboard & headstock)
Fret 21-24 Scalloped	No
Fret Wire	w6105
Neck Type	1-piece maple
Neck Joint	All Access Neck Joint
Hardware	Chrome
Pickups	DiMarzio Evolution (Humbucker/Single/Humbucker)
Tremolo	Lo-Pro Edge
Years	1996 -1997
Quantity	210 in the USA, 852 total worldwide
Note	10th Anniversary JEM. Incredible attention to detail.

JEM10 Notes - 10th Anniversary JEM. Includes numbered letter of authenticity hand signed by Steve Vai. The aluminum pickguard has an engraved vine and it's JEM10 serial number. JEM10s designated for the USA have a silver tweed JEM case with outside plaque and inner silk screened protective shroud. Later numbered JEM10s going to the USA have their JEM10 plaque screwed onto the case, instead of riveted/glued on.

Where Certain JEM10s Went: According to Hoshino USA distribution of certain JEM10s are as follows: Steve doesn't have JEM10TH #777. We're not sure which ones he DOES have, but he doesn't have these: #1 (is here at Hoshino USA) or #2 (at Roland/Meinl in Germany). #3, 5, 7, and 9 went for sale in the US market. #777 (unknown owner). After that, Hoshino has no further info on which # went where. JEM10 #16 was given away by Steve Vai during G3

Obviously the '210 for the US' now needs to be adjust to at least 211 since I brought mine here.

Another thing worth mentioning is the abundance of abalone inlays. Look at the details of the fretboard or the binding of the body. The Pickguard is fully engraved with a vine similar to the one on the fretboard. Also the neck has a very nice neck joint, called the 'All Access' Neck Joint, which makes reaching the higher frets effortless. Lastly the back of the neck is apparently bare wood which feels GREAT - MUCH better than those polyurethane necks that are so thickly coated they feel like plastic.

In the end, is there anything NOT to love about this guitar? well... sort of... The Monkey Grip is not really my thing, but funny thing is I DO actually use it to handle the guitar etc because it's fairly balanced when holding it there, so maybe Mr. Vai was onto something here. Obviously I'm not a big fan of the chrome flaking off the pickups, but really other than that I can honestly say that for me:
THIS is as perfect a guitar as you can make. A TRUE work of art to look at AND play on.

Oh yeah - Changing strings and taking them all off at once seems to be a bit of a bad idea ;)

P.S. This Gentleman has a whole bunch of pictures showing how beautiful this guitar truly is on PhotoBucket and is where I found some of the above pictures.