Rack & Effects Update

I was browsing online just to kill some time and feed my renewed interest in my guitars etc when I figured I should see what the 4th of July specials are on some of the online music sites. I've had a gaping hole in my rack setup since that is where I wanted a rack-mount tuner, but the way they are usually priced I figured this would be a few years out. I swing over to Guitar Center and what, much to my surprise, do I find on sale? A Behringer Rack-mount tuner (BTR 2000) for less than 90 bucks! Reviews were either so-so- or fine, so I figured I would just try it. Of course my Patchbay was Behringer too, so I figured at least they match too. For 90 bucks my expectations aren't that high so even if it tunes at least as good as my hand-held I'll be happy.

RACKTUNER BTR2000

Ultra-Flexible, Auto-Chromatic 2-Channel Tuner with Metronome and Integrated Racklight

• Multi-functional tuner including built-in microphone for use with acoustic instruments
• Useful metronome, adjustable from 30 to 240 bpm with audible and visual beat indicator. You can also work on-the-fly with the manual TAP tempo function
• Integrated, switchable racklights with high-power LEDs for absolute control over your rack gear
• 11 different tuner modes (e. g. "chromatic", "banjo" or open tunings) based on 12 equally tempered tones
• Manual or automatic A-tone standard pitch calibration from 428 Hz to 452 Hz in 1-Hz increments, transposable by a maximum of ± 7 semitones for especially flexible tuning
• Adjustable resolution of the LED bar (5 Cent/LED vs. 1 Cent/LED) enables precise tuning up to the cent, which allows for user-defined tuning systems
• Two separate input channels accessible via front and back connectors (controllable via optional footswitch)
• Additional 1/4'' TS output for metronome click/reference tone - perfect for monitoring and practice applications
• True hardware bypass for highest signal integrity between input and output
• Practical Mute function for direct signal muting during tuning (controllable via optional footswitch)
• High-quality components and exceptionally rugged construction ensure long life
• Conceived and designed by BEHRINGER Germany

Now of course there's always the incentive to shop more.. "oh spend only $10 more and get free shipping". What else do I need? Well not much really... What else do I WANT though? LOTS of stuff!
As I was going through things in my head I actually was reading back on my post about my effect pedals. One thing I always wanted to add was a Compressor/Sustainer unit. So after searching on the site I found they had a nice MXR model (M-132) compressor and the BOSS CS-3 Pedal.  Since i have a 'fondness' of Boss Pedals I went with the BOSS CS-3 even though it was slightly more than the MXR pedal.

BOSS CS-3: Compression Sustainer

 

The CS-3 Compression Sustainer pedal compresses louder signals while boosting lower signals, providing smooth sustain without degrading the original sound quality. This is the perfect pedal for guitarists and bassists who want to sound their best.

• Compact compression/sustainer pedal with high-quality circuitry
• Compresses loud signals and boosts softer signals for a smooth overall sound
• Onboard Level, Tone, Attack and Sustain controls for precise tonal shaping
• Low-noise design for super-quiet operation
• BOSS 5-year warranty

I'd say that's a pretty good score for around $200.
As far as getting it into the rack, I 'm still torn on where exactly to put it..
My Initial setup was from Top to bottom: Power, PatchBay, Tuner, Reverb
Then I switched it to: Power, Tuner, PatchBay , Reverb

Please don't mind this horrid Cell Phone Picture of 'The Rack'..

Reason being is that the Tuner is actually not flush, but curved outwards and has lights underneath it. This makes it look awkward when it's lower in the rack. While the 2nd layout is better and 'logically' I like having the power all the way on top, but now I think I will change it again to: Tuner, Power, PatchBay, Reverb. That way the curvature of the tuner won't get in the way of anything and it just 'flows' a little bit better.

Much Better!

You can also see I have some speakers on the bottom shelf which are hooked into the patchbay which is a very convenient way to hook up my MO8 synthesizer.

New Neck for the Telecaster

For a while now I had been thinking about having a guitar with either a 7.25" radius fretboard and/or a different shape neck profile (in particular I was interested in the V-Shape). It seems like most guitars (Fenders at least) these days (unless you start talking custom-shop or artist signature series) are using the 9.5" radius on a 'modern-C' shape neck.

For those of you who are not that familiar with Neck Profiles or Radius a quick explanation:
The fretboard you play on is actually not FLAT (as you may find with a nylon string acoustic) but has a slight curvature to it. The way to envision this is to picture a circle with the specified radius and then 'slicing' off a section to be your fretboard. Alan Ratcliffe has a nice image on his site that shows how this would work:

A  fretboard that is a fixed width, but has a radius of 16" (green line) is a lot flatter than a fretboard which has the same width, with a 7.25" radius (blue line)"

So Basically a 7.25" radius will be a 'rounder' fretboard. Looking back in history the old Stratocasters etc used to have this radius and were later changed to the now common 9.5" radius citing concerns of 'fretting out' when doing larger bends. If you look at typical 'shredder' guitars you'll see that their radius is usually 12" or even 16" making it much more 'plank' like.

So radius describes the front of the neck or the fretboard, while the Neck-Profile describes the back of the neck e.g. how it fits in your hand. There are several different neck-profiles available with variations between or even 'compound' profiles which start out as one and then slowly change into another as you get higher up the neck.
Some examples:

Different Neck Profiles

More Neck Profiles and how they relate to each other

A very interesting thread on this with a ton of pictures of different neck shapes can be found here on TDPRI.

Reason I wanted a 7.25" / V-Shape was that I was actually most curious about the V-Shape since all my guitars have had the C-Shape in shape, way or form. The V-Shape seemed like it would fit better in the hand than a C-shape. Also Some Signature models like the Eric Clapton come with a V-Neck so obviously there has to be something to this.  The 7.25" seemed like it would give a nice vintage feel and follow the curvature of your fingers nicely. Now, Instead of buying a new guitar with that neck - which can be hard to find - I figured I might as well modify my Telecaster and put a new neck on it since that guitar is sort of my 'experimental' guitar anyway.

The problem now became where to get one. It would seem it would have to be an aftermarket neck and there's obviously various aftermarket brands like Warmoth, Mighty Mite, All Parts, USACG etc. First I looked into Warmoth since I've dealt with them in the past and they're local, but it turns out the combination I wanted they simply do not offer. Next I found people commenting on both Mighty Mite & All Parts, but after a lot of reading I figured All parts was the way to go since all their V-Necks already have the 7.25" radius.

Allparts has several options for 'V' Shaped Tele Necks:

• TRO-V - Unfinished Neck with Rosewood Fretboard
• TMO-V - Unfinished Neck with Maple Fretboard
• TMNF-V - Neck with Maple Fretboard, FINISHED in a vintage tinted Nitrocellulose

Obviously knowing my obsession with Maple Necks, the TRO-V was never even considered, but I had a tough choice to make about either going 'unfinished' (& finishing it myself/having someone do it) or going with the Nitro Finish.

I decided to reach out for some help on this decision by visiting TDPRI & the Harmony Central Forums.
Reading up on a lot of build threads I had started to notice that everyone who ever had one of these necks done usually opted for the unfinished one and had a guy named 'Atrox' Finish them for them in Tru-Oil.
Atrox turns out to be Brian Mason, of Mason Custom Guitars - a really nice guy who makes what can only be described as pieces of art when he has the time for it. Though he was officially taking a break from guitar building I asked him a billion questions which he all answered for me. I was looking for a more 'woodsy' feel - almost like my Jem 10th Anniversary which has a bare neck, and I wasn't a big fan of 'yellow' necks, but prefer a more light natural wood color. Under his advise I picked the TMO-V neck:

The specs for it state:

• 21 vintage frets (.079" x .043")
• Solid maple neck, VEE shaping, sanded, unfinished and ready to spray
• 7.25" radius
• Nut width 1-5/8"
• Heel width 2-3/16"
• Tuning Peg Hole Diameter .340"
• Truss Rod adjustment at heel
• Neck thickness .91" at first fret, .98" at twelfth fret

Being the nice guy he is Brian offered to take care of everything for me - Ordering the neck, Graphite Nut (figured the black would be sleek looking) & Vintage Tuners and doing the Tru-Oil treatment for a VERY decent price. Obviously there would be a bit of a wait involved from ordering, shipping, Oil Treatment (which takes several layers which all require drying time in between) etc. However that was fine with me because I was finally getting the neck I wanted. From start to finish I think it took about 6-7 weeks, but it was well worth the wait!

Fast forward to the Install - The neck looks GORGEOUS - As I probably have mentioned before, I'm a hardcore Maple fan, and LIGHT maple is even better, which this neck is. It also has a beautiful grain to it. You can definitely feel the V-Shape neck as soon as you hold it which is hard to describe. You feel more wood in the depth of your hand, giving it a very solid feel, yet around the fretboard edges it actually feels thinner (probably because it tapers more into the v-point right away from there vs coming out more 'straight' and then curving into a C-Shape like on a standard neck ) and It is VERY comfortable to play with.

At this point I just need to adjust my bridge saddles a bit since they are still setup for the 9.5" radius. So far though the guitar feels very nice in the hand and the neck plays absolutely beautiful and smooth. And even doing bends I haven't even 'fretted out' which is usually the main concern with 7.25" radius fretboards. If anything to me it feels almost more natural/organic to have this curvature. Of course this now makes me curious about the 'U' shaped or 'Baseball Bat' style necks that have even more wood to them.. hmmm Next Project anyone? ;)

All I can I can in closing is that Brian Mason (a.k.a Atrox on the Harmony Central Forums & TDPRI.com) did an absolutely fabulous job on this neck. He also (used to do/) does full custom builds and having seen some of the pictures they look absolutely amazing and MUCH better quality than anything you'd find hanging off the walls in your local Guitar Center. So if he's available to do any work for your guitar I'd highly recommend his services!

Telecaster Pickup upgrades

Note that this was already a few years ago (~ 2007) : I had been having fun with my telecaster for a while and had meanwhile gotten my hands on the "None More Black" Stratocaster. Since that had great sparkling cleans I figured why not turn the telecaster into something a little 'hotter'.. More like a Hot-Rod Blues Guitar?

Obviously this meant changing out the pickups for 'something else'. I browsed the Fender Site , DiMarzio (since those pickups were in my Jem 10th) and Seymour Duncan to get a sense for what was out there. I really liked how on the Seymour Duncan site they had all their pickups rated so it would be easier to compare, not to mention the fact they provided sound samples of most of them!

Starting with the neck Pickup I already knew I wanted a 'bigger' pickup than the standard Tele Neck Pickup and was torn between either a P-90 style Pickup, a Full blown Humbucker or a Mini Humbucker. I've always been intrigued by the P-90s and like their sound a lot. A Humbucker would be nice in the neck too, but since I wanted to keep the slanted rear pickup , visually it just did not appeal to me. The Mini-Humbucker looked very promising too - all the good things of a humbucker, but in a smaller package.

After more digging I found a picture of a '52 Hot-Rod Telecaster which had a mini-Humbucker in the neck position and I thought it looked amazing.

This also settled for me that I really wanted to switch to a black pick-guard since I needed a new one anyway to fit the Mini Humbucker. 

Seymour Duncan lists 3 Mini Humbuckers

1. Vintage Mini-Humbucker SM-1 - Vintage-correct replica of classic Firebird® pickup. Great for jazz, blues, rockabilly, classic rock and heavy rock.
2. Custom Mini-Humbucker SM-2 - High output mini-humbucker. Great for heavy blues, classic rock, hard rock and metal.
3. Seymourized Mini-Humbucker SM-3 - Hotter-than-vintage mini-humbucker. Great for blues, classic rock, southern rock, jam and hard rock.

After listening to all 3 pickups over and over again I finally decided to go with the:

SM-2N - Custom Mini-Humbucker (Neck Position)

Application
High output mini-humbucker. Great for heavy blues, classic rock, hard rock and metal.
Description
The ceramic bar magnet and hot coil windings give this pickup a more aggressive upper-mid detail than the SM-3, which makes it great for slide and higher output music styles. Comes with four-conductor hookup cable.
Complete setup
Available for both neck and bridge positions. The bridge version is high output. The neck version is compensated for tonal balance. Often, an SM-2b Custom is used in the bridge with an SM-1n Vintage in the neck for versatility.
Guitars
For balanced and warm instruments. Works especially well with mahogany bodies and rosewood fingerboards.


The blurb about going well with rosewood fingerboards aside (I love me my maple) this sounded like the one for me. Next, the hunt was on for a telecaster bridge pickup to go with it. Obviously it would have to somewhat match this newer high-output Neck Pickup I had already picked out. I figured I might as well stay with Seymour Duncan Pickups so I headed over to their Telecaster pickup section to see what they had.


After looking at, and listening to practically ALL of the pickups they had in that section I had it narrowed down to either a

• Hot Lead Stack - STK-T2b
• Hot Rails - STHR-1b
• Little '59 - ST59-1b
• Quarter Pound - STL-3

They all sounded good to me so I just let lady luck decide what I should get. I was going to order from Warmoth and simply see what they had in stock. That decision made it easy as they had only the Hot Lead Stack

STKT2B - Hot Stack for Tele

Application
Boosted output humbucker. Great for country pop, blues, classic rock and heavy rock.
Description
The added windings and the alnico 5 magnet make this a pickup extra powerful. You get a hotter, muscular, twangy sound with more emphasis on the midrange and greater sustain. Comes in black with four-conductor hookup cable.
Complete setup
Available in lead (bridge) position only. We recommend the STK-T1n Vintage Rhythm Stack® for the neck position for versatility and hum canceling.
Guitars
For all well-balanced instruments. Works equally well with maple and rosewood fingerboards.

 In combination with these pickups I ordered a 3-layer (Black/White/Black) pickguard from Warmoth, already cut for the mini Humbucker , and some new pots including a 'Push-Push' Pot to allow for an extra switching combination. The nice thing about these is that you don't need to 'pull up' on the knob to toggle it, you can just tap it once to switch it on, tap it again and it's off. I wired is so that when in the Middle Position the Neck & Bridge pickup can be combined in either series or parallel.

Currently though I am contemplating changing that over to have the switch work only the bridge pickup and switch it into Single-Coil "Boost" mode as a lead-enhancer. We'll see though. In the end I think it turned out great and the guitar definitely has more 'oomph' to it and lost some of its 'clean sparkle' but that's exactly what I was looking for.

Before the upgrades

After Pickup Upgrades (but also after a recent Neck transplant)

Fender Stratocaster "None More Black"

I had come to a point where I had basically a bunch of cheap guitars cover most bases: A Telecaster, an Acoustic and a Bass (and of course my Jem but that's not a cheapy), and I was starting to think about a NICE Stratocaster to round out the 'collection' so to speak. Not a Mexican Made one, but a real quality American Stratocaster.

As usual I start looking in catalogs and online looking for something to catch my eye. Obviously I'm looking for a Black Strat with Maple neck again, but then one holiday season (I believe it was around 2005?) I noticed an ad for two 'special run' Stratocasters.. Apparantly a "Fender Special Run" or "FSR" for short is a batch of guitars made in 'limited' numbers - usually made for a large vendor - with a combination of parts you normally wouldn't find on standard retail models. While unique in a sense, this does not make them Custom-Shop guitars, and while numerically they may be made in small numbers (e.g. 300) it does NOT seem to make them 'collectable' to most people. Perhaps in a few decades they will be - who knows.

Anyway - this special edition had 2 different guitars: a 'Bad Boy Blue' and 'None More Black'.

The BBB as the name implies was Blue with 3 Single Coils, while the None More Black was All black with a Humbucker in the bridge. Both had black pickguards and a beautiful black dot-less ebony fretboard.

"Bad Boy Blue"

"None More Black"

I actually was torn between the two, because while I loved the all black guitar I was actually wanting a typical Stratocaster 3x Single Coil setup instead of a HSS (Humbucker/Single/Single) and the blue WAS really sharp looking. Both had S1 wiring giving you tons of switching options. After some decent consideration I opted for the None-More-Black Model.

According to the specs it has:

Features

• Alder body
• Maple neck
• Ebony fingerboard 
• Roller Nut
• 9-1/2" radius
• Medium-jumbo frets
• No dot markers on fingerboard
• Chrome locking tuners
• Chrome hardware
• Black plastic parts
• Black single-ply pickguard
• 2 Samarium Cobalt Noiseless single-coil pickups
• Bridge humbucker
• S-1 switching
• Black Tolex case
• Black vintage leather strap

What is interesting is that in my search for some decent stock pictures, I noticed a lot of 'knock-off' (if you can call'm that) Strats that claim they are the 'none more black' model, but are missing S1 Switching, don't have the chrome knobs (black plastic instead), ebony fretboard (rosewood instead), or Roller Nut (regular nut) etc etc.. not sure what the deal is with those, but the picture above is the correct image. (Even the link above to Music 123 shows the wrong image! It's 'almost' correct, but has the plastic control knobs instead of the chrome).  I must say though that I do agree with the sentiment some people online have put forth, where if it's supposedly "none-more-black" - as in: Can't get any blacker - , how come the knobs, tuners, bridge etc are all chrome still? ;) (but really that doesn't bother me - this guitar looks GREAT!) However for the 'Official' FSR None-More-Black as sold by whoever it was (was it Sam Ash? Or Musicians Friend?) those are all chrome and look exactly like the following pictures (not mine, but exact model)
(Apparently a lot of forums came up with their own definition of 'None-More-Black' - including black knobs/tuners etc - which is probably where part of the confusion comes from).

The guitar feels & plays fantastic - Everything feels & sounds super smooth - it's actually borderline 'too nice' where I don't want to use it since I am afraid of damaging it. However, every time I pick it up it's hard to put down. Even with the Humbucker in the bridge position, the typical '2 & 4' positions have that fantastic strat sound ('quack') and the neck pickup has that beautiful bell-like quality to it. There's just something about a good Strat that puts a smile on my face!

though naturally... I'm still itching for a 3 Single Coil, Black, Maple Neck Stratocaster ;)

Dean Edge 09 (E09-CBK) Bass

I had been without a bass for a while now and figured it was time to get one. Knowing full well that I don't play bass MOST of the time, and that it's really only something to have some fun on once in a while (or record the occasional bass-track) I didn't want to spend too much money.

Previously I had owned a Samick Brand Bass which was basically a typical Fender P-Bass clone with a Black Body, White Pickguard and my preferred maple neck & fretboard. The thing weighed a ton, but was fun to play on.

Looking for a new Bass I definitely wanted another black one (favorite guitar color) - The choices were quite overwhelming, but setting a strict budget of Less than $150 narrowed down the field quite a bit! Normally I'd cringe at setting such a ridiculous max-budget knowing full well you'd be guaranteed to end up with a painted piece of plywood, but I just need something to throw around occasionally. This price range also definitely knocked out any 'combo' deals , but since I had a few amps sitting around this wasn't really an issue.

On one of the big warehouse sites (can't remember which one, either MusiciansFriend / SamAsh / SweetWater etc) I saw a black Dean 4 String bass..

Running down the checklist I saw:

• Black 4 String Bass - Check
• Looks Nice - Check
• Cheap - Check
• Maple Neck/Fretboard - no.....

But figuring 3 out of 4 wasn't bad I decided to let go of my obsessive 'maple only' philosophy and ordered it anyway. The specs according to dean are below:

From the Manufacturer

This no-frills bass from Dean features a lightweight basswood body, a Dean vintage bridge, a single Dean soapbar pickup, and a speedy maple neck. It's an affordable axe that's ready for any modern style.

EDGE 09 Specs Body: Basswood Scale: 34" Neck: Maple Fingerboard: Rosewood Inlays: Abalone Dot Tuners: Die Cast Hardware: Chrome Bridge: Dean Vintage Pickup: One Dean Passive Finish: Classic Black

Dean passive soapbar pickup with volume and tone controls.

A vintage-style bridge provides precise intonation.

Dean's Edge Series
Sure, beauty is skin deep, but the Dean Edge Bass might be the exception. Dean started with a body styled and contoured for comfort, and made it lighter with basswood construction. The maple necks were profiled to be faster and sleeker than most, and Dean designed a custom neck joint and heel, for uninterrupted access all the way up the two octave neck. The Edge Bass is offered in four, five and six string models. The Edge 09 is the most affordable instrument in the Edge Line.

Mahogany Looks
The Edge 09 features basswood construction, but it's topped off with naturally finished mahogany. The basswood means this axe is lighter than most its size, and the eye-catching mahogany grains give it plenty of class.

34-Inch Maple Neck
The Edge 09 features a speedy maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, and classic abalone dot inlays. It's a 22-fret model--this barely matters on some instruments, since access to the high frets is difficult, but a deep cutaway and Dean's custom joint/heel mean you can ring out the high notes when you want.

Dean Passive Pickup
The Edge 09 features a Dean "soapbar" style passive pickup, for smooth low-end, aggressive high-end, and plenty of response to your playing and the tone control. Dial it in no matter your musical style.

Chrome Dean Hardware
The vintage-style Dean bridge lets you set things up perfectly on the intonation front, and Dean diecast tuners ensure that you'll stay in tune.



No Frills was right - 1 Tone Knob, 1 Volume Knob, 1 Pickup - However that was exactly what I was looking for and I've been very happy with it. The bass actually says Made In China which in guitar-making hierarchy would be basically the on 'bottom' as far as quality goes etc, however so far it has held up nicely.

It IS very light (relatively) and much thinner than any other bass guitars i've played on (probably even thinner than my telecaster or strat!). A little thicker/more solid feeling would've been nice, but surely that would also make it a lot heavier. That aside - it feels & plays great (for my use & (lack of) skills) especially with their custom neckjoint. Another nice 'feature' I found was that while the fretboard is standard rosewood, the back as usual is Maple - however the finish on mine felt VERY thin (almost 'woody') which I enjoy tremendously. One of my biggest beefs with guitars is always the neck being so thickly coated in polyurethane that it feels like plastic.This guitar makes it feel like you're holding a nice smooth piece of maple in your hand which is always good in my book!
As far as the rosewood fretboard... meh... It's fine... 'tolerable' I guess, but just not my thing.. I guess it's just one of those things I'll never click with just like Gibson/Les Paul Guitars ;)

Fender Standard Telecaster (MIM)

As mentioned on my Guitar Timeline Page I had been without a 'fun' electric guitar for a while. Having been through a major move I had only kept my Ibanez Jem 10th Anniversary Guitar and let go of the Samick Bass & Squier Strat I had at the time. The Jem is an awesome guitar, but I had already gotten some significant wear on the chrome pickups (quite common apparently) and some on the engraved pickguard as well. So I was trying to take good care of it and not beat it to hell playing on it all the time. Time to shop for something new!

I had been going through the catalogs I had laying around & looking online as well. What to get? How about a Les Paul this time around? ehmm 'maybe'...? but really again I felt no 'click' with one so back to the Fender camp as always :) Humbucker or Single Coil? My Jem has Humbuckers, so let's do traditional Single Coils. Budget? Nothing too crazy - so I was basically figuring on getting a Mexi-Strat - I just had to either order it online or go to the local insane-asylum ehmm I mean Guitar Center. I didn't really want to wait for weeks once I had the funds and I was somewhat curious about a Telecaster since I was listening to a lot of Jonny Lang at the time who was getting some VERY nice tones out of his. I always made the common assumption of it being a 'country' guitar, but obviously they are much more versatile than that.

So, I hate most local places like Guitar Center (from all the idiots playing powerchords as loud as they can to endless noodling, useless sales clerks, to the bag check on the way out...I really AVOID this place nowadays and instead shop at another much nicer store (and if happens to cost more there, so be it), but sometimes you gotta bite the big one, especially if you want to actually try out a guitar before you buy it. So I went there looking for possible a new black Strat or just maaaaaaaaaaaybe a black telecaster, but I was 99% certain I'd get a Black Strat - as long of course a they had one with a maple neck.

Walking into a guitar center is always a cringe-worthy experience in my book for the above mentioned reasons. This time I actually ended up NOT being pestered with 50000 "can I help you"'s from the sales staff and thus was able to try out a few Stratocasters. I didn't even bother plugging them in the crappy floor amps since to me I had to find one that felt right more than anything. Tone can be shaped by Strings, amps, pickups etc etc. Nothing really clicked, not to mention most of the guitars just look beat to hell already (looking around the store you can see why...).

I noticed a Wine-Red Telecaster hanging a little higher up out of the reach of the masses. It was missing the hat on the 3-position switch, but other then that it looks pretty good. After the sales guy was able to tear himself away from telling grandiose stories to his buddies he got it down for me and I tried it out. Feels... nice.... Little 'chunkier' than a Stratocaster obviously, but there's some kind of 'back-to-basics' feel about the telecasters body. The neck was your basic modern C-Shape, and maple naturally.. I noticed a slight scratch or chip on the polyurethane coating between 2 frets, but that didn't really bother me since I could always sand it out a bit with some steel wool or something. The Hard-Tail was actually a nice change from the Strat Tremolos

All in All, I actually LIKED this telecaster more than the strats they had... I looked around and saw a Black Telecaster as well, but this was one was just so different from anything else I had owned up to that point that it really felt like the guitar to get. The 'Too cool for you' sales guy forgot to find me a new switch top so I had to remind him of that yet again after getting all rung up. It didn't come with a gig back or anything (another reason I HATE buying guitars every Tom, Dick & Harry have had their dirty hands on - basically you're buying a floor model... i LIKE getting the original boxes etc) so they stuck it in a generic box from some other guitar just for transport. Ok All set to go.. oh wait of course not.. unpack everything again because at the door they have to make sure you're not stealing anything even though they SAW you get rung up 3 feet over.. Gotta make sure those serial numbers on the guitars match the ones on the receipt. At that point I basically already had made up my mind to NEVER go back here again.. Loved the guitar, but the experience/service , while maybe fine for teenagers who expect to be treated like that, is just not up to par..

This guitar really became my main guitar that is always out & ready to go. I would just play it for hours , even unplugged on the couch while watching TV etc. It sounded very nicely for the relatively cheap pickups that were in it and very clean. Over time I started to get the Mod-Itch though and changed a few things about the guitar as described in later Posts.

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.