can anybody school me on these ibanez jems ?????

[Big Rich]

whats the story with these.....ive been obsessed with these for the past few months and i think i need to own all of them....i looked on jemsite and ebay to get an idea of what their worth but is their any specific thing i should look for when buying them(how to tell their all original/legitimate...etc)

and ive heard stories of the older rg550 necks warping over time, does that happen with these also???

im pretty much looking to pick these up only to keep in a collection/investment, and since i put emg's in everything that has strings i wont be playing them as much since id like to keep them all original....im gona be starting a serious 80's shredder guitar collection in the next year or so .... i already have some ESP lynch stuff and i just think besides the lynch guitars these jems are prob the only other guitars that are noticeably specific to the 80's shred era.....i must have all of them

anybody have any input on these at all .... and if anyone owns any jems post pics and what not

 

[Motorpud]

Just google fake or counterfeit Ibanez Jem and you'll pretty much find everything you need to know. Some guy tried to screw me on a fake Jem a couple years ago but luckily I had just played one at GC the day before and I realized that the handle on the one the guy was trying to sell me was much bigger, if I hadn't recently played that other one I probably would've never noticed it was fake. It had the vine inlay and everything. I told him I'd think about it and I compared the pics with the ones on the Ibanez site and a couple things were barely different, like the bridge and where the headstock graphic stopped and started. Either way I told the guy and it turned out to be fake, it even had a real serial number on it and the J craft logo. You have to be pretty careful with these man, fakes are everywhere and obviously it would suck to get raped out of that kind of money.

 

[Big Rich]

Just google fake or counterfeit Ibanez Jem and you'll pretty much find everything you need to know. Some guy tried to screw me on a fake Jem a couple years ago but luckily I had just played one at GC the day before and I realized that the handle on the one the guy was trying to sell me was much bigger, if I hadn't recently played that other one I probably would've never noticed it was fake. It had the vine inlay and everything. I told him I'd think about it and I compared the pics with the ones on the Ibanez site and a couple things were barely different, like the bridge and where the headstock graphic stopped and started. Either way I told the guy and it turned out to be fake, it even had a real serial number on it and the J craft logo. You have to be pretty careful with these man, fakes are everywhere and obviously it would suck to get raped out of that kind of money.

yea i know dude its crazy cuz some of the fakes are pretty much identical in every way....this is honestly the only reason im still holding off about buying these

 

[rupe]

Cool guitars. I've owned a bunch over the years but only have 2 at this point. Lots of fakes out there but they're usually pretty easy to spot (wrong neck/neck joint, body wood, hardware, contours, etc). An original '87 model with the handrest pretty much assures you that it's real (not many out there, most of them LNG). The LNG is most easy to document since many were kept as collector pieces and they were all signed by Vai.

My current pair:

 

[TeleBlaster]

Used to be an Ibanez guy but in the late 90's their stuff went downhill fast. My last Ibby was a '98 JEM that had the tone of a wet sponge.
Earlier ones were waaay better. My dealer dumped Ibanez after that, but has now started carrying them again. New stuff seems pretty good.
I would be careful of the late 90's to early 2000's era, possibly some serious QC problems.

 

[Nico]

Can't you just take the guitar apart and check the electronics, say pickups to see if they are original dimarzios.... id guess no one would go into all the trouble of swapping all the electronics as well... since its pretty expensive to do so for a couterfit guitar

 

[Big Rich]

yea i dono what it is ive never liked ibanez before, ive always been an esp fanboy.......ive never really played any ibanez guitars i thought were good, they all felt cheap for the most part.


im more or less put on to the looks of the jems rather than the fact that that would play good, i really like that blue floral you got there rupe....id prob try to pick up that blue one and the pink floral pattern jem as well

 

[Motorpud]

Just google fake or counterfeit Ibanez Jem and you'll pretty much find everything you need to know. Some guy tried to screw me on a fake Jem a couple years ago but luckily I had just played one at GC the day before and I realized that the handle on the one the guy was trying to sell me was much bigger, if I hadn't recently played that other one I probably would've never noticed it was fake. It had the vine inlay and everything. I told him I'd think about it and I compared the pics with the ones on the Ibanez site and a couple things were barely different, like the bridge and where the headstock graphic stopped and started. Either way I told the guy and it turned out to be fake, it even had a real serial number on it and the J craft logo. You have to be pretty careful with these man, fakes are everywhere and obviously it would suck to get raped out of that kind of money.

yea i know dude its crazy cuz some of the fakes are pretty much identical in every way....this is honestly the only reason im still holding off about buying these

Yeah it's crazy how many people do not have a conscience these days either. The one I saw looked so real that if I wouldn't have known about the counterfeits and just freshly played one I would have bought it on the spot, it even had Dimazrios in every spot.

Can't you just take the guitar apart and check the electronics, say pickups to see if they are original dimarzios.... id guess no one would go into all the trouble of swapping all the electronics as well... since its pretty expensive to do so for a couterfit guitar

Not really, buying a $250 chinese Jem and adding $200 for the EVOs and electronics and you can sell it for $1500. Sounds pretty worth it to me .

 

[9ball]

Used to be an Ibanez guy but in the late 90's their stuff went downhill fast. My last Ibby was a '98 JEM that had the tone of a wet sponge.
Earlier ones were waaay better. My dealer dumped Ibanez after that, but has now started carrying them again. New stuff seems pretty good.
I would be careful of the late 90's to early 2000's era, possibly some serious QC problems.

that's funny i have a 2001 rg520 that's all sorts of awesome, and to this day is my favorite ibanez i've ever played. leave it to the good ole' internet to be spreading misinformation based on opinions lol

 

[TeleBlaster]

Misinformation? Rumors?
I dropped Ibanez and went Peavey sponsored at the time.
What do you want, photocopies of the letters...?
I'm not telling stories out of school, just sharing my experience.
Note I said possibly!!
Didja ever think that maybe I DIDN'T SAY every one was a POS!!??!?!?
FACT: The Dealer DID drop Ibanez over quality issues!!

Just trying to warn the OP to be careful about any JEM in that specific range, based on what I experienced FIRST HAND!!!

Thanks for trying to make me look like a bad guy!!!!

 

[ACShreds]

dont forget ibanez PGM's, and reb beach models if you wanna get into serious 80's shred guitars. also tons of other stuff from charvel and jackson etc...

 

[9ball]

Misinformation? Rumors?
I dropped Ibanez and went Peavey sponsored at the time.
What do you want, photocopies of the letters...?
I'm not telling stories out of school, just sharing my experience.
Note I said possibly!!
Didja ever think that maybe I DIDN'T SAY every one was a POS!!??!?!?
FACT: The Dealer DID drop Ibanez over quality issues!!

Just trying to warn the OP to be careful about any JEM in that specific range, based on what I experienced FIRST HAND!!!

Thanks for trying to make me look like a bad guy!!!!

!!!!WOW there are really a LOT of CAPITALIZED letters and EXCLAMATION POINTS in THIS POST!!!!

lol

all i know is you said

Used to be an Ibanez guy but in the late 90's their stuff went downhill fast

and

I would be careful of the late 90's to early 2000's era, possibly some serious QC problems.

and i WAS just RESPONDING!!!! TO IT !!!!!!

 

[TeleBlaster]

WTF?!?!
So sharing my personal experience is "spreading rumors and misinformation?"

So you must also be "spreading rumors and misinformation" because how do we know yours isn't the only good one ever made??

 

[9ball]

WTF?!?!
So sharing my personal experience is "spreading rumors and misinformation?"

So you must also be "spreading rumors and misinformation" because how do we know yours isn't the only good one ever made??

WTF!?!?!?///
We DONT KNOW THAT!?!!??!!!
!!!!!WE ONLY KNOW FOR SURE THAT YOU'RE STATEMENT OF

their stuff went downhill fast

IS NOT TRUE!!!!!???!!!!?!?!?!////!!
!!!???!!?!?WHICH IS BASICALLY ALL WE SET OUT TO ???!!!//!?/!? SAY IN THE FIRST PLACE???!!!!


lol

honestly though - if you only ever played the really cheap ones, then i can see why you'd have that opinion. and most of them do need a pickup swap. mine has dimarzios now. sounds great.