Jem's 20th Birthday...and why signature guitars are the Marmite of the Guitar World

It is hard to believe that the Ibanez Jem is now 20 and nearly 21 years old. A cursory glance at Steve Vai's website reveals that the Jem has been through some mainly cosmetic changes in the last two decades.  As an instrument it was a significant departure for Ibanez and the market in general in the late 1980's, in that it ticked a number of boxes we now take for granted in guitar design, manufacture and marketing.  Not only did it establish Ibanez as a major player,  I personally think it represented the major transformation in price and perception that Ibanez had been pushing for, for sometime. They had always been worthy producers of good quality stuff even in the 1970's and there are some lovely Ibanez instruments from that period, but had always been subject to the Japanese copy tag due in part to guitars made in what we now call "the Lawsuit Era".   

There is a marketing pricing case study they used to give to students back in the day when I was a marketing student, in which BMW stopped trying to take on the Ford Escort  in Europe raised their prices and headed off in the direction that led to the BMW 3 Series.  

Ibanez I feel tried to do the same thing with their signature models and as a result redefined the rock guitar market. Yet I feel that for all their efforts at redefinition high end Ibanez guitars are the Marmite of the guitar world.  They are loved by those who play, collect and work on them, disliked and derided by those of a more conservative guitar playing bent. As other manufacturers have fallen by the wayside in the "pointy head" rock "axe" market. Ibanez have both blazed a trail in that market and been a little "guilty" of "over marketing" syndrome on a grand scale.  Ibanez's position in the market in their particular sectors of strength has been defined by being where Fender and Gibson never dared to go. 

 It is interesting to note the way that Fender and Gibson tried to emulate their Oriental competitors in the late 1980's and having owned a Gibson Q300 and a Fender HM Strat and Katana in the past I can vouch that they were better off leaving well alone! The Ibanez Jem is/was  so radical that it seemed like a revolutionary "blank piece of paper" design job, unencumbered by brand history, a unique and bold statement where an artiste had really expressed what he wanted in design terms...yes even the Monkey Grip!  Packed with genuine innovation and a great neck, it was as bold as it was playable!  But...and this is where Ibanez and I fall out, what they have done with the guitar since with cosmetic changes and sometimes odd rejig jobs smacks a little too much of milking a "signature" cash cow until it drops.  The problem is not really Ibanez's.  As with any of the Ibanez Signature Satriani Vai Gilbert ranges or any signature guitars is that once you have got the basic product based on the artiste's favourite guitar then all the manufacturer can really do is produce increasingly opulent or lurid cosmetic specifications.  To change anything more significant would render the guitar no longer the "signature" model, and when the signee goes elsewhere, what to do then - what price a  Musicman Axis or Peavey Wolfgang anyone?  

Despite all of that, like Marmite, my advice is ignore all the flashy paint jobs, and odd add ons like screwheads as fret markers and try a Jem or a JS at least once in your life....who knows you might just like it...and that Jem neck is brilliant!  Now where did I leave that Dave MacGregor signature Gibson Corvus....Doh!

Check out Steve Vai's great guitar website at http://www.vai.com

Until next time Fret Heads!