Guitar Project - Ibanez JEM Junior Upgrade
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- Guitar Project - JEM Junior Upgrade (with a bit of CNC).
In this video I upgrade a JEM Junior to look and hopefully play a bit more like the more expensive signature instrument.
Link to the fret levelling video I mention in this video: • Video
Shamefully I don't know how to play any Steve Vai and covering Surfing With the Alien was not poor enough to avoid a copyright strike on the first upload....sigh.
You certainly know what your doing and have the right kit! I suspect a guy with your skills needn’t buy the premium version very often! Subscribed.
Thanks Tinman, that's very kind. I guess what I'm doing here is putting in the hours that the factory didn't, to keep the costs/price down.
Wonderful job!
I had that same Skull guitar strap on my white Steinberger Spirit GU Deluxe. I have the yellow Jem Jr. I added green knobs and a pink pickup selector switch cap. I just need to add some pink to the claw area. I wish they offered the green Jem Jr still. I wanted that one. I have a green DiMarzio Evolution bridge pickup that I wanted to put into my black Kramer Baretta that has a sustainer system in it, but it wasn't compatible. The Kramer has rail (or blade?) pickups and the Evo wouldn't work the sustainer's harmonic feedback mode. So I might put the green Evo in the bridge of the Jr. It might blend in with the green knobs and pink middle and neck pickups and selector cap.
Hi Joe - thanks for commenting and that's very interesting and I was going to suggest a project to refinish a white JEM Jr to green, if the correct colour could be found, but then I also see that the original has the maple "growing pyramid" neck, which would be an entirely different proposition. I do have the diagrams/plans for both the tree of life and pyramid fretboards, so it is possible, but lengthy.
I've also been thinking about doing a black refinish, with a black pearl scratchplate and matching controls etc. and possibly bareknuckle pickups, but I've also got my own design custom super-strat in the works, which is chewing up my time...too many projects and limited time to do them...
If you go ahead with the Evo pickup in the Jr I'd be interested to hear how it improves over the stock Ibanez Jr versions.
I can't find a yellow anywhere.
To soft material on the brigde base plate.The cut outs for each pivot stud get deformed easy.Fing a afte rmarked replacement base plate made with hard quality material.I got to know this froma nother youtube channel and have the same guitar where i looked at my base plate andit was deformed some.Fret polish also needed.They are great guitars and good to play on with good sound.
Hi, have read through the comments but not seen, what oil do you use on the fretboard to treat it/ darken it? I use lemon oil between string changes but that cleans muck out from the rosewood, doesn't really darken it.
Hi Gawen - I use Crimson Guitars fretboard oil. Its great stuff for turning quite red rosewoods nice and dark, generally good overall and a lot goes a long way. I also use their lemon oil for cleaning. Hope that helps.
@@CMDRTeatime I've used Dunlops Lemon oil for years but will give Crimson Guitars a try!
I just got mine from Sweetwater. I had it Plek’d. Once I get it, I plan on adding Dimarzio EVO loaded pearloid pickup guard and adding original Floyd Rose tremelo and locking nut. Considering brass big block on tremelo but doing research to ensure the cavity is large enough. Brass adds tone due to its mass and metal properties.
My goal is a really good Via guitar for under a grand.
As an aside good to learn how to do the fret stuff but I am starting with a old RG. Transferring the Jem Jr parts to the old RG.
Cool - mine has really helped me out by learning legato techniques, which I had thought were out of my reach for a very long time. Its one of my go to guitars these days and great value once setup nicely. Good luck with yours and hope you enjoy it as much as I have with mine.
Great job!
I was laughing at the end because everybody makes faces when they use the whammy bar! Myself included! LOL
So, I bought one of these the other day and I was just going to order a new pearloid pickguard online and slap it on My Guitar. I also want to upgrade the pickups from the quantums to either Dimarzio's or Seymour's not sure which yet. Also if I don't switch the tremolo out for a new Floyd Rose, a better one, then I will at least put a brass Block in the existing one. And I'm not sure if I want to upgrade to Gold Hardware or not but I don't want it to be exactly like Steve so I probably won't.
Thanks William - all of those are good mods imho and I agree with not going with the gold hardware - that's probably a look that only Steve can do justice :-)
Oh and pulling faces when playing is mandatory :-)
@@CMDRTeatime indeed, faces are mandatory! Lol cheers
I just wanted to see you replace the pickguard so I know if it's the same process as I've seen being done with a strat but the video was very interesting and cool to see
Glad it helped and good luck if you're doing a similar project...
@@CMDRTeatime I'm just having a friend paint a pickguard and I wanted to know how to replace it. thanks tho
The trem on the Ibanez is not a Floyd Rose, it's an Ibanez floating trem btw ;) Floyd Rose are pretty much obsolete now. Gotoh make the good stuff! Also the later 2018 models use Meranti bodies, not mahogany. The fretboard is also Jatoba now instead of Rosewood. I'm not disappointed in mine AT ALL. Love it!
You should have had the trem blocked with a cloth underneath it, letting it pull back like that without the tension on it, is very bad for the poles
Thanks TDS and interesting stuff, as mine was manufactured in 2015 and wood choices have obviously changed since then. I have Gotoh tuners on the RG1027PBF (love Ibanez's catchy names ;) ) and they are indeed good quality parts.
Glad you like the new JEM and hopefully it didn't need as an extensive neck job as mine did (mine was obviously sat in a warehouse for sometime before I bought it) and I'll remember to block the trem next time I do a setup on it.
How exactly are the piles in way way going to get damaged without any tension?
Please explain.
yesterday i bought ibanez jem jr wh. The guitar is beautiful, I always wanted it. I watched on youtube how nice this guitar is and how nice its plays. From 12 to 24 fret it has a buzzi sound. I am very disappointed. I have to raise the floyd to make that sound disappear. The distance of the strings from the neck is to high, which does make it uncomfortable to play. I don't know what to do about it. Sry for my bad english
Hi Kristjan - without looking at the guitar myself, I would say that sounds like you have to adjust the truss rod (you will need a notched straight edge or a gauge to check), or the frets may need levelling, which you can do, but you'll need more tools (I have a video in the doubleneck build series that shows how to do that).
Hope that helps.
@@CMDRTeatime problem solved. I bought new elixir 10-46 guitar strings. The new strings solved 70% of the problem. I was surprised because the string she came with looked brand new, no rust, they were obviously very bad. Then I looked a lot and tutorials on the internet how to see if the neck on the guitar is flat. We all know that the guitar is very high quality, but it is from Indonesia and it is not as well tuned as the original jam from Japan. So I looked at the tutorials, took all the measurements from the neck of the guitar, it was established that the neck is not flat, I put a ruler from the first to the 15th fret, and I see on the eighth fret there is a gap, its not a big deal. I tightened it a little as needed to straighten the neck and make the buzzy sound disappear. I think the neck is now 95% flat, I don't think it should be 100% flat if I'm not mistaken. Now JAM JR plays flawlessly.
@@kristijanklancir8885 Glad you have it sorted :-)
Great that you changed the scratchplate.... but what about those pickups and trem system.
Thanks Richard - after having played the guitar more extensively over the last month or two I do have a couple of changes that I might try, by putting a heavier block on the trem and trying a longer arm, as the current one is quite short and the extra leverage may make it a bit smoother to control. The pickups are quite surprisingly passable for a "budget" instrument, once the guitar is dialled in, but I might get tempted by a set of DiMarzio Evolutions at some point in the future (I have toyed with the idea of Bare Knuckles also). Those mods would still have the guitar way below the price point of the higher end instrument.
I_Made_This That's a good shout! I personally thought about buying one of these guitars and getting the bridge and pickups modded. Maybe also some gold conversion to make it like the 7v. I would put either gravity storm/evo (slightly more mellow pickups) or super distortion (higher output). I have already set up one guitar with dimarzio liquifire and crunch lab pickups, I can tell you that it was almost night and day. Muddy to clear water. Squishy to punchy.
As for the bridge, I think there are 1 or 2 that drop in and there are a few that need a bit of modding.
Thanks Richard - always good to get first hand experience of pickup differences. That's definitely going on the "to do" list then (probably Evo's for me) :)
I_Made_This Evos are more. Authentic on a Vai build, I used would use super distortions as a Def Leppard fan but maybe in a Vai guitar it's good to keep close to what he uses.
Although doesn't he have a different pickup now?
Unknown (I'll do a bit of digging). The last I heard from a gear point of view, Steve (or should I call him Mr Vai?) was looking for, or had switched amp manufacturers. Not heard about a new pickup type, although DiMarzio do list a Steve's Special, so that could be it...
Edit: I see he uses a bunch of different pickups from DiMArzio depending on which guitar they are fitted to. The white JEM appears to be Evo2 Bridge, Evo Neck and either a Dark Matter or Blaze middle, but you know how sneaky some of these endorsed players are about putting "off brand" kit in their gear sometimes ;)
hey! I was hoping if I could chage my jem jr's tree of life inlays to pearloid instead of the white one, could you tell me how to do it? It's hard to find where to buy it and how to replace it. thanks.
That's a good question and not a short answer, nor an easy one I'm afraid.
Firstly, I have seen a YT video suggesting that the inlays on the Jr are in fact pearloid and need properly polishing, but I'm very suspicious of it, as I can't see any pearloid effect on mine, even with a very powerful light (it should show regardless of polish level).
That leaves replacement and the easiest and probably cheapest way, is to buy a replacement with the pearloid inlays (they do come up occasionally on ebay/reverb etc.
As for replacing the inlays on your existing neck, that is going to be in the very hard to impractical category. The reason being is that they are going to be glued in and will either need dremelling or cutting out or possibly melting (soldering iron and a decent mask for the fumes) and that will take time/money to do. Then you have to find the replacement inlays and that's going to be very difficult unless you know someone with a CNC machine to cut them.
Sorry that's not good news, but good luck if you still attempt to do this.
I play my jem jr through a Laney aor head and 4x12. Lovely!
Hi Darren and greetings fellow Laney user :-) I must confess I have not had my Amp active for quite a while, as I don't really have the environment for it any more, but I have been thinking about getting a load box for it (Ox Box or similar). My signal chain needs a good rethink and that cursed NAMM is giving me severe GAS...
Great video, very throughout. Thank you.
Thanks David. Good to know its helpful :-)
How can I get you to make me a pickguard for my jem jr. ? I've checked everywhere online and can't find one! I want to install a black pearloid pickguard! Is that something that could be done? And how much would something like that cost? I love what you did by slightly changing the contour to center it on the lower horn! If that's something you could do, please contact me! Thanks and great job on your guitar!
I can cut one for you, if you can use paypal - it will be $30 (USD) plus shipping.
Send me an email via the address in the "About" tab on the channel and let me know what country you're in, so I can estimate shipping/postage.
Nice video! I would spend a few bucks in a tremolo upgrade. Gotoh makes quite nice trems for 70~90 bucks and it fits Jem Jr cavity. Cheers!
Thanks Urko Uribe - I'll check the Gotoh out and I'm also thinking of making my own trem arm - I feel a slightly longer one would help with some of the stuff I'm trying to learn at the moment.
@@CMDRTeatime nice idea! Btw they are quite more expensive than I remembered (about 120€) but still half the price of an original edge and it's as good in terms of quality. Still perfect for this kind of cheap manufactured guitars, adding a good setup they perform as a premium range Ibanez. I was considering to make a custom tremolo arm for my 7v. Length is ok but I'm missing some grip and thickness (LOL).
Cheers man!!!
That's still not too bad a price, but Gotoh have become more of a "brand" than they used to be in recent years. I'll post something on the channel when I get around to the trem arm (I'm abstaining from new projects until I get this Andy Summers Telecaster finished :-) ).
$200 Aud actually for the Gotoh 1996 t that fits in the Jr, not $90
Hey, great video, and I've learned a lot. I just got my Jem. Will be doing a few of these setup ideas. I don't have a neck length straight edge, but from my understanding, if you press the first and last fret, then the middle of the board should have a string to fret distance of 0.3-0.5mm. If the distance is too short than a counter-clockwise turn on the truss should adjust the neck in the correct direction. Have you got any ideas on this method?
Hi Vin Dhir
Thanks and yes, if you're only adjusting the amount of relief (truss rod) on your neck you can use the strings as a guide, as you said.
If you are levelling frets however then you will need the straight edge, so that the neck is flat and you are filing frets down to that as a datum (known surface). You have no strings on to provide tension when fret levelling.
Hope that makes sense and the JEM is a great guitar (especially if you want to learn legato) and I wonder why it took me 30+ years to buy one. Good luck with yours.
IMADETHIS thanks for your message. Yes I understand now. I have adjusted the truss rod as per the recommendations, however, when I lower the bridge to try and get a lower action, I’m getting fret buzz on all strings. I wonder if this means it needs a fret level done too? Send me a message, as a thank you I’ve got some legato instructional stuff that you may like.
@@VinDhir Its hard to say what the issue might be without seeing the instrument, but it could be the guitar needs a little more relief (forward bow), but may also be uneven frets, in which case a fret levelling maybe the cure. With a notched straight edge and a fret rocker its easy enough to check the frets (again the neck needs to be without strings and adjusted flat with the notched edge before checking). I've got an email address in the "About" section of the channel you can contact me on.
IMADETHIS I’ve finished adjusting the truss rod, lowering the action and polishing the frets. It plays a lot better now, and even sounds better. I’m sure it doesn’t need fret levelling just yet
Good stuff Vin - I'm glad it has helped and yes fret polishing is a good idea, as my JEM Jr were like sandpaper on the top.
6:43 bottom right - cat!!
will RG750 scratch plate fit in jem jr ?
Hi Mrinay Swargiary - its unlikely to fit exactly, as I have the engineering diagrams for the 777JEM and that does not quite fit the Jr, so its not likely that the RG750 does either. That maybe down to sloppy tolerances or it may be because, as per Gibson with the early Classics series, Ibanez don't want people selling $350 guitars for $2,000+...
@@CMDRTeatime thanks
What did you use to oil that fretboard with?
I use Crimson Guitars fretboard oil. Its really nice stuff and darkens the wood as well, if you have one of the rosewood substitutes (e.g. pau ferro).
Do you have a link to the plans?
You can find plans for pretty much every guitar design here: www.gitarrebassbau.de/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6&p=18618&hilit=templates#p18618
The JEM plans there are for the "normal" model, not the Jr and there are subtle differences (scratch plate for example), but its a great starting point.
Do you sell the Pickguards?
Hi J PL - I can supply them, but they may not be cost effective depending on where in the world you are (I'm in the UK if the accent didn't give it away ;-) ). There's a contact email on my channel somewhere you can use if you're still interested.
Was that toska at 18:40?
It might well have been Joel, I normally have something "louder" playing when running the CNC machine...
You could bore a Catholic mass!
If you're bored at mass, you don't belong there. It's for people who actually believe in Christ. Please get educated on the mass.