Why does the ibanez jem have a handle

Start new topic. Prev 1 2 Next Page 1 of 2. Recommended Posts. Posted March 7, Do you find it useful? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options Rayneman Posted March 7, In any event, the "monkey grip" is attached to, or rather cut-out of a pretty nice guitar!

Armitage Posted March 7, I've got two. I use the grip to pick up and carry the guitar, only because it's there. Author Members. But none of that mattered to me. I just wanted a sound. And I got it. It might have ended there. But with the guitar manufacturers of California clamouring for association with the Roth band, the guitarist sensed an opportunity. And I had already made the [custom] guitar. But they were still interested.

And what I got back was basically their guitar with a couple of tweaks. None of them were what I wanted. Established in the late 50s, the Japanese manufacturer was now attempting to shake off its reputation as a skilled purveyor of copies. They delivered me a guitar that was just perfect, within three weeks, exactly to my specs. That was the guitar. It was just a killer machine. It was true: the original JEM models were serious artillery. The maple neck offered both speed and substance, with a 19mm depth at the nut and a slender feel that ensured seamless position shifts.

I decided to do one thing that no company would copy, because it would just be a blatant rip-off. So I put on the monkey grip. Ibanez Steve Vai of 13 products. Get it Sunday, Nov In Stock. FREE Delivery. Available to Order. Steve Vai is a guitarist, composer and producer best known for playing outrageous instrumental guitar songs. He began his career at 18, transcribing scores for Frank Zappa before going on to play with David Lee Roth and others.

Also released that summer was the new RG model. Perhaps it was a little overlooked, what with all the fuss around Steve Vai and the JEM, but it would turn out to be an even more important guitar in Ibanez history.

The new RG not be confused with earlier-style RGs was almost identical to the JEM, minus the wild colors and fancy inlays, the Monkey Grip handle, and the scalloped frets.

Steve and the JEM were beacons that drew a great deal of attention to Ibanez, but the various new RG models that followed were lights that would burn brightly and consistently every day. In the late '80s and into the early '90s, following its introduction of the JEMs and the revised RGs, Ibanez found a fresh confidence, buoyed up by the success of these new designs.

And it didn't hurt much when Kramer—the brand that had dominated the '80s—went bust in spectacular fashion around the end of that decade. Ibanez has issued a number of different JEM models over the years since the introduction of the At first, Ibanez planned to make just one guitar like this, special for Steve. So now we had to work out how to make it as a production model. That meant a lot of work, developing glue sprays, sealing coats, and so on.

That's why it took eight months from the NAMM show before we could issue that guitar. Nick Sugimoto, by now running his own Sugi Guitars workshop in Matsumoto, made the piece limited-edition aged guitar.

There's a lot! I had to eat plenty of bananas after that. A hundred years from now, if they get cloning down, maybe they can take one of these DNA guitars and clone me out of the guitar? And then maybe that guy can get his music on the radio. Reflected in the price points, they come with varying neck and body materials and construction, different pickups, metalwork plating, fret treatment, and so on.

He was very definitive. He knew what he liked and he knew what he didn't like. Steve is happy with the continuing success of the JEMs more than 30 years since the first models were introduced.

Still, to this day, I reach for my JEMs, because nothing else is as comfortable. I like to visit New York now and then, you know? And I like to visit Napa. But there's no place like home. About the author: Tony Bacon writes about musical instruments, musicians, and music. Tony lives in Bristol, England. More info at tonybacon. Your purchases also help protect forests, including trees traditionally used to make instruments.

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