Reviewed by:
gowdyjames, on september 13, 2004
0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 1890
Purchased from: Private seller
Features: Well the JEM 77 GMC guitars were only made in 1992-1993 and with only 366 ever being made these are fairly rare guitars. its has 24 frets and a very nice unique paint job that consists of a bright green and black swirl pattern one by a company called "about time designs". The body is very light and the fret board is made of rosewood. It has a "lo-pro edge" Floyd rose bridge which is very nice and has a low profile so its never in the way. The Pickups on the JEM 77 GMC are Dimarzio Paf pro's which are a passive pickup with mid range sounds. As for the controls, you have the usual set that you normally get from Ibanez of: a volume, tone and a 5 way pickup selector. The Strings are easy to fit and have locking bolts at the headstock end of the neack. The bridge also has a small adjust knob for each string for minor tuning. // 10
Sound: Well what can I say. The sound from this guitar is a sweet as heaven. When I first took it out of the box when I got it I whacked it in the Line 6 Flextone 2 and cranked it, and wow it sounded amazing. The bridge pickup is ideal for a high gain insane tone that just screams at you, and for the more subtle tones and clean tone there is the neck pickup. You can use the single coil in the middle of the two to get variations of tones. As said earlier I am currently running it through a Flextone 2 and it sounds sweet, though hopefully (god willing) I will be running it through a Diezel amp before to long. So overall I'd say this guitar is great for the money (if you can find one for sale. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: Well I did not buy this from the factory so I don't know what it was like in its original condition. When I got it there were a couple of superficial cracks in the paintwork, though this is a given and expected ocurence with Jems. It has a see-though scratchplate to avoid any unwanted marks while playing. The pickups are fully adjustable with an alan key which is great. No more else to say on that matter. As for the action of the guitar and the speed of the neck well it's second to none. It's an ultra thin neck (at just 19mm at fret 1 and 21mm at 12th fret) this gives you the ability to race around the fretboard at high speed with ease. // 10
Reliability & Durability: I haven't played this guitar live yet so I can't really answer this section to the full but: the hardware seems strong and reliable and I can play it with some "vigour" without it creeking or feeling flimsy. The finish is very good but as I said earlier you wont find one of these JEM 77 GMC's without any paint chips or scrathes (or if you do expect to pay aorund $2500+) // 8
Impression: Well I play lots of music on this guitar and it suits all of them. I myself have been playing around 4 years or so and I own two other guitars (Ibanez RG270 and Fender Tele "Tabaco Sunburst"), the jem is by far my favourite. I'm 100% happy with what I got when I bought this, there is nothing I would change. As for if it was stolen? Well lets just say if I ever caught up with the person who nicked it they wouldn't have any limbs left when I'd finished with them. I love everything about this guitar From the way it plays the way it looks, if you happen to have the spare cash for one. I compared this guitar to a few others in its price range Gibson SG and the Maton 2000STD but this came out top. // 10
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