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Hatsubai « A bit gaudy »
Published on 07/07/11 at 20:38This was a special (and expensive) commemorative edition of the famous JEM guitar. The guitar has a basswood body with a maple neck, an ebony fretboard with 24 frets, special vine inlay, unique handle carved out in it, an Ibanez Lo Pro Edge tremolo, last few frets scalloped, HSH configuration, all access neck joint, one volume, one tone and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar itself was put together amazingly well. There were no issues when it comes to the binding. It was super clean, and it really stood out. The pickguard was odd, but it had some character to it, I guess. The fretwork on this was top notch. The edges were nice and beveled, and the frets were perfectly crowned. I was able to get some super sick low action on this without any issues at all. The neck joint was nice and tight, and bridge felt awesome. The main issue I have is that this thing is just so gaudy, and for that, I had to rate it down a bit. Personal opinion, I know, but this is my review, after all.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded good with the Evolution pickups installed. They had this real nice bite going on, but the body wood helped cut down on that bite. That said, there were some overtones that I wasn't too crazy about, and I think that was due to the ebony fretboard. Just something to think about. The neck pickup was super clear and powerful, but I was able to achieve a nice, singing lead tone with it without too much of an issue. The pickups split nicely with the middle pickup. I had no problems getting that "in between" kind of sound to get that Hendrix-esque kinda tone.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar itself is gaudy. In fact, it's too gaudy for me. That said, it sounded great, and it played even better. I really love these JEM guitars for whatever reason. This can be really hard to find, and I've only seen one for sale in my entire life (and that was at my store). If you're a JEM lover and find one, I recommend jumping on it ASAP.
UTILIZATION
The guitar itself was put together amazingly well. There were no issues when it comes to the binding. It was super clean, and it really stood out. The pickguard was odd, but it had some character to it, I guess. The fretwork on this was top notch. The edges were nice and beveled, and the frets were perfectly crowned. I was able to get some super sick low action on this without any issues at all. The neck joint was nice and tight, and bridge felt awesome. The main issue I have is that this thing is just so gaudy, and for that, I had to rate it down a bit. Personal opinion, I know, but this is my review, after all.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded good with the Evolution pickups installed. They had this real nice bite going on, but the body wood helped cut down on that bite. That said, there were some overtones that I wasn't too crazy about, and I think that was due to the ebony fretboard. Just something to think about. The neck pickup was super clear and powerful, but I was able to achieve a nice, singing lead tone with it without too much of an issue. The pickups split nicely with the middle pickup. I had no problems getting that "in between" kind of sound to get that Hendrix-esque kinda tone.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar itself is gaudy. In fact, it's too gaudy for me. That said, it sounded great, and it played even better. I really love these JEM guitars for whatever reason. This can be really hard to find, and I've only seen one for sale in my entire life (and that was at my store). If you're a JEM lover and find one, I recommend jumping on it ASAP.