Ibanez JEM77P

Mostly used with a Peavey Tube 60 for rock/hard rock/heavy.

Perfect workmanship. The blue flower pattern on the body and the tree of life on the maple fingerboard look awesome and are well finished. Just a slight disappointment with a very tiny knot within the wood in the back of the neck, but to me it’s only a detail and it has no consequence on the sound. Note the flower pattern on the headstock.

In spite of the transportation it had undergone, the guitar was perfectly in tune when I unpacked it! As of now, I control its tuning daily before playing and I rarely have to tune it again (although I’m a heavy Floyd user).

The neck is comfortable and warm (JEM-type, 5-piece maple and walnut with Titanium trussrod)), the real definition of a left hand’s highway: acceleration comes naturally. Too bad the last 4 frets are not scalloped… Not that it’s that important to me.

As a whole, I expected to have a lot of things to modify when I got it (trussrod setting, Floyd), but that wasn’t the case: the original setting was perfect for me, and nothing has changed since then except for a few minor modifications here and there, because of the way the wood slightly alters with time and the influence of temperatures.

The pickups are DiMarzio Gravity Storms: warmer and rounder-sounding to my taste compared with the Evolution model. I even find them a little more versatile than the Evos (clean to crunch to the most extreme distortions). I think there’s a little gain in the lows too – to be confirmed.

+ value-for-money, finishing and sound
- the Floyd: why an Edge Zero 2 instead of the Jem70v’s Edge? Even if it does the job, it’s a pein to have to screw the nut to set the bar in place.

Overall, I consider it a beautiful guitar in all regards, when I ordered it I didn’t expect such a level of comfort when playing. I was pleasantly surprised when I got it, and for such a price I really recommend it.