'58 Custom Falcon & Penguin

Ibanez Steve Vai Signature JEMJR - Black Certified Open Box

Solidbody Electric Guitar with Meranti Body, Rosewood Fingerboard, 1 Single-coil Pickup, and 2 Humbucking Pickups - Black
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Item ID: JEMJRBKd1
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Ibanez Steve Vai Signature JEMJR - Black

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Price:$488 and 68 cents
Savings: $61.31

New for $549.99

Condition Notes:

There is a finish crack on the bass side of the neck joint. There are scratches on the top, back, and sides of the body, and on the face of the headstock as well. There are other scratches on various parts of the instrument that do not show up well in our Guitar Gallery images. This instrument comes with all its accessories.

This item was thoroughly inspected by our factory-authorized service team and is backed by Sweetwater's exclusive 2-year warranty. These images are of the exact item advertised, and provide as accurate a representation of its condition as possible. If you need further information, please call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700.

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Ibanez Steve Vai Signature JEMJR - Black
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Value-packed Steve Vai Signature

Steve Vai's signature guitars have become almost as iconic as the player himself, and now that mojo is more attainable than ever with the Ibanez JEMJR Steve Vai Signature solidbody electric guitar. From the acrylic vine inlay to the instantly recognizable "monkey grip" handle, there's no doubt where the JEMJR Steve Vai Signature came from. For tonal tenacity, you get two Quantum humbuckers and one Quantum single-coil pickup complete with 5-way switching. Factor in the double-locking tremolo bridge, and the Ibanez JEMJR Steve Vai Signature is ready to wail.

Effortless playability, with the fastest-playing neck in the business

One of Ibanez's fastest necks to date, the Wizard III neck on the JEMJR Steve Vai Signature guitar is an absolute pleasure to play. This slim and super-comfortable neck lets you pull off lighting-fast runs and arpeggios with ease, but still gives you the substance you need for grabbing chords when you need to. From the first time you put your hands on the JEMJR's Wizard III neck, you'll know you've got a guitar that was built with performance in mind.

Powerful tone from Quantum pickups

Ask any guitarist at Sweetwater to describe Ibanez's Quantum pickups in just a few words, and "articulate" and "hot" will probably be near the top of the list. You've got the tonal aggression you need for hard rock and lead lines, with a defined sound that helps individual notes ring through. Especially if you juggle rhythm and lead guitar roles, you should have the sonic flexibility you need with the Ibanez JEMJR Steve Vai Signature guitar.

Whammy with confidence

The JEMJR Steve Vai Signature packs Ibanez's standard double-locking bridge, which helps you maintain your tuning stability even after heavy pitch bends. Guitarists at Sweetwater know that a whammy bar is only fun when your guitar stays in tune, and a double-locking bridge goes a long way towards achieving that goal.

Steve Vai and Ibanez: for the love of innovation

By the mid-'80s, master musician Steve Vai felt puzzled. He could find guitars with a solid whammy bar, 24 frets, or humbucker and single-coil pickups — but never all three features in one package. So, Vai got creative and sent personalized blueprints for his ideal guitar to several major guitar manufacturers with the promise of his coveted endorsement for the best-sounding design anyone sent back. Ibanez proved to be the sole company up to the task, and the one-of-a-kind JEM was subsequently introduced in 1987. More than three decades later, Steve Vai and Ibanez continue creating heartfelt guitar collaborations to this day.

Ibanez JEMJR Steve Vai Signature Features:

  • Value-packed version of Steve Vai's iconic signature guitar
  • Lightweight meranti mahogany body with great sustain
  • 2 Quantum humbuckers and 1 Quantum single-coil give you a wide tonal range
  • Jatoba fingerboard with acrylic “Tree-of-life” inlay for iconic JEM style
  • Wizard III neck for ultra-fast playability
  • Standard double-locking bridge for solid tuning and intonation
  • Iconic monkey grip handle

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

See how Sweetwater goes to great lengths to give you the very best online guitar buying experience. From our online Guitar Gallery that allows you to see and select the exact instrument you want to our 55-point Inspection process and our in-house guitar techs, we take the guesswork out of buying your next guitar online.

What is Certified Open Box Gear?

At Sweetwater, we're so picky that what we call "Certified Open Box" is actually better than what most music retailers sell as "new" gear! Our gear hasn't endured hundreds of people a week plunking away at all the keyboards, fumbling through Stairway to Heaven on every guitar or playing with every fader and knob on a mixer or control surface.

Certified Open Box (also known as a demo) means we’ve had it out of the box for our YouTube channel, displayed at events, tested in our studio, or maybe it was in a customer’s hands for a few days and isn’t ‘factory fresh’ as a result. Every Certified Open Box item we sell has Sweetwater’s 2-year Total Confidence Coverage™ warranty and has been tested and verified up to ‘new’ specs by our factory-authorized technicians to make sure it’s in perfect working order before we ship it to you.

When you buy a Certified Open Box item at Sweetwater, you get:
  • 2-year Total Confidence Coverage Warranty™!
  • Products inspected and tested by our factory-authorized techs, guaranteed to function like new (or better)!
  • FREE shipping on most items
  • Equipment that will MEET or EXCEED your expectations!

Click HERE to browse our current inventory of Certified Open Box equipment. Purchasing Certified Open Box gear from Sweetwater is a smart and safe way to save!

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Tech Specs

  • General
  • Number of Strings 6
  • Left-/Right-handed Right-handed
  • Body
  • Body Type Solidbody
  • Body Shape Steve Vai Signature
  • Body Material Meranti
  • Body Finish Gloss Polyurethane
  • Color Black
  • Neck
  • Neck Material Maple
  • Neck Shape Wizard III
  • Neck Joint Bolt-on
  • Radius 15.7"
  • Fingerboard Material Jatoba
  • Fingerboard Inlay Tree-of-Life
  • Number of Frets 24, Jumbo
  • Scale Length 25.5"
  • Nut Width 1.692"
  • Nut Material Locking
  • Hardware
  • Bridge/Tailpiece Double Locking Tremolo
  • Tuners Ibanez
  • Electronics
  • Neck Pickup Quantum Humbucker
  • Middle Pickup Quantum Single-coil
  • Bridge Pickup Quantum Humbucker
  • Controls 1 x master volume, 1 x master tone
  • Switching 5-way blade pickup switch
  • Miscellaneous
  • Strings .009-.042
  • Case/Gig Bag Sold Separately
  • Manufacturer Part Number: JEMJRBK

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Reviews

An awesome guitar!!
I recently purchased this jem jr and it is set up so spectacularly and plays so fast. Thank you Dave M.from Sweetwater you're awesome. I would highly recommend this guitar. I use it for everything from blues to metal and the single coil is great for worship in Sundays.
Music background: Worship guitarist and musician
Beautiful piece / Floyd rose
Amazing pic if you're new to Floyd roses
Quite the Guitar!
My friend had owned a Jem JR that I played live multiple times, and BOY! It is quite the nice guitar for the price point. Some may argue that the licensed Floyd will not hold tune, however, I have not had any issues with mine. My friend never took the time to learn how to restring a Floyd, and never experimented with ways to have his guitar hold tune. I found that all that it needs is a little bit of lubricant on the knife edges. I put a small bit of chapstick on the edges and turned the anchor bolts back and forth to mix it in, and it holds tune PERFECTLY! I only really have to tune it when I go to a gig, or somewhere that has different humidity and temperature. I can do Dimebag squeals, and it holds perfect tune. As for the pickups, I will occasionally notice that they have a slight single coil-esque sound to them, but only with a distorted tone. The neck pup is perfect for clean tones, and the coil split sounds great! Using only the middle pickup, you get a very strat-esque tone, just not quite as bright. The neck shape is very nice and encourages fast playing. The fine tuners are very smooth, as are the regular ones when I use them. The finish does not dent or scratch very easily either. The only thing this guitar lacks is a bit more sustain. I am considering a brass trem block to increase sustain. Overall this guitar is pretty dang good!
Music background: 5-year guitarist and vocalist for a metal band
Steve Vai got it right
I love Gibson and Fender but a few sounds I want were difficult or not possible ( heavy bend whammy bar type with semi controlled feedback ) Jem with the right amp and effects gets me there. I got a deal on a demo playability and sound for me are more important than looks
Music background: Semi pro
Good guitar, hard to use
Really difficult to tune because of the floating bridge. Great when it's tuned, but the difficulty was so ridiculous I returned it. Beware