Ibanez JEMJR-WH

Ho sempre cercato una Jem che non costasse uno sproposito e che avesse il famoso "tree of life" su tutta la tastiera.
Questa chitarra soddisfa entrambe queste mie richieste, ma soprattutto ha un manico eccezionale e dei pickup sorprendenti per la fascia di prezzo. Le finiture sono ottime, la mia chitarra non ha problemi di verniciatura neanche nel monkey grip e nello scasso del tremolo.
Il ponte sembra abbastanza economico, ma è facilmente sostituibile in futuro con un floyd rose gotoh spendendo il giusto. Per ora tiene bene l'accordatura.
A priori pensavo avrei cambiato i pickup con dei di marzio evo, ma non sono più così convinto. I pickup quantum hanno un bel suono.
In breve, questa chitarra mi ha reso davvero contento, la consiglio a chiunque voglia una Jem bianca senza spendere tremila euro per la 7v.

I considered returning the guitar after a few days because it just didn't feel "right" for me.
After a string change and a lot of messing around with the tremolo to get it sitting right there was something about this guitar that just makes it feel cheap..
The paint finish is as good as it can be, no blemishes or noticeable imperfections - all OK there.
The balance is nice, so it stays wherever yo point it.
It's also a lot lighter than any of my Jackson guitars so it's quite comfortable to use on a long session.
The pickups are well matched for progressive tone changes through the five switch positions but the single coil in the centre is a different colour to the humbuckers and the pickguard. Another indication of cost cutting I guess, or a lack of quality control..
Sadly there are a few other bad points.
I swapped out the tremolo arm from one of my Jacksons because the one that came with the guitar had a tendency to come unscrewed as it was used.

I have played 8 gigs with the guitar and the lacquer on the bridge is already worn off on the bottom "E" through to the "G" strings - how bad is that ?
The "Jatoba" fingerboard is nasty.. even after a copious amount of "Doctor Duck's" oil it feels cheap. Would rosewood have been much more expensive ?
The frets were rough as hell straight out of the box and required a fair amount of polishing before they started to feel smooth enough to handle pitch bends without producing a lot of scratchy noise.

All in all I guess that I can get used to it enough to keep it, but it is unlikely that I will use it as my main workhorse.
As soon as I have my Jackson DK2S re-fretted it will be demoted to being my backup.