JSM-100 Questions

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Author Message   Udoji Username: Udoji Registered: 4-2007 Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 1:53 pm:    I have a few questions for anyone who might know any or all of it. When was the JSM-100 introduced? I think I may have read somewhere that it was in 2002 but I’m not sure. I’ve seen photographs of this guitar in two different color sunbursts – one yellowish that looks very much like the color of Scofield’s ’81 AS-200 sunburst, and the other a much darker tobacco or orange color sunburst. Was one color replaced by the other or does this guitar come in two different color sunbursts? If it’s the latter, how does Ibanez distinguish one color from the other? I’ve seen that the “VT” in the JSM-100VT stands for “Vintage Sunburst.” And you often see the model referred to as simply the JSM-100, but I’ve always assumed that the “VT” was just being dropped as a kind of shorthand, not that these were two different color models. And lastly – has the design (neck thickness, etc.) and quality remained consistent since it first entered the market? In other words, would I find a difference between the model years? Does a 2003 feel any different from a 2006? Is a 2004 considered better made than a 2007? You get the idea. Thanks.   Guitartim Username: Guitartim Registered: 4-2001 Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 6:47 pm:    Udoji~ The JSM100VT was introduced back in 2001 and as far as I can tell, has only been available in 'Vintage Sunburst'. Possibly different photo lighting made them appear different? As to quality, I can only speak for the 2001 JSM that's on my lap at the moment. The only flaw it has are two small beige drip marks on the interior of the body as you look through the upper f-hole. That's it! I picked mine up used, so the marks might have been from the factory or errant polishing by the subsequent owner(s). It looks like dried polish, not glue. I read a very negative review by one guy at Harmony Central, so if you believe him, there is always the possibility of a lemon in the bunch. You get no complaints from me however. It is a keeper! Maybe other JSM owners here can chime in. Here is the introductory NAMM press release from Ibanez that gives the specs: http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM01/Content/Ib anez/PR/JSM100VT.html   Revlimitbounce Username: Revlimitbounce Registered: 8-2006 Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 8:08 pm:    Hi: My JSM plays wonderfully, as has every one that I've tried. I'm not aware of any running changes through the model's life span; I don't think there have been any. I'd like to have a coil tap on mine, but I'm also selling it, but only to liquidate (selling other stuff, too.) Let me know if you're interested; it's posted in the classifieds.   Talajuha Username: Talajuha Registered: 11-2006 Posted on Sunday, April 08, 2007 - 5:57 pm:    When and why the frets were changed from medium to jumbo? Specs at Harmonycentral (link above) say "medium" and '07 Ibanez catalog says "jumbo". I have seen both on ads. Juha   Udoji Username: Udoji Registered: 4-2007 Posted on Sunday, April 08, 2007 - 10:04 pm:    Thanks for the feedback. I’ve noticed the same inconsistency about the frets. It doesn’t seem to be something that’s changed, just something that’s stated differently depending on where you look. On ibanez.com the ’07 Signature and Artcore Catalog (PDF file) has the JSM100 with medium frets. But on ibanez.co.jp the frets for the 2007 JSM100 are listed as Jumbo. Both sources are from Ibanez, and both are from 2007. Go figure. And here’s something interesting I noticed: In the Ibanez 2007 catalog, on the JSM100 page, there’s a giant photograph of Scofield playing... his AS-200. That’s just plain ridiculous. He’s become notorious for not playing his own signature model, but picturing him playing his older model in Ibanez’s own catalog is just nuts. I mean, he endorses the damn thing. It comes off like an advertisement for the fact that he never actually plays it. And I’m not saying this means it isn’t a very good guitar, but it would seem that the “dream guitar” made to his exact specifications didn’t turn out to be that great a dream in the end, at least in his eyes. About the differences I’ve noticed in the color of the center sunburst – it does appear that they only make this model in one color – the VT. The consistency of this color is another story. I think Guitartim is right that it could be the lighting of the photographs, but I’m not leaning in that direction. The difference in color is something I’ve seen in many photographs and it seems dramatically different to me. Also, in some of the photographs that show the guitar at its most dark-orange, the lighting on the neck is completely washed out. In photographs like that, if anything, I’d think it would show the guitar as being even lighter than it really is, definitely not darker. Interestingly, two very good examples of photographs that show this color difference were posted on this site by two people that responded to my post – one by Guitartim (light and yellowish), and several by Revlimitbounce (dark-orange). Also, Eastmongo posted a photograph where it looks dark-orange. It’s puzzling. In the early 80s I bought a ’62 Gibson 335 sunburst for $1000 which I ended up selling not long after. Man I wish I still owned that guitar. It played great and sounded better. I loved those pickups. It wouldn’t have been bad if I had picked up an AS-200 back then either. But I’m sure I would have stupidly sold that as well. I’ve never actually played an AS-200, but Scofield has gotten some really nice sounds out if it over the years. The album Shinola is a good example (for my tastes anyway). In the late ‘70s Scofield used to play a cherry red Gibson 335 dot marker. That guitar has got to be worth $40,000 today (famous ownership aside). I remember speaking to him in a club at the time he switched to his Ibanez. He told me that his Gibson was impossible to record with because of the buzz from the pickups. When I asked him if he would be interested in selling it (I never could have come close to affording it by the way – even back then), he told me, while repressing a laugh, that he was going to hang onto it. I guess it didn’t hurt to ask, but it somehow hits me as embarrassing even today. I also remember seeing him play that Gibson at Sweet Basils in NYC back in ’77. It was Mike Nock’s band and Michael Brecker was on Tenor. Scofield sounded great that night. I brought a tape recorder with me to that set. The recording came out pretty good, but of course I don’t have the tape anymore. Maybe when I’m 100 I’ll learn to stop getting rid of everything. Anyway, that’s my “Scofield minute.”   Petruz Username: Petruz Registered: 5-2004 Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 6:05 am:    same thing happens with pat metheny in the PM100/120 models ads. he's always pictured using his PM20/FG100 modded. in this case it's more absurd because pat actually uses both models on stage (not always though). as far as i know sco does not use a jsm.   Johns Username: Johns Registered: 2-2001 Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 8:41 am:    It's my understanding that getting these bigger, busier artists in to take new photos with their signature guitars, is not easy. So, they work with what they have. Why Sco doesn't play his JSM more, is a mystery. But when I saw his collection of other great (mostly) Ibanez guitars, I realized that he must be ultra happy with the AS200. Kinda like Metheny with his old ES175. Wouldn't stop playing it until it was literally falling apart. BTW, Sco is playing the Blue Note in NYC in June: TRIO BEYOND: John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette & Larry Goldings (June 5-10, 2007) http://www.bluenote.net/newyork/schedule/moreinfo. cgi?id=4850   Guitartim Username: Guitartim Registered: 4-2001 Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 10:29 am:    I read an article about Sco and his AS200 at the time of its much-needed restoration. He said that he had an 'emotional attachment' to that guitar. To me, that gives a hint as to why he still is seen playing that old girl. But one still has to ask why he's never been photographed with his own signature model JSM100. As far as frets are concerned, I checked all of the catalogue descriptions from 2001-2005 about the JSM and all but 2006-2007 call them 'medium'. They feel more like 'medium-jumbos' to me...you know, like mini-speed bumps as you slide up the neck, but fantastic for aggressive bends.   Udoji Username: Udoji Registered: 4-2007 Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 12:29 pm:    As far as the color of the JSM100 goes, you're right Guitartim, it's the lighting. I was looking at different photographs of Scofield playing his AS-200 and it's the same thing. In some pictures it looks blonde/yellowish and in others rust/orangeish. (I had always hoped the day would never come when I would type the word orangeish. At least I haven't actually said it out loud... yet). And I can definitely see how you could form a strong attachment to a guitar you've played exclusively for several decades. Think of the amount of hours he's logged on that thing. Still, you'd think that when you have a guitar model named after you... well, I can't imagine what kind of endorsement deal he signed that allows him to never get within 20 feet of it. Actually, for all I know he does play it now and then in concert. Just don't try and take a picture of it I guess, or his body guard roughs you up and takes the film. Thanks for the heads up about the Blue Note gig, and the link. I hadn't known that this trio had a recording out. I just listened to 30 second samples of the tracks on Napster. The album was recorded live in 2004. I think the band sounds good. From what I could tell, Sco sounds like he's playing. And DeJohnette is playing nice and aggressive. I love Jack -- particularly when he's not laying back. I should probably check these guys out one night at the Blue Note. How can I miss an opportunity to pay $30 for a drink? It sure isn't the fifties anymore -- tales of Bird playing in some loft until sunrise. At clubs like The Blue Note, BB Kings and Iridium, between the hefty music charge and the two drink minimum, that hour or so of music is getting awfully close to a night at the ballet money wise. And they don't even dance for you. Well, Scofield does a little.   Talajuha Username: Talajuha Registered: 11-2006 Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 4:59 pm:    Here again link to Scofield's luthier and guitars, check the "repairs" link. http://www.guitarspecialist.com/scofield.htm Juha   Udoji Username: Udoji Registered: 4-2007 Posted on Monday, April 09, 2007 - 7:39 pm:    Thanks for the link. It's funny that you posted it now. Just a few hours ago I suddenly had a vague recollection of having been to that website a long time ago and I was curious to see who it was that worked on Scofield's guitar(s). So I did a little searching and pulled up that site. I was just looking at it before you posted it. It's great stuff. Those photographs are something. It's got to be pretty scary having major work done to a guitar that you love. You can never be 100% sure that you'll end up with the same guitar (sound and feel). I remember seeing an interview with a famous classical violinist (I think it was Itzhak Perlman), and he was talking about how traumatic it was to see his Stardivarius sitting on a work bench with the top off. He was terrifed that what he got back wasn't going to sound the same. A luthier who can take the top off a Strad has got to have a level of confidence I can't even imagine. That's nerves o' steel.   Rickd Username: Rickd Registered: 4-2006 Posted on Friday, April 13, 2007 - 5:32 pm:    Udoji, I read your post about never having played an AS200--I had one last year; a 1981 with a tiny crack repair on one of the f-holes. I got so poor last year that I had to sell it. But I made around $2200 for it. It was, bar none, the best guitar I've ever played. I will never stop kicking myself for selling it. I've owned about 40 guitars, customs like Bakers, had an Artinger built to my specs--turned out to be neck heavy. But my wife is finishing her Phd, so I'm strapped for cash. One income is tough. I, too, met Sco at a show in '03. Good friend of mine was a chef and cooked the band dinner before the show. He played nerf football with them when they got to the club. I met him backstage--it was my birthday--wife took a pic of the two of us. I talked to him about amps. Said he has an old Matchless he loves, but doesn't tour with it. He has that "old jazzcat" lingo thing going. He used the word cool and cat quite a bit. Very nice guy.   Udoji Username: Udoji Registered: 4-2007 Posted on Friday, April 13, 2007 - 6:58 pm:    Hey Rickd, That AS-200 story of yours has definitely presented me with a moral conflict. I want to be happy for you that you got such a good price (and I am), but at the same time, an early AS-200 is a guitar I might be seriously interested in buying. So hearing that it went for so much wasn't at all what I was looking to hear. But, I am glad it worked out well for you. I can only hope that there was some type of brain injury involved on the buyers part, paying that price, and not that this is what an old AS-200 is going for now. But I think an older model is going to be really hard to find at any price -- especially since my interest in it, at this point, is based on sound alone and I would really want to play it first. Which means I'd have to find one in a store. My chances of that are a lot better living in NYC than if I was in Kentucky or Argentina, but it's still a needle in a haystack. There's always e-bay, Harmony Central, Guitarbase, and sites like that, but I don't think most sellers allow you to return just because you don't like it. Yeah, Sco has that Gil Evans hip cat lingo thing going. The handful of times I talked to him after a show in a club, he always said goodbye the same way. "Thanks for comin' down." It became a long running joke between me and a friend of mine. I have to say, everyobody who's ever met him has said what a nice cat (if I may) he is, me included. I don't know if this counts as old jazzcat lingo, but I have a step-relative who's been playing tenor sax professionally since the '70s. He does a lot of Broadway now. At a family get-together in the '80s his sister's two year old was trying to walk for the first time. He didn't quite succeed and fell down. His comment after witnessing this was, "I guess the little man just couldn't cut it." If it sounds at all cold, it wasn't. He was just being funny, and naturally cool, in that way.   Rickd Username: Rickd Registered: 4-2006 Posted on Sunday, April 15, 2007 - 8:42 pm:    Udoji, To address the AS200 thing: it was a businessman from Korea who bought it. And I agree, he paid too much. I told him I wouldn't ship out of the US, so he had me ship it to his sister in LA. One sold on ebay a few weeks back that had had (hate that verb tense, but it works here) a bigsby on it then removed. Went for around 1k I think. It's all in timing. Though, I have to say, a guy from NY bid it up to 1800 or so before the other guy pulled away.   Petruz Username: Petruz Registered: 5-2004 Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 1:00 pm:    the man with a black one. maybe while the other was under maintenance.

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