JEM up

This, ladies & gentlemen, is something you've seen before. It's the Ibanez JEM Jr.

Due to its colour 'upgrade', you'd think it's something new. Nothing else changed less the aesthetic feature as mentioned so this is how you propel the lesser models; you make it look like its other higher performance siblings & suddenly, you'd tell yourself you don't actually mind buying one. If you are a Vai fan, perhaps this entry level model with the colour make-over might be a worthy adventure. For the rest of us who know what the bridge & pickups have to offer in terms of performance, we believe in other models.

Poll: Guitar finish

Guitar finishes (colour) always play a great part in our purchase considerations. Some of us have a preferred mojo finish while the rest of us wouldn't be seen alive with some. For dealers, the preferred, popular finishes would translate into good sales figure. For the sizable camp, guitar finishes is about a personal preference, a statement of choice.

The poll above showed that the good majority has a preference for a natural finish, the colour of wood, so to speak. Black used to be a de facto colour for many guitar slingers who are serious about their technical presence, the 'go-to' finish for all things rock (and then some) but of late, it's boring people who are treading the alternative path.

As far as I'm concerned, I'd advise potential buyers against judging the instrument in light of their finishes but this is a difficult buy-in for many because colour is the immediate consideration for them & it's about liking a colour first & foremost, the rest are secondary considerations. This is of course, not a true reflection of quality selection; I'm sure many of us wouldn't want to waste our precious dollars & cents on a lemon, nevermind  if it's in a tasteful finish. We are talking about spending good money on something playable, yes? But colour remains contentious when it comes to selection, it transcends beyond simple reasoning actually. 

My big thanks to all poll participants!

Ibanez: Halberd- the real finish

This is the Ibanez Halberd- pic's taken off the manufacturer's homepage. You'd thought that the darker hue surrounding the body bevel was a lighting effect.

But it's actually a shade of grey, not quite apparent from the manufacturer's online snapshot. You didn't see wrong, I swapped the default pickups to Duncans.