Ooh... New Ibanez Vai models!

The first word that comes to my mind, in my language, is "hortera" (The dictionary translation in English is "gaudy", but google images shows very different results for "hortera" and for "gaudy")
 
I don’t like the Pia cutouts and the pickups are gaudy. It feels like a minor Jem variant like the 80s Root Beer model. I’d like Steve to work on a completely blank-slate design and features. Maybe an integrated fan to blow my hair back when I solo.
 
I like the softer, more flowing design to it; and, in a stable full of guitars, it’s a nice compliment to the Jem’s harder styling. Seems like a natural evolution in design too. Knowing a tiny-bit about that man’s life, and how he has grown as a person, the softer edges makes sense. Definitely All Steve by Design. And that is good enough for me.

The Jem has been heading in this direction for some time, too, I think. The laser cut pickup covers for example, they always seemed overly flowery for a Jem - too overly ornate for such a pure rock machine.

..Where many signature models evolve pretty-quickly, with new signature designs popping up all the time, it is nice to see Steve both preserve the original design and incorporate another...

I like it! It was time - maybe even overdue.
 
I'm really surprised by the reactions I've seen everywhere (here, facebook, IG, etc). I guess I'm the odd one in this case, I like it way more than the JEM in pretty much every way. Then again, with words like "gaudy" or "garish" being used, I do enjoy stupid things like my bright orange truck and dayglow running shoes :)

Jokes aside, I'm intrigued by the magnetic back plate (although I don't know why he keeps saying "when you change a string you have to remove the back plate" when it's a Floyd style trem...). I wonder if the magnets could create any kind of weird effect with the pickups, or how easy it would be to reverse engineer that into existing guitars.
 
A buddy of mine sent me the new catalog pics right before they leaked online and I was dying to talk about them but didn’t want to get him in any trouble. Initially, I hated them.

Once I saw the videos of them in person I hated them less. I still can’t stand the pickup covers and asked Larry Dimarzio on FB if they would be available in standard versions as in another video, Vai talked about the changes; warmed up the highs, cut back the mids and tightened up the bottom end. Those 3 things are exactly where my complains with the Evolutions are. My 7V has been my main guitar for 23 years now and I’ve been looking around lately to change them out finally. I’m really hoping they can be ordered without the laser cut graphics.

The petal grip grew on me after seeing video and I’m really anxious to try one with the new body routes/rounded edges. It’d be nice to lean forward in a chair and not have the edges digging into my ribs.

As for the backplate, Blackmachine was doing the same thing with a magnetic trem cavity for years and it was never an issue with them. And yeah, bringing up string changes in reference to a Floyd equipped guitar is pretty silly, but I doubt Vai has changed a single string in quite some time. My buddy Anthony was working for him for a while and one of his duties was changing strings.

I ordered the Mad Hatter Terminator Evo kit last week, it should be showing up today. It’s also got the push-pull volume pot, I’m really curious to see how it sounds when engaged. Really, I’m curious to see how any of it sounds after I change the electronics out. If anything, it’ll make pick-up changes much faster as it’s all solderless.
 
I'm a long time JEM fan and I really like the design changes. For me, the gold doesn't work on the green and yellow models but the pink and white look great. I think I'm going to go for a pink one.
 
Not a fan, but I am a bit of a purest...by that I mean I owned a 7vwh w/ ebony board and a 7dbk (which no one ever really considered a real jem haha). I will always love the original monkey grip and prefer the pickups to match or compliment the body color, but that’s just me :)
 
Cosmetic mostly. I hate pull switches on a volume pot. Gold plated hardware wears if you look at it very hard. Price kinda finishes it off. Meh
 
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