HELLO, OLD FRIEND

I grew up with the instrumental music of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. About seven years ago a friend of mine, who had a collection of early Ibanez JEMs that he had hunted down from around the globe, offered me a couple of rare examples. I passed them up at the time and he then later sold them to the late Jeff Pumfrett of World Guitars. Fast forward to the present day, I walk into WHSmith and pick up issue 416 of Guitarist magazine. I had a quick flick through and to my amazement found a full eight-page feature on 30 years of the Ibanez JEM. I recognised my friend’s JEM 777 LNG straight away as it bore the personal signature of Steven ‘Siro’Vai, number 97 of only 777 he personally signed. I was so pleased to see the high-resolution, professional photographs of the guitar that I used to jam with every Thursday night at my friend’s house. I immediately phoned him and walked out the shop with the magazine and the feeling of regret about not acting on that purchase! When I passed them up I wasn’t really concerned with the rarity of these now-collectable guitars, but if I owned them now they wouldn’t have been photographed to mark this milestone in guitar innovation. At least the neon colours can be seen in the flesh and appreciated by the public at World Guitars, Stroud, instead of being preserved in a case under my bed. Thank you, Guitarist, for the fantastic feature and your continued support of all styles and genres of music. Heron Wallace, Truro, Cornwall

Mr Vai and Ibanez came up with a bit of a winner, didn’t they? And as you both say, surprisingly versatile – looks can deceive. The JEM wasn’t something a marketing man could ever have dreamed up – and as Steve commented, Ibanez might not have offered him such a free hand if they had known in advance what a wild creation he’d come up with. But here it is, a modern classic, 30 years on and still going strong. As for Heron’s discovery of an ‘old friend’ in these pages, we’re pleased to have reunited him with some pleasant memories – with the kind help of World Guitars. What we wouldn’t give to know where all our ‘ones that got away’ are now...