Aah, the JEM, such an iconic guitar for the fanboys like myself who relish in simple, yet elegant designs in a guitar which can be customised again and again but still retain its essence. Unfortunately, the JEM is a high level guitar and therefore one I’ve never been able to afford. But there might be hope.

Steve Vai and Ibanez have announced an upcoming contest for you (and me, umm, hopefully) to design the next JEM. This is to celebrate the 77,777 JEM to be sold (I did say they are expensive) and there will be only 2 manufactured: One for the winner and one for Steve. Check the video below:

Now if you don’t know how to design a guitar, that’s ok, neither do I, but there’s a great resource on line to come up with ideas, it’s called the VRG-Builder. It won’t allow you to do fancier designs than plain colour but it can give you a template to begin with.

If  residents outside the US can enter, I might give it a shot, as I would love to own a custom-made JEM. More on the Ibanez website, contest details have not yet been announced.