Using the Ibanez JEM JR (the HSH Steve Vai signature model) we're doing a hypothetical pickup upgrade suggestion with two unique humbuckers and a single coil middle pickup. We'll also recommend a swap of the existing locking tremolo for a licensed Floyd Rose system.
Here's what the final product will look like:
We use a high output DiMarzio Crunch Lab at the bridge and two softer/smoother pickups for the middle and neck positions (a DiMarzio True Velvet single coil and a Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb neck humbucker).
Gear Used in this Build
Gear | Title | Rated | Browse |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Ibanez JEM JR Electric | n/a | |
 | DiMarzio Crunch Lab Humbucker | n/a | |
 | DiMarzio True Velvet Middle | n/a | |
 | Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb Neck Humbucker | n/a | |
 | Floyd Rose Special | n/a |
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If you're looking for other pickups, select the "pickups" category from the drop down menu.
Bridge Humbucker (DiMarzio Crunch Lab)
Since Steve Vai uses DiMarzio pickups we're using the Crunch Lab at the bridge position, which will give us a hot, high-output pickup with a built in rail that will pair nicely with our middle single coil. It will also give us some extra bite on higher notes and lead runs.
Pricing by Vendor
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Pricing History for the Crunch Lab
Price History for DiMarzio DP228BC Crunch Lab Bridge Humbucker Pickup - Black/Cream
Statistics
| Current Price | $99.99 | November 30, 2023 |
| Highest Price | $99.99 | June 23, 2022 |
| Lowest Price | $74.99 | November 25, 2022 |
Last price changes
| $99.99 | November 30, 2023 |
| $74.99 | November 23, 2023 |
| $99.99 | December 2, 2022 |
| $74.99 | November 25, 2022 |
| $99.99 | June 23, 2022 |
Middle Single Coil
For the middle single coil pickup, we'll pick from a selection of Stratocaster middle rails, looking for something on the softer end of the output spectrum to balance with the heavy output from the bridge. Again, the True Velvet by DiMarzio is a good fit, with a bluesy response and a white casing that matches the bridge design.
Pricing by Vendor
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Pricing History for the DiMarzio Velvet
Price History for DiMarzio DP175S True Velvet Single Coil Middle Electric Guitar Pickup White
Statistics
| Current Price | $69.99 | December 5, 2023 |
| Highest Price | $99.99 | July 9, 2022 |
| Lowest Price | $20.00 | September 16, 2022 |
Last price changes
| $69.99 | November 23, 2023 |
| $85.00 | November 2, 2023 |
| $69.99 | November 1, 2023 |
| $85.00 | November 1, 2023 |
| $69.99 | October 30, 2023 |
Neck Humbucker
For the neck position, we're breaking ranks from DiMarzio and going with the neck humbucker from the Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb signature set.
The output of Holcomb's neck humbucker is softer than the Crunch Lab, giving us some smoothing out and thickness on the lower end of our tone.
Pricing by Vendor
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Pricing by Vendor
Price History for Seymour Duncan Holcomb Omega Trembucker PU
Statistics
| Current Price | $139.00 | November 30, 2023 |
| Highest Price | $139.00 | June 27, 2022 |
| Lowest Price | $139.00 | June 27, 2022 |
Last price changes
| $139.00 | June 27, 2022 |
Bridge
Just for fun, we throw an actual licensed Floyd Rose Special into this build, since the JEM JR's bridge is just a stock Ibanez mimic.
Build Details
- Guitar: Ibanez JEM JR Steve Vai Signature
- Pickup Configuration: HSH
- Bridge Humbucker: DiMarzio Crunch Lab
- Magnet Type: Ceramic
- DCR: 11.03
- Polls: Beveled and Rail pair
- Neck Humbucker: Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb Neck
- Magnet Type: Ceramic
- DCR: 8.02
- Pickup Width: 3.050"
- Pickup Depth: 1.435"
- Middle Pickup: DiMarzio True Velvet Single Coil Middle
- Magnet Type: Alnico 5
- Wiring: 2 Conductor
- Bridge: Floyd Rose Special
Resources & Documentation
Your Questions or Comments
If you have questions about this guitar, the parts we selected, or comments about the build in general, feel free to drop those in the comments section below. We'd also love to hear about your own upgrade experience, particularly if it sheds light in any of the parts mentioned in this article.
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Written by Bobby on Electrics and Build Guides
Written by Bobby on Electrics and Build Guides
In this build what is the orientation of the bridge pickup is the bar to the bridge or to the middle pickup
Russell – I think there’s some creative leeway here. I would personally prefer it facing the bridge in the hopes it would keep things a little tighter and punchier. That might be wrong though. It probably is.
I have the same guitar and I upgraded to evolutions and and iscv2 for the middle. I ended up ordering a upgraded dimarzio super switch 5 pole because I could never get the original switch to work with the new pickups. Should they work with the original setup or is there something else I’m missing like upgrading to 500k pots? Thanks!
David – they should have worked with the original setup. Did you put in the super switch yet? Does it work?
Is the battery of pickup 9v, can it handel high output pickups?
The ones I listed are all passive, so they shouldn’t need any battery.
Oh!
Ok Bobby, thanks. I will try to compare Di Marzio Evolution and the Duncun you suggested just because now I am curious 🙂
Thanks a lot for all the time you dedicated me!
Yessir. You bet. Good luck out there.
Hi all, are these components (pickups and Floyd Rose bridge) suitable also for JEM 555BK?
Hey Vinz – just to confirm, you’re talking about one of these? https://reverb.com/item/6618450-ibanez-steve-vai-signature-jem-555-bk-in-black
Yes Bobby, I have exactly the same guitar. The bridge is an Ibanez Edge Pro II (stock bridge). The only mod I did (I wanted and my luthier realized 🙂 ) was to mount a push-pull pot in order to split the neck and bridge hambucker (thus using only single coil, the closest to neck and closest to bridge).
I would like to change the bridge (using a compatible Floyd Rose, but don’t know which version could be suitable – in Reverb link a different bridge than mine is applied to that JEM) and machine heads (same color as the bridge of course).
My luthier suggested me to not change pickups because they all in all sound good. I know that pickups to be installed vary accordingly to the musical genre is played, but is there a combination particularly suitable for this guitar?
Sorry for the long reply, but it is to explain what I am willing to do to my axe
So for the bridge, if the Edge Pro fit, then you should be fine to swap out a Floyd Rose. It should be a 1-for-1 deal.
For pickups, are you looking to switch those out too? Are you looking for suggestions based on a musical style?
Ok, I will check for the bridge. I thought there is a specific Floyd Rose model that fits my guitar.
For the pickups I am looking to switch them too. About the musical sound I would like to achieve, I think about Steve Lukather’s tone: are there any pickups suitable to my guitar body that can help me in achieving that kind of tone?
Thanks a lot for your help, I’m not that much into pickups 🙂
Hey Vinz – if the guitar just has stock humbuckers right now, the Seymour Duncan Hot Rodded JB set would be a great starting point. Do you know what kind of pickups came on the guitar? Just stock Ibanez, I’m assuming?
Hey Bobby, I heard the Seymour-Duncan you suggest from their website and…WOW!!!
Yes, my guitar has Di Marzio Evolution in all 3 positions (these are the stock PU of my guitar as of when I bought it).
What do you suggest for the single coil in the middle of the body? Thanks again…you are so patient 🙂
Hey Vinz – if you’ve already got DiMarzio Evolution pickups in, don’t change them. Keep those. They’re fantastic.