Are we living in the era of the high-performance acoustic guitar? If so, we have players such as Jon Gomm and companies such as Ibanez to thank for it, with the English acoustic virtuoso’s latest signature guitar further hot-rodding the traditional cutaway with locking banjo tuners, custom electronics and a wooden vine inlay that references Steve Vai’s groundbreaking JEM.
Yes, it’s a decorative flourish that Ibanez has applied to other high-profile models – e.g. for Polyphia’s Tim Henson – but Passionflower motif, which graces the Macasser ebony fingerboard from the 10th to the 20th fret, feels like a call back to the JEM, as though to state that this, the JGM11, is something different.
Gomm has always spoken of his and Ibanez’s desire to do transform the acoustic and the evolution of his unorthodox signature acoustic electric guitar shows us just how this looks in practice.
As Gomm notes when introducing the JGM11 on Instagram, there are three core differences to his previous JGM series models.
Firstly, and the most obvious, is the finish has changed from black to natural, allowing Gomm and Ibanez to subtly play around with the stylistic conventions of acoustic design, favouring a ‘Möbius ring’ wooden rosette pattern around the soundhole.
Secondly, and more fundamentally, the build has been refreshed, with the JGM11 featuring a top of Thermo Aged solid AAA Sitka spruce, and solid African mahogany on the back and sides. “The mahogany gives a warmer, rounder tone, as opposed to the darker, more throaty pau ferro,” says Gomm. “Mahogany is also lighter, so the guitar is less weighty.”
But the big talking point – and something that could be seen as being akin to the Floyd Rose replacing the 2-point tremolo on Strat-style electric guitars – is the fitting of Bill Keith’s locking banjo tuners as standard.
This was always Gomm’s big signature mod, allowing for dramatic detuning on the fly, and here they are on a production model instrument “ready for glissando fun” on your first and second strings.
For acoustic players with a contemporary percussive style, this presents many opportunities to get creative, with the design tailored to outré fingerstyle and legato styles.
Two-handed tapping is encouraged on a fingerboard installed with jumbo stainless steel frets. Single notes should really pop out and make themselves heard on this guitar.
Capturing it all when you’re going into an acoustic guitar amp we have the same Fishman three-source electronics that have served previous editions of Gomm’s signature model well, with the PowerTap Earth Blend acoustic guitar pickup system developed specifically with percussive players in mind.
Everything here has a purpose, like the top-loading Macassar ebony bridge. No bridge pins makes for quicker and easier string changes – something that could come in handy if you get a little too excited on those banjo tuners – but also, says Ibanez, better percussive tone.
Combine this with the distinctive asymmetric jumbo body shape, the custom 25.75” scale to better accommodate alternate open tunings, and the dual outputs for the electronics and you have everything you need for adventures in 21st-century acoustic. Price TBC. For more details, head over to Ibanez.
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