Ibanez Artcore AF75 Archtop


marke
Registered User
Joined: 06/20/05
Posts: 4
marke
Registered User
Joined: 06/20/05
Posts: 4
06/21/2005 7:06 pm


Pricing Information: $317.49 USD at guitarvision.com and musiciansfriend.com

Pros: Very high quality build, low cost, great full-body sound, separate vol and tone controls for each humbucker.
Cons: Input jack has a tendency to loosen

Review:

I bought the blue sunburst version which is truly beautiful! The guitar's finish is top-notch -- the finish is like glass, the bindings are of high quality and are perfectly finished. The neck has a perfect width for me and its finish is also perfect including the bindings. There are no issues with frets. In short, I can find no flaw with the camera's build, although the tuning machines could have been of higher quality.

The only issue I have had is that the nut around the jack loosens up and the jack can twist if you aren't careful. If it twists and the wire(s) break, it would be very difficult to get inside the body to do a repair. I might use some crazy glue or lock-tite to ensure the nut doesn't move.

The guitar was perfectly adjusted from the factory. It came with extra light strings which were ok, but I recently replaced them with D'Addario Light Jazz flatwound strings (see my review of these strings in this forum.) The new strings went right on with only two adjustments -- I had to file the grooves for strings 5 and 6 at the nut. I also had to adjust neck relief. Action, intonation remained constant.

It's very hard to get beyond fret 19 and I find it difficult to go beyond past 17 and still move quickly.

The guitar has a much fuller sound with the new strings. It really sounds like a high quality archtop now and the strings make it a real pleasure to play.

I doubt that you will find a nicer guitar for the money. It's really inexpensive (about $320 USD.) There is a version with a tremolo, but I passed that up because I would never use it.

The Artcore series of guitars are made in China which some may feel results in lower quality -- I can find no fault with the guitar (except for the loose jack.)

Summary: I will definitely keep this guitar. I might add a solid body at some point, but don't see any need to move to a different hollow body.
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