Best price on an Ibanez ART 300

[Duff]

Can anyone help me on finding the best price on an ART 300?

I heard they could be had for less than 399 and are great.

Any help is appreciated.

Duffy
Winfield, Pa.

Peace

[wingsdad]

They just came out with a couple of new finishes, and my local dealer just got a couple...399 sounds about right...I saw them yesterday, but didn't check prices...you could call or e-mail them and ask...
Roll Over Beethoven's (http://www.rolloverbeethovens.com/index.html)

[Duff]

Thanks Wingsdad,

I saw the picture of the cayman green one and it is building it's allure with me. The cayman brown is also strongly grooving on me.

Have you played one of these?

I hear they are awesome.

I might jump on it and buy one tomorrow. I'm anticipating having some financial responsibilities coming up in the near future and want to get something now while I'm not having to dish out for the anticipated costs. My wife is going to need some money even though we are separated.

They say nice guys finish last. Well I might be finishing last, because I'm a nice guy and am going to be myself and if I finish last that's the way it will have to be.

But that ART 300 is definitely calling out to me with it's siren's song.

I wonder how the ART 100 stands up to it? I don't suppose it stands up to it at all, more like cringes; but I don't know. Maybe it's a strong contender.

Thanks for the feedback,

Duffy
Winfield, Pa.

Peace

Have you seen the pictures of the green one? Bet it looks way better in person.

[wingsdad]

Thanks Wingsdad,

I saw the picture of the cayman green one and it is building it's allure with me. The cayman brown is also strongly grooving on me.

Have you played one of these?
....
Well, ...they DO have the ART300, in the Cayman Brown, like Spudman's, not the green but...my apologies, Duff...what came in this week was...what caught my eye, was a Trans Cherry ART100


I wonder how the ART 100 stands up to it? I don't suppose it stands up to it at all, more like cringes; but I don't know. Maybe it's a strong contender.
Actually, the ART300 has been there a couple of months, and frankly, the crinkly finish is not my bag so I've not touched it. IMO, it looks better in pictures than in person; the crinkles creep me out. Sorry.

I didn't plug the ART100 in because I'm on heavy anti-GAS medication...finances wrecked due to a couple of factors, the economy just complicating matters. But I'd say, just by noodling with it unplugged and from the specs, the 100 is almost on apar with the disco'd ARC300, same pickups (the ACH series, not same as the ART300) of which I had one, and I liked it very much, with its wannabe TP6 tailpiece a great feature for a guitar that was just over 3 Benjamin$. The ART100 lacks that, and isn't as fancy-schmantzy inlay and binding wise. But it plays the same, feels the same, sounds the same.

[Gil Janus]

zzounds says they will have them in stock on the 9th of March - including the Green Caiman one -

Ibanez ART 300 - $399.95 (http://www.zzounds.com/item--IBAART300)

I got my Super Champ XD from them. :AOK: And I got my daughter's Bass amp from them too - an Ibanez SWX20 back in December. :dude:

Gil :cool:

[wingsdad]

Duff...by the way...just in case...even though a family-owned indy store, Roll Over Beethoven's matches Musician's Fiend (sic) or Guitar Center prices.

[just strum]

Well, ...they DO have the ART300, in the Cayman Brown, like Spudman's, not the green but...my apologies, Duff...what came in this week was...what caught my eye, was a Trans Cherry ART100




I spotted that a few weeks ago, sweet looking guitar and a good price ($299). I must say no, but the little man is saying yes!!!

[Spudman]

I spotted that a few weeks ago, sweet looking guitar and a good price ($299). I must say no, but the little man is saying yes!!!

If you played one you'd definitely get it. They are pretty sweet.

[wingsdad]

I spotted that a few weeks ago, sweet looking guitar and a good price ($299). I must say no, but the little man is saying yes!!!

Seriously, Strummy...it felt like the ARC300...same electronics (vol/tone/switchign setup) & pickups..all it lacks is the fine-tuning tailpiece and the fret marker & binding bling of the ARC300...nicer than the ARC100 (that was available black only) was.

[just strum]

If you played one you'd definitely get it. They are pretty sweet.

I know, it would be another "It followed me home" story.

Last time I went to the music store, it was to buy picks and I came home with a guitar.

Hmm, getting low on strings.

[just strum]

Seriously, Strummy...it felt like the ARC300...same electronics (vol/tone/switchign setup) & pickups..all it lacks is the fine-tuning tailpiece and the fret marker & binding bling of the ARC300...nicer than the ARC100 (that was available black only) was.

You and Spud are not helping the situation.

Edit: Just went to the Ibanez site to stare at the Transparent Cherry

http://www.ibanez.com/ElectricGuitars/model-ART100

[just strum]

But that ART 300 is definitely calling out to me with it's siren's song.



Well???

[wingsdad]

You and Spud are not helping the situation.

Edit: Just went to the Ibanez site to stare at the Transparent Cherry

:whatever: Well, if it helps any, strummy, unless you like the wood grain not showing through the trans-cherry in that stock photo, it looks way better in person ... that's how it caught by broke-butt eye...:(

[Duff]

Got a black and silver ART 300 two days ago and loved it.

However, today I returned it to GC and got a brand new Brown Cayman ART 300 at a local shop with price matching and had my Washburn acoustic bass beefed up and set up.

I like the Brown Cayman ART 300 way better than the black and grey one because it has that alligator animal look, where the black and grey didn't evoke the same earthy swampy vibe. I named the amber and brown collored brown cayman one "Swamp Water" although "Swamp King" might be a great name as well. Two names can't be a bad thing.

The guitar is awesome to say the least. I love it. Sounds like the black and grey one but the swampy look of the amber burstish finish and the alligator hide motif make it more real feeling than the black and grey. Maybe it's a chemical nuance harkening back to the hippy day of old. It has a definitely swampy vibe to it and is a hot guitar.

I'm playing it modestly thru my RP350 into my Sonic Stomp and into my Crate Palamino V8 and am getting some incredible sounds and tones.

I checked it out at the store before bringing it home tonight, while the tech fixed up my Washburn acoustic electric bass, thru a Fender Bandmaster and 2 by 12 large cabinet. Someone told me Hendrix preferred the Bandmaster when in the US. The Bandmaster head is a great amp with clean and overdrive, reverb and chorus. I got some great clean and overdriven sounds out of it with a nice heavy reverb. Turned the chorus off. It was more bassy than trebly but it could be the "Swamp Water". The overdrive is not a heavy metal thing but a nice smooth vintage vibe. And the reverb is really chimey.

The volume on the Bandmaster is like a hair trigger, going from dead zero to very loud in a slight circumferential adjustment. By 2 it is SUPER LOUD!
I turned down the guitar to compensate and was grooving on it for some time. I would have liked to have opened it up a little but a salesman and another customer were gently plucking away in the general vicinity. Noticed the salesmen weren't demonstrating the sh*t out of the Peavey Windsor stack that is going for 399, Marshall clone of a JCM 800 supposedly. Nor were they featuring the Fender Super Champ XD. They were pushing the Peavey Vypyrs. Must be a big mark up. The build quality of the Vypyr, although a great amp, isn't near that of the Windsor half stack or the Fender Super Champ XD. Most of the salesmen haven't even played the SCXD, quite to my surprise. Must not be very professional salesmen.

That Windsor, incidentally, looks like a great amp. Huge wide big head like a Marshall JCM 800 and a big nice closed back 4 by 12 cab of some significance. 400 dollars? That is a great amp for that price, without question.

Anyway, the "Swamp Water" amber tea colored burst ART 300 is incredible and sounds awesome thru my modest set up. I played it for about four hours already tonight and will play for a few more. Super great chimeyness and a great bass tone. Looks LP ish but has more versitility with the active pickups and the volumes and tone knob work well throughout their sweeps.

This is a guitar that I can groove on just looking at it, unlike the black and grey one. Minor coefficient of cool. The amber "Swamp Water" has a very high coefficient of cool and delivers some serious grooving tone that will put you to sleep quick if you play laying in bed like I do. Turn out the lights and get some great finger positioning and ear training skill, by necessity. I hit my mouse on the computer monitor to get things straight when I get off position too far, monitor lights things up a little. Great training method.

Nothing like a guitar that you really bond with. I'm lucky, I have a few; like the new Classic Vibe '60s that has a feel, vibration and sound that is thrilling, and my new cheap used '08 ESP LTD Viper - 50 with stock pups that is a joy to play and is black cherry. Aso played my Schecter C1 electric acoustic with Seymour Duncan JB in bridge and '59 in the neck, with nickel covered HBs and quilted maple thick semi hollow top with thick mahogany back. Great guitar I got new at GC on a blow out in perfect condition for 329. I also can't help but play my Squire Standard telecaster with the Fender Custom Shop 10.5kohm bridge Texas Special I recently installed in it. Very quiet pickup when idleing by the way. Really well made and that guitar has serious tone.

Squire has definitely risen to a position of respectability not recognized by quite a number of brand fixated fans. Looked at that shoreline gold Vintage Modified thinline Squire tele semi hollow again tonight. That is a great sounding, feeling, playing guitar.

But there is something alluring about that alligator hide ART 300 that calls out to some of us; stimulating country boy memories of days gone by spent in the swamps grooving on alligators and listening to their song late at night by some isolated wilderness pond. If you haven't experienced it you should check it out deep down in the Florida swamps some late Spring or Summer night. It is a sound that transcends the common bounds of space and time and harkens back to a primevil time when Florida was a different world impenetratable by all but the most adventurous souls overly eager in their search for "El Dorado", the "City of Gold" and the "Fountain of Youth". Hey . . . . . . . maybe we share something in common with them. I better watch what I say.

Duffy