Spudman
February 3rd, 2011, 02:46 PM
I have had 2 Ibanez ART 300 guitars, the same two pictured below, for a couple of years now. I haven't played them out of the house much until recently. Lately I've been playing them a lot and I'm pretty impressed. Let me tell you why.
This guitar, as you can see by the photos, has a beveled/contoured top. It's a fairly thick maple cap that is molded that way. This makes it different from many of the newer ART maple top guitars that are only using a thin veneer maple cap. The body is thinner than a Les Paul and has a tummy bevel. The neck and body are mahogany. The electronics are active humbucking, IBZ LZ pickups, that run on 2 AA batteries, and sound quite good. Two volume and one tone control allow for a lot of control and blending options.
It's quite a bit lighter than a traditional Les Paul type single cut guitar and more comfortable thanks to the tummy bevel.
I have to confess that over the years that I've owned them I was becoming disappointed with the sound and was considering selling them. I started doing some investigating as to where the height should be set on those active LZ pickups. I couldn't find anything about height settings, but what I did find was a lot of references to replacing the batteries around every 4 months. Hmmmm, I haven't replaced the batteries in years. Could that make a difference? MOST DEFINITELY!
The guitars are an absolute blast to play anyway, but after the battery change all the clarity is back and dynamics are much better. The guitars have a shorter 22 fret, 24.75 inch scale length, and the neck width at the nut is 43mm and 57mm at the last fret. Both the necks on mine are very round and thick like a vintage LP, not like the thin shredder necks most people associate with Ibanez. It's very easy to fly when playing this guitar, and thanks to the active electronics the notes come out very clearly with great separation. The tone when rolled completely down turns each pickup voice into a sweet singing almost flute like sound with still plenty of clarity and high end, not muddy a bit.
Another feature that makes these nice to play is the Gibraltar bridge. There isn't a sharp spot anywhere to be found so resting your hand is not only pleasant, it's extremely comfortable.
The guitar is covering a lot of ground for me. The clean voice is very full and bright, and slightly overdriven it growls. With even more gain, what they were designed for, not only are they quiet with no hum or buzz, they flat out scream. Plenty of harmonics and nice even full sounding chords. Want sustain? There is ample amounts of that as well.
All in all, just a well done guitar. Do I have anything to fault it for? Just one thing, it is slightly neck heavy similar to an SG. Other than that? Nothing. The guitars were set up great, they stay in tune, sound great and play fantastically. Why should any of this interest you? If you want one you can find them used pretty cheaply, especially compared to the new releases, which to my ear don't sound quite the same. That might be attributable to the different thickness in maple tops.
http://www.anthonysmusic.com.au/images/ibanez_art300.gif
This guitar, as you can see by the photos, has a beveled/contoured top. It's a fairly thick maple cap that is molded that way. This makes it different from many of the newer ART maple top guitars that are only using a thin veneer maple cap. The body is thinner than a Les Paul and has a tummy bevel. The neck and body are mahogany. The electronics are active humbucking, IBZ LZ pickups, that run on 2 AA batteries, and sound quite good. Two volume and one tone control allow for a lot of control and blending options.
It's quite a bit lighter than a traditional Les Paul type single cut guitar and more comfortable thanks to the tummy bevel.
I have to confess that over the years that I've owned them I was becoming disappointed with the sound and was considering selling them. I started doing some investigating as to where the height should be set on those active LZ pickups. I couldn't find anything about height settings, but what I did find was a lot of references to replacing the batteries around every 4 months. Hmmmm, I haven't replaced the batteries in years. Could that make a difference? MOST DEFINITELY!
The guitars are an absolute blast to play anyway, but after the battery change all the clarity is back and dynamics are much better. The guitars have a shorter 22 fret, 24.75 inch scale length, and the neck width at the nut is 43mm and 57mm at the last fret. Both the necks on mine are very round and thick like a vintage LP, not like the thin shredder necks most people associate with Ibanez. It's very easy to fly when playing this guitar, and thanks to the active electronics the notes come out very clearly with great separation. The tone when rolled completely down turns each pickup voice into a sweet singing almost flute like sound with still plenty of clarity and high end, not muddy a bit.
Another feature that makes these nice to play is the Gibraltar bridge. There isn't a sharp spot anywhere to be found so resting your hand is not only pleasant, it's extremely comfortable.
The guitar is covering a lot of ground for me. The clean voice is very full and bright, and slightly overdriven it growls. With even more gain, what they were designed for, not only are they quiet with no hum or buzz, they flat out scream. Plenty of harmonics and nice even full sounding chords. Want sustain? There is ample amounts of that as well.
All in all, just a well done guitar. Do I have anything to fault it for? Just one thing, it is slightly neck heavy similar to an SG. Other than that? Nothing. The guitars were set up great, they stay in tune, sound great and play fantastically. Why should any of this interest you? If you want one you can find them used pretty cheaply, especially compared to the new releases, which to my ear don't sound quite the same. That might be attributable to the different thickness in maple tops.
http://www.anthonysmusic.com.au/images/ibanez_art300.gif