Ibanez Artcore Series Hollowbodies

[jpfeifer]

The thread on Agile guitars got me thinking about a recent find that I had last year. I had G.A.S. for a nice hollowbody guitar for playing Jazz. I sarted looking around and found the Ibanez Artcore series guitars. I was shocked at how good they sounded for the price range. For about $320 you get get a very nice guitar for Jazz, that also works great for heavier stuff too.

I've played everything from solo Jazz guitar, to Reggae, to classic rock gigs with this guitar and it performs great. Here is a link to the one I bought:
http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/guitar.asp?model=AF86

It actually looks like a very expensive axe. The finish is awesome and it seems to have real flame maple for the top and back. People seem to take notice when I show up with this guitar, even though it's the cheapest guitar that I own. It's a little sensitive to feedback, like most hollowbodies, but man does it have a warm fat tone.

I recently put some flatwound strings on it and it came alive with tone. It sounds like George Benson's guitar with the flatwounds. It's definitely not the quality of a good Jazz guitar but you would have to spend a whole lot more money to find a better one than this. It sounds and plays better than the Epiphone Jazz guitars that I tried.

-- Jim

[Spudman]

Cool Jim. I'm glad you like yours. And speaking of...

I live near the Ibanez importer for the western USA. That is one of the reasons you see so many Ibanez guitars in my signature. I have been having their lead tech do fret work etc. on my guitars for a long time and he is very good. Recently I found out that they are opening a retail space at the repair shop for new guitars that have been returned by dealers for repair. They will get expert repair and then instead of shipping them back out to be sold as used or seconds etc. they will be selling them on site.

I have a request of my friend to hold on to any Atrcores that come back. I plan on getting one myself. They play and sound great. However, I never want to pay retail and can accept small blems as long as the mechanical structure is still sound. The prices may be very good for any of these repaired guitars. I don't know yet because it won't happen until mid or late June 2006.
If there is anyone here on the Fret that is looking for a deal on a guitar of this nature let me know what model and I can keep a look out for you. I can personally play then and find out the repair story on them ahead of purchase. Check out the current Ibanez line up at www.ibanez.com (http://www.ibanez.com).

Yes, you can expect to see a few more Ibanez guitars in my signature.

[Robert]

Me! Me! I want one of those! Please! I want a jazz box like that one Jim has!

If you find a good one and can save it away for me, very excited, me be. I'd send money the next morning.

[SuperSwede]

Spud! Bring the camera as soon as they open! :)

I wonder what overseas shipping would be on a guitar...

[Katastrophe]

Ibanez makes a great guitar at every price level... I haven't played one of the Artcore ones like jpfeifer mentioned in his post, but I played a sort of 335 clone awhile back when looking for an MIM Strat. Fit and finish was typical Ibanez excellent. When dialed in properly, my RG is downright speedy to play. My other guitar player has one of the less expensive models, and with the right setup it too would be magically shrederiffic. In fact, over the years, I've played quite a few Ibanezes, (but not as many as Spuds), and while there were varying degrees of quality, I don't think I've ever played a bad Ibanez.

[Spudman]

Okeedokee. When they get things going I'll post pictures and prices and see what we can work out.

[aeolian]

I had wanted a hollow body jazz guitar for a while (ever since I sold my LP Custom last year). I was interested in an Artcore. I found a couple of them during early 2006 in my local craigslist but missed getting one both times. Then I happened to run across a used Heritage H535 for a very decent price (somewhat higher than an Artcore, but a good deal) and I bought it. It came to me strung with 11-50 and kind of high action. I have since put 10-46 and adjusted the action and intonation, and it plays very nicely now.

[jpfeifer]

Aoelian,

Those Heritage 535's are great guitars. I played one a while back. They seem to be well made.

-- Jim

[SuperSwede]

I played a Heritage LP model and it was really superior to the "real" thing! Wonderful guitars...

[Bloozcat]

I have an AS-73 Artcore in the transparent cherry finish. It cost $294.99 delivered from Musician's Friend. I actually had to send the first one back because of an issue with a couple of high frets, but the replacement was free from any fret problems. MF made it very easy. They sent out a return label via e-mail, and I just attached it to the box and dropped it off at FedEx. The return cost me nothing, and the replacement arrived about a week later.

The guitar itself is very well constructed. The fit and finish is flawless, the neck/frets/nut were all well done. As with most of the lower priced import guitars, the electronics were the weak area. I had already planned on this and had a new pair of pickups, pots, caps, knobs, and input jack set aside for it. The stock pickups and electronics performed and sounded ok, but lacked any real character or presence. After I re-wired the guitar, it came to life. It now has a definite 335 character to it, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

The electronics I used were the usual CTS pots, Mallory 150 caps, and switchcraft input jack, but I tried a different toggle switch after experiencing problems with the quality of the latest Switchcraft short toggle switches. The one I used is an import (Japanese I believe) that is styled like the Switchcraft but it's more robust. Sad, but true. The pickups are a PAF type that I got from True Tone Technologies. I got them when TTT was just starting out in the pickup business, so the price was right at $79.95 for the pair. It was a really protracted and frustrating ordeal getting the pickups, but that's another story for another time. They are very sweet sounding pickups none the less.

From my experience and those of others I read about, I'd highly recommend the Ibanez Artcore series. They are really diamonds in the rough that only need a little tweaking to become great guitars.