Artcore AFS75T Review

The Ibanez Artcore AFS75T Electric Guitar is a true hollow-body at a truly nice price. Killer finishes, full body/neck/head/F-hole binding, and precision-inlaid pearl bars on the rosewood fretboard make it look fabulous. ACH1 and ACH2 humbuckers provide a range from prim to pugilistic, making it a tonal tool for everything from jazz to punk to rockabilly. Vintage vibrato and roller bridge provide dive bombing or subtle waver.

Features:	9
Sound:	8.5
Action:	9.5
Reliability:	9
Impression:	9
Overall rating:	9
Users rating:	8.9
Comments:	9

overall: 9.8

Reviewed by: Murderous_Mind*, on july 02, 2008

Price paid: C$ 415

Purchased from: Axe Music

Features: This guitar was made in 1955 in China. It has 22 larg frets on a maple fret board. The body is a hollow body of mahogany and is interchangeable between acustic and electrc. It gives an amazing sound quality distorted or not and I think personaly is just as good as an Iceman or Stratacaster. But the one flaw on this guitar is the wammy bar. You use the wammy twice and you gotta re tune your guitar drasticly like I am talking about it throwing it off a quarter of an octave. Otherwise I would recomend this guitar for more experienced players, and it's got that old Vintage look to it and play anything from soft jazz to black metal. // 10

Sound: The sound is amazing. I would comapir the sound quaility to that of an Iceman. It can be noisy or quiet depends on what ur playing. The sound quality is very flexable and can play anything on this guitar and sound amazing. I am currenty using it with a standard 10 watt amp and it sounds really nice otherwise the bigger the amp the better the sound. It has a rich full sound as well as a twangy sound depending on the tone, tuning and set up of the amp or guitar other wise very satisfactry. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up very well with a suspended bridge and the wammy bar. The pickups were well adjusted and working great no problems and no feed back. Absoulty no flaws. The only Flaw on the guitar was the wammy bar due to every time you use it, it throws your tuning off and when you use it twice it drops your tuning a quarter octive which isnt very metal especialy in the middle of a gig. The guitar has a very nice finish and an anti rust hardwear. The finish on the guitar was made to last. // 10

Reliability & Durability: The guitar was made for Live playing No Doubt about that, the hard ware was built to last so I imagine that it'll last as long as the wood will and the strap buttons are solid but only need a lil tightening from time to time as with all guitars. As for the finish you would have to use a very sharp razor blade to get it off, even then you would take wood with it. Very nicely done. // 10

Impression: I play anything from the animals to Slayer and is a very good match for any type of music. I have been playing for five years and own a Yamaha basic electric guitar, a Yamaha acustic guitar that came out in the sixtys and another Ibanez XPT700. If this guitar was lost or stolen I'd buy another two just in case. I compaired it to The XPT700 and the iceman and it's right up there with them, it doesn't have the price tag like them but it has the name and the quality. I only wish it would label the knobs for volume and tone and which ones due to there is 4. // 10

overall: 8.2

Reviewed by: midimcnasty, on april 23, 2008

Price paid: $ 320

Purchased from: Guitar Center

Features: Basic entry level semi-hollow. Twin humbuckers. Separate tone and volume controls for each pickup. 2007 Chinese made. These are all pretty much the same from the factory with the exception that some come with the Bigsby type tremolo. 3-way selector switch, and separate volume and tone controls for each pickup. No accessories. // 8

Sound: The sound is quite versatile. Sounds great plugged in through various amps. My main practice amp with this guitar is the Ibanez TBX15R. Together they produce some nice tones. Though the pickups can be a little muddy at times, and occasionally a tiny bit of feedback. Nothing unpleasant though. I play a large variety of styles, and this fits most of them fairly well. I would not recommend it as a Metal Machine, as higher fret access is a little problematic, especially for an intermediate player like myself. But if you don't spend a lot of time flying around above the 18-19 fret it should be no problem. Unplugged it does fairly well. A bright slightly metallic tone, very jazzy. It definitely projects mush better unplugged than the Dot Studio I played around with in the same price range. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The finish on this is where this guitar shines (figuratively and literally) I have the Red sunburst version and it is spectacular. Very nice finish. The Frets I suspect are "jumbo" and with the loose bridge and tensioner setup it requires the action to be a little higher than I prefer from the factory. A luthier can soon set this up for anyones preference(which I recommend). I would not recommend this for a first guitar purchase unless the buyer has a knowledgeable or experienced player available to them. As the non fixed bridge/saddle can be require some setup and adjustment. While I find it easy to maintain at time of string change and basic setup. I think a true beginner may find this a little more work than with say a Standard acoustic. I have owned in a little about six weeks now, and still have not noticed any flaws in construction. I can see that if/when the tuners wear down, I would probably upgrade them. And I enjoy this guitar enough that I will do some upgrading/customizing. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I have not done any live playing or subjected this guitar to more than just a months practice type environment. Like the other Ibanez I own it seems well constructed (especially for the price. The finish has held up well. I am considering removing the pick guard though. It seems to generate a little noise/vibration during heavy play, and I image acoustically this guitar will resonate better without it. The pick guard is not snug and is the only construction part I am not impressed with. Which is a shame because I love the looks of it. I feel that with the beautiful finish the pick guard is kinda like putting cheap hubcaps over a nice set of rims. // 8

Impression: Overall this is another great value from Ibanez. I find that as I add guitars to my collection I am becoming a fan of Ibanez, the offer great value for price, and in this guitar I think they have done that again. While I have not fallen in love with this guitar as I have with my EW20ASENT, I would likely purchase this one again if I lost it. As a side note, as friend of mine purchased one the same week as I did, his had the Bigsby style tremolo, which has been a little more problematic, as the tremolo with a lot of use will allow the non fixed bridge to float on the guitar a bit and could cause some tuning intonation issues, particularly with the drop tunings. So again I would say not the right choice for a metal machine doing dive bombs and upper fret craziness. But then again if that's your thing why would you be looking at semi hollow (this is actually more a full hollow)a jazz box. In summary: this guitar did not/does not take my breathe away like the Ibanez EW20ASENT acoustic did. But overall a great semi for the price. // 8

Comments

[CryingAlone]

"It definitely projects mush better unplugged than the Dot Studio"
lol

[SL!!!]

I saw one of these in a dark green. I would appreciate owning that guitar, especially for the price.

[IMABBALLPLAYER]

I'll have to get one of these sometime. I've always wanted a nice Gretsch, but one of these would work until I got a good Gretsch.

[surge666]

looks solid, i like the es-335 double cuttaways myself but if its good enough for mr. tom k from streetlight manifesto, it would work for me

[YYZX]

Its sounds great!

[fretsonfire74]

I really love the artcores. They really appeal to me and to what I play.

[JahCohBee]

I own this! I got mine in the ocean blue color, such a sexy guitar. If you want really bright, clean sounds, this a great guitar, anything dirty or muddy just sounds not that great... But it truely is a great jazzbox

[ibanez_artcore]

i own this too!!! mines black, and sparkly lol it plays really nicely and its good for alot of different kinds of music, ska, metal, classics, you name it, it has a nice clean and deep sound, and played right, you make the girls wet haha

[punkrockdude2]

I have a red one like in the picture. I must say the tuning knobs suck. the nut broke i hade to get it replaced so now it doesnt even look like it fits with the guitar. the bridge pick up feeds back when i turn the distortion on the neck pick up sounds very bassy when i turn it it on. the bigsby kinda its the high E string when i press down on it or whatever but all in all I ****ing love this guitar. its great!!!!