Ibanez AEL20E

This guitar is just sweet from the top down. Best $300 I ever spent. Beautiful flame maple finish, plays like a dream, and sounds great. It's made in China, but it seems incredibly well crafted, except a little sloppy on the paint job just around the neck-body joint, but it's not noticiceable unless you're real close. Gold tuners go great with the matching flame maple headstock, it's a pretty slick looking axe. Onboard tuner and a Fishman with a 4 band EQ, what more could you ask for? Oh, and the cutaway allows the easiest access to the higher frets of any acoustic I've played. The strap buttons seem to be sturdy as well.

It might not sound quite as good as some $3,000 Gibson or Martin, but it's better than I ever would have expected out of a $300 guitar. Pitch harmonics sound great on it, and it definitely has a vibrant sound.

It plays like butter. Not a single fret buzzes on any string, great access to the high frets, stays in tune very well, it seems to be very well built. Again, just a little sloppy around the neck joint, but nothing that effects it.

It stays in tune very well, and even if it didn't, it has a tuner on board. Strap buttons seem solid, and it comes with an extra bridge piece and string peg.

Well, the best customer support is the one you don't have to deal with I guess. I think it came with a one year warranty, but I don't anticipate having to deal with them.

This guitar is the best acoustic I've ever played, and certainly the best one I could have afforded. I've been playing 11 years now, and I couldn't ask for a better dollar-for-dollar deal. I'm thinking about getting another in a different color just for different tunings or string gauges or whatever. Just play one, you'll see. They go $349 brand new, I got mine on Ebay for $300, and it seems to be brand new.

Very great for flamed maple top. I think i should have got another guitar with solid spruce top, but the Red AEL20E looked real nice.

Actions, great.
Pickup, great.
Finish, I got mine in red, it was nice.

Great guitar under $500, recommended if you do not want to spend over $500.

From the Ibanez Website.
COLORS
VV Vintage Violin
TCS Trasparent Black Cherry Sunburst High Gloss
ACV Antique Cherry Violin High Gloss

SPEC
top Flamed Sycamore
back & sides Maple
neck Mahogany
pickup Ibanez/B-Band?? SquealRepeal Pickup
preamp Ibanez SRT Preamp
tuning machine Ibanez Smooth Tuner AS
nut & saddles Ibanez Ivorex II
bridge pins Ibanez Advantage Bridge Pins
strap button Ibanez Strap Button for Acoustic Guitars
fletboard Rosewood


Ibanez/B-Band?? SquealRepeal Pickup & Ibanez SRT Preamp
Balanced XLR & 1/4" Outputs

OTHERS
Abalone Rosette
D'Addario?? EXP??? Coated 80/20 equipped

I've been playing for over 25yrs and have owned and played quite a few guitars. I was looking to relpace an old Yamaha FG-430 (I'm going to miss her) and was looking for a full bodied sound but with onboard electronics. After playing about 40 new models I kept going back to the AEL20E. It's hard to believe that they can produce such a great guitar for under $500. The next comparable ones I saw were the high end Martins, Taylors etc...No kidding. The acoustic sound is beautiful and once I plugged it in it was even better! The Fishman bridge pickup is great but the features of the preamp are very nice. Volume,3-way eq, notch filter, phase inverter and tuner. I pointed the guitar sound hole straight at my amp speakers 2 inches away and didn't get feedback whatsoever, amazing. I use it through a Yorkville AM-100 acoustic amp with very little effects, make me sound like a pro!

The action was set fairly well (factory), I'll give it bit of time then take it in for some minor adjustments if needed. They use a new bridge pin design which helps prevent lifting when you push them in. They also used a decent quality bridge material which hepls with both sound quality and acoustic volume. The rest of the guitar is well built, the inside looks like decent manufacturing (not tons of glue all over the joints and stuff). The finish on the one I bought (Cherry)is simply beautiful but picks up finger smudges quickly.

Time will tell. I've only had it a few days. I do own another Ibanez electric and it is holding out very well. The tuners are nice sealed units with a high turn ratio and gold finish. I don't know how the Mahogany neck will age. I will list no opinion here and maybe update it as time goes by.

Brand new. First few days have been perfect.

I did my homework before buying this guitar and, in my opinion, you cannot find a better guitar for the money. Shop around and take your time. Listen to whatever you choose both acoustically and plugged in. Make sure you emulate your own rig in the store....."Hey it doesn't sound like it did at the store throught that $8 million amp".