Ibanez ATDS10NT Acoustic

10 like in absolute 10. Being an 80?s guitar collector (you?re invited to check at http://www.electricguitar.50megs.com), my usual urge for the innovative, rare, obscure and cool guitars "red peaked" when this Ibanez model, by the hand of Hoshino Japan ventured into the stores in the late '80s / early '90s. The backfire of the guitar playing / adrenaline rush and big hair / spandex of the 80's was still en vogue and Ibanez (along with Jackson/Charvel and Kramer) reigned supreme. A myriad of innovative instruments took the global guitar market by storm and, when almost everything seemed to having been said and done, this baby emerged. Your good 'ol dependable, grandpa conservative acoustic guitar? with tremolo! (yeah, you got that right, with a vibrato unit, with a whammy bar! on an acoustic guitar!). The physically impossible, the irrational, the unthinkable, the very first acoustic guitar (and the last to the best of my knowledge) with a dedicated tremolo unit. If this isn?t cool per se, I dunno what is.

From a prudent distance, the ATDS strongly resembles one of Fender's "California Series" acoustics (the "Cameron" model in particular). As you get closer you notice some of the most daring features ever attempted in guitar craft. This is an acoustic guitar WITH tremolo. 'Nuff said, notwithstanding anyone with an eye for detail could write whole chapters on this unit alone. The 2 point floating bridge, perfectly shaped and molded behind the regular rosewood acoustic bridge (with pins and all) is mounted on a two legged (maple?) tower -very slim yet resistant- inside the guitar and the three (regular strat) springs are hooked to a metal triangle which in turn hooks to an interesting torsion mechanical system, which is finally screwed to the internal heel of the dovetail joint. Very effective. With limited range (no more than two and a half steps down and half step up) is suprisingly capable at maintaining tuning, something vital for any guitar.

Features are as follows: Solid AA Spruce top with Mahogany back and sides body, bound with 3 Ply binding on front and back. Mahogany / spruce / rosewood full bound rosette. Three piece mahogany neck with "dovetail" neck joint. Headstock is Rosewood and laminated mahogany. Rosewood fingerboard, unbound with 20 small frets of good polish and crown. Pearl dot style inlay, pearl (80's style) brand inlay at headstock. Hardware is composed by unbranded pearloid chrome die-cast tuners, presumably of Schaller make, but of German cast in any case and Ibanez proprietary tremolo bridge (brass block). Electronics are based on an hexaphonic piezo pickup on bridge plus the Ibanez AEQ - III preamplifier with 3 band EQ. Bridge is of low mass, carved Rosewood.

Tremolo Unit, in a nutshell, is 3 regular springs with a mechanical torsion gear for simple ("one finger") adjustment, combined with the regular acoustic (6 pin) system. The complete (seemingly traditional) mahogany bridge floats and fluctuates up and down as you exercise pressure on the bar. Simply amazing! More on this at http://www.electricguitar.50megs.com

From the player?s side, this is unarguably the fastest and probably the most comfortable acoustic guitar I've ever tried. Period. The guitar's neck (all of solid mahogany, no useless maple runners here!) is as fast as it is beautiful. This tonewood was obviously chosen by its strength and clarity of grain (hence allowing consistent machining and sanding results), but is also a player?s joy, as each and all old school Les Paul fans will agree. The rosewood fingerboard is impeccably crafted, with small frets of immaculate polish, flat and very, very narrow. I have played electric guitars wider than this!. The glued "dovetailed" neck joint, as you might find in other high-quality acoustic guitars, also contributes heavily to playing comfort.

This is the most interesting aspect of this instrument, regardless of music style, since I?m positive that might have tricked most prospective buyers at its time. Right from the start, as soon as you strum the instrument for a few seconds, you?ll get the impression that something is not right. Why? Tone and harmonic timbre will be beyond nice, but the volume will be three times less than the one you should expect from a guitar this size. However, is not really complicated to figure out how this happens, since you?ve got to take into account that resonance, in acoustic guitars, is strongly related to the anchoring of the strings, aside from body size, and in this case the lower end of the acoustic strings are ?floating? on the vibrato unit, hence not vibrating directly to the top of the body. Due to that fact, the acoustic volume is dependant on the ?free? vibration along the string?s length only. Mainly due to the overall acoustic characteristics of the instrument, volume is 30 to 40% more (I?m guessing) than the acoustic volume of any solidbody.

On the other hand, the amplified sound is nothing less than spectacular. That came as a surprise to me too, since I expected something ?rougher? than other acoustic/electrics from the period (probably something more alike my Kramer Ferrington, also reviewed here) but actual result was a bright, yet retaining booming bass registers, sweet acoustic tones. You could fall in love with this tone, which would warm up any acoustic tune, and yet is powerful enough to cut through any dense electric mix. A real honeypot? from hell.

Reach to the highest fret (unfortunately -yet understandable- the 20th) is effortless, thanks to a very open and deep cut on the lower bout of the instrument. As you may know by now, any cutaway is not just an improvement in order to provide a way to reach upper register fingerings with ease, but is something that also impacts dramatically on tone (such as almost everything) since as the slight edge of the guitar is brought closer to the sound hole, the top will by definition stiffer in that area, hence turning the tone brighter.

Last by certainly not least, we have here the tremolo unit. With appropriate adjustment, the guitar's tremolo unit shall respond exactly like a regular Fender "synchronized" would (the one on your average strat), in terms of both range and stability. With this, either you sound electric or eclectic, but anyway ahead from the pack.

I did try this guitar within several recording environments and with a vast choice of amplifiers (including Mesa Boogie, ADA, Marshall, Korg and Vox) in order to be as fair as possible.

Construction is flawless, but then again is something you should expect in any instrument at this price range. All details are carefully achieved, in particular binding and finishing. Of course, setting up this guitar has nothing to do with the standard set up of any other acoustic, obviously due to the tremolo unit. Notwithstanding, this NOS was delivered to me impeccably, with a super low action (way lower than many electrics anyway) and balancing perfect 440 tuning. The vibrato had three new springs (a little bit too reactive for my playing technique), but I decided to keep it that way for a while, since I?m of the opinion that reducing the amount of springs might render the unit wobbly, hence affecting this guitar?s surprising ability to maintain tuning.

The acoustic vibrato unit, something daring from manufacturing perspective, was crafted like a gem, and makes this instrument worthwhile just by itself, in terms of innovation. You?ll be owner of a piece of the 80?s, which is ver much for me when it comes to guitars. On the other hand, and given these features, maintenance of this instrument differs largely vis-a-vis any other acoustic guitar. Notwithstanding, this should not be confused with the actual reliability or durability of the guitar. Always provided you already learn that playing without a backup is not an option (something true for professionals and amateurs alike) is my impression that this guitar is as reliable as any regular acoustic (which is not). Original price tag was sky high, and that should reflect in terms of durability, only time will tell since I bought it NOS in the box. I would be prudent to rate durability at 9 on the grounds that craft is impeccable.

No contact regarding this guitar.

For all the aforementioned characteristics, I'm very inclined to consider this babe not as an acoustic/electric, but as an electric/acoustic instead. It feels like an electric, awakens when plugged in (more on this below) and (c'mon homies) HAS A TREMOLO UNIT!. The only reason why I?m not rating this instrument at ?10? is because I?m of the opinion that the unamplified sound will discourage most players and the fact that the ATDS, which excels in fields no other acoustic guitar did or will, fails to cover the full usual spectrum most players need their acoustics to cover. I am also aware that some traditional players might disregard the revolutionary tremolo unit on this axe as a stupid novelty. See if I care. A prudent 9 is fair enough then.

I?ve been playing guitar for as long as I can remember, own more than 40 guitars, some 80?s amplifiers and several effects and always try to be as objective as possible (we?re talking about guitars after all). If you wanna see pictures and more details to this or any other of my guitars, please be welcomed at http://www.electricguitar.50megs.com