Ibanez AW1050CE

Features pretty much as described previously. Looks are pretty tame, as I like guitars, without a lot of 'bling' or gloss.\

All solid woods w/ Cedar top and mahogany for the back and sides. The Fishman as described has a tuner.

Each to their own on the neck size. I've got the 'new' AWS1000ECE-NT solid wood model whose neck is much more like an electric. If you like that, great. I prefer something a little meatier like the 1050 has.

Only thing missing is the ebony fingerboard.

Looking for the Taylor or Martin sound ?, buy one. I got on to this model of Ibanez as I was heavily scouting an Alavarez-Yairi DY62C. Loved the sound of the A-Y but was holding on the price. Picked up the Ibanez on a whim and found it was so close to the Alavarez one could be fooled. Both can be described as bright but with a bottom end that keeps things in balance. No problem this guitar being heard unplugged. Plugged in; this setup won't let you down. I find it better than the B band on the newer Ibanez.

Handles my playing of fingerpicking or flatpicking w/o problem.

In this price range there's only one mfgr. I have seen that will get it right every time i.e. Taylor. I'm speaking of neck set. I bought a hi dollar Martin that was a disaster in this area and they wouldn't deal w/ it. I've checked out hundreds of hi dollar guitars and it is the norm for the neck set to be 'off'.

This Ibanez is not perfect but, close enough, and a lot better than many costing much, much more.

Seen one other one in the local area that has had some hard playin time and it seems to just keep on w/o any problems.

Don't see many of them. I 'think' they were marketed much more heavily in the European markets.

No experience w/ them but I don't see a whole lot of contact info available.

I can only hope if there is ever a need.

Playin for decades. Have owned Martin HD28VR, Taylor 510, various Yamahas from FG110 through 180 and LL6. Now have FG412S, Ibanez AWS1000ECE and the 1050. Also Deering Sierra.

As said earlier if you want the 'Martin' sound, buy one. Yea, I like it from time to time but the price and hassle of owning one isn't w orth it to me. The Taylor 510 had the soul of an ironing board but, it was pretty.

This is a feature packed guitar made in Korea. It is all solid woods: spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood bridge and fretboard and an ebony headstock veneer. The guitar is bound with maple binding on the front and back of the body and on the neck. The top is double bound with an additional strip of wood binding (I'm not sure what kind). It has abalone inlays on the fretboard, headstock and bridge. It has a satin finish. It's a great looking guitar, maybe even a little too fancy for my tastes.

The guitar is a dreadnought with a cutaway. It has a factory installed Fishman Prefix Plus pickup and preamp. The neck is wide and fairly chunky. I'm not a huge fan of it. This is not one of the new, easy to play neck styles that you'd find on a Taylor, for example. The nut and saddle both seem to be bone, but I'm not sure if they are original or not.

All in all, there's not many more features you could expect on an acoustic guitar. It's hard enough to find an all solid wood guitar in this price range, much less with all the extra features.

The sound is very even across all frequencies. There is no booming or muddiness in any frequency. The downside of this is that the lower midrange and bass don't really stand out authoritatively. I feel like this is one of the trade offs you make when you get a guitar with a cutaway.

But arpeggios sound beautiful, nice and round. The treble sparkles a bit, but stays mellow. When you strum hard the guitar has growl. This is my first solid wood acoustic and I love it. The resonance coming out of the sound hole is really beautiful and it makes my old acoustic with laminate back and sides sound dead in comparison. Very nice sound, far better than anything else I could find for this price.

I haven't used the pickup too much. I've only played it through an electric guitar amp. But based on this experience it sounds even and natural. I'm sure it will sound great amplified through a PA or acoustic amp. This is the same pickup system that Gibson puts on their top of the line acoustic/electrics. It sounds good.

The guitar is built very well. All the binding and inlay work is flawless. The woods look to be high quality. I bought the guitar used, but it is setup very well and keeps in tune like it should.

Some of the frets are not seated perfectly, but they are all in the upper registers and it's never bothered me.

This guitar is very well made and solid. Big props to Korean manufacturers.

The owner before me played this guitar hard and the top has some battle scars on it. There are some gouges and discoloration from a feedback ring in the soundhole. The satin finish obviously offers no protection from dings and dents. None of this stuff affects playability or sound and I don't think this thing is going to be falling apart anytime soon.

I was looking for a guitar in the $200-$400 price range and ended up buying a Taylor 110 off of eBay. That guitar was destroyed in shipping and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise (after I got the insurance money) because I found this guitar on craigslist soon after. This guitar is superior to the Taylor in every way (except for the neck shape). This guitar is insanely feature packed with all the nice amenities you could ask for. It's actually more than I'd ideally like; I've always favored the simple, stripped down acoustic guitars.

But for the price, this guitar sounds better than anything else I've tried, so I'm not going to complain about anything. I don't know what these guitars originally sold for, and I've never seen another for sale, but if you can find one it's a great guitar.