Ibanez NW40 Acoustic

This is a made in Japan, six steel string acoustic guitar. Spruce top, maple back and sides (with lots of flame, I've seen sycamore that looks similar, but most likely it is maple)maple neck AND fretboard. I believe it was made in the mid 1980's. No pickup or cutaway. Satin finish, black pick guard. Ebony bridge. Sealed chrome tuners.

This is a very bright sounding acoustic. Great for cutting through mixes on recordings. Good strumming instrument. Not bad for flat picking. No go for fingerstyle though. It is not a rich, full sounding instrument. More like an Ovation acoustic than Martin.

The guitar looks good. Quite different seeing a maple fretboard on an acoustic. Action is quite high, good for strumming, I haven't tried having it lowered. Workmanship is mediocre, with sharp fretwire edges, higher action and noisey tuners. Nice colored inlay work on fretboard (dots) and headstock (name and symbol).

The guitar is both reliable and durable. I use it for some duo work and never needed a backup. It tends to stay in tune. Most places I play with it (small venues) I don't use a mic and it still cuts through.

I've been playing for around thirty years. I have a number of Fenders, a Gibson and Yamaha guitars. I bought this guitar for a hundred bucks so I can take it on trips without worrying about it getting smashed by airport baggage handlers. It's nothing great, but does the job. It came with a great hard case. I was very surprised at its recorded sound. Great for background strumming on songs. Doesn't play effortlessly, so a good workout guitar! If it were lost or stolen I would find any other cheap guitar. I haven't seen this guitar before or since. I think it sold for around three hundred dollars new. I haven't been able to find any information on this model.