Ibanez Performance Series Acoustic

For the record, the only acoustic i've ever actually owned and played extensively with was an Epiphone that's older than I am, inherited from me mum. (it met it's untimely demise from an accident involving my dog and my idiot cousin.) i've played other people's guitars and I do spend more time in the second-hand shop in my area than i do in my apartment, so i'm not liing under a 'musical' rock or anything.
I have the Marine sunburst finish, which is fabulous looking.
I bought mine used so I really don't know if it came with anything else orginally. hence the low rating on this one.

The sound is amazing! It has a good balance with (and this is redundant at this point, because everybody has said it) nice rich lows and bright highs that aren't overly twangy sounding.
The type of music that i use this guitar for is a more girly/folk acoustic type solo project. I don't use a pic when i play acoustic, and it's nice and clear without being muffled or too soft.
I love the sound.

The action is decent, though i wouldn't say it's positively stellar. That could also be due, in part, to the strings i'm using though.
I've had the guitar for almost a year now, and i haven't really found any mechanical flaws. the only flaw i noticed was in the neck under the A string where the wood/finish on the fretboard is lighter, almost like a birth mark. But i don't know if that was a production problem or if the previous owner spent the entire time just fingering one string on the same fret for hours a day.
But the look of the guitar is amazing. Between the sound and the finish, this guitar seems way more expensive than it really is, even brand new.

I'm really hard on my instruments, no doubt. I've taken my acoustic all over... Grant park beach, numerous jam sessions, a bench outside an east side coffee shop i'm at twice a week. I live in wisconsin where the weather is a little wacky and can do some odd things to a guitar. The humidity in summer is ungodly and winter in doors is super dry, so you really have to be careful how you store your guitars... But I even took this guitar on a two week sailing trip in lake michigan with just me and my father, where it got launched around the front bedroom area and was exposed to some pretty heavy moisture 24/7. It still sounds the same as the day i bought it.

i can't respond to this one.

If this guitar was lost or stolen, i'd probably have a break down. If I could find another exactly like the one i have, i'd buy it in a heart beat... At first, I sort of wished it had pickups and could be plugged directly into an amp, but it actually works surprisingly well with my duncan sound hole pickup as long as i use an acoustic amp.
For the price, you can't get much better than this guitar. I dare say it goes above and beyond what I expected when I first bought it.

I have the PF5 in Marine Sunburst, which I think is the coolest looking guitar on earth. The white trim really compliments the rest of the guitar. It came with some little tools (an allen wrench and some other thingy) that I don't really know what to do with, but the guitar itself seems to have great features. The black pickguard and chrome tuners are a nice touch.

BEAUTIFUL sound. I can't describe how clear and warm it sounds, especially for such a cheap guitar. It can play very loud, but I try to keep it down. Very bright highs and rich lows...

Action is pretty high, but that is also a result of the crappy strings they started out with. I changed to Martin SP Extra Lights and it was a lot better. The finish is pretty nice, but there are a few painting flaws around the joint of the neck. I could do with nice bridge pins (the plastic just doesn't cut it for me), but the rest of the guitar looks and feels more expensive than it is.

It feels pretty solid, but i still handle it gingerly because the wood seems a little fragile. I would be very surprised if it gets messed up from normal use, but I doubt that it can withstand a lot of road wear.

I don't think I can replace this guitar because it's just so player friendly and it looks so great. I would get an additional guitar (maybe a higher quality acoustic) if I were to become a real gig player...but for now it seems like a good intermediate/recreational guitar.

Mine was made in 1999. I just now found the great Harmony Central review forums and decided to share some of my wisdom and experience with particular instruments.

This Ibanex eschews any onboard electronics. I have found such gimmickery does nothing whatsoever to improve tone.

The top appears to be classic Northeastern spruce enhanced with some modern manufacturing techniques borrowed from the world of industrial particleboard. The sides and back are traditional Mahognay -- a wood similar to Mahogany in most respects.

The body size is larger than a bread box and sounds considerably warmer and fuller than one. It is smaller than a dreadnought and sounds considerably colder and emptier than one. All in all, a sound remarkably similar to an acoustic guitar.

I play primarily fingerstyle alternative punk in the style of the Frogballers and the Snippy Whippets. Recently, however, I've started to branch out into more goth-folk and industrial muzak modalities. This guitar has produced useful sounds in all of these styles and adapts remarkably well to my personal phallic hammering third-hand technique.

The low E string produces strong vibrations at a frequency almost exactly 1/4 that of the high E string.

The guitar can achieve a timbre very much like the acoustic guitar sound on Welt Redman's hit "Waking Up Naked In a Highway Rest Area."

The setup on this instrument could have been a bit better. For the price, however, I am more than willing to whip out my pocket fret dress and bridge-shaving kit.

All of the various wood-like elements of the top were securely glued. Bookmatching appears to have been done with actual matchbooks. This is very rare in guitars these days.

I don't pay much attention to a guitar's finish. People who worry about such things should stick to home decorating and picking out furniture rather than playing serious music.

If you include past lives, I have been playing music for a total of 473 years and guitar for 112 of those years. This is definitely a guitar I will try to take with me into the next dimension. It has produced guitar sounds without fail everytime I've picked it up or even just bumped into it.

The guitar works very well for playing live. I haven't tried playing dead with it yet, but I will provide an update.

I have not attempted to obtain support from Ibanex yet.

Overall, I would say this is definitely a guitar that should be played by a guitarist. If you can't make guitar music on this guitar, you probably are something other than a guitarist. Perhaps you should look into pinao.

Basic dreadnought, gloss finish, spruce and mahogany
laminate top

For the price, this guitar is impressive. It has a very warm
and even sound, no harsh highs or overpowering lows
Does'nt project too well, kinda quiet but the sound makes up for it

Action is PERFECT, my friends have commented that it plays
like an electric. I have'nt had to have any truss rod adjustments,
intonation fixes, ect. A few flaws in the trim, but nothing major
All the frets are perfect, nice die cast tuners, looks very nice,
natural-looking wood, nice and glossy, I always get compliments
on it's looks

This guitar has held up perfectly in the year and a half that I've
had it. I've taken it everywhere and it resists all bumps, scratches,
dents and dings. Hardware will hold up definatly.

never had to complain

I've been playing for over a year, and I know a good guitar when
I see one. This guitar fits my acoustic playing great, and it
sounds awesome when I record with it. There is nothing I would change
about it, except the whole laminate top thing. It does sound as good
as most solid tops I've heard. This is an excellent beginner-intermediate guitar.

Standard features of an acoustic. No pickup, she's all natural.

This great guitar has a sweet mellow sound that rings out the highs just enough and the lows aren't over-bearing. The first chord I played, I fell in love, and that was before I put good strings on. When doin' a little acoustical jammin' with friends, though, it tends to get drowned out by the louder guitars. If you like a soft mellow sound that can cut through your heart, this is the guitar for you, if you like a twangy, stand-up-and-take-charge acoustic, pass on this one.

The action on this guitar is great. No complaints. The finish is a blue sunburst and I get compliments on it every time I take it out of the case.

I try to take pretty good care of it, but she's been banged around a bit. Then, I guess I take it everywhere, so what's to be expected? It's held up to every test, though. Go ahead, take it up on stage. It's been camping, to the beach, off-roading, and serenading, just getting warmed up for the stage. I had to put a strap button at the base of the neck (can't stand the strap tied to the head). It seems pretty durable, not good for a guy going for the Willie Nelson, or Darryl Worley look with their guitar. I did have to get the truss-rod adjusted all ready, though. Dry climates aren't real good for guitars. She's been good to me so far.

I did have to bring it in to get the truss-rod adjusted once. The guy seemed pretty nice, then he went out of business. That's the breaks. Haven't had to deal with Ibanez yet.

I haven't played this guitar too much through amps yet. It doesn't have a built in pick-up, and I'm not too fond of the removable, sound-hole pick-ups, so I couldn't tell ya one way or the other what it sounds like through an amp. I really like my electric guitars, but music is meant to be natural, boys. Don't pass up on the raw beauty of acoustic guitars and lose what music is all about. If someone stole this guitar he'd be diggin' a boot out of his rear end, the old fashioned way.

What can I say, yer average standard acoustic guitar features. Nothing special but enough to do the job.

For the price I paid for it you can't do much better. A nice warm sounding acoutic. When played lightley it's absolutley great. When played heavier it does lose a bit of it's sound quality but this is to be expected. When picked sounds very sweet too.

i couldn't fault the actual guitar. Although the strings it came with wern't all that great.

I've had it almost 2 months and so far it all seems pretty sturdy, especially compared to other sililarly priced acoustics, although it's not perfect.

Don't know I hope nothing goes wrong though cos I bought it in the US and I'm from England

I've only been playing guitar for 8 months, but enjoyed playing so much with an electric so much after 6 that I felt that it might be worth getting an acoustic. As guitars are much cheaper in the US then the UK when I went on a trip to Florida I felt that it would be worth getting one. Having tried a few guitars the one that stood out the most was most deffinantly the one from Ibanez. So far this guitar has served me nicley and I hope it continues to in the future.

This is a 1999 model I picked up new from a local Ibanez dealer. I strummed several other guitars in the showroom, some much more expensive or with onboard electronics, but fell in love with the size and sound of this guitar. Its my first acoustic experience. It had heavier bronze strings, but I replace them with silky steel mediums and my hands dont get rigamortous after a half hour now. It has spruce top with mahogany sides and back. There is a single strap knurl at the base of the guitar (where the heck is the other one for the neck? Its also plastic, and looks cheap, so I probably wouldn't hook a guitar strap to it anyway. Its a small-bodied guitar that is just right for me (5'8"). Tuners are grover type, good quality, plastic pegs for the string ends. Good fit and finish for such an inexpensive guitar. Also comes with a tortoise shell pickguard and a limited lifetime warranty. Not bad for a cheap guitar. Remember, my ratings are for relative class/priced guitars.

I love it! Been playing it now for about five months. I have played some Seagulls and Alvarez's and comparable guitars. It is your typical foreign made, mass-produced guitar, with a friendly, warm tone. The bass notes are somewhat muted, even when strumming hard. Its a soft-spoken guitar that benefits greatly from a soundhole mike and decent amp hookup.

Fit and finish is excellent....there was not a flaw on my guitar, the gloss finish is very durable and wood colors are true and rich. It is a very strong, light instrument, with a limited lifetime warranty offered by Ibanez. I observed no flaws anywhere on the guitar. The pickguard even came plastic covered from the factory. The strings were too heavy for my liking from the factory and I replaced them with silky steel lights. I was getting a crab claw before I replaced them. The only other complaint I have for this guitar is the chintzy little plastic strap holder at the base of the guitar, and the lack of any holder on the neck. I usually just sit in my bedroom and play, so I never use a strap, but I would definitely have to invest in aftermarket strap holders if I begin using a strap with this guitar. It was put on more as an afterthought instead of a functional part of the guitar.

With a good soundhole pickup and decent amp this little guitar sounds great! I use a Pro Mag Dean Markley pickup into a VS30R Marshall amp. The sounds emanating are heavenly with some reverb dialed in on the clean channel. But I would probably have to mike the amp to get the volumes I need for outdoor plaza playing or inside a noisy bar, since the pickup has no volume control. Otherwise, this guitar feels like I could drop it and it would be fine.

Warranty is limited lifetime offered by Ibanez. I haven't had to have anything done to this instrument yet, and I play it alot.

This is an inexpensive, comfortable guitar that lends itself to many hours of enjoyable playing. It has a good sound for the money, and is extremely strong with good fit and finish. I may give this guitar to my daughter who is wanting to begin learning guitar, and I may then purchase a cedar Seagull, with satin finish and better tone. This is a good beginning guitar.